Jabba's Palace

I have just completed my latest Star Wars characters in crochet form; Jabba the Hutt, Salacious Crumb and Slave Leia; and the patterns are now available in my Etsy shop.

I've been meaning to design more Star Wars crochet patterns for a while now, although I always have a very long list of different patterns I want to create. However, last autumn I decided to start working on some new Star Wars characters. I had quite a few requests for Jabba the Hutt, so he seemed the obvious place to begin. He presented a different challenge to most of the other characters - generally I'm trying to simplify a fairly detailed character so that they're cute but still recognisable. Jabba is already quite a simple shape without much detail, and it's hard to consider him cute in any way! I also had to think about what size he should be; the other figures are not in an exact scale with one another, but Yoda is smaller than the human characters and Chewbacca is larger than all of them. I didn't want to make him too big, but he had to be bigger than the others.

In the end I was very happy with the way he came out - he's a simple shape, but the colour change in his face gives a bit of detail, and giving him a proper expression with the eyelids and facial features keep his character. That said, I definitely find him oddly cute in this miniaturised form!

As I was making Jabba it seemed obvious to consider what other characters from Jabba's Palace it would be fun to make patterns for. I decided that Jabba needed his annoying little pet, Salacious Crumb. However, he's pretty small, and I wasn't sure I would be able to give him enough detail. As he's a sort of lizard/monkey I used similar techniques to those I used to make my Mini Monkeys and that approach seemed to work. He seemed too simple a pattern to sell on his own, so I included him with Jabba.

Leia in the slave bikini costume seemed another obvious choice from the Jabba's Palace sequence - I know my husband kept asking when I was going to make her! The original Princess Leia figure I made was quite small, shorter than all the other human characters, and I found it hard to fit in the details of the bikini costume, so I made her a bit taller (the same as Luke). I also decided to change the way I made her hair, and make it as a separate piece of crochet rather than as part of the head.

 

I spent a while deciding how to make her bikini. Looking at the original, the top consists of a metal framework with grey/green leather underneath. I couldn't get the detail in the small amount of stitches I had to work with, so I just tried to show the metal part. The metal is described as brass, but it looks more like bronze to me - I tried to use a yarn that was brass-coloured, but it seemed too pale against the skin, so I settled on a darker bronze-coloured yarn, which I think works.

I was unsure as to whether the skimpy look of Slave Leia would work in a cute mini version, but I think she's turned out looking quite sassy, and ready to strangle Jabba if he causes any trouble!

The changes I made to the Slave Leia figure made me go back to the original Princess Leia figure in her white dress and tweak that pattern so that it was the same height and had hair made in the same way. If you bought the original Princess Leia pattern and you would like the updated version of that as shown here (Slave Leia is a different, separate pattern), just contact me on Etsy and let me know.

I'm now working on a Lando Calrissian pattern, then I 've got to decide which other characters I'd like to do; let me know any suggestions in the comments!

***Latest news July 2014***

The Jabba and original Princess Leia patterns are no longer available for sale, as they are going to be included in a new Star Wars crochet book, due to be published Spring 2015. Keep an eye out in the future as I may release Salacious Crumb as a free pattern.

Luke Skywalker times three

Luke Skywalker must take after his mother with the number of costume changes he has in his three films! While his pal Han rocks the classic trousers, shirt and waistcoat through most of the films, Luke is always wearing something different. I've always thought it would be nice to improve my Luke amigurumi pattern by adding a variety of outfits and now I've done it. As well as giving a bit more detail to his Tatooine 'farm boy' look from the original Star Wars film I've come up with versions of Luke in his X-Wing pilot uniform, including the helmet, and in his black Jedi clothes from Return of the Jedi, along with a tiny lightsaber.

This new version of the pattern is now available in my Etsy shop, and I'm happy to send it for free to anyone who bought the original Luke Skywalker pattern in the past. Just contact me on Etsy with all the details of that order (order number, full name and date of order).

***Latest news July 2014***

The Jedi Luke pattern is no longer available for sale, as it is going to be included in a new Star Wars crochet book, due to be published Spring 2015.

Admiral Ackbar amigurumi

Well, here's the latest of my mini Star Wars amigurumis, Admiral Ackbar. He's a Mon Calamari who leads the Rebel Alliance fleet in Return of the Jedi, and is famous for shouting, 'It's a trap!' when he realises they've been lured in by the Emperor. The Mon Calamari come from a watery planet and I just love their design, with their big, bulbous heads, fish-like eyes and finny hands.

As my Ackbar is pretty small, only 4" tall, I simplified him quite a bit to match with all the other mini Star Wars amis I've made. Even so, I'm pleased with some of the detail I managed to get into his clothes, and I think I might try working on some of my earlier designs to see if I can add a bit more detail to them. Luke, in particular, would benefit from some alternatives outfits, I think.

The pattern to make Admiral Ackbar is now available from my Etsy shop, and you can also buy  all 14 Star Wars patterns I've made to date, or pick and choose selections of two, three or six patterns.

Happy Star Wars Day!

I hope all you Star Wars fans out there are enjoying Star Wars Day - if you don't know it's called that because of the terrible pun: May the 4th be with you (May the Force be with you). Anyway, my amigurumis are enjoying themselves (maybe I need to crochet a Cantina for them to party in!)

You may spot a new amigurumi, a Jawa. I've been working on the pattern for him, and it'll be in my Etsy shop very soon. Just keep checking here to see when it's ready.

Have fun!

Obi-Wan Kenobi - Mini Amigurumi

I've just finished my latest Star Wars amigurumi figure - Obi-Wan Kenobi. So far I've only done characters from the Original Trilogy, so I made a little mini version of old Ben Kenobi, complete with a brown hooded robe.

I'd forgotten, until I rewatched Episode IV, quite how much I liked the character, but Sir Alec Guinness did a great job, bringing a lot of class and gravity to the whole film, and he gets some great lines. When Ewan McGregor was cast in the prequels I was pleased, as he's a decent actor (who's very easy on the eye!), and he did a good impression of Guinness which helped connect the new films to the old. With that in mind, I thought I'd make his version of the character too. The pattern is written with just a few variations - old Obi-Wan wears a long robe whereas young Obi-Wan has a shorter one so you can see his trousers and boots, and obviously the hair colour is different.

I was very pleased with how the hooded robe turned out. Nearly all the crochet I do these days is amigurumi in the round, so it was a bit different making something in rows. I was worried that something so small would end up far too stiff, but it worked just fine. I might even try making a version of Yoda from the prequels with a little hooded robe.

The pattern, including both versions of Obi-Wan, is now available in my Etsy shop.

Boba Fett - Mini Amigurumi

I was delayed a bit by Christmas, but I've finally finished my pattern for a miniature Boba Fett. This bounty hunter with the fearsome reputation is only 3.5" tall, and the pattern to make him is available in my Etsy shop.

It was difficult to get his helmet right, but in the end I was very happy with it. It was also hard to find the right colour for his armour - every photo I looked at for reference looked slightly different, and for my first prototype I used an olive green. Then I found this colour, I would describe it as a sage green, which I think works well. I decided against making his rocket backpack, because I felt it would overwhelm him, given his size, but he had to have his little ragged cloak.

I'm hoping to come up with a few more Star Wars characters - I'm working on Obi Wan Kenobi at the moment, then I think I'll have a go at Admiral Ackbar and a Jawa.

***Latest news July 2014***

This pattern is no longer available for sale, as it is going to be included in a new Star Wars crochet book, due to be published Spring 2015.

Star Wars Mini Amigurumi

Well, I've finally done it! I've designed all my Star Wars amigurumi to my satisfaction, written up the patterns, photographed them, put the patterns together and put them all on Etsy!

I've been working on these little Star Wars guys on and off for a couple of years. Partly inspired by my and my children's love of Star Wars, and the way Star Wars Lego looks so cute, I realised that I wanted to crochet mini versions of all my favourite characters. It's taken so long because of wanting to keep them stylistically similar even though the characters are very varied. I also wanted them to be different sizes, so that Leia is taller than R2-D2, and Vader is taller than Han, for example, but not perfectly proportionally, or Chewie ends up being too tall. As it is, Yoda is 2.5" tall and Chewbacca is 4.5" tall, with the rest fitting in between them.

I made Yoda first, he's pretty simple and easily identifiable, then Leia (my favourite character, the one I identify with) whose iconic hairstyle is perfectly suited to be reproduced in crochet. Neither of these two had legs, Yoda with his robe and Leia her dress, so when it came to most of the other characters I wasn't sure how to make them. I knew I wanted them to have big feet, and to stand up easily, and so I made them without separate legs, but simply defined them with yarn afterwards, a solution which I'm really happy with.

Some of them took longer than others to perfect. I wasn't sure if C-3PO would work, but I was happy with him straight away. Vader, on the other hand, I just couldn't get right. His head, his face mask, how much detail to give him. Since his costume is almost entirely black it's very hard to define any details. I made him several times with a flat triangular mask and it wasn't until I made it more three-dimensional that I was satisfied.

The Ewok was tough, too. I made him in a completely different way with his hood as part of his head, which I thought I liked, but when I came to write the pattern up it just seemed too unnecessarily complicated. since I'd just been making my crocheted cork knights I realised I could use a similar technique to make a simple separate hood, which I much preferred.

Apart from fine-tuning his height, I liked my Chewbacca, which I made with an alpaca mix yarn then brushed, but I realised that finding that particular type of yarn might be difficult. So I also made him using a normal smooth acrylic yarn that had various different browns in it and which brushed up just as nicely with a wire pet brush.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the finished patterns. If they prove to be popular I'll have to work on some more characters - I think I'll do Boba Fett and Obi Wan next. If you want to see more photos, check out my Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/96575205@N00/), and if you'd like to buy any of the patterns just go to my Etsy shop (http://www.lucyravenscar.etsy.com/).

***Latest news July 2014***

 

Not all these patterns are available for sale now, as they are going to be included in a new Star Wars crochet book, due to be published Spring 2015.