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Pierre Mon Frere
New Resident
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 Posted 10-04-05 08:36 AM   
Oh! You do eet!
Pierre Mon Frere eez veray impress!
Vous devez joindre la bande de Pierre's petits fauteurs de troubles ! Sûrement un moine Français aime causer l'ennui, non ?
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If I do not go making the trouble, how will it be there when you go looking for eet, non?
Posts: 250 | Registered: May 2003 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Luc Skywalker
Welcome to the Red Heel!
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Posted 10-04-05 05:26 PM
Oui. L'ennui est mon deuxième prénom.
Vous avez une bande spéciale pour de petits moines comme moi ? Est-ce que je peux jouer le tambourine ?
Posts: 10 | Registered: Sep 2005 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Pierre Mon Frere
New Resident
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Posted 10-05-05 09:03 AM
Seulement s'il réveille quelqu'un à trois dans le matin !
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If I do not go making the trouble, how will it be there when you go looking for eet, non?
Posts: 250 | Registered: May 2003 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Missus Melnee
Long Time Resident
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Posted 10-13-05 08:14 PM
These are some newer monkey children at the Sunnyflower Farm Sock Monkey Adoption Center, all of which were meant to be "baby-friendly" (well, depending on how you look at the mummy monkey... but he IS kinda soft and cuddly for a monster with no eyes.)
(Adopted in Richmond, VA)
(Adopted in Hartsburg, MO)
Please be very happy peoples,
[Edited by Missus Melnee]
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Be satisfied with your own head.
daisycara.com
Posts: 397 | Registered: Mar 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
MadameUgly
Welcome to the Red Heel!
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Posted 11-05-05 01:05 PM
Annie925,
You should be able to whip out average sized monkey bodies on the machine with no problem.
I find it's a lot quicker to make the arms/lets/tails/ears for average sized monkeys using the sewing machine. I'm talking MINUTES to make the parts.
I use the zig zag stitch and I haven't had any seam issues (and I tend to solidly stuff my monkeys, especially the tails--I used to have all kinds of seam issues with hand stitched tails).
I don't know how well the machine would work for smaller than average monkeys. Though I did make a smallish (12 inches or so) felt doll on my machine and she turned out well.
Posts: 47 | Registered: Jan 2005 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Tamara
Regular Guest
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Posted 11-14-05 08:18 PM
Love all the new monkey children there Melnee. Especially the one with the star face. 
I have been pretty busy so haven't made too many monkeys lately. But have one new one up on my site.
I had a sorta snowboarder inspiration for this guy.
[Edited by Tamara]
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The art is Monkeys~ The medium is Socks
http://www.sockmonkeyfun.com
Posts: 112 | Registered: Sep 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Missus Melnee
Long Time Resident
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Posted 11-18-05 08:20 AM
Boy, I keep forgetting to check this thread!
Like the winter monkeychild, Tamara.
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Be satisfied with your own head.
daisycara.com
Posts: 397 | Registered: Mar 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Olivia
I run the board!
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Posted 11-30-05 10:21 AM
Greetings! Flakey and I are working on improving my web site.
There is a new page in my gallery...it is currently a more or less random collection of old and new pictures...but it is a step up. We are still in the process of organising it.
http://www.fluff.tv/Sockmonkeygallery2.htm
It is hidden at the bottom of the Fluff Gallery but here si a direct link.
I am hoping my whole website will start looking a little more like this...
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You can make a new monkey out of old socks, but you can't make an old monkey out of new socks.
www.superhappyfunland.com
Posts: 496 | Registered: Feb 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Missus Melnee
Long Time Resident
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Posted 12-02-05 04:50 PM
Boy do I ever love looking at your fabulous, fabulous critters, Olivia. It's a feast for the eyeballs to see so many at once!
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Be satisfied with your own head.
daisycara.com
Posts: 397 | Registered: Mar 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Veronica
Permanent Resident
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Posted 12-02-05 04:51 PM
Too bad I can't leave the workshop long enough to go intern at SHFL. Cuz I think that might possibly rock.
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Do you suppose?
Posts: 773 | Registered: Apr 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Strangefairy
Occasional Visitor
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Posted 12-04-05 01:40 PM
Thanks Tamara!!i just adopted the little monkey #18 that no one wanted for a whole year!!i'm 9 so my mom had to help me order.=P ps.i used the picture you had of him 'cause i don't have one yet.thanks!emily
[Edited by Strangefairy]
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My name is Jim,not Strangefairy
Posts: 52 | Registered: Dec 2005 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Greensleeves
Occasional Visitor
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Posted 12-14-05 05:15 AM
It takes a very talented artist to imitated a bad one. You guys absolutely blow me away with your 'vintage' monkeys - it's impossible to believe a) they aren't really vintage and, most especially, the charmingly erratic styles are so different it's hard to believe that b) they were created by the same person.
You've inspired me to try my hand at making faux vintage monkeys. ^_^
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Smaller than a red heel, but twice as feisty.
Posts: 61 | Registered: Jan 2005 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Tamara
Regular Guest
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Posted 12-23-05 11:07 AM
I never really thought of them as faux vintage till very recently.
I received a very cool commission to make a replica or stand-in for a vintage Sock Monkey.
This very nice and talented artist that wrote a children’s book featuring her paintings of a sweet old Sock Monkey wanted a new little brother to take with her to readings and signings because her Sock Monkey is about 70 years old.
This is her book
http://monkeymadeofsockies.com
Here is a shot of the finished monkey.
Oh, and Greensleeves you've inspired me to make more non-red heels.  You are a cute little guy!
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The art is Monkeys~ The medium is Socks
http://www.sockmonkeyfun.com
Posts: 112 | Registered: Sep 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
The Girl
I run the board!
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Posted 12-23-05 08:26 PM
That's a good recreation. At 70 I could see why the original wanted to take it easy and send a youngster out on the book tour. Interesting that she asked you to make the monkey, but links to a different monkey making site on her web page. Her art is nice, but I wonder how sock monkey paintings in the thousands of dollars do. Sock monkey folks tend to be pretty thrifty.
I really like the mouth and pom poms. Is that a Fox Mills sock? It looks like a Nelson.
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Just a girl, in world of monkeys
Human in residence at www.smonkeys.com and
www.spockmonkey.com
Posts: 121 | Registered: Sep 2005 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Olivia
I run the board!
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Posted 12-24-05 10:39 PM
Looks like Nelson to me. Good job! Looks like an almost exact replica...but without any aging.
I have never really thought of any of mine to be faux vintage either. Sometimes I will weather my socks...but that is more to enhance the character of the socks and tighten the weave than anything. I never really artificially age or tea-dye my monkeys.
That is not to say that I haven't been asked to make faux vintage..like the time somebody asked me to do a replica of Chelloiphane...who I think is probably my oldest monkey...his patina is very similar to the monkey you copied...though I doubt that he is 70...esp. since he is apparently stuffed with old shredded plastic. Squiggly was really ancient seeming as well. by the time I got ahold of him he had already had gone through a few sets of eyes.
When I go to the Monkey convention this year, I hope i will be able to learn something about the different grades of vintage socks and then hopefully be able to figure out the ages of some of them...In my collection of vintage monkeys, I have several different shades of monkeys and seemingly quite a few different mouth shapes. My newest discovery are monkeys like Looby and uncle Yuri who are vintage monkeys with really round mouths. They are also both smaller than average, so I think they are either vintage women's or larger children's socks.
I have been meaning to do this for a while.
This is an old scratched up photo and the only record I have of of Randy, Unga and Olga, my first vintage monkeys who i don't have any more.
Randy was living in a basment in Charleston, South Carolina and a crazy artist guy gave him to me. He was paint stained and had one eye and was made of Offeelia socks. (still trying to figure out if Offelia's socks are Rockfords)
Unga was purchased at a garage sale for 10 cents and had only one felt ear. She was very skinny and sorta reminded me of Squiggly.
Olga was fished from a dumpster and given to me in exchange for a typewriter. She was very elegant despite having only one arm. She had all kinds of fancy 50's style beadwork on her..hard to see it in the photo.
they are sorta a weird variation on the see no evil hear no evil speak no evil monkeys.
[Edited by Olivia]
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You can make a new monkey out of old socks, but you can't make an old monkey out of new socks.
www.superhappyfunland.com
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Greensleeves
Occasional Visitor
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Posted 12-24-05 10:45 PM
quote:
Olivia wrote:
When I go to the Monkey convention this year
*ears perk way up* Monkey convention? Ooh. I'd like to know more about this, please.
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Smaller than a red heel, but twice as feisty.
Posts: 61 | Registered: Jan 2005 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Greensleeves
Occasional Visitor
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Posted 12-24-05 10:49 PM
quote:
Tamara wrote:
I received a very cool commission to make a replica or stand-in for a vintage Sock Monkey.
Oh, and Greensleeves you've inspired me to make more non-red heels. You are a cute little guy!
*eyes bug* WOW. That is an AMAZING replica; I found myself looking hard at the picture to see whether or not it was a photo of the same monkey. That's hard to do, especially with plush, which shifts and changes character so much with even tiny changes or errors. Does the new monkey like the same flavor bananas the original one does?
*blushes, green cheeks tinged with red* Aw, shucks, thanks for saying I'm cute.^__^
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Smaller than a red heel, but twice as feisty.
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Folio
New Resident
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Posted 12-26-05 09:10 AM
What a splendid replica! How interesting conceptually - has your replica started talking to you yet? Does he realize that he is a replica? How will he behave around the original "monkey made of sockie?"
I have to admit I have doubts as to the 70 year old claim placed on the original - his pom poms and coloring (based admittedly on a photograph of a photograph) do not suggest a monkey of such an old vintage to me. Also, his pattern is highly standardized and suggests a 50s designer. Nelson Knitting did not begin including the pattern with their Red Heels until 1951- monkeys made before that year were learned from secret codes and the pattern was passed around through oral tradition.
One cannot help but remarking that he is quite a handsome specimen and that your recreation is splendid.
Olivia - the round heels you described are possibly made on a different loom than the John Nelson sock loom. Nelson bought a couple of imitators' looms in the 50s and these are responsible for the variation in heel patterning that Looby Lou has. It is also possible they were made by competitors who changed the heeling enough to get around Nelson Knitting's patents.
Another technique for dating the socks is to study the sewing seam where then white top of the socks meets the brown middle. These were the only seams on socks manufactured by Nelson Knitting. They were either hand-stitched or machine stitched, depending on when they were produced and on which machine they were produced.
The red heel itself was not put on rockfords until 1932. Nelson socks were so popular they fostered a number of imitators, and in 1932 Nelson Knitting introduced and patented the "red heel" pattern to announce to the consumer that they were "orginal rockfords".
Posts: 231 | Registered: Aug 2003 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
Wysi Wyg
Long Time Resident
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Posted 12-26-05 09:16 AM
The sock monkey convention is happening in Rockford Illinois in April, Greensleves. you can find out more information at http://www.midwayvillage.com
Members of the Red Heel Monkey Shelter will be attending. Last year, the Lady in Pink came from Wisonsin, along with vinnie and Mudge (we are hoping to meet the Professor this year!) and Missus Mel'nee, Daisy Marie, and a nice crew of Sunny Flower Farmers were also in attendance. as were Munkadelic and Sally.
We hope everyone can return this year, and to see many more Message Boarders this year as well.
We will be doing a lot to organize Red Heel Message Board attendees once the new year rolls around. Keep your eyes open!
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Got a question? Got a problem?
Write Wysi Wyg!
techsupport@whizzkid1.com
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Emily
Long Time Resident
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Posted 12-26-05 09:19 AM
Tamara, will you make a recreation of me so that I don't have to go to Rockford? This time I just want to stay home in the bed. This whole impending book thing is really going to be a drag on my responsibilities maintaining its structural integrity.
[Edited by Emily]
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I am the number one monkey and I do what I want.
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Greensleeves
Occasional Visitor
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Posted 12-27-05 01:18 AM
Folio, you sure do know your sock stuff. I am thoroughly impressed. Do you know of a website that has that information? Maybe even with pictures? If one doesn't exist yet, maybe you might consider making one yourself? *bats monkey eyelashes*
I don't know if I'll be able to make the con. I am already flying to Chicago, but in July, drat the timing. Maybe I'll come just for the weekend - I'd love to go to a sock monkey con!
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Smaller than a red heel, but twice as feisty.
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Foofie
Permanent Resident
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Posted 12-27-05 02:35 AM
i have never been to a convetion for something outside my own home where we have the weekly lunatic conventions..unless you count New Orleans where we always go for the annual national drunko convention.
We really are planning on showing up! It's gonna be crazy!
I think we will end up going back to New York while we are up in that direction.
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http://www.fluff.tv
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LoobyLou
Regular Guest
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Posted 12-27-05 02:49 AM
quote:
Olivia - the round heels you described are possibly made on a different loom than the John Nelson sock loom. Nelson bought a couple of imitators' looms in the 50s and these are responsible for the variation in heel patterning that Looby Lou has. It is also possible they were made by competitors who changed the heeling enough to get around Nelson Knitting's patents.
Another technique for dating the socks is to study the sewing seam where then white top of the socks meets the brown middle. These were the only seams on socks manufactured by Nelson Knitting. They were either hand-stitched or machine stitched, depending on when they were produced and on which machine they were produced.
Gee! So I might not be a Nelson monkey? I don't know what to think! Did Nelson make kid sized socks..or lady sized socks? I thought that's what me and Uncle Yuri were made of..and maybe that's why I am so kid-like and Uncle Yuri is so ladylike.
We are both 3/4 the size of regular monkeys. My white part is sewed to my brown part and my skin is the same color and weave as Chello's..
I will try not to let this go to my head.
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Congeiaty is the secret to saving society!
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Chelloiphane
Regular Guest
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Posted 12-27-05 02:52 AM
Well then maybe I am not a Nelson monkey either!
I always seemed rather pale next to the others.
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My name is little Chelloiphane and I am stuffed wid CELLOPHANE From monkey tail to monkey brain cellophane cellophane cellophane
Posts: 166 | Registered: Oct 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
LoobyLou
Regular Guest
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Posted 12-27-05 02:57 AM
Nonsense! You are the most Nelsonest money in the whole house.
I am just a creepy little wannabe.
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Congeiaty is the secret to saving society!
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Offeelia
Long Time Resident
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Posted 12-27-05 02:58 AM
You will get over it in time.
it doesn't feel so bad after a while.
(sigh)
Really it is no big deal.
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aye me!
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Chelloiphane
Regular Guest
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Posted 12-27-05 02:59 AM
Well there is no way Looby and I are not from the same loom.
Impossible!
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My name is little Chelloiphane and I am stuffed wid CELLOPHANE From monkey tail to monkey brain cellophane cellophane cellophane
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Foofie
Permanent Resident
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Posted 12-27-05 03:02 AM
Anything is possible.
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http://www.fluff.tv
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Folio
New Resident
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Posted 12-27-05 06:22 AM
Looby Lou, I would never venture to describe you as a "non-Nelson". Nelson purchased looms from competitors at the height of the Red Heel craze and manufactured Nelsons on them as well. Although the weave was different, it was still the Nelson pattern. In fact, the looms that began spinning Nelson socks in the 50s were capable of finer weaves than the original loom, which was designed and constructed in 1880. Zoot, for instance, and myself, were impossible to manufacture on the original loom. In fact, all minis appear in the sockosimian soulscape after 1954 when the new looms are introduced.
Please take any claims made by yr. humble Folio with a grain of salt - my observations are made from photography rather than primary research and my speculations are based on readings and interviews, but cotton dating is a primitive, developing science.
I highly recommend that you and Chelliophane make the journey the monkey convention this year to speak with Dr. Dan, as he is the world's premier authority on Rockford sock history. Such a meeting should be most auspicious and if he can not immediately shed light on your origins I am sure that he will find your heelstructure intriguing and may be able to uncover more information simply by knowing of your existence.
[Edited by Folio]
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Tamara
Regular Guest
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Posted 12-28-05 12:56 AM
quote:
Emily wrote:
Tamara, will you make a recreation of me so that I don't have to go to Rockford? This time I just want to stay home in the bed. This whole impending book thing is really going to be a drag on my responsibilities maintaining its structural integrity.
[Edited by Emily]
I would be honored to make a Monkey in your likeness Emily.
I am sure your responsibilities are more than enough for 3 Sock Monkeys. I really don't know how you manage.
Here is a shot of my latest Sock Monkey looking for a home.
[Edited by Tamara]
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The art is Monkeys~ The medium is Socks
http://www.sockmonkeyfun.com
Posts: 112 | Registered: Sep 2004 | Profile | PM | IP Logged |
