Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hi Catherine,

For putting mini bears on a necklace I use this method:
Patch the fabric (where you want the horse attached to the chain) on the inside with a piece of ultrasuede or felt.
I use farbric glue.
Make a small hole with an awl or something like that.
Insert a pin from outside towards the inside (used for jointing miniature bears) and put the cotter inside. The extra layer of felt or ultrausede will prevent the cotter from showing through the fabric.
Curl the iron stems from the pin against the cotter.
This will give you a nice sturdy eye to put the cord through.

Marijke

I wash the fabric and have it dried in the tumbler, so that the pile is nicely up,  before I start dying.
Than I use a dye that has the substance of yogurt: not to drippy, otherwise it will not only colour the tips but the rest as well, and we do not want that.
Because human hair is similar to mohair, you can also experiment with (permanent) haircolours......

Wear gloves!

The fun thing is that nothing is forbidden, so why not use other fabrics that match (or have a different pile lenght as well as a different colour!) and give it a go!
Remember your childhood drawings...there were no rules yet on how to make things, you just did them! Big heads, skinny legs, out of proportion feet, everything is possible! Enjoy the experiment!

All my furs etc. are in large ZIPlock bags in order to keep the insects away and than in large boxes sorted by sort (minifabrics, vintage fabrics, ultra-suede, felt etc) or colours (tans, pastel-shades, dark colours, overdyed etc.
The smaller boxes I bought in the shop (where mostly women are a rare sort) where they sell tools and also have beautifull tranparant boxes for organizing nuts and bults, but also buttons, ribbons etc.

The cardboard patterns are also stored in ziplocks bags with a picture of the bear I made from the pattern and sometimes a piece of fabric as well.

My tools are stored is boxes that I can pile up in my cupboard and labeld so that I need not look for hours to find them....

Now I am still looking for a big inflatable room to attach to my house to have the boxex piled up in! Any ideas???LOL!

Marijke
ButtonBears Holland

Oh Melissa it is absolutely adorable, and I LOVE the colour!

Well done girl!

Marijke
Buuton Bears Holland 

Hi Kimberley,

Absolutely adorable, so much character is such a small bear!
Love his ruffles too, subtle and nice!

Marijke

Thanks for your sweet comments....I have been NOT been making bears for two years, (after the birth of my son )/
Getting into the commitment a couple of swaps was a good way to start doing so again.
I was afraid I had forgotten ""how to"" during those two years, but I suppose it is a bit like riding a bicycle, once you learned to, you won't forget...
I was very happy to dig into my boxes with supplies again!
Now my house has once again been taking over by fabrics, cotters and pins , just like it was before.
(OK< also by the toys my son has laying around)
Luckely my son is past putting everything he finds in his mouth.
But is is very much interested in all the tools I use and I find my pliers in the most extraordinaraiy places sometimes! 

marijke

Hi All,

This is my swapbear I made for Melissa. (yes, the lady who makes those lovely panda bears and many others as well!)
I used the ultra sparse mohair from Norton and a bit of handdyed accents as well.
The bears wears a cape made out of red vintage fabric velvet and antique porcelain buttons and gold ribbon.

Merry Christmas to you all and a lot of new bears in 2006!

Marijke

Hi All,

I use a combination of steelhot and kapok. To prevent the last from getting all over the place, you can slightly dampen it with water (with a sprya, like the one you use to create a mist over plants like orchids?) .
Not enough to soak it, but just to cling the fibres together.
Also it is sensible to use a mask to prevent the fibres from getting into your nose or lungs, but this can be quite nasty when it is hot I'm afraid.

absolutely adorable!! :love:
We do not have koala bears in Holland, but  a tiny one like this could easily come to Holland and live here!

HI minimakers,

I have been making large bears and small bears, but focused on smaller bears for the last ten years.

A. For each bear I try to decide how much I have actually payed for the materials I used.
Once in a while I make a list: joints, eyes etc......each bear had a different fur, soemtimes more expensive or rare and sometimes less expensive.
I think it is alos fair that if you went outdoor for some shopping for a certain item especially (decorations, ribbons etc) you take this into account. (time, travelexpenses etc. Browsing the Internet os less timeconsuming of course and no travelexpenses  :thumbsup:)

B. Than I figured out a certain amount I think I should "earn" each hour that I am working on a bear.
Some bears are fully dresses with small items added that I also make (like hats or critters) and this involves more time than making a bear only decorated with a bow.
When I hand-dye the fabrics, or paintbrush a face, this will take more time as well.

I add up A plus B and think I have the reasonable price.
If you go to shows, or advertise, have somebody built or maintain your website: you have overheadcosts and may want to take this into account as well.

Of course prices also depend on if you are a ""wanted"" artist or not, how experienced you are, how the bears look like.
When I started making bears I was often happy to receive the actual costs plus a little extra for the efforts ....but I consider that my learningschool.  :)

Hope this helps!

Marijke
Button Bears Holland

Oh, I am sorry,   :|
perhaps you can search on the internet yourself for printable cotton fabrics...I also had a few addresses copied into this mail:

Just order them ...
http://www.fabricprintersheets.homestead.com/index.html
http://www.thetransferpress.co.uk/heat- … tton.shtml

or make them yourself... :rolleyes:
http://www.homeandoffice.hp.com/hho/htm … 5-121.html

Marijke

You can also use printable cotton sheets that you can feed your regular printer with.
This way you can design the tag in whatever size or colour or shape you would like it to be. :thumbsup:

Marijke Haerkens
Button bears