Building a Skybax: The Rise and Fall of Hand Sewing for Those Who Suck At It
Okay, so if you're not familiar with Dinotopia, the short and long of the "Skybax" creatures is that they function sort of as domesticated pterodactyls. A special Dinotopian corps bonds with these skybax and serves as the island's air force, scouts, and high order messengers.
So I wanted to make one. And I tried, twice, with varied results. Neither of these actually look much like the skybax, but I'm pretty happy with the plushy demon birds I ended up with.
Hint, hint: the key here is to make the design as simple as possible, and to make all the fiddly bits out of something you're better at.
Phase One: The Two-Dimensional Approach (aka The Roadkill)
So this was my first attempt. It's pretty crude, I'm not going to lie, but it is basically recognizable as a Skybax (or Skybax-ish)
Materials:
- a few inches of a soft, medium-thickness fabric. I used a scale-patterned faux-suede "ribbon" from Hobby Lobby, but anything will do
- a couple pinches of fluff. I stole mine from a worn out pillow
- the usual sewing notions (thread, needles, pins, whatnot)
Instructions:
1. Make a Pattern and Cut the Material
Since this version is pretty much a flat cushion, there's nothing fancy about the pattern. I drew up a wing, a body, and a head. The body and the head got a front and a back piece each, and I cut four wing pieces to make two wings.
2. Sew
Pretty straightforward. I sewed all the main parts separately with right sides facing inward, then reversed them so that the right sides were facing out and the seams were on the inside. I left the neck, inside edges of the wings, and the base of the head open and ready to be stuffed.
Before attaching the wings to the body, I decided to top stitch a line just under the top edge of each wing, just to add a little stability and texture. Then the wings were sewed onto the body.
3. Stuff and Finish
What it says on the tin. I shoved a little bit of fluff down into the body, and little into the head. Then I sewed them together Frankenstein-style because I have no idea how to sew plushes. Or much else, really.
And there you have it: the simplest possible version of a skybax plush.
Phase Two: The Stand-Alone (aka Satan's Puppet)
I was going to be happy with my floppy little skybax, I really was. And then I saw the Loonatic's in-progress hatchling (go check out her tutorial!), and I was floored. It was articulated. And, well, I couldn't just let that stand. So I took another whack at it.
Materials:
- a few inches of a soft, medium-thickness fabric. I used a scale-patterned faux-suede "ribbon" from Hobby Lobby, but anything will do
- a few inches of a contrast fabric (I used a pleather)
- a brick of polymer clay
- a sturdy glue, such as E6000
- a few wooden beads in varying sizes
- a couple pinches of fluff. I stole mine from a worn out pillow.
- the usual sewing notions and foofaraw (thread, needles, pins, whatnot)
Instructions:
1. Make a Pattern and Cut the Material
This is almost exactly the same as the Roadkill version, but I did manage to learn a thing or two. The pattern for the wings and body are almost identical to the original, but I decided to size them up a bit.
The head gets a little upgrade because I decided to make it a little more three-dimensional this time around. Because I have no idea how to do that with fabric, I decided to skip the middle man and make the beak and face out of polymer clay later. What that means for this step is that the "head" fabric pieces are only designed to make a cone for the back of the head.
As a secondary upgrade for the Terminator 2000, I decided to use two different fabrics. The original faux-suede makes up the front of the Skybax, and the back of the wings and body, as well as the top of the head, I cut out of a brown crocodile-patterned pleather.
2. Sew
Again, pretty much the same as the first time around. However, I made a few changes.
For the wings, I went through the process of sewing and flipping, but I decided to add a wire to the top edge of the wing to make it poseable, and included a small wooden bead on each wing on which I eventually plan to attach claws. To secure this, I again top-stitched a channel at the top of the wing (this time sewing around the wooden bead). For funsies, I also top stitched an additional line in the wing to give the appearance of another bone in the wing.
For the body, I did something similar, attaching small wooden beads to a short length of wire and inserting it into the body where the beads could serve as feet.
The head also got a slightly larger wooden bead, on which the fabric cone was secured, and on which the face would eventually be attached.
3. Sculpt, Stuff, and Finish
Again, pretty much the same ass before, with a few additions. As with my previous Occamy project, I decided to sculpt the face, hand claws, and feet claws out of polymer clay and smushed them to fit onto the wooden beads. These were then baked and set aside while the rest of the body was stuffed and assembled, and glued on once everything else was set.
Bonus Round: Making an Egg (aka Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me!)
I'm just throwing this in at the end because it was fun, easy, and kind of pointless.
Materials:
- 1 large plastic ornament ball (the kind with a side seam so that the ornament splits into two equal halves. I bought one at Hobby Lobby for a couple dollars)
- 1 bottle superglue
- 1-2 small bags of sequins in your choice of size and color
Instructions:
1. Start Gluing
Starting at the peak of each half, start gluing the sequins down in an overlapping sequence, spiraling all the way down to the side seam. You do not need much glue to secure each sequin, and drying glue may discolor the sequins, so don't overdo the glue.
2. Finish Gluing
When you reach the seam edge, reattach the halves to form the complete ornament. Choose one half to be the overlapping half and carefully glue a ring of sequins to the edge of that half that will also cover the seam. Once this is accomplished (and everything is dry) the halves can be split or joined at will (it's actually pretty tough). However, you won't be able to twist the halves apart without mangling the sequins, so be careful to gently pry the halves straight away from each other when opening from now on.
And then you've got an egg. Bravo!
It's actually pretty useful. I made it for my dino-doll, but I've mostly been using is as a mini sewing case for my thread, needles, pins, etc.
So I wanted to make one. And I tried, twice, with varied results. Neither of these actually look much like the skybax, but I'm pretty happy with the plushy demon birds I ended up with.
 |
| On the left, we see Gurney's majestic original skybax! And on the right, kind of a ugly duckling. But it's still my baby, and it's still way better than my original attempt. |
Hint, hint: the key here is to make the design as simple as possible, and to make all the fiddly bits out of something you're better at.
Phase One: The Two-Dimensional Approach (aka The Roadkill)
So this was my first attempt. It's pretty crude, I'm not going to lie, but it is basically recognizable as a Skybax (or Skybax-ish)
Materials:
- a few inches of a soft, medium-thickness fabric. I used a scale-patterned faux-suede "ribbon" from Hobby Lobby, but anything will do
- a couple pinches of fluff. I stole mine from a worn out pillow
- the usual sewing notions (thread, needles, pins, whatnot)
Instructions:
1. Make a Pattern and Cut the Material
Since this version is pretty much a flat cushion, there's nothing fancy about the pattern. I drew up a wing, a body, and a head. The body and the head got a front and a back piece each, and I cut four wing pieces to make two wings.
 | |
| Don't get too attaches to those talons, they did not make past the stuffing stage. |
2. Sew
Pretty straightforward. I sewed all the main parts separately with right sides facing inward, then reversed them so that the right sides were facing out and the seams were on the inside. I left the neck, inside edges of the wings, and the base of the head open and ready to be stuffed.
Before attaching the wings to the body, I decided to top stitch a line just under the top edge of each wing, just to add a little stability and texture. Then the wings were sewed onto the body.
3. Stuff and Finish
 |
| Ta-Dah! Eat your heart out, Sid from Toy Story |
What it says on the tin. I shoved a little bit of fluff down into the body, and little into the head. Then I sewed them together Frankenstein-style because I have no idea how to sew plushes. Or much else, really.
And there you have it: the simplest possible version of a skybax plush.
Phase Two: The Stand-Alone (aka Satan's Puppet)
I was going to be happy with my floppy little skybax, I really was. And then I saw the Loonatic's in-progress hatchling (go check out her tutorial!), and I was floored. It was articulated. And, well, I couldn't just let that stand. So I took another whack at it.
Materials:
- a few inches of a soft, medium-thickness fabric. I used a scale-patterned faux-suede "ribbon" from Hobby Lobby, but anything will do
- a few inches of a contrast fabric (I used a pleather)
- a brick of polymer clay
- a sturdy glue, such as E6000
- a few wooden beads in varying sizes
- a couple pinches of fluff. I stole mine from a worn out pillow.
- the usual sewing notions and foofaraw (thread, needles, pins, whatnot)
Instructions:
1. Make a Pattern and Cut the Material
This is almost exactly the same as the Roadkill version, but I did manage to learn a thing or two. The pattern for the wings and body are almost identical to the original, but I decided to size them up a bit.
The head gets a little upgrade because I decided to make it a little more three-dimensional this time around. Because I have no idea how to do that with fabric, I decided to skip the middle man and make the beak and face out of polymer clay later. What that means for this step is that the "head" fabric pieces are only designed to make a cone for the back of the head.
As a secondary upgrade for the Terminator 2000, I decided to use two different fabrics. The original faux-suede makes up the front of the Skybax, and the back of the wings and body, as well as the top of the head, I cut out of a brown crocodile-patterned pleather.
2. Sew
Again, pretty much the same as the first time around. However, I made a few changes.
For the wings, I went through the process of sewing and flipping, but I decided to add a wire to the top edge of the wing to make it poseable, and included a small wooden bead on each wing on which I eventually plan to attach claws. To secure this, I again top-stitched a channel at the top of the wing (this time sewing around the wooden bead). For funsies, I also top stitched an additional line in the wing to give the appearance of another bone in the wing.
For the body, I did something similar, attaching small wooden beads to a short length of wire and inserting it into the body where the beads could serve as feet.
The head also got a slightly larger wooden bead, on which the fabric cone was secured, and on which the face would eventually be attached.
3. Sculpt, Stuff, and Finish
Again, pretty much the same ass before, with a few additions. As with my previous Occamy project, I decided to sculpt the face, hand claws, and feet claws out of polymer clay and smushed them to fit onto the wooden beads. These were then baked and set aside while the rest of the body was stuffed and assembled, and glued on once everything else was set.
 |
| I don't know what happened here. My heart said Simba, and my hands went with it. |
Bonus Round: Making an Egg (aka Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me!)
I'm just throwing this in at the end because it was fun, easy, and kind of pointless.
Materials:
- 1 large plastic ornament ball (the kind with a side seam so that the ornament splits into two equal halves. I bought one at Hobby Lobby for a couple dollars)
- 1 bottle superglue
- 1-2 small bags of sequins in your choice of size and color
Instructions:
1. Start Gluing
Starting at the peak of each half, start gluing the sequins down in an overlapping sequence, spiraling all the way down to the side seam. You do not need much glue to secure each sequin, and drying glue may discolor the sequins, so don't overdo the glue.
2. Finish Gluing
When you reach the seam edge, reattach the halves to form the complete ornament. Choose one half to be the overlapping half and carefully glue a ring of sequins to the edge of that half that will also cover the seam. Once this is accomplished (and everything is dry) the halves can be split or joined at will (it's actually pretty tough). However, you won't be able to twist the halves apart without mangling the sequins, so be careful to gently pry the halves straight away from each other when opening from now on.
And then you've got an egg. Bravo!
 |
| What strange artifact is this? It's so...so...fabulous! |
 |
| But instead of a cool geode, you get a terrifying dino-adjacent creature. Mazel Tov! |
It's actually pretty useful. I made it for my dino-doll, but I've mostly been using is as a mini sewing case for my thread, needles, pins, etc.
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