You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2008.
Not for eating 
It’s a paste made from the whites of commercial loaf bread, white craft glue (school glue), lime juice and glycerin (or cream with glycerin). Mom used to make flowers made from migajón in the 80s. After she added stems and leaves to the flowers (like these), she combined them to make beautiful bouquets!
Dyed migajon paste
Nowadays, it’s popular to sculpt tiny foods, much like mazapán fruit! Unfortunately, they’re not edible like marzipan, but still much alike in cuteness rankings. 
I’m working on a technique since what I’m trying to do is different from how Mom used it. Sculpting with it, rather than pressing and combining pieces together, is much harder than it seems…not sure if it will work. Maybe my recipe needs some adjusting.
The Mars Sock Monkey summer collection is finally here! Say hello to Robert, Mona, William, Eileen and Ulysses!
Inspired by some world renowned graffiti art, the newest monkeys are representative of the vibe and culture that buzzes in the streets of East London. Here the neighborhoods are splashed with innovative street art and people with styles and fashions that are something out of this world…or the 80s, 90s, and even 70s. With bright colorful patches of paint, the streets seem to come alive. East London is why the Mars Sock Monkey summer batch is bright, funky and as colorful as the art displayed on the city walls.
These new monkeys sport some innovative knitting techniques in terms of doll fashion. In addition to the use of the popular polo style sweater design, I’ve added a style of knitted fabric which has a blended gradient color effect, mixing stiches of different yarn colors together gradually to become what I call the “gradient sweater”.
Another style of knitting new to the collection includes cables, which are the strands of braided fabric that run up and down winter sweaters to thicken and add a decorative touch. From this fabric, I created an outfit based on the v-neck sweater vest and undershirt combination. I’ve combined it with the traditional European hat, the flat cap (or golf cap), so popularly worn in England. Very cute on a sock monkey by the way
The final contribution to sock monkey fashion wear is a cap with a brim done in the same style as the gradient sweater…simply put a baseball cap!
New finishing touches include opposite color edging on the sleeves, sweater and hood, some ribbon and a big heart pattern. Making their return from previous monkeys are rib knit edging, puffy short sleeves (for summer!), hoods, beanie with pom-pom, a pocket pouch and original star design from the very first days of the Mars Sock Monkey.
I’m really looking forward to making the next group of sock monkeys…hopefully there will be some surprises and new innovations. The next batch will be inspired by an interesting piece of the London nightlife. Stay tuned for the Fall MSM Collection!!
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Each sock monkey from the Summer 2008 Collection is for sale at Etsy and DaWanda. If you’re interested in a custom order, please email me at 
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To view the full photostream, please visit the flickr feed. Please note that no actual monkeys were used in the capture of the graffiti art, so they are perfectly clean and in top-notch condition.
I now present the Mars Sock Monkey Summer 2008 Collection!
Robert Mars Sock Monkey
Robert comes with a newly designed short sleeve gradient sweater with hoodie and pocket pouch in light/dark purple and green. For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
Mona Mars Sock Monkey
Mona is dressed with a short sleeve hot pink and black sweater with star design and matching color beanie with pom-pom. For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
William Mars Sock Monkey
William sports a newly designed green cable vest sweater with brown bow and white undershirt. He also sports a lovely matching flat cap. True to the Englishman style! For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
Eileen Mars Sock Monkey
Eileen wears a striped short sleeve hot pink and bright yellow sweater with hoodie and heart design. For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
Ulysses Mars Sock Monkey
Ulysses comes with a short sleeve light yellow/hot pink gradient sweater and matching sports cap with brim…baseball cap! For sale at maribel.etsy.com and maribel.dawanda.com.
Graffiti art is not associated with Maribel Made and belong to its respective owners (City of London and graffiti artists). A good reference to graffiti artist’s names can be found here.
See the previous MSM collection:
Spring 2008
For more info on my exclusive line of sock monkeys see, Sock monkeys + knitted sweaters = Mars Sock Monkeys.
Toys, original and manipulated photos are copyright Maribel Castellanos.
Ah! My first post featuring someone else’s work other than my own.
Diamonds and Sprinkles by Jujulee creates unique and stylish acrylic jewelery. Julie, the woman behind Jujulee.etsy.com and her husband Scott, who also sells at Laser.etsy.com, work out of Salt Lake City where they produce beautiful laser art since 2002! The husband and wife team create lovely layered wall art, business cards, invitations, earrings, rings, pendants, and seem to be open to custom orders as well. The possibilities are endless…I had a monkey in mind the other day
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with my very first sock monkey custom order client. She was a delight and even ordered a second monkey! She also gave each of them their names, Punk and Star. They now live in the southern land of Australia! See Punk and Star Mars in action at their new home.
If you’re interested in placing a custom order for a sock monkey, please contact me at .
Punk comes with a stripe short sleeve black and purple sweater with skull and crossbones design and matching color beanie with pom-pom. SOLD CUSTOM ORDER.
Star comes with a short sleeve black and hot pink sweater with star design and matching color beanie with pom-pom. SOLD CUSTOM ORDER.
One day I know this illustration will be finished! My intend is to put it up for sale as a print on deviantART once it’s complete. It’s about the same size as Seijin Shiki, which I’m considering getting printed down the street.
So much still to do on this one though, but my goal is to finish it within 1-2 month’s time between MSMs (Mars Sock Monkeys).
