Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Please meet my last bear of 2013, Tinsel!

Tinsel is made from a tan Sassy Bear cashmere, and has a hand knitted touque and scarf, as well as his little wooden sled. More pics and info on his bearpile page, thanks for peeking!

Please meet Ginny, just in time for Christmas! She's on Beapile right now for more info and pics, thanks for peeking!

OMG, love it!!  What a soulful look Mr. Bear has   

Francesca, I own over 100 colours of nail polish, prettymuch the entire rainbow, and then some  I've a bit of a nail polish addiction, hehe. I should remember to take picutres of my nails when I paint them and show them off, I do a lot of neat things to them. I don't do much nail art these days as my nails have become brittle and break all the time due to the pills I take for my auto immune disease, blah  I find nail strengtheners and things like that help a bit, but they still tend to rip and break with the slightest provocation. Good thing I have about a million other hobbies and addictions to focus on, eh?   

I watched the tutorial Becky posted, and it doesn't say anything about adding black polish to the back after your done, but I'll try that when I go to do it. So far, from what I understand, the technique is as follows:

1) Paint back of clear glass eye with glitter nail polish, let dry;
2) Paint darker shade of nail polish colour (brown, green, blue, etc), let dry a bit, but not completely;
3) Take a pin and scrape lines from the pupil out, all around the eye;
4) Paint lighter shade of nail polish, let dry a bit, then repeat last step;
5) Take black nail polish and paint over everything

That about sums up what I've taken in so far, does that sound right to you ladies? I want to make sure I'm not missing any steps, I don't want to muck anything up. The upside though, if I do end up mucking it up, I have a good supply of nail polish remover at home!    If I nail down the technique, I may just make a step-by-step photo guide on how to do it for the Library section. 

Thanks! 

Howdy folks! I'm looking to try painting my own glass eyes for the first time and need a good tutorial on how to go about it. I checked the Library for posts that would help me, but there wasn't really anything there to help me from start to finish. I'm a visual learner, so a tutorial with a video or pictures would be ideal. Let me know if there's anything out there, thanks! 

God, I want Polly's craft room ! I have so many different hobbies, and different places in the house to work on them, lol! I haven't a spare room right now, I rent it out to make ends meet or else it'd be my craft room....one day! I work on my dollhouse miniatures at the craft table in my basement, all my knitting, crocheting and needle crafts on the couch in the living room, and my bears on this wonderful old wicker chair a family friend gave me. It's sort of half a circle shaped, on a base, with a huge cushion on it. I can sit cross-legged in it and still have room to spare, I love it!  As for being alone when I work, I prefer it that way and tend to chase my son and husband out if they wander in, lol. I never feel lonely, I prefer my own company, as it gives me time and space to ponder thoughts and ideas for new bears and such. 

Amazing work, love him!   

Love him! 

I love him, what an awesome first attempt  Love his background story too, what a thoughtful little guy   

What a cutie, love the soother! 

Whoa, so glad I posted my question, so many good tips! I never thought to run the thread through wax before laying it down, if I end up using emb. thread, that might just do the trick, thanks so much!   

Nope, I'm using #5, which in retrospect is probably the reason why it looks so bulky (blushing). The funny thing is, I do have #8 cotton, I use it for making my dollhouse miniature crochet hats and shawls (another hobby of mine). Perhaps I'll try using those, although I don't have a huge selection of colours. Perhaps it's time to try my hand and hand dyeing threads   

Hi everyone! I've been using Perle cotton for my bears noses for the longest time, but find it very very bulky and it tends to look lumpy, especially on my smaller bears. I know some people use emb. floss, but I've had issues with that too, such as the strands don't stay together or shred and it ends up looking even more lumpy! Can someone suggest another type of thread to use, or tips for how to make the emb. thread look smooth, and how many strands to use, etc, I'd be greatful! 

Thanks everyone!   

What a dapper fellow, love him!   

Thank you! 

Please meet Smudge, my newest bear! More info and pics can be found on my Bearpile page.

Thank you! 

I just love all your bears, they're lovely and they all have such wonderful character   

So cute, love the tutu!!    

Please meet Tyson & Nounours! They're made from cashmere Sassy Bears fabric in shades of tan and light brown. More info and pictures on my Bearpile page.

So cute!!!!     I LOVE the mushroom and butterfly (two of my fave things side from the bears themselves) 

What a sweetie, love her face!