Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Scott, nice job with the needlefelting and cute, cute bear!  I'm planning to try this myself sometime soon, and I think it's a good idea to do as you did, using a smaller bear about this size at first.  At a "Bear Retreat" I attended last weekend, a couple of artists displayed mohair bears whose noses they had needlefelted onto the mohair snout, and they were very impressive!  So good luck, it's always good to try new ways to be creative!

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

How could anyone not be absolutely thrilled to be receiving Opie, he is so wonderful.  Lucky lady in San Francisco -

Hugs,

Karen C.

Rita, what a sweet and unusual bear Chester is, I really like him.

Karen C.

Judi, your Bovines story is so entertaining and educational at the same time.  The photos are wonderful and it's so sweet coming from Sherwood's perspective.  Brings back fond memories of my childhood days (very very long ago, I'm afraid) when I was fortunate enough to visit my grandparents' farm in North Dakota every summer, what a wonderful place for family life...Thank you so much for making this available to us.

Hugs,  Karen C.

I'm working on my first bunny right now, took me forever to get the pattern done.  For ideas, I pulled up lots of live rabbit photos on the internet which helped a lot with the head, ears and body, but the way they usually sit isn't very interesting for a stuffed bunny - ha.  So the challenge was to figure out how to make it sit my way, and I think I have it - Would love to join the challenge -

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

Gaby, it's nice to "chat" with someone from Austria - I visited there many, many years ago, mostly Vienna and Salzburg, loved that part of the world, I wish I could go back again.  Welcome to the group.

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

Thanks Shelli for creating this challenge - I've "gotten my feet wet" at last with using my PhotoShop, this was a fun way to learn some of the basics, will definitely be getting into more with it from now on.  The images submitted by the others are all very nifty, fun to see what everyone's been doing with your elements.

Hugs,   Karen C. ~ Hannabears

This is really interesting, I would never have thought about completely finishing a head, face and all, before doing the body, but in many ways it makes sense.  I do mine pretty much like Terrie's method, and I do trim the fur in the seam allowances and just enough off the muzzle to allow easier stitching prior to sewing the bear together.  When I'm ready to work on the face, I trim the fur before, during and after needle sculpting, embroidering the nose, setting the eyes, and shading.  I use the old scissor-and-comb method (finer-toothed end of the comb gives slightly shorter cut, etc).  I'm always paranoid that I'll take off more than I want to, the phrase "this bear's hair will never grow out if you cut it too short" keeps going through my mind.  (sigh) That's just one of the reasons why it takes me so long to complete each bear.

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

Shelli, at this late date I just found your sweet piggy girl, and she is precious.  So much fun to look at over and over again.  Good luck in the contest, she sure looks like a winner to me.

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

Laraine,  your bears are wonderful - what great imagination and skill you have!

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

Shelli, this sounds very intriguing and if participating in an exercise like this would help me learn how to dress up my painfully plain avatar (I just finished changing photos on mine but it's still glaringly lacking in imagination), I love the idea!!

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

SueAnn, 

that is too funny, I really enjoyed your photo of "Dumplin" - he is darling too as well as I'm sure Burleson must be - I would love a chance to make a "ghastly mistake" just like yours - good luck with the awards.

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

CONGRATULATIONS to Shelli, Sue Ann, Jared, Berta, and Judi on your nominations for TOBY awards - how terrific for all of you, and best of luck in the final voting.  Can't wait to see the May/June issue of TBF - will be difficult to choose among all the wonderful entries.

Karen Cwayna ~ Hannabears

Debbie,  your bear is looking great!!  You were brave to try this on such a small bear.  I've done only a few center seam bears, and discovered right away the need to first be sure the pieces were laid out and cut so that I'd be reasonably happy with the natural lay of the fur afterward.  Then after trimming and "picking" the seam, making sure the seam was open flat before and during stuffing, and this can really be a challenge.  I usually find that when I'm embroidering the nose and mouth, the "needle-shifting" method mentioned by Debbie works well to neaten up the muzzle and chin seams in that area as well.  Once I get my bears' heads stuffed, I'm willing to try almost anything to avoid pulling it all out and stuffing over!! 

Hugs,

Karen C. ~ Hannabears

Terrie, What a sweet baby bear and blankie, really nice work by Anne, lucky you!

Karen C. ~ Hannabears

She is breathtaking, Shelli, congratulations.  Your work is so inspiring, she's sure to be a winner...

Hugs,
Karen C ~ Hannabears

Miss Zsa-Zsa is absolutely stunning, Jenny - Good luck in the competition.

Hugs, Karen C ~ Hannabears