Here’s another plush that I had completed back in February, the swan kwami! This was a commission that was sent to Switzerland, and it is based off of the creatures found in Miraculous Ladybug.

I’ll admit, I have been watching this show for about a year now and I enjoy it, cheesiness and all. When I saw the 2-D animation preview back in the day, I was a bit disappointed that they weren’t going to do the entire series in that style, so I didn’t watch it until much later.

The most interesting part of this show has got to be the miraculous powers and the creatures that reside in each of them, called kwamis. I was hooked when they kept presenting more powers throughout the series, especially when they reveal the powers can be further powered up! I don’t want to get into details, but if you like animal-themed costumes with powers, in a magical-girl story format, and very silly/cheesy teen cartoon drama, then go and watch this show. I was surprised at how entertaining it was.

Back to the commission, this one is a fan-character; they didn’t reveal the name of the kwami, but it is swan-like with some features that are common with the other kwamis in the series. Their heads are rather large, the arms are paddle-shaped, and the feet are oblong; some of them also have these long whisker-like antennae that are either on top of the head or on the cheeks.

I forgot how fun it was to make smaller amigurumi! I kept thinking that the largest round count would need to be at least 30 scs, but I think I ended up doing a maximum of 24 scs for the head. It takes a lot less time to see what the piece looks like, and I find it significantly easier to re-do something if it’s not to my liking. I put on the felt details at this point and I used crochet thread with a smaller hook to make the side whiskers.

Additionally, I found that the pieces needed to be made in segments rather than in tinier rounds, if I wanted a small-yet-distinct shape. This is where my pattern-making skills kick in, as I make flat shapes to stitch into the resulting shape. You can see that the arms were made with three pieces, with two of them being the arm, and the third piece being the feathers that go along the arm. I also did this with the tail, which gave me a lot more control over the shape.

The legs were made out of two pieces, since the jog from the colour change look a lot more disruptive to the design at this scale. I also made the feet by making an oblong round with a chain, while the hind leg part was made out of a more conventional round.

This time around, I left the eyes unpainted to the very end – I think it had to do with the fact that all the pieces were coming together so quickly, that it would take longer to set up the paint and let the head dry before handling it again.

Again, it was a bit of a time gap between when the plush was completed, to when I took photos of the final result. I took these photos just before taking it to the post office:

Thanks for reading!