Spotlight On: Karen Turner's Mickey Art Series

Karen Turner has a new series of Vinylmation. It is called the Art Series and is a set of six Vinylmation, five done in a different art style, with an Artist Mouse as the painter of them all. They are individually up for sale right now at her Etsy shop, Flights of Fancy Designs.

Artist Mouse

Impressionist Mouse

Oil Painted Mouse

Pop Art Mouse

Splatter Mouse

Watercolor Mouse

Check out her shop today. Karen also produces those Autograph Mouse Customs, my personal favorite...

Spotlight On: Karen Turner's Bedazzled Customs

Destination Vinylmation: What is your background in art?  
Karen Turner: I have always been interested in art.  As a child I took classes in drawing, painting with watercolors, and painting with acrylics.  I was in art in high school and majored in art in college for a while.  I then changed my major to history, but art still remained important to me.  After working as an office manager for several years I came back to art and opened an online shop selling my work.  In the end I just kept coming back to my love for creating and painting.

DV: What other non vinyl things have you done?
KT: Lots!!  I paint ceramics, create trinket and treasure boxes, make jewelry, create decorative pieces for the holidays (not just Christmas, but Easter, Valentine's, Halloween...)  As you can see in my shop - custom Vinylmation make up one section, but there are lots of other sections as well - I like doing lots of different things - nothing ever gets dull or flat that way - everything remains fun and challenging for me!!

DV: What's your favorite Disney designed vinyl?
KT: Just one? That’s too hard!!  My favorites that I have are: It’s a Small World 3″ from Park 3, Squares from Urban 4, Mardi Gras, and Love 9″ from Urban 6. My favorites from the ones I don’t own (yet) are Magical Stars from Park 1, It’s a Small World 9″ from Park 1, Teacups from Park 1, Birds on a Wire, Red Scream, Railroad from Park 9, Skyway from Park 9, Living with the Land from, and the Gumball Ear hat set.  I'm not really good at narrowing things down!!

DV: What inspired this Bedazzled line of customs?
KT: In November I was at the Magic Kingdom for my birthday (and to check out the new Fantasyland), and was looking at the different figurines in the glass shop on Main Street that are jeweled with crystals and I thought I Vinylmation covered with crystals would be really awesome, so I decided to give it a try.

DV: What was the most difficult part of making these?
KT: I used the new mold for these, which made it a lot easier because of the smoothness of the surface - no buttons of noses to work around. For the Miss Mouse figurines I used Minnie’s Fly Girls from the Park Series #11, which gave me the bow on her head.  The hardest part was just getting the crystals to fit in everywhere - not having any open spots that were too small for a crystal but too big to leave blank.  I quickly realized that I had to work quickly so if I needed to move some crystals I could before the glue dried.  Working quickly doesn't mean these were quick to make though.  These were the most time consuming customs I have made yet, but I am super pleased with how they turned out - I think I am going to have to make one for myself, since these are for my shop!!

DV: What do you think about the upcoming Minnie platform?
KT: I can't wait for it!!  When I saw it Mickey's Circus I was so excited - all sorts of ideas were going through my head on what I could do with that mold.  I have all sorts of things planned to do with those as soon as I can get my hands on them.  Having a Minnie mold just furthers the idea of what Vinylmation started out as to me - whatever design I put on a Vinylmation, it comes back to the fact that I am putting it on Mickey Mouse - Mickey (and soon Minnie) are at the heart of it all - which is like what Walt Disney said - "It all started with a mouse."  That mouse is still at the heart of all things Disney, and I try to keep that idea in mind when creating my custom Vinylmation.

DV: Where can people find out more about your and your artwork?
KT: You can see all of my work at my shop www.flightsoffancydesign.etsy.com and even more photos on my Facebook Fan Page Flights of Fancy Design. I am delighted to take custom orders as well. My email is flightsoffancydesigns@gmail.com.

I have lots of new ideas I am working on for custom Vinylmation - right now my work table has five Vinylmation that are in various stages of creation.  I have a 9" Custom in mind that I think is really going to be spectacular - as soon as I finish it I will share it with you.  So, there will be lots of new things coming in the next few months - and I am super excited about it all!!

Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist Karen Turner

To have your custom work spotlighted, please send an email to DestinationVinylmation@gmail.com

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A few months ago we spotlighted a unique custom designed by Karen Turner of Flights of Fancy Design. The custom featured hand painted signatures of Disney characters on a 9" CYO. As someone who takes a vinyl around to collect character autographs in the parks each year on his birthday, this idea immediately hit home to me.

And while the experience of actually meeting the characters, getting pictures and seeing how they sign is all part of the fun there is a certain element of style missing. Not to mention there are a slew of movie characters who are not meetable at the Parks. With Karen's line of Custom Autograph Mouse vinyls, each and every signature is a piece of art in and of themselves. Bursting with color and style.

It was not surprising to hear that these sold very well to the Disney and Vinylmation collectors out there. Because of the success, Karen recently contacted us to let us know she has launched three new "themed" versions of this custom: Princesses & Heroines, Princes & Heroes, and Villains & Evil Doers. We had the chance to ask Karen a few questions about these customs, but first, I wanted to share some pictures of the sample she sent to DV that included a mix of autographs from all across the Disney universe.

All the autographs have been carefully thought out, in both style and location. The come to have a character all their own and that makes this custom a special treat for fans. Figment has horns. Woody looks like a lasso. The Evil Quenn has a poison apple. Even the characters that do not sign have a special touch such as Lightning McQueen's 95 and Kaa's eyes.

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The packaging was extremely professional. A 9" CYO box was found securely snug in bubble wrap and packing bubbles. Through the window you could see the wrapping that surrounded the custom within... all topped off with a blue feather (the signature logo for Flights of Fancy Designs). 

Open that up and the delicate custom is safely resting in a wax paper bag to protect it from smudging. I expected the Vinylmation to be in the box of course, but I didn't expect the accompanying booklet...

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It documented all the signatures found on my custom. It really is a nice feeling to know how much thought and care went into this piece of art. But enough about my thoughts, lets talk to Karen...

Destination Vinylmation: What was your inspiration to create the 9" Custom Autograph Mouse?
Karen: Well, I had seen pics where people had had their 9" Vinylmations signed by the different characters at the parks.  But, a lot of people said the signatures smudged.  So I was thinking what a neat idea if one could figure out how to get the signatures not to smudge.  Then as I was thinking about it I starting thinking about the signatures I would want and a lot of them were of characters that aren't at the parks often - like Lilo or Br'er Rabbit (or at all - Like Nemo or Jessica Rabbit or Pumbaa and Timon).  So it didn't take long for me to go from that thought to the idea of painting the signatures I wanted onto a 9".

DV: How many character signatures do you have available? And are the customs fully customizable with character autographs the buyer chooses?
Karen: These are fully customizable.  I have had customers give me a list of characters they wanted (one was all Pixar characters) and others tell me they want one like in the picture, but to put Peter Pan at the heart because he is their favorite or to put a character right at the top because it is their favorite.  I always ask if there is any particular placement of the signatures that the customer would like - which are their very favorites - so I can be sure to get them in a really good spot. 

Right now I have 232 character signatures available.  I use the signatures the real characters give in the Parks but for the others (for the ones that don't appear in the Parks) I can always figure out what a characters signature would look like.  I have had to do that on several occasions - so my list of character signatures is always growing!!  I can fit 70 signatures on a 9" Vinylmation.

DV: Tell us about your new themed Custom Autographed Mice. 
Karen: I came up with the idea when I was at WDW with my family over New Years.  My youngest niece was (and still is) on a Princess kick.  Anything Princess was for her.  I figured that she was not the only one like that so I decided to come up with some themed Vinylmations to suit such tastes. 

One for the girls - Princesses and Heroines. One for the boys - Princes and Heroes.  And one for the Villain lovers (which after collecting pins for many years, I happen to know there are a lot of villain lovers out there!!) - Villains and Evil Doers. 

Once I came up with the different themes, it was really just a matter of making lists of who should go on which figure.

DV: It's the extra touches that make this at truly special item... such as the packaging and signature booklets. Are those booklets included with each custom?  
Karen: Yes they are.  I feel they kind of add an extra bit of whimsy, which to me is what Disney always offers.  The little things you find as you are walking down Main Street, the hidden Mickeys in the parks...  Those little touches add a little bit of magic to my visits to the Parks, and that what I try to give with the booklets - little funny reasons why this signature is placed where it is - just an extra bit of the magic.

DV: You can also tell you really took the time to make sure the custom is secure while shipping.
Karen: These guys take a long time to make, so I am always really careful to package them super good.  The wax paper wrap is to protect the paint and sealer.  To make sure nothing gets stuck to the figure that might ruin it.  I have been packing hand painted ceramics that we have for the holidays like this for years and they all come out each year looking fresh and new.  And that's what I want my customer to have when they get their Custom Vinylmation - one that is as perfect when they open it as when I wrapped it up for them!!

DV: How much is one of your Custom Autographed Mouse vinyls? Is there a pricing structure based on how many or what signitures are desired?
Karen: All the Autograph Vinylmations are the same price - $86.00.  Mainly because it's as much work to figure out where to put 30 signatures as is for 60 signatures.  So customers should order as many signatures as they want - the price is the same no matter.

DV: You can order a custom and find all of Karen's work at www.flightsoffancydesign.etsy.com. To me, because of the Mickey canvas, Vinylmation has always been the perfect collectible for all Disney fans. Karen's customs really bring home the magic of the Disney parks and are perfect for every fan.

Spotlight On: Custom Vinylmation Artist Karen Turner

Destination Vinylmation: We featured your work once before, but tell us about your new line of customs.
Karen Turner: The first several Pics are really a variation on a theme - the Ombre collection - all one color fading from light to dark.

Blue Ombre

Pink Ombre

DV: How about this green checkered figure?
KT: A Custom Order I did - it was to represent the Creeper in the Minecraft game.

DV: Thanks for sharing your work again Karen. You can find her vinyls and other art at her etsy store.
KT: Thanks so much for this and for doing such a great job on Destination Vinylmation!! (and, by the way, I am totally jealous of you getting to go to Leap Day and WDW - lucky!!).