Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I've been swamped with life. Been busy at my other, other job as my baseball playing son's "agent." Good news is, it looks like it is paying off, well that and his hard work. There is interest and looks like he will be drafted this year. And finished with college! Yea! The next step.

Anyways, I tried the assembly line method of making bears because I thought it would be more time efficient. Well, it wasn't. I have several (13) ready for new homes. I think I will go back to making them one by one, I see results much quicker that way!

These bears are available on ebay, or if you follow my blog you will see them at a lower adoption cost.

Thanks for looking.

Just last week I put the bears head on his bum instead of his neck. I kept looking at it and thinking, this just doesn't look right.  :crackup:

Thank you everyone, I loved how she turned out and now have to make one for my granddaughter. She expected me to make her one while she visited the other evening. And of course she ordered a pink one.

This one is available on ebay.

Millie,
You can find the paperclay at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. It is a shredded paper mix that you just combine with water and knead until you get a smooth "clay." Then you can mold it or sculpt it. It drys rock hard. I think there may be a bit of plaster in the mix. It dries naturally, or if you are impatient like me then you can dry it in a low oven. This doll head had the basic layer from the mold, which I froze so I could unmold and starting the drying process. Then I added some more clay here and there after I dried it once in the oven. Then carved and sanded. Then I made a fabric head to attach the face too with glue and then made a back part of the head with more clay attached to the front and dried in the oven again. You can paint it then however you like. I'm working on some crackling methods for the next ones, but it just isn't working for me.

I have been working on this design for months. I did not want to use my doll heads so came up with a plan. It took quite a few tries but finally got her to where I like her. I molded and made my own heads from paperclay to which I added my own details. She is 9" tall not including her ears, and made from hand-dyed black sparse mohair. She has two vintage buttons with red rhinestones and a vintage red pompom tail for just for fun! I think she turned out to be a cutey and can't wait to finish the other smaller ones I have on my table.

So here's is Betty Boo.

I don't usually make large bears and I can't believe how much work they are! My hats off to all you large bear makers. This is Gertrude and she is a 17" fluffy aged mohair bear. She is just gorgeous. Her nose and claws are stitched with a very vintage cotton darning thread I found and it was difficult because it was so fragile, even with 5 strands. I gave her rough stitiching on her back for just an added vintage look. She is a fully dressed bear with a vintage doll dress sweater and comes with her own little 6" blue teddy bear. She is available on ebay for three days. Please see many more photos there.

I have made them with a gusset but just made a new pattern without a gusset and I think it is better. It has two front pieces and two back pieces.

I have used Procion dyes to color just the backing of mohair and koolaid just for the fur. I use the koolaid first and dye the desired color and then rinse well and then mix up a little batch of procion. Now they sell a thickening agent for procion dyes but I use just cornstarch to thicken mine. I mix the dye and soda ash and then I put in the cornstarch until as thick as paint and then paint it on the backing. Let it dry overnight or until you reach the desired color. I have at times rinsed and repeated several times because I didn't want it too dark. You have to experiment. I love using a cream colored mohair and just having color on the backing.

I thought I would try my hand at a little fox and zebra. They turned out adorable. Also have many other bears on ebay including a larger bear and an elephant.

I haven't made an elephant in so long. I had some sparse mohair and dyed it this great faded scarlet color. She is ~6" tall and has winter white wool felt britches and a vintage inspired blue tinsel scarf. His name is Geoffrey and he has vintage teddy bear eyes. Geoffrey and several other bears are available on ebay.

She sure is adorable.

Here's my new little snowman. He's ~7"tall. Also next to him is my almost complete pixie. He still gets a little helmet style hat and feather wings. Both turned out pretty darned cute! The snowman is available and the pixie will be available tomorrow.

He's lovely!

These two are just a match made in heaven. They are both made from a pale spotted pink mohair. The bear is a 9" Eat Cake! bear with a wool felt collar with matching pompom. The little puppy is a ~7" and is just sweet as can be, Pearl just can't be separated from him, so they stay together. They are available as a pair on my blog.

She is a little faded red bear (9") with a winter white wool felt coat and a little pillbox hat. She wears a necklace made from two vintage feather tree ornaments and comes with a vintage inspired pale pink bottle brush tree. She is currently available on my blog and will be on ebay later today or tomorrow.

She turned out so perfectly. Wonderful color and sweet as can bee face. She is available on ebay.

First is Poppy (9"), a sweet little faded red bear with a white aged flannel dress. Second is Harley (12"), Eat Cake! bear's version of a harlequin bear. His colors are really lovely, faded and sweet. Faded bittersweet orange bear next!

They are both available on ebay.

One pattern is brand new, the other is my traditional bear with a few alterations. I think they both turned out pretty good. I learned a few things taking these apart and putting them back together again. The smaller bear is Tuscadaro and he is available on Bear Pile.

The traditional bear (~12") is a rework of an earlier pattern I had. I made quite a few changes to him and I think I will leave the pattern alone now! He will be available probably tomorrow. I have to decided on what he will be wearing before he goes traveling to a new home.

I am still working on a small bear with clay nose and needle-felted paw pads.

I have four new bears. The little one is my new pattern he is a pretty green. The greenish color one I dyed the back of grey mohair and it has wonderful "faded" areas near the seams and natural aged spots. The red one is another new pattern of a pudgy little guy. The pink one is a sweet like girl with her mohair stole.

I'm working on two other traditional little guys.

Sweet little pinky bear available on ebay. She's 9" of pink!

I love pandas and this one is no exception. The faded pink and black/brown turned out just perfect! She is available on ebay.

These guys are on ebay. I have had these done just sitting around watching me work. I have others to finish and list so these have to find some homes!
http://myworld.ebay.com/eatcakevintage/

The black one is a little experiment in getting a dark bear's features to stand out a little more. The bright guy is red with a yellow backing. Both hand-dyed and 9" tall. You can see a couple more pics on my blog.

Another traditional panda in aged burgundy and tan mohair. He's a hefty guy!

I haven't named him yet, thinking Chicory. He is a 13" traditional style bear that has been aged to that well-loved stage. I used a couple of new (to me) techniques on this one. I painted the dye on the backing and I aged him with another dye. Hope you like him. He will be on ebay later tonight. Along with the lovely lavender panda that is still currenty homeless.   

Also a brown traditional bear I completed awhile ago, but he wasn't ready. He is a rather stout brown bear and he wears a old horse show ribbon that says 1949 on the button.

I experimented with a couple of my new procion dyes. I used the cold method and thickened the dye with corn startch slurry (I couldn't wait to get sodium alginate or guar gum). It actually turned out okay with the color robin's egg blue. But pale aqua was a no go. No coloring remained after rinsing. I then thought I would just heat this one up and color a piece of mohair and the hair was damaged. It was actually a very good aging technique!
I also used a soaking method cold and both the fur and backing were dyed.
Here's the photos of the robin's egg blue where I painted the backing. This is a bear I am currently working on, I love the color with the the cream colored fur.