The B Button Scorch

The Hive had an open call for submissions with a "Bring the Heat" theme for August.

"That can mean warm colors, heatwave-level temperatures, seductive characters, an arsenal of weaponry, or any and all of that. One thing's for sure, it'll be a scorcher. "

At first I thought to do the fire flower but pushed it further to Fire Mario accompanied with fireballs. I replicated it after my favorite Super Nintendo version:

I simplified him into a ball format to keep him in my style and to avoid a stocky outcome. For his hair, I went with felt because I had cut his mustache first and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to keep everything unified. This was the first time I used felt for hair, but using yarn would've made the piece a little bulkier than I would have wanted.

I then attached removable suction cups to the backsides and displayed them on a mirror, therefore, creating posable mirror art. I had the idea to stick magnets in for refrigerator art as well, but since I already finished Mario, it was a little late. Plus, I figure there will be other opportunities in my future for tacky cute post-grade school refrigerator art.

Not sure if I'm going to be doing another Fire Mario for my shop or another piece like this. I love creating but reproducing the same character over and over can get boring, and I don't want that to happen to my Mario!