Let the intergalactiphants roulez!

As we wind down the last (gulp!) 48 hours of my Kickstarter pre-sales of Elephabet, I have two more elephants to reveal this morning.

First, we have our Intergalactiphants, representing the letter I. (Special thanks to Jennifer at Green Bean Books for supplying the nifty space helmets from her vending machines!)

Rockephant will be $150

Lunaphant will be $100

Galaxiphant will be $100

and little martiaphant shall be $45.

The last letter of the alphabet had some great choices, and I opted for Zydephant, honoring the music and, of course, culinary traditions of the Zydeco capital of the world, New Orleans.

Accordiophant is shaped like an accordion and will be $150.

Zydephant has washboard ears and a fiddle on the gator's back. He will be $100.

And last, but not least....

This rather large foodiephant will be $150 - includes crawfish, pepper, corn on the cob, and a play on the Tabasco logo on the ear. I am still not sure what to call him, so if you have any suggestions.....

Tomorrow I shall reveal the last two elephants I will be able to finish before the Kickstarter campaign ends. That will only leave one last letter you won't get to see, but I expect to reveal that next week. Don't forget--if you've pledged at a level to receive one of these pieces from the book/video project, you get first dibs, next in line are the rest of the Kickstarter supporters, and if you missed the boat on this, what's remaining will be available to the general public in early December. Thanks everyone for your amazing support of this project! It is exceeding my original expectations and I am re-investing the surplus in a better quality book. Until then, laisser les bons temps rouler!

take a peek behind the scenes of Elephabet!

In the Studio with: Hilary Pfeifer from kiri on Vimeo.

I was interviewed for Hargie, a friend's blog that's what she calls "a self-directed MFA experiment." Take a peek inside my studio and see some of the critters that are in process for Elephabet!

p.s. pre-orders via Kickstarter ends Sunday!!!

gimme an E! gimme a V!

Hello Beautiful Person!

I have two more letters ready from the Elephabet as we tick away the hours on my Kickstarter campaign!

For the letter V, I had a few tempting options, but ultimately chose to have fun with Vice-Versaphants. Like their etymological origin, these elephants are happy to be going in more than one direction.

these pieces will be $65 each.

And now to finally reveal my very difficult E decision: Elementephant, named for the elements. I had a little fun with this one, as usual.....with a Chinese twist, following their five element philosophy:

we begin with Earthiphant - she will be $75.

Airiphant, who will be $45

Wateriphant will be $45

BBQiphant will be $100 (In China, this element is wood, rather than the western fire, so imagine this bird cooking with mesquite chips!)

Robotophant represents the fifth element of metal. This figure will be $100.

Okay--gotta get back to it! One last thing before I go, I have recently updated the frequently asked questions on my Kickstarter page that has updates about overseas Elephabet backers, how the original work will be distributed, and more. Look for it at the bottom of the page!

We hit 300% last night and I'm going in for my first photo shoot tomorrow! Thank you all!!!!
I am doing my royal best to finish up the last five letters of the alphabet this week so buckle your seatbelts!

This update brought to you by the letters B and X (and maybe I)

Hello again, beautiful person! In spite of the recent shocking headlines, I am nonetheless here to introduce two new letters to the Elephabet.

First, we have letter D, which was almost H. Let me explain. I'm assuming that most of you dear readers have seen my Kickstarter video explaining the pieces I had made thus far for the Elephabet book. WELL...at that time I had a number of elephants that surrounded the idea of housing and was thusly dubbing them "Habitatiphants." I have recently decided that the most appropriate name should really be "Dwellephants." Much better, huh? Here's the batch of Dwellephants you saw in the video, with estimated prices:

habitatiphant $150

Hi-Risiphant $150

Tipiphant $75

I haven't included this one here, mainly because I'm contemplating giving Iglooiphant its own letter I. Igloo is such a great word......stay tuned for details.

This piece will also be $150.

I also made this LogCabiphant for the D category:

This piece will also be $150.

Last, but not least, I have these two pieces that were part of the initial Dwellephant concept. But, like Iglooiphant, I am not sure they belong in this category. It started with Airstreamaphant

This piece will probably also be $150.

I made this VWBusiphant to tow the Airstreamaphant through the video, but the trunks prove to be a bit of a logistical problem when put together. It just doesn't look right. I still like him though!!

This piece will probably be around $75. I'll decide when I'm in the graphics stage of this process whether they make it into the book, but they'll definitely be available for sale when the rest of this work goes on my Etsy site in November.

Moving on, I decided to go with the classic alphabet book word for X, X-Ray. And that makes X-Rayiphant. I couldn't resist painting the skeletal graphic design I thought of, plus a view into the recently consumed foods by these pachyderms:

This one has eaten a pear, orange, and apple, as evidenced in its stomach cavity.

This one ate a big circus peanut, and is the same on both sides.

Okay...that's it for now. I am finishing up Y right now and will reveal it in a day or two. In the meantime, let's see if you can guess what it will be!

A is for Acrobatiphant!

Yippeee! I have another letter to show you from the Elephabet Book, which is inching closer and closer towards realizing its Kickstarter goal! I proclaim that A is for Acrobatiphant, combining the word acrobat with elephant, thinking it would be a good thing to start with a simpler portmanteau to get the ball rolling when one is reading the eventual book from A to Z. Not to mention the fact that I love stacking animals and things on top of animals and things, both in real life and in Bunnywood, where all the Bunny with a Toolbelt creatures live. (Note: it is much easier to do this in Bunnywood!)

Here are my three attempts at Acrobatiphant:
This apple-licious one is the largest, and will probably be priced around $150

This one is only slightly smaller in stature, but more complex, so it will also be around $150.

This one's actually the smallest of the bunch, and will probably be priced around $85.

Before I go, I want to give a big Bunny with a Toolbelt shout out to my niece Alma who affixed over 50 stamps to my Elephabet Kickstarter promo postcards yesterday! I told her about ye olden days when you had to either lick all the stamps, or set up a damp sponge on a plate. The responded as any seven-year-old in their right mind should: Ewwwwwww!

Thanks everyone for your support! I feel so happy that I'm finally realizing this project and, thanks to Kickstarter, it's really fun to be able to do it with a community of well-wishers. I wish you all the best as well!

Not a supporter yet? Click here and join in on the fun!

meet Mondrianiphant and Neopoliphant

Let's explore the middle of the alphabet today--our representatives for letter M and N from the Elephabet Book are ready to meet you!

First we have Mondrianiphant, named for Dutch De Stijl artist Piet Mondrian. I made two examples for this letter and these diptychs show how the painter's distinctive style extends around this 3-d object. These figures will be priced around $75 apiece when the book is completed.


The letter N is represented by Neapolitaphant, named for Neapolitan, one of the tastiest ice cream flavors that combines strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. I added a cherry on top and a ice cream cone hat. I made two of these figures, changing around the distribution of flavors. Still deciding on the pricing for these--probably around $100.


Want to be alerted when these babies go on sale in November? Sign up for my Kickstarter campaign to fund the printing of my Elephabet Book! Click here to learn more!

S is for Sushiphant!

Hey Kids! Do you know what time it is? It's time to meet the newest members of the Elephabet Book, Sushiphant!

It was hard to stop making work for this letter. First of all, I LOVE sushi, and second of all, I LOOOOOVE sushi, and third of all, I LOOOOOOOVE making sushi-inspired elephants! I didn't necessarily pick my favorite types of sushi here, opting for the more iconic ingredients. Above is wasabiphant, who is little, but we all know that a little goes a long way with this guy inspired by wasabi. He is very tiny, so the price might even be less than $45.

Here's Tobikophant, who is sporting three different colors of this yummy crunchy roe. The pattern painted on his lower regions is a funky tribute to painted Japanese porcelain dishware. Tobikophant will probably cost around $100.


Moving over to nigiri-style sushi for a bit, I really had fun with the design of these next three: Sakephant (salmon,) Ebiphant (shrimp,) and Tamagophant (egg.) Note the subtle rice pattern on their white bodies. These were considerably more labor, so will cost between $100 and $150.




And, last but not least, I present Futomakiphant. He will be priced around $75.

Want first dibs on these babies when they hit my Etsy shop this fall? Click here and join my Kickstarter campaign to publish my Elephabet Book, and your wish can come true in a few months!!

K is for.....Kachinaphant!

Hurrah! Less than a week into the Kickstarter campaign for the Elephabet Book, and I'm thrilled to be at 40% of the way towards my initial publishing goal!!

Today I'll start to introduce some of the characters I've already made that starred in my Kickstarter video. First, I brainstormed about possible K words to use. I want the book to be educational, fun, reflect my love of words, and I really enjoyed the explorations I did on each letter. Here's the top contenders I wrote in my notebook, just for fun.
As you can see, Kachinaphant was the one I decided would be best for the letter K.

I decided that I will make at least two elephants for every letter of the alphabet. This is, in part, because the stop action video will be more fun if there's a few examples for each word. It's also because I each letter takes some research and/or imagination and it's hard to limit it to just one. Even if every one doesn't make it into the book or the animation, it will be available for sale on my Etsy site later on.

The portmanteau Kachinaphant was coined for the amazing dolls created by Native American artisans--Kachina dolls. I found a fantastic book at my local Library that focuses on dolls in the Hopi tradition and found several sources of inspiration. Reading about the traditional figures within this genre directed me towards a few of my favorite characters.

The Hano Clown.

This is a character who has been reinterpreted in many different ways, but always wearing black and white stripes, and frequently is seen eating watermelon. He is one of many clown, jester or trickster characters, and sometimes goes by the name Koshare or Koyaala.


I decided to call this guy Hanophant.

Another figure that appealed to me was the corn dancer.



And I also loved the deer.


This is the largest of all the figures I've done in this series--stands about 8 inches high. I expect this piece will be $150, and the others will be slightly less. These were definitely some of the more time consuming figures I've made so far, but also the most fun with all their history, colors, and accoutrement. It also gave me the idea to put an index in the back of my book that will explain the origin of all the words and hopefully inspire people to learn more about each one. I would have loved to keep making Kachinaphants, in fact, but it was time to move on--there's 25 more letters to do! I'll come back in a few days and tell you about the letter T, which is for Topiariphant!