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kbonsall Kim-Bee Bears
Pennsylvania
Posts: 5,645

I need some guidance with mouths.  I tried on different occasions to put mouths on  my bears but was unhappy with the ending result.  I like long piles because I just trim to make a mouth.  This is the main reason that none of my bears have actual mouths LOL  Some I think look better without mouths to tell you the truth – and maybe it has become part of my “style” not to have a mouth …. Any pointers? Should I not make mouths? I would love to sculpt a mouth but don’t know where to start….

Acipenser Bine-Teddies
Stockholm
Posts: 862

I didn't even notice that your bears lack mouths. It works for them so why change a winning concept? Now I have to try one without mouth bear_grin That way they can't talk back at you, hah :P

Sabine

kbonsall Kim-Bee Bears
Pennsylvania
Posts: 5,645

and they cant spit their fluff out or eat me out of house and home LMAO - Maybe I should let them be without mouths...

clare14 Country Bears
England
Posts: 3,066

Hi Kim!!

I'd love to know how artists make those nice smiley mouths, they look so cute!!

Come on spill the beans..................;)

Amanda Pandy Potter Bears
Staffordshire, UK
Posts: 1,864

Kim you keep posting things that apply to me! Like the web page thing, mouths and I have been thinking about websites, ebay templates and banners. We must be having the same sleepless thoughts. Same here over mouths I gave up awhile ago, still I would like to get it right. I will have to do one for the Progeria gala bear as the child who receives it will be expecting one.
Keep on posting as you find a way of asking about what I want to know!

kbonsall Kim-Bee Bears
Pennsylvania
Posts: 5,645

LMAO - I feel like such a nosey thing continuously asking questions but I love to learn new things and am trying to improve my bears and myself - after all if you dont ask a question, it cant get answered!

psichick78 Flying Fur Studios
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 3,073

Hey guys, I'm no expert at mouths that's for sure. But really, I don't have a technique. I just embroider the nose and then start pinning a mouth on. Sometimes I'll even cut some smaller pieces of embroidery thread, and just keep pinning them on untill I'm happy with the look. Often times, I'll do it for and hour or two in front of the TV, untill I'm happy with what I've got.
If you need inspiration, just look at real animals. I'm always trying to capture the look of my pets mouths.
Guess I haven't helped too much, but just experiement!!
Heather

clare14 Country Bears
England
Posts: 3,066

Hi Heather!

Yeah yours is the mouth I mean, do you do that in a number of stitches or what, now talk me through it - SLOWLY!!:)

Thanks sweetie, I'm dyin' to know!!

plushkinbear BEAR ME SHOOTKA
Vladivostok, RUSSIA
Posts: 2,139

Kim, I like your bears this way. It's very character one. You have to imagine what kind of mouth he has. And I like it. it's some mystery every teddy should have. r070.gif  i do like your bears. But... you should try to pull some mouth threads too!! it's fun and not that hard. If I use long pile mohair I simply cut mohair in lips area. So the mouth would be visible. My last bears has a "secret" mouth you don't see it but if you "examine" m055.gif the mouth area you'll find it. I just nedle-sculpted before embroidering.

matilda Matilda Huggington-beare
WA
Posts: 5,551

some of my bears I have given little mouths that are something like the shape of an ear. I make a template out of felt first. an hold it under the bears muzzle. It can be brought forward , moved back a little . Pinch it a little. make bigger. make smaller.etc......When I have what I want with the felt I then make a pattern using the template make the lip & chin piece out of mohair and ultra suede etc and sew it on with ladder stitch. The mohair camoflages the fact that it is an add on and not a' true' open mouth design.
Important: do not trim until the very last minute. If you change your mind.........It wont grow back.
If your talking about thread mouths, I use pins to give me a basic shape. I use the same basic design on all my thread mouths.I also do not use the same thread as the nose. I mean , that I use a seperate piece of thread. I dont continue from the nose to the mouth. or embroider the mouth and then carry on with the same thread to do the nose.I finish the nose cut thread and use a new piece of thread for the mouth. I do not trim until after I have done the mouth. I use the end of a scewer to comb the mohair out of the way . I make a part for the embroidery thread. Its only after this that I think about the hair cut.
There are so many options, explore them.   I now needle felt my muzzles , so they have lovely little mouths and tongues.:)      Some times it can be too much information:lol: Have fun & play nicely

psichick78 Flying Fur Studios
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 3,073

Clare, oh boy. I'm soo bad at typing out explanations, but let me try.
You like my aviator bears mouth do you?? Well, how I did it was to do the nose 1st. Then I take some clear or matching thread and start to sculpt the mouth. What I do, is I plan where all three of the mouth threads will meet and take a small stich in there, then I plan where the two threads that make the smile will end and I take a small stitch on each end.  Then  I take a strand of perle cotton, go in from the bottom of the head, as I haven't jointed it at this point, and come out right underneath the nose in the centre. I stitch the straight part of the mouth, with that thread going just underneath my little sculpting stich. I come out at the end of one smile stitch, and take it back to the centre mouth thread, and then do the second smile stitch.
Bet this doesn't make any sense at all, but I'm at work, with a terrible head cold, and I don't have photo shop so I can draw you a diagram. Please PM me if you need more direction.
Heather

WildThyme Wild Thyme Originals
Hudson, Ohio
Posts: 3,115

Hi Heather! You do make a lovely little smiling mouth!
Kim... I'd love to help you out on this one... but my bears don't really smile!  Seriously... they always seem a bit wistful!

Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

ellen ontario, canada
Posts: 324

PLEASE PLEASE, everybody share their mouth tips.  we all want to learn/know.  i just pull a few threads thru and it looks pretty sad compared to some i see on here!
bear_laugh

jenny Three O'clock Bears
warwickshire uk
Posts: 4,413
Website

Well the way I do mouths...again it's probably wrong...but after I've embroidered the first layer of my nose...I put in 3 pins in the shape that I want my bears mouth to be...it's usually a triangle but you could easily create a smile by positioning the pins in different positions. Then I wrap the remaining thread from the nose around the pins ...this gives me an idea of how the mouth will look quickly and easily without sewing...when I've found the shape that I feel is right for the bear I then sew the mouth using the pins as a marker.

After I've created the mouth I trim the pile back ..then do one or two more layers of embroidery on the nose itself...it works for me...I think this way is pretty standard..

Jenny

melissa Honeythorpe Bears
Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 1,789
Website

Hey Jenny - there's no "wrong" way - if it works for you then it's the right way!!

matilda Matilda Huggington-beare
WA
Posts: 5,551

:(ONCE I THOUGHT I WAS WRONG


                                                           BUT I WAS MISTAKEN:lol:

clare14 Country Bears
England
Posts: 3,066

So many thanks Heather, right, I will be trying that..............;)

You're a gem!!

MerBear MerBear Originals
Brockville, Ontario
Posts: 1,540

I do the nose first. Then bring my thread out at one end of the "smile", go in at the other end of the 'smile', and come out at the bottom middle of the nose. Then I go under the 'smile' thread and draw it straight out tightly and then up to create the smile.  Hope this makes sense.

Marion

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