Lairbrew

Lairbrewing for you!

Lairbrew can concoct you a high-quality plush to your specifications! We'll do all the hard work for you to make releasing your own exclusive plush super easy. We'll brew what we brew best and pull the perfect plush for your business out of our cauldrons! With over 90 plush designed and prototyped you can count on our experience!

Lairbrew

Lairbrewing for you!

Lairbrew can concoct you a high-quality plush to your specifications! We'll do all the hard work for you to make releasing your own exclusive plush super easy. We'll brew what we brew best and pull the perfect plush for your business out of our cauldrons! With over 90 plush designed and prototyped you can count on our experience!

The Artist

Hello! I'm October Copper, and I'm the one who wears all the hats at Lairbrew! Working with Lairbrew means working with me. I'll do my best to make sure the plush you receive is something you're proud to offer to your own customers, just like I'm proud to offer mine!

It is difficult to put everything I do to create a good customer experience in to succinct words, so I will let my work speak for myself!

Kindness, patience, and understanding are core to what I do. Artists, small businesses, event co-ordinaters, anyone, we're all trying to make it. If someone is turning to me for my skills, and they're willing to value them properly, I am going to make it worth their while. That means you too! My communication style is casual, but I take great pride in being a professional who gets good results.

ABOUT LAIRBREW

Lairbrew specializes in collector quality plush. That dragon-like urge to snatch a new shiny and bring it home to your lair is a unique and special kind of giddiness. Trying to inspire that happiness in others has led to my skillset becoming very complex! I've done all the difficult work learning the craft and sourcing the ingredients, so now I can brew a potion for you without any fuss on your part!

Skills that make me a good choice as a designer for your next plush project:
- 4 Years of manufacturing experience
- Multiple manufacturing contacts with whom I have well established, positive work history
- Prototyping knowledge that can only be gained with experience, with over 90 projects prototyped to date
- Excellent communication throughout the design process
- Safety testing knowledge that can help prevent border seizure and shipment destruction of shipments.
- Rarer design workflow involving extremely detailed prototyping sheets, embroidery vectors, from-scratch 3D modeling, fabric matching, no bleed sublimation printing renders, full work day operation on the manufacturer's time zone, etc.
- Project jumpstarts. By having multiple partner manufacturers to choose from, and thanks to frontloading as much design labor in my own process as possible, projects tend to have a faster, stronger start.

Examples of our plush

These are all plush I sell myself in my shop, and you can expect the same great quality when working with me! I will bring my a-game for any work I am given.

The Journey of one plush design

These slides show the full evolution of our popular kobold plush: rough concept sketch, 3D model, reference sheets, preparing the model for prototyping, the initial prototype, a cycle of feedback, the resulting prototype after feedback, and a few iterations later: the final plush.

Concepts and their plush counterparts

Some of these plush are still being prototyped but already look great, which goes to show that my design workflow produces great results! My experience in the field comes in to play often before prototyping, and this can benefit your plush project immensely, especially if you have very specific needs!

Reference Sheets

Information must be clearly presented to the chosen manufacturing partner. Every manufacturer also has their own quirks and preferences for how they like this information presented that you only learn over time working with them. Making these is very tedious, but labor spent polishing pays off by saving headaches later, and experience helps a lot!

3D Models

3D models are rarely used in plush manufacturing. Finding manufacturers who can use them properly can be a series of expensive mistakes, and learning to 3D model just for one step in this many step process isn't worth it. If you want to incorporate modeling in to your project it is simplest to work with a designer who already has the modeling skills to make a completed model from scratch, and the established work relationships with manufacturers who can work with this process. This is a difficult combination to find, but luckily for you Lairbrew is one of the needles in the haystack! We use 3D modeling when it makes sense got the project.

Service fee quick menu

All prices are in USD. Anticipated labor hours vary by project.PLUSH DESIGN
$50 per hourPLUSH PROTOTYPING
Cost varies, these are estimates.Plush keychain: $140
Mini (6 inches or less:) $175
Medium (9 to 12 inches:) $220
Large (14 to 20 inches:) $400
Extra Large (24 - 38 inches:) 625
Giant (40in+:) Between $800 and $1500Prices do not include shipping, which starts at $35 to $50 depending on the selected manufacturer.PLUSH MANUFACTURING
First order of a design:
+25% order costSubsequent orders of the same design:
+10% order costOther costs to expect:
Safety Testing:
Varies based on the manufacturer and their partner lab(s.)
By-Sea Shipping:
Varies massively based on plush and order amount
Domestic Forwarding Shipping:
Service and location.Other costs you might want to budget for:
Multiple prototypes:
Required if you want to try multiple manufacturers.
Second express shipping for prototypes:
If a prototype arrives in the states and still requires changes after being seen in person, express shipping will likely have to be paid again. This is rare.

ADDITIONAL SERVICE FEESCreative Commons Licensing
All work done by Lairbrew defaults to CC BY-NC-ND for CC License.Concept and production art CC:CC BY-ND:
For taking completed design work to other producers
$750 Flat FeeCC BY-SA:
For taking incomplete work to other artists to be completed, or for completing it yourself
$500 Flat FeeObtaining .obj or .stl:
As soon as one of these files leaves my hands I'm taking a big risk with how it gets used, so I do not share them without licensing considerations.With CC BY-ND License:
$1750 Flat FeeWith CC BY-SA License:
Varies, min. +$5kWIPs on Social Media:
Varies by project, work format, and the amount of recording required.Commercial Character Rights:
For characters and character lines I am commissioned to design. Varies in cost and terms.Bar from portfolio outside NDA:
2 year duration - $250 flat charge
5 year duration - $500 flat charge
Permanent duration - Starts at $1k

Our Services

PLEASE NOTE: I DO BULK ORDERS ONLY.

Services within the complete plush service:
- Complete design service, from sketch to final reference sheet
- Complete plush prototyping
- Safety testing for intended markets
- Tush and Hang Tag Design
- Manufacturing 100+ PlushServices within design work:
- Concept sketching
- 3D modeling
- Complete reference sheet ready for submission to a manufacturer
- Any visuals required to communicate with your manufacturer, such as a no-bleed printing image or vectors.
- Tush and Hang Tag Design, if desiredServices within manufacturing liason:
- Free design review
- Complete plush prototyping
- Safety testing for intended markets
- Tush Tag Design
- Manufacturing 100+ PlushServices within quality control, which is available for the complete plush service and manufacturing liason:
- Count confirmation
- Examination of each individual plush
- Grading and sorting of plush to your specifications
- Hole repair, at additional costWhat you receive with a design review:
- A detailed report with suggested changes and experienced insight

#1: THE COMPLETE PLUSH SERVICE

Take an idea and get it made in to a plush, simple as that! You make all the final approvals of every step along the way during the design process. Once we have a complete concept you love it is on to prototyping. The plush will be drafted multiple times and I will consult you at every update. When we have a finalized prototype all the other steps happen pretty rapid fire, and a few months later I am forwarding your bulk shipment for your brand new plush!Note to convention runners: If your con is in my niche I am willing to trade this service for a good booth space + the base prototyping, testing, and manufacturing cost. No additional fees!

#2: Design Work

For when you have a manufacturer but not a design! I'll go through the entire design process for you, working with you at every step along the way. The end result is a detailed reference sheet that you can take to your manufacturer of choice and have made! Please note, this does not come with any .stls, .objs, or other 3D model files by default, and a license change to CC BY-ND will be required.

#3: Manufacturing Liason

Do you already have a complete, useable reference sheet and other visuals? I can bring it to my manufacturers! I do not share my manufacturing contacts with anyone for a variety of reasons, but if you are having trouble locating a manufacturer yourself I can get your design submitted to one of several I have an established relationship with. This service includes a design review to make sure your design is plausible! Once you have a useable design we'll go through everything starting from the prototyping process.

#4: Quality Control

If you are planning to ship out of a warehouse it can be very difficult to quality control your plush. You might not be local enough to go in and do it yourself if they will allow it, and several distributors charge a ton of money for these services.If you would like me to quality check your plush order, I can do it for just $1 per plush.I will already be repacking your plush to forward them if you place a bulk order through me since it allows me to catalogue obvious problems, but I do not check the individual plush unless QC is a part of your desired services. This is an optional cost!

#5: DESIGN REVIEW

You don't know what you don't know, so design problems usually need to be stumbled in to head-first after money has already changed hands. If you are a newbie seeking a manufacturer on your own using your own design I am happy to check your work! An experienced eye can spot things that may clash with your ideal outcome. For a flat fee of $40 I will review your concept, WIP, or completed sheet to provide insight. This isn't a passing critique, it is an in-depth list on what may be future issues, what definitely will not work, how these issues might be over come, what industry terms to use to get what you're after, and more.