For those of you who have ever considered creating a toy line of your own, this blog segment is for you. I have about eight years of experience to share on this topic. I’m going to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly of that knowledge to help you in your endeavors.
I’m going to focus on plush resin hybrid toys, like Bitty Bigfoot. That way you’re dipping your toe into the waters of both hard-cast and stuffed animal toys all in one place. Right off, you might think creating a plush toy is beneath you, or a low-value product. Stuffed creatures aren’t simple or cheap to make especially when done by hand. It may seem that way if you’re thinking of dollar store plushies that are mass-produced and low quality. That isn’t what I’m talking about here.
Strap in. I’m going to give you a crash course in toy-making reality.
The first thing you need is an idea—an original idea. You need a concept that people in your network are going to like, because that’s where the marketing starts. It’s homegrown. You’re going to start small—super small.
Don’t go into this thinking you’ll be an instant hit. You might be, but maybe you’ll win the lottery six times in a row. It’s possible, but highly unlikely. Know your audience.
When you’re building a plush/resin character like Bitty Bigfoot, Lil Lycanthrope, or Mini Minotaur, your first order of business is to think about who is going to buy it—what they want and what are they willing to pay. In most cases, my followers are as disturbed as I am. I’m a creature designer. It’s right there in the name. The people that follow me are into creatures. So, I lean into it with the toy line.
When they see my work, it’s often as a massive film-quality creature suit/costume or an elaborate animatronic puppet for a commercial project. The cost for these is huge. The normal, everyday person isn’t going to spend a $9,500–$15,000 creature costume or a $2,500–$6,000 puppet, but they may be interested in something less expensive.
A fur-covered miniature of a creature suit isn’t always going to translate. Fur scales weird. It looks sleek on an eight-foot werewolf—less so at twenty-four inches. So, I need something that fits. On that scale, cute is a factor. I don’t do cute well, so my target is the old cliché: “so ugly it’s cute.” That’s where my designs live.
My design still might not fit my network of lunatics. Sure, they might see my design as acceptably creepy and just cute enough to pass, but the price point is still too high? That’s not easy to figure that out. No matter who you talk to, some will say your toy is overpriced. Cost is, more times than not, going to be a miss rather than a hit. You’ll get close, but you’ll never make everyone happy.
I created Bitty Bigfoot as a mini answer to my Bigfoot suits. It’s smaller than the costume, clearly less expensive, but looks like it came from the Bigfoot world I created. Bitty Bigfoot seemed like a good fit. But in a lot of cases, the price point is too high for most. There is little I can do there. And let me tell you why.
Bitty Bigfoot, it’s a handcrafted, designer toy. Each piece can take me a week to build. So, if I’m motivated, hopped up on coffee, and have nothing else going on in my life, I could knock out 3–5 in a month. But that doesn’t happen all that often.
Price is always going to be an issue. People think in terms of Walmart. When they see a plush/resin toy like Bitty Bigfoot or Lil Lycanthrope priced at $300, they clutch their pearls.
Forget how long it took me.
Overlook the material costs for each are upwards of $100.
Disregard the fact that I’m making about $7.50 per hour.
They can’t understand what I’m thinking. They immediately think I’m cashing in on my Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge roots. If I was, I sure wouldn’t be making less than minimum wage. I’m entitled to cash on those things, though. I’ve earned the right to charge more because of that accomplishment as well as my filmography—but would people buy these guys at $400? Maybe, but probably not. Even then, I’d only making $10 an hour. People working at McDonald’s make more than that, and those burgers are a lot of things, but far from custom-crafted.
While you’re putting your project together, there are things you need to consider:
the cost of tooling (molds, jigs, and forms)
the cost of labor (making molds, jigs, forms, painting, sewing, etc.)
and the cost of materials (silicone, resin, fabric, fur, consumables, paint, etc.)
Best practice, total up the cost of the tooling and divide that by a target number of units you want to sell to pay off the tooling. Example, if tooling was $500 and you want the 50 units to pay for it, that means you add $10 to the cost of each unit until it’s paid up.
I’m faster at making Bitty Bigfoot now than when I started, so that gives me a bit more money in my pocket. I’m only ever going to have $200 after the fact to call profit. So, if I do the job in 30 hours, I make $6.67 per. If I do the job in 40 hours, I make $5. So, clearly, faster is better.
Materials will always increase. The cost of fur for example, (good fur) has gone from $30 a half-yard to $40 in the last few months. Using cheap materials might save you money, but cost you customers. Cheap fur feels horrid and can fall out of the backing. Now people see your toy as over-priced, cheap shit.
I can’t know what your project is, but I can tell you from experience—fur direction will eat up yardage. You’ll make mistakes cutting out patterns. It happens. So, there will be waste. Order more than you think you need. Better to have extra than go through the hell of trying to match new fur to the current project.
Resin and silicone have gone up 20% in the past year. Resin is about 3–4 cents a gram, which can add up quick. Some of the Bitty Bigfoot heads weigh about 300 grams. That means the head alone costs $9 unpainted. Then there are the feet and hands. You can see how this is starting to add up.
If you have resin casts, then you’ll likely need silicone for molds, which is also 4 cents a gram. Most of my molds fall into the realm of 2,000 grams. That means each of those molds costs about $80 in silicone—not to mention fiberglass. Let’s total that up. Head, Hands, Foot, and Joint molds come to roughly $320 in silicone. In reality, it’s more like $450 with the consumables, fiberglass, etc.
Wait? Joint Molds? Yes. Doll joints are expensive, cheaply made, and always out of stock. This is part of the reason I create my own doll joints now. I make what I need when I need it and with a stronger material.
All of this will predetermine your price point and must be considered in the design phase of your project. Good to know ahead of time, right?
This information isn’t designed to derail you—it’s designed to prepare you and educate you. The more designer toy makers we have in the world, the better. My goal for this Saturday blog is to help you through this with a new topic on toy making every week.
Like I said, I’m not an expert. I’m just an indie artist who has been in the field a while. And I have some experience to share. I hope it helps.
Hi Russ, I just wanted to tell you how much I loved reading this blog. I have been a teddy bear artist since the late 90's and I can completely relate to what you are saying. It's hard to make items that people want to spend their money on in a disposable society. I would be very interested in how you make your joints. I make my own joints as well but using hardwood or press board disks, nuts and bolts or cotter pins.
Hi Russ, I just wanted to tell you how much I loved reading this blog. I have been a teddy bear artist since the late 90's and I can completely relate to what you are saying. It's hard to make items that people want to spend their money on in a disposable society. I would be very interested in how you make your joints. I make my own joints as well but using hardwood or press board disks, nuts and bolts or cotter pins.