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Self-produced art toys are designer collectibles created and manufactured independently by the artist or small teams without the backing of a large toy company or mass-market brand. These toys are often highly personal, artistic expressions and are usually made in limited runs. Key Characteristics include independent creation where the artist is in control of the entire process from concept, sculpting, and painting to production and packaging. These are usually made in small batches, often 10–100 pieces, which adds to their rarity, made using materials like resin, sofubi (Japanese soft vinyl), or 3D-printed components. Le Merde is Seattle based artist Mike Kelly. His work ranges from illustrations, toys, sculpture to hand cast resin figures. He draws inspiration from horror movies on VHS tapes to 70′s rock and boogie. He believes in the notion that YOU MUST CREATE. Kelly is really inspired by Hideshi Hino the Japanese horror manga artist and finds the way he draws his demons, ghouls are beyond amazing. In the future, he would love to have a larger production done of his figures because although he loves hand casting and will always do (D.I.Y!), it is really time consuming. Kelly thinks the perfect balance will be to have smaller editions of the hand cast figures (more like art sculptures) and then have some larger produced editions more like toys.