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The Girl
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 Posted 08-14-07 01:15 AM   
Does anyone prewash and dry the Nelson socks before monkey making? I haven't been, because I like the crisp colors and texture, but it's come to my attention that the red heel can run on some.
A Smonkeytown resident who wishes to remain unnamed got a little face wash recently, for beautification--not saying any words they shouldn't have, and unfortunately there was some bleed stain on the underside of their lips, because gravity brought the moisture down.
We were able reverse the process in part, by rewetting the run areas and having said monkey hang out upside down for awhile, plus lost of blotting. A bit uncomfortable, and delicate work because in the narrow corner you can't have too much moisture or it will run to above the lip line. I think another low-moisture treatment may further minimize the bleed stain.
But it got me thinking about the monkeys sent out in the world to live with small children and how their heel color holds up.
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Just a girl, in world of monkeys
Human in residence at www.smonkeys.com and
www.spockmonkey.com
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sharonm1tx
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Posted 08-14-07 11:22 AM
thanks for the warning. i never thought of prewashing the socks, but i'm pretty new to this, having only made two monkeys so far, Eve and Brother Rudiger. Both of them are often clothed in white, so they don't usually go to places where they could get dirty, but sometimes they get frisky. Eve just came back from a mountain vacation with Barnabas, Sandra Dee, Merle, and Small Paul. Luckily, even with a lot of hiking and rock climbing, she was able to stay clean.
I have been afraid to try water cleaning on any monkeys. I wonder if spot remover might work. Have you ever tried any kind of spot remover?
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life is good
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Olivia
I run the board!
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Posted 08-23-07 01:11 AM
Here is an article that came out in the Houston Chronicle..some people might recognise themselves in it....
Super Happy Leo Pride This Saturday!Paper: Houston Chronicle
Date: Tue 08/07/2007
Section: Star
Page: 1
Edition: 2 STAR
POP CULTURE / This could be sock-monkey heaven / Volunteers darn stuffed animals that send messages of love to kids
By LANA BERKOWITZ
Staff
Were you one of those lucky kids who owned a sock monkey?
Do you remember how you got it?
Most likely your sock monkey was a gift, and it was probably made by a loved one.
The Sock Monkey Ministry at Christ United Methodist Church in Sugar Land aims to carry on that tradition.
Beth Van Sickle, who was in charge of the Sunday school program, started the project in late 2004. The idea was for the kids to make something to donate during a lesson about serving people less fortunate, said Joan McGee, who helped organize the ministry.
"I thought she was crazy when I heard this because these were first- and second-graders" McGee said.
McGee also was skeptical because Van Sickle has breast cancer. "At the time she was pretty much bedridden."
The kids had a good time with the project, and Van Sickle urged the church to do more. Van Sickle e-mailed homes and orphanages to say the group wanted to share God's love with these children and let them know they are loved by making sock monkeys for them, McGee said.
Then the project just blew up, McGee said. "Beth sees big, and I don't see that big.
"The thing to me that is the miracle about this whole ministry is that it was started after Beth was told she only had a few months to live. That was two and half years ago."
Now women of the church have taken on the duties, although kids still help, and the sock monkeys are shipped throughout the country to disadvantaged and sick children. Van Sickle, 41, relocated to Alabama and started a Sock Monkey Ministry there. She's now in hospice care.
The ministry has spread to 10 other states, and it's estimated that 5,200 stuffed animals have been sent to children in 29 states.
McGee, a 53-year-old nurse, keeps the group going in Houston. The volunteers work at home, but they meet every two or three months for workshops at the church.
It took the members about two months recently to complete 200 sock monkeys for Girls and Boys Town in Nebraska. Now they are working on a batch to ship to Phoenix Indian Medical Center to give children facing extensive dental surgery.
At Girls and Boys Town, the sock monkeys are being given to schoolchildren and distributed at the Boys Town National Research Hospital to comfort young patients.
"We tell them that somebody cares about them and made it for them. It helps them treasure the sock monkey," said Katina Gordon, Girls and Boys Town public relations associate. The stuffed animals don't carry any religious symbols, but a letter in the box notes that the gift has been prayed over, which Girls and Boys Town reps also find comforting, Gordon said,
Most of the church volunteers have fond memories of homemade sock monkeys.
"There's a lot of nostalgia in sock monkeys. For a while you didn't see much at all, but when I talk to people, they'll say my grandmother made me one," McGee said.
The group of about 10 dedicated sock monkey-makers has worked out an assembly line of sorts. Each monkey is made from a pair of socks. Some volunteers draw patterns on the socks purchased from Fox River Mills. The socks are put into a plastic bag and handed off to someone who uses a machine to sew the arms, legs and upper body. Then there's the stuffing. Finally, another group takes the stuffed body parts and assembles sock monkeys with hand stitching.
"It's funny how each person makes theirs look different," McGee said. "When people turn in their monkeys to me - and a lot of times I won't see where the monkeys are coming from because we'll make transfers in the church office - but I can look at a monkey and say: `Ah, Carol made these.' It's the placement of the eyes, where they stuck the mouth, where they put the ears.
The monkeys get yarn hair plus color-coordinated eyes and neck ribbons, which gives them personality.
Adding up the supplies and shipping, each monkey costs between $5 and $10 to make.
McGee said the ministry could sell the stuffed cuties for around $35 each and give the money to charity.
"It would be a different message," she said. "What we like is the idea of the child having the stuffed animals to sleep with and to hold. So giving an orphanage money is not going to give the same feeling.
"It's one thing to write a check and it's another thing to put the labor into it and love into it," she said.
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MY FIRST SOCK MONKEY
"My grandmother gave me and my two brothers sock monkeys when we were very young - in the mid-to-late '50s.
"Those were the days when a child only had one or two stuffed animals. I had a brown bear and my sock monkey.
"I loved my sock monkey and used to take it with me when we traveled.
"I was prone to motion sickness. In a little '55 Chevy station wagon with two parents and five children crammed in. Holding my sock monkey. Well, I got car sick. Need I say more?"
BONNIE CONNELLY, author of Everything's Coming Up Sock Monkeys: The Art, History and Business of the American Sock Monkey (In My Own Dream Publishing, $17.99)
"My first sock monkeys were twins (Stella and June), given to me for Christmas in 1972. I still have them.
"We have a collection of over 200 sock monkeys, so displaying them creatively is essential, otherwise the house just turns into a big mess of stuffed animals. We try to give all of our monkeys an `environment' appropriate to their personalities.
"Stella and June currently reside on a shelf in my office surrounded by their favorite things: a White Stripes vinyl 45, a pinback button given to them by Jack White (they take turns wearing it) and a patchwork cat that they believe is their pet."
LETITIA WALKER, of Red Heel Monkey Shelter and co-author of Sock Monkey Dreams (Viking Studio, $14.95)
"My grandmother made them, but I didn't get one of them because they scared me.
"My first sock monkey used to ride in the car. I got it at a thrift store. Her name was Oonga Jones. She was a hula-girl monkey - not a red-heel but hand-made.
"I lost her. It was a long time ago. She got misplaced."
OLIVIA DVORAK, Super Happy Fun Land, who makes sock monkeys for www.fluff.tv. She also adopts sock monkeys found in resale shops, garage sales and trash bins
...
OTHER SOCK MONKEYS
The narrator in Sock, a novel by Penn Gillette
Tim, the sock monkey with his own Web site, www.thebigt.com
Uncle Gabby of Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey comic books
The star of CeCe Bell's children's books
Photographer Arne Svenson's sock monkey portraits
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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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Tamara
Regular Guest
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Posted 08-26-07 07:10 PM
Cool article Olivia!
Here is my latest challenge, I am so glad to be done with. 
He's not really even a monkey, but more a doll made from monkey socks. Loki the Trickster Norse God
[Edited by Tamara]
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The art is Monkeys~ The medium is Socks
http://www.sockmonkeyfun.com
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Olivia
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Posted 08-27-07 05:41 AM
Wow! Nice!
I have only made one sock person meeself...(during the adult phase of my sock sewing career...it was part of a trade at a barter fair..The lady wanted an "ethnic" doll...she was sorta non-descriptly "other-culture" looking, because the lady didn't specify what ethinicity.
I am theoreticly working on several projects..
This was my latest custom portrait monkey
and then tonight i got my birfday present...(shfl currently has a resident tattoo artist)
it is still kinda bloody...It was just finished less than an hour ago...I am still sorta adrenaline buzzed. I have mulled over this dsign for a coupla years...(the winged sock monkey is sorta my logo)
[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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The Girl
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Posted 08-27-07 06:19 AM
Ouchie!
But cute. Are those little tufts of fluff on the outer edges?
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Just a girl, in world of monkeys
Human in residence at www.smonkeys.com and
www.spockmonkey.com
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sharonm1tx
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Posted 08-27-07 09:53 AM
that is wonderful! you are so creative. Wayland is already wondering if you are going to license your tattoo?
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life is good
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Olivia
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Posted 08-27-07 01:14 PM
Yes...tufts of fluff...
and yes..back tattoos are painful. I also got one on my arm that I didn't post because it wasn't a sock monkey, and it hardly hurt at all.
but I don't understand the liscense my tattoo part...will have to look it up.
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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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Stella & June
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Posted 08-27-07 03:55 PM
We recognize US in the article!
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We never get any credit!
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Reggie
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Posted 08-27-07 04:02 PM
GREAT tattoo, Olivia! And I like Dr. [editedbyMrsTiffany]Face - is that a present for some member of the medical community?
And, Tamara, Loki looks very mischevious . . .
[Edited by Reggie]
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I really try to take care of these guys, but it's not easy.
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Pierre Mon Frere
New Resident
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Posted 08-27-07 04:08 PM
quote:
Tamara wrote:
OH!
Tell me what vouz want moi to do, oh great one!!!
Pierre is at your command!
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If I do not go making the trouble, how will it be there when you go looking for eet, non?
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Phillipe Le Onion
Occasional Visitor
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Posted 08-27-07 04:09 PM
Is zat a sprig of zee mistletoe you vunt us to fling at somevun?
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FREE THE ONION!
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sharonm1tx
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Posted 08-28-07 09:19 AM
quote:
Olivia wrote:
Yes...tufts of fluff...
and yes..back tattoos are painful. I also got one on my arm that I didn't post because it wasn't a sock monkey, and it hardly hurt at all.
but I don't understand the liscense my tattoo part...will have to look it up.
I understand licensing to mean when you allow other tattoo shops or people to use your design, but they have to pay for the right to use it.
How long did it take for the actual tattooing? I love the socks--the whole design is just great.
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life is good
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Olivia
I run the board!
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Posted 08-29-07 05:25 AM
I don't care if other people use it or not...from my experience, that stuff doesn't even seem to matter...(having had designs stolen in the past and whatnot)
it took a coupla hours..for two tattoos including breaks...got another one on my arm the same sitting. The shoulder piece woulda taken less time if it didn't hurt so much. They both took well though, and barely hurt at all anymore.
Roommate who gave them to me said I have thick skin.
quote:
Reggie wrote:
GREAT tattoo, Olivia! And I like Dr. [editedbyMrsTiffany]Face - is that a present for some member of the medical community?
I think she is some sorta biologist. It was an anneversary present...
[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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Ceru_Monkey
New Resident
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Posted 08-30-07 11:20 AM
quote:
Phillipe Le Onion wrote:
Is zat a sprig of zee mistletoe you vunt us to fling at somevun?
He said that is what that thing is for... good thing you asked, I had no idea what it was. 
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Let's go have some Fun!
http://www.SockMonkeyFun.com
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Emily Anne
Occasional Visitor
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Posted 09-01-07 10:40 AM
I'm sorry to intrude on the monkey maker's corner thread, as I am not officially a monkey maker yet. I was going to ask my question in the newbies thread, but it doesn't seem to get much traffic.
I'm experimenting with making monkeys that I can pose in order to photograph for some stories I want to tell. I have purchased 7" bendy hair rollers to go in the arms and legs, and someone also suggested I buy plastic safety lock doll joints intended for cloth dolls. I can't picture how that would work. Can someone who is experienced in monkey making tell me if the idea is worth pursuing or not?
Thanks very much.
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Chocolate is the answer
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Tamara
Regular Guest
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Posted 09-01-07 12:56 PM
Hiya Emily Anne!
The whole board is for sock monkeys so they don't intrude in any thread!
As to posing for the camera, I know that a few here use wire inside the monkey. I have recently started using thin flexible wire (like the kind used for silk flower arranging) it works great. And as long as I am careful, the sock monkeys are ok with the procedure.
On a totally different note. I just got an order for a sock monkey to be a ring bearer for the ring bearer at a wedding! I thought this was such a cute idea. I mean why use some silly lifeless pillow. 
[Edited by Tamara]
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The art is Monkeys~ The medium is Socks
http://www.sockmonkeyfun.com
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Bert
Regular Guest
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Posted 09-03-07 07:03 PM
Olivie!
I wanted to show you my tribal tat. I have had it since right after my fluff was put in. You have a really cool tat!
Hi Sally!
[Edited by Bert]
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When I grow up I wana be a swing set tester.
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Thelma and Louie
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Posted 09-04-07 02:03 PM
Here is a link to a lifesized sock monkey. You might want to take a look at home, cuz he is anatomically correct!
http://www.verkstad.com/monkey.html
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Always says please and thank you!
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Candy Striper Claire
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Posted 09-04-07 02:27 PM
You know I lost an arm to an anatomically correct brother.
Fortunately the grandma was able to make a prosthetic arm for me out of the end of my tail, once I arrived at Smonkeytown. That's what inspired and enabled me to become a monkey care practitioner.
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Anyone need a pillow, a blankie? Can I bring you a cup of cocoa?
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coco
Permanent Resident
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Posted 09-04-07 02:31 PM
Yea, and we saw her brother get placed through eBay a year later, for about ten times what we had to pay to free Claire.
It's a cruel world, where an anatomically correct boy is valued ten times more than a one armed girl.
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A round of 'nanner smoothies for everyone!
Miss Red Heel Monkey Shelter Message Board 2006
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Red Marie Velvet
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Posted 09-04-07 11:04 PM
*BLUSH* I'm so 'bareassed!
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Bloom where you are planted!
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googlie
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Posted 09-05-07 05:18 PM
quote:
Bert wrote:
Olivie!
I wanted to show you my tribal tat. I have had it since right after my fluff was put in. You have a really cool tat!
Hi Sally!
[Edited by Bert]
Here's a picture of Brother Rudiger up a in a tree. He also has a tribal tat!!!! Are you a monkey of the cloth also?
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You see us together, chasing the moonlight (it's true, I have a crush on cinnamon)
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Foofie
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Posted 09-05-07 08:33 PM
The only monkey at SHFL who has a tattoo is Offeelia, I think..
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http://www.fluff.tv
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Offeelia
Long Time Resident
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Posted 09-05-07 08:34 PM
Not a tattoo...it's a birthmark.
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aye me!
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Bert
Regular Guest
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Posted 09-05-07 09:10 PM
no, I'm a munkey of the corn. I live in Nebraska.
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When I grow up I wana be a swing set tester.
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Ralphy Roo
Regular Guest
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Posted 09-05-07 10:24 PM
quote:
Bert wrote:
no, I'm a munkey of the corn. I live in Nebraska.
I hope that's not like Children of the Corn. That movie was scaree!!
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Wuv, Ralphy
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Bert
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Posted 09-05-07 11:46 PM
NOOOOOOOO, we are nice munkeys, we only shuck the corn to eat on the cob!
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When I grow up I wana be a swing set tester.
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Ralphy Roo
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Posted 09-06-07 10:44 AM
I know you are all very nice, Bert! I was just playin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Wuv, Ralphy
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coco
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Posted 09-06-07 10:56 AM
But that Children of the Corn movie was really scary!! I thought of it too, when Bert said that.
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A round of 'nanner smoothies for everyone!
Miss Red Heel Monkey Shelter Message Board 2006
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