Cisco: Your work seems to center around food and household items. Is there a particular reason for that?

Heidi: The first thing that I made was a piece of toast and it was when I was pregnant with my son. It just came across as toast because of the scrap of fabric I found, but when I was pregnant sometimes I couldn’t sleep and I would get up and make toast. I could sit down, read a little bit, eat toast and then I could get back to sleep. I don’t know if it is just because of that. I guess because it started with food and then it’s just gone from there to every kind of food. Plus, I like food – there are so many different textures and colors, compared to making a TV or radio that are one color. Food is a little more fun.

C: Do you do a lot of experimentation with cooking?

H: I do. If I didn’t do this stuff, I would love to be a baker or a pastry chef. I love to cook.

C: Do you feel that your work is heavily influenced by your children?

H: Yeah, I would say so. They even give suggestions on things. Once my son said, “You could never make a glass of milk.” And I thought, “What? Yes, I can!” So, of course, I tried to make it and I did and he was like, “Oh! You really did make it!” Having kids and being around them is inspirational.

C: Have you noticed that your work has changed at all as your kids get older?

H: Maybe. They’ll give more challenges. My son asked me to make moldy bread and I did. Some of my old stuff, I look back and think it’s so embarrassing and looks so bad, but maybe that’s normal for anything.

C: What’s the most popular item that you make?

H: I think over all the years it’s still the tampon doll. I think just because it’s a little weird and a lot of people can appreciate it.

C: It’s also huge.

H: Yeah, supersize!

C: So what is your favorite item?

H: It definitely changes. Of course, whatever I’m working on that’s new is probably my most favorite. I like the burnt toast a lot and making the breads, but it definitely changes with whatever I’m into.

C: Do you keep track of how many plush items you’ve made total?

H: No, but I’m sure it’s huge. Sometimes I’ve had to make 200 for one store and that’s in a month. I’m sure it’s hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. Thousands maybe - a lot.

C: It would be awesome to go back and try to count.

H: I could go through orders and wholesale orders. It would take a while. It’s a lot to figure out.

C: Do you ever get tired of a particular design?

H: Yeah, sometimes I try to take it off of my website and not make it for a while. I have old stuff that I don’t make anymore. I made sushi dolls for a while and even the fortune cookies I stopped making for a year and then I started making them again. I want it to be fun still; I don’t want to get sick of making things. I just try to stop when I get sick of something.

C: Is there anything that you’ve permanently retired?

H: Yeah, the toaster purses. I used to make purses that looked like a toaster and the strap was the cord and people still email me. I haven’t made them in over two years and people always ask if I’m going to make more. Any time I think about it I’m like, “Uh… no. I don’t want to!” So, probably for now anyway, I can’t see making them anytime soon.

C: If you ever did start to retire things, do you think you’d release old patterns perhaps in book form?

H: I’ve thought about that. I even have stuff that I used to make that I probably wouldn’t make. And I’ve even looked into a little bit, not much, getting a company to make the toaster purses so I wouldn’t have to and people could still have them. I’ve published a couple patterns in different books. The only thing I still make is the ice cream sandwich. Everything else was like a pot holder that looks like a cupcake with eyes or a house that was a tissue box cover. Things like that, not stuff I normally make. I’ve thought about it, definitely, probably sometime in the future saying, “I don’t want to make that old stuff anymore, but you can make it. Here’s how.”

C: So are you thinking more of licensing?

H: Not necessarily. It could be a pattern book or something. I don’t really know where it’s going to go. I’ve thought about having other companies make things and I don’t know if I want to do that either. I’m very undecided about that.

C: Your KidRobot key chains - is that your first venture into that realm?

H: That is, yeah. Now they’re making clothing with them and other things. They send me emails when they’re going to make something and I have to approve it. I’m like, “Ok! Sure! That’s cool!” It’s awesome and then I get some, too, so it’s really fun.

C: Do you get to have input as far as what the secret ones are?

H: I get to do the colors. My son’s name is Boston so I said one had to be a Boston cream and it had to be sad. They wanted to do the double donut one and I said that was fine, too, but the other has to be Boston cream.

C: Do you have any plans for anything else along those lines? Do you come up with the ideas for KidRobot or is it more them contacting you?

H: They haven’t said anything about making any other toys yet. I know they are talking about making a second series of the donuts. So that’s kind of cool. If they were thinking of making something else, I think the bread would be good because there are so many different kinds, but not yet. I’ve made plush for a couple companies based on their designs that might be prototypes coming up. They haven’t decided yet if they’re going to do it. I’ve done that, but nothing else for toys based on my stuff.

C: Have you done any customizations at all of Munnys or Dunnys or anything like that?

H: No, not yet, but I want to. That’d be awesome, but no… nothing yet.

C: Do you have any idea how many people subscribe to or on a daily basis read your blog?

H: No. The last time I checked it was a lot, which scares me. I don’t like to think about it because then I feel awkward typing. So I think, “My mom is reading this and maybe Tom when he gets home from work.” I can’t think of strangers reading it or I feel so weird and dumb because you’re just typing about your life. It’s very weird to think about. I used to have a livejournal account and then I switched over to my blog and someone made a livejournal feed of it. So now people can just read it that way, too.

C: Do you have any big plans for the future?

H: No, not that I know of besides the KidRobot stuff coming out. There is stuff that I want to work on, like making a whole little city out of plush, but I haven’t been able to start that yet. That’s my next big project. I’ve made little things like cars and boats before, but it would be cool to make a whole city someday.

C: I think it would be interesting if you did an installation of a room where everything was full scale and plush.

H: That would be fun, too. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do. Maybe I should scale back on the website a little and do more one-of-a-kind stuff so I can do things like that. So I’m not sure. I’m at that point where I can either go forward with this stuff, or put it on hold and go to the side with other things I want to do.

C: What is your background as far as art education?

H: I didn’t go to college at all. I’m just self-taught. My mom taught me to sew and she did lots of sewing when we were young for different companies.

C: Do you feel like you are on the cusp now of the scale tipping between art and craft?

H: Yes, especially this year, a lot of different galleries are starting to do plush shows and have been contacting me. It’s really awesome because it’s not just selling at a show. Even though they’re craft shows, of course, things like Renegade are not normal craft shows. That’s really cool to do that, too, but then it’s exciting to think that my stuff is in a gallery with other people that make really cool plush. So, it is really awesome, but especially this last year just the things that have come up because of it. Even this show it’s like, “Wow! My first show!”