Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

What a treat to see you here! 
Miss Bea is lovely, best of luck to her!

silk ribbon should be as easy to dye as wool/mohair with acid dyes 

lol claire! well those are useful too....!

Catherine, that guy and his hat are ADORABLE 
And I love how you gave him green eyes, too. What a love he is!

This is the sort:

I think I might be able to eyeball it though, and make a pattern of my own. 
If I work it up successfully I'll happily share it with you Shane. Makes me feel smart, lol

Thanks for the links though - I downloaded the Wild Ginger toy & am totally makin that newsboy hat.
I might do a tam for a later bear too - thanks Sandra!

Hiya!
I'm looking for a pattern for an irish flat cap - you know, like the tweed ones that the
old fellas wear? 

Does anyone know where I can find one? I want to make it of wool, & I can only find
references to crochet & knitting patterns online.

thanks!

I'm excited  :dance:
I took the opportunity to treat myself to a 2 year subscription...
why not, I've been really good! lol

It's the same Hemingway!
They hung round his house. Now their descendents are protected & cared for
just cos their forebears (forecats?) hobnobbed with a famous writer.

I had to look up Egyptian Mau, oh my GOODNESS. They're like little Bengals!

OK gotta shut up now, my 3 from-the-street kitties are getting offended  lol

You might have to get it online, unless you have a store that sells acid dyes. I found it at the Really Good art supplies
store in town. I haven't used it yet (I'd been washing the dye outta my roving with shampoo...lol)

I make dolls but I don't have any on hand right now. they take longer than bears!

You can see em on the 'dolls' link on my website 

Oh my Penny....I've heard of Hemingway cats but not a Marty Feldman cat!

If I make a siamese again I am totally makin her crosseyed & with a
crook in the tip of her tail...I know they're technically faults but I do
find em endearing!

Synthropol is a product that will get all the excess dye out. It's a detergent, people who
dye wool use it.

I can't afford my bears 
or any bears for that matter!

I kept back my first guy, but sent him to someone
when she was going through bad times.

I spend all my money on the drooly farty animals:

so I don't have any budget left over for nice polite ones like bears  :crackup:

YAY!
thank you for these awesome resources & congrats on the rebirth of your site!

I really LIKE the rectangular ears guy. He is his own self! I think he's great. Quirky & great.
Makes me happy 

I always use right-click. I just used it to read this thread!

I use right-click to open a link in a new window. That way, I can continue
reading the previous page while the next one loads. I use it ALL THE TIME.

Disabling right-click accuses me of trying to be a thief when
all I wanted to do was read. I find it obnoxious, it makes me cross. Sorry
guys - it's one of my peeves.

A screenshot is an image of your screen - you can take one anytime if you just
press Alt + PrintScreen (usually on the upper right of the keyboard)

Then you can open a photo program & 'paste' into a new image the shot of your screen.

Also, every photo you look at online is saved temporarily in your browser's cache
(which is why pages load so much faster the second time you visit them in a short while.)

There's a difference between not liking an artwork, & being an obnoxious jerk.

There's plenty of art - bears & otherwise - that doesn't ring my bell. It doesn't mean
it isn't GOOD - I mean, I don't like the flavor of lobster either (& it isn't the lobster's problem!)

I should think it's realistic to acknowledge, as an artist, that our work can't connect to *everyone* -
I mean, whose problem is it if I like pointy noses but you make round ones (or something?)

That's what makes it so special when a piece really touches you! But sane, sensible people can
walk by quietly without having a tantrum that something in the world exists which doesn't tickle their
fancy.

I think the hurting comes from nasty, deliberate people who surely know you've poured heart & soul
into your art, & they relish trashing it all the more. You work in mohair & stitches, their medium is
words & venom. Presumably they get the same high off of their efforts as we get from doing ours.

Then of course some people are just careless, loudmouthed dopes, but these usually get embarrassed
when they realize you can hear them. Maybe the lesson will stick & they will be discreet in their opinions
in the future, but probably not. Some people are just bulls in china shops when it comes to manners.

In another forum, far far away, someone was pleading for advice on how to get through the holidays
while visiting their very, very dysfunctional family. The best advice they received was this: the entire
time, think of it in terms of gathering material for the stories you're going to tell when you get back.

I'll tell you the same - the worst examples of human behavior DO make the best stories.
You gotta laugh, if you can!
Best of luck  :hug:

You did an AWESOME job on her, holy cow!  :clap:

I saw this hasn't got any replies....

Liquitex is pretty cheap paint - some of their colors are very hard to mix smoothly,
and there is not as much pigment in the paint as some other brands. I find their whites
to be very chunky right out of the tube! The BASICS line is their beginner, student series
of paints - so even less quality.

Do you have GOLDEN brand acrylics in France? They are my very favorite - they have them
in tubes, in jars for a heavier body paint, & a very fluid version comes in little flip top
bottles. Alll of them have very good color.

Wow - thank you all!
I was daunted by the challenge of such a subject - replicating departed pets is
a bit stressful even in paint, for me - but this client has been such a love & I have
known her for a few years now. She bought some of my very first art from Ebay,
& has been a good friend since! Also, as a commission client, every artist's dream.
I do honestly think that I could not have done this piece for someone I didn't click
with. She's been enthusiastic about my suggestions for stuff, & I get excited by her
ideas, & our instincts seem to point us in the same direction. It gives me the confidence
to chase down a new idea without worrying that she'll hate it - & it's that freedom
that makes for the best art, IMO.

I wish I could clone her! 

I am going to send the photos to Art Doll Quarterly & see if they fancy her.
I'd submit her to bear contests but I don't want to hold her hostage forever.
I know some are for photos & some want the actual bears/animals - I gotta look
up which is which. Once she's mailed to England I won't ask for her to come back -
it's a perilous journey!

I am humbled by the kind words of you scary-talented folks! It really means a lot - thank you!

Karen were you shooting seal point 'meezers? they have such a lot more contrast - the trouble
with the lynx point is to not go too heavy. Thank goodness for colorless blenders 

Also I found that the eyes gave me a surprise - of course the slit pupils are perfectly centered - but
most kitties don't have the whole pupil showing, top to bottom - it looks pretty much like a crazy
intense glare if they do! So I had to do her some eyelid coverage with the needle felting, or maybe
use a round pupil like Penny & Karen's avatar kitties seem to (sensibly) have. 

I am looking forward to working on whatever the heck I want to for a while now! 

Buy a tube of Cadmium Red :-)
Red's one of the primary colors - you can't make it by mixing.

I am entirely new to knitting but to make little bear stuff is the main reason I wanted to learn 
I found some great patterns at a local independent yarn shop. They had heaps of all sorts of patterns
for sale. Maybe you have a yarn shop with patterns too? Ebay is another thought, tho I have not looked
there. I only just learned how to purl - ask me in a few months lol

I have been working on this girl for longer than I want to think about! (But I take
breaks during commission pieces, so I can keep the enthusiasm fresh)

Anyhow I did a lot of 'first time' stuff on her; used GOOD felting wool, used really dense
short mohair (that shows every detail, eek), made shoes, made a realistic cat head, did
the double jointed neck style instead of gathered (although it is not a double joint neck -
that disc of fabric in between is kinda tricky. HELLO NECKLACE)

I am pretty pleased with her, though. She is 20" tall. I will get more detail photos when
the light is good.

Her ears & paws & eyebrows are needlefelted. She's based on the client's real kitty, who
had the habit of crossing her toes, hence the pinkie.

I hope she is pleased!

thanks for looking :-)

Oh dear, I can't let my bears see that.....

they're all going to want one    :redface:  :doh:

my biggest bear so far has been 15" tall - I'm usually working around the ~8-10" range.
I stitch them entirely by hand though, because the machine goes too fast for me for the
amount of precision I feel that I need. I make enough mistakes going hand-slow, ya know?

Plus then I can say "entirely hand sewn"  lol

I've been making bears since Sept 2005.

Ah that's what those are called! I've seen some antique bears with a similar thread pattern but not
pulled tight for the pouffy effect. I like the look!