Jurassic Plush
Pictured: Crafty Raptor Designs founder Mal training a new batch of plushies before sending them to their forever homes
We at Nerdtistic would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest partner, Crafty Raptor Designs! This small business was founded by our wonderful friend Malcolm (they/them), who got their start in 2008 when they decided to start sewing their own cosplays.
Crafty Raptor Designs offers a wide array of unique, handcrafted items, the most remarkable being their dinosaur plushies. Mal designs their own original, in-house patterns using only the most up-to-date paleontological information. The end result of this painstaking attention to detail are dino plushies that are not only cute, but also scientifically-informed.
Pictured: Cotton candy raptor chick
Malcolm makes every plushie in the shop with loving care, and has been doing so since 2011, when they first found a plushie pattern online for a mosasaur, Mal’s favorite ancient marine reptile. After successfully sewing a mosasaur plushie, Mal branched out into plesiosaurs and decided they wanted to make a plushie pattern of their own. Using a blown up picture of a complete plesiosaur skeleton, Mal traced a rough outline to use as a sketching guide. Then the real fun began. Using their imagination, Mal envisioned what this ancient creature would look like with skin on its bones, then interpreted that vision into something suitable for a plush toy. It took a lot of experimenting, but Mal’s passion for the project overcame all obstacles. Not only were they able to complete their first originally designed plushie, but they had also devised a method for drafting future plushies.
Pictured: drafting a spinosaurus pattern
By 2019, Mal endeavored to make their first ever feathered raptor plushie from faux fur gifted to them by a friend. Mal loved the way this scientifically-informed plushie turned out so much that they decided to make a few more. Fast forward to 2020 when news broke about the discovery of a spinosaurus that had a full fin along the tail. Upon learning of this discovery, Mal sprang into action. Using a new mosasaur pattern and actual skeletal illustrations as inspiration, Mal was able to make an updated spinosaurus plushie with a dorsal fin that properly reflected this exciting paleontological development.
Pictured: spinosaurus with a fancy tail fin
As a true dino lover, Mal is forever devoted to creating scientifically-informed dino plushies that live up to their own exacting expectations. Mal’s passion, precision, and positivity make Crafty Raptor Designs a gem of a shop that any treasure hunter would be delighted to explore.
We at Nerdtistic can’t wait to see what else Malcolm has in store for Crafty Raptor Designs. We know that we will be following Mal’s ko-fi updates very closely, and if you love dinosaurs, we encourage you to do the same.
