Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thanks for your nice words.
Indeed, it was a lot of work - especially as I had only one week left before mother's day; I worked on Frida until 3 o'clock in the morning on sunday... lol

Ariane

lol
Sweet picture - and sweet story,  amber

Hey there^^
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post this here, but I've already seen some dolls here, so I think it's okay. If not, please tell me^^

This year, I decided to make a doll of Frida Kahlo for my mother as Mother's day gift. In case you don't know her: She was a famous mexican painter   

My mother was very thrilled when she saw her and I'm happy to have made her happy   
Frida was a lot of work, I had to tie more than 100 strands of wool to her head to create her hair and had very much trouble with her hairstyle. Frida normally hat her hair in a french crown (I think it's called like that), with lots of flowers in it, as you can see here: http://www.mexico-info.de/Frida_kahlo_foto.jpg

I tried to braid her hair, but.. it didn't look good, so I decided to let it open appart from two strands I braided on the left and the right side of her face.
First of all I stitched her facial features and painted her lips on. I wanted to do this with her "unibrow" (she painted herself with one, but in fact her brows weren't that wild) too, but my black acrylics were lost, so I abandoned this idea.

Then of course the dress. I wanted a mexican look, but had no floral printed fabric here. Instead, I chose this lovely red fabric and am really pleased how it turned out.  At first, I had the idea to paint the mexican bird onto the dress, but as I'm not that good at painting (and had no brush that was little enough), I stitched it on.
What else to say?...the shoes are painted on, even with handstitched shoelace... The flowers are made out of felt^^

Urg, I wrote too much again... A big hug for everybody who read everything I wrote lol

See you, Ariane

PS: ATM, I'm trying to take proper pictures of some of my other teddy bears, but well.. My skills at taking pictures aren't that good

Awww, he's really sweet.
I wish I could afford one of your bears , but as a student, I don't have so much money... 

That's exactly what I'm doing too and it is working for me

Thanks for the suggestions 
I started to collect pictures of Meerkats and will try to create a pattern from them.

wish me luck!

Fallenrose

ah, I forgot to mention: You should secure the ends of the wire, for example by forming a loop or by covering them with some kind of tape^^

Yes, you're right, on a bigger bear pipecleaners woudln't work.
But you'll have to find a wire that you can bend without too much trouble or the need of pliers^^

unfortunately,  I have to tell you that there is no known cure for the bear-making virus. The only thing that can appease the symptoms is to dive into a pile of lovely fabric you could use for bear making 

I haven't done this myself yet, but I think you could use pipecleaners that you put into your bear's arm/leg and then stuff around.
Or, you could use some (jewelry-)wire, cut it the right length to go around the outline of the arm/leg, sew it in with a whipstitch (from the future inside, I mean) and then turn around the arm/leg.
Does this make any sense? 

Very very sweet.
I love the different fabrics you use for the foot-pads

I think it depends on the function the knot will have. What do you want to make with the knot, do you want to anchor a thread (for example) or something else?

Greets, Ariane

Sounds like a great idea, but I'm still undecided if I should participate, as I know that I'm still a beginner.
Plus, I don't have much money. If there were more participants from Europe, it would be better for me.

Ariane

Such a cute little face.. *_*
How big is this lil' one, if I may ask?

Ariane

I don't know an online pattern, either, but I think it should be no problem to design a pattern yourself, if you want to give it a try.
You should consider that anime bears are about 3 heads high and have mostly big eyes, with short arms and legs; from there, it should be easy to make up a design on your own.

If it really doesn't work, I could send you a free pattern that was in one of the Teddy Bear journals we have here in Germany.

Hope I could help, Ariane

Very sweet.  :clap:
How big is Gracie?

Thanks for the links, but I wanted to try to make a pattern by myself^^

I don't know about needlesculpting, but I think, you could try to trim away the hair above the eyes a little bit more. Especially with the right eye, the fur hangs over it a bit and creates this sort of frown.
Do you know what I mean?

Hugs, Fallenrose

Ah yes, I had the feeling that his face looked like some kind of fleece 

The title hits the nail on the head!
They ARE absolutely cute!  :clap:

I love his expression, he has this attitude of "I'm good and I know it"
What materials is he made of, if I may ask?

Hello^^

I plan to make a plush meerkat as a birthday present for my mother, but have no idea how to start it.

Is there anybody who did one already and could give me some hints on how to make the pattern. I think, the Legs should be firmly attached because meerkats stand most of the time, would you include them into the body pattern or make them like you would make a normal bear's legs and then just sew them on? And what could I do to achieve the look of the color of the meerkats fur?

Lots of questions, I know, but I hope that somebody can show me the right direction.

Hugs, Fallenrose

Well.. I can't remember having worked on a bear in the public, as I feel a little uncomfortable when everybody is looking at me, but... I had to take the train some months before (3 hours of train.. x.X) and was so bored that I put out some of my doll parts to sew them. I was glad that there weren't too much persons, but nevertheless the guy in front of me looked at me quiet irritated lol

wow, what a little cutey! I love the shading you did on Amie's face :clap:

Wow, what a gorgeous little Boy! I love him 
IF I had the money...