We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Karydas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michael, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?
One of the most important decisions I ever made self-care wise was going to massage therapy. This is especially important if you work a lot with your hands a lot. Your hands are important tools, you use them for everything so it’s important to take care of them the best you can. Something as simple as going to massage therapy once a month has improved my quality of life, I don’t have sore muscles like I used to and can focus on my work.
Nicole Shelby is my massage therapist, I struggled a lot with carpal tunnel as well as my torn meniscus last year. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to work, but she did an incredible job at educating me, and she was right.
If you find yourself struggling with sore arms/hands like I did, I highly recommend scheduling an appointment! I will leave her Instagram link below, if you find yourself struggling with sore arms/hands like I did, I highly recommend her work!
https://www.instagram.com/nikkismobilemassage/
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I work full time as an independent custom plushmaker and it’s an incredibly rewarding experience! Sometimes people have a favorite character that has no merchandise, or they have an idea they want brought to life. I remember being so excited seeing my character made as a plush, I completely forgot about my real world problems for a moment. I wanted other people to have that same feeling, to reunite them with something that brings genuine happiness.
That’s what’s so special about plush toys/stuffed animals, it’s such an innocent concept that everyone can relate to. Someday, I hope one of the plushes I make for someone, ends up being their favorite with all these stories to tell!
While my focus has always been custom work online, I did recently make an official plush for an upcoming children’s book! https://www.fireflyfran.com/
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
If I had to choose three qualities, I’d say:
-Willingness to try new things, I originally wanted to draw, but my drawings were always very flat/stiff, no energy or depth to the poses. One day, I kinda just pieced together that while they were bad as drawings, worked very well as a sewing pattern where everything is presented flat. I made it part of my goal to turn a weakness into a strength.
-Not afraid of failure, My first ever project was a plush octopus and I messed up SO MANY TIMES, ended up making 30+ legs until I got it right.
-Stubbornness, I didn’t give up after 8 legs, I didn’t try to pick something “easy” to start off with, I had a goal haha
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
One of my dreams is to have a small set of my own collectible plushes mass produced and available to the public. I LOVE collectibles, whether it was Ty beanies or Tamagotchis, I always enjoyed the concept of collecting a bunch of cute characters.
I do the entire process myself (I make my own patterns, embroidery, assembly etc.) and continually teach myself new tricks so I can work up to that.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelktoymaker/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelKarydasArtist/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mdkarydas
- Other: Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/MichaelKToymaker/ Email: [email protected]
