Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thank you Francy & Conni!

Gail - At first I needle sculpted the muzzle & eye sockets, I then needle felted the details on top 

Here is my first ever creation using mohair!
I recieved this beautiful golden sparse mohair for Christmas and have finally gotten over my fear of wasting it to create this donkey, Oshka!
I have more pics of her in my blog, I hope you like her!  :)
http://puddingbowlbears.blogspot.com/

p.s my old username was lakawilk, I felt like it wasn't right and I changed it to something more suitable!

I once bought a bag of natural washed fleece in white, I warn you.. it's not like the perfect balls of merino, but it's a lovely creamy off white and from my experience felts like a dream. Type 'natural washed fleece' into Etsy for a look at what I mean. Of course you will have to needle felt it into shapes rather than cut from a sheet.. hope that was a little helpful anyway!   

Aww, what a festive little fellow! I love his elegant long snout and slender paws. 

Oh my goodness, she's absolutely beautiful! What an amazing piece of work!

TC, I know exactly what you mean!! When I made these lil guys heads I thought.. wow these are the best bears I've ever made!! ...after I put the limbs on the body I thought... actually they're very stumpy, the arms aren't right and I wish I'd done this, this and this better! But yes the learning curve is where most of the fun is at! 

Awww, she's so sweet and shy looking! I really like her big feet! 

Francy - Thank you Did you notice there is an extra tea-cup laid out for you? Yes, it's daunting to upload when there's so many fantastic artists here but you're right and if everyone was shy there would be no forum at all!

Pinky - Yes, you are right about the needle felted muzzle/noses, I forgot to mention that, oops! Thank you so much for your kind words! And you are definitely right about experimenting and each bear/animal I make teaches me something new!   

Thondra - The brown plush was very difficult to work with, everything from pattern to sewing to turning... but it is lovely for scissor sculpting & trimming because it's so thick.. the purple was a dream to sew/turn etc but when I trimmed it down I was disappointed at how visible and ugly the backing is These guys are about 14cm tall (I'm guessing.. they're downstairs and I'm typing from bed  ) but I will measure them properly tomorrow!

Thank you so much for the lovely comments, guys 

Hi there everybody!
I know these little guys aren't the best and.. I feel so shy about uploading them (it can be nerve racking uploading my amateur bears amongst all the beautiful bears), but I've been working on them all week so it'd be a shame for them not to be seen.
They're all made from one pattern but the brown and purple came out so different from one another which is good because I wanted to see if the pattern would still look good using different materials.

I have to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone here on the Teddy Talk forums, I have learned so much here. Most of my other bears up until now have been totally wall-eyed but after reading about needle sculpting eye sockets I have finally got bears that look in one direction!  :dance:

She's so cute and she has so much character! I don't know how you fit so much detail in 5 inches! 

Thanks guys!  :hug:

Hi everyone!
I thought I would share this baby dragon I've made. Please let me know what you think 
He's 5 way jointed with cotter pin joints and made from white faux fur.
He has lots of needle felted details including his face, horns and loads of tiny scales which I've sewn beads to for sparkle!
His claws are beads made from shell attached to armatures in the feet.

He's far from perfect, he was the first stuffed animal I've made on all fours, I didn't put shot in his feet so he stands awkwardly but I've improved the pattern for the next one

Sorry for the low quality pics guys

I'm no expert by any means.. but I've been needle felting for about 2 years so hopefully I can help.
For your first go this guy is really sweet and has such a good shape! I think the visible holes are down to him being not so evenly felted.
Work the needle more on the bumpy parts that are stuck out a bit and still look like lengths of wool, don't keep stabbing into the same holes you've already made as you'll only deepen them.
Usually I work with a medium sized needle to get all the main form worked out and then at the end go over with a much finer needle to get a smoother appearance. For me this applies with working felt into faux fur/mohair. Just hold the needles nice and straight all the time, if the needle shows resistance don't shove it in, it'll break and it's a real headache trying to fish them out!!
I can usually tell which needles are needed by simply stabbing and seeing how it feels. You should feel the needles grip the wool whilst smoothly entering your work.
Don't be afraid of adding more wool in areas that need it such as your lovely bears wrists which just look like they could do with a little extra.

But I don't think you need too much help because your bear is really wonderful!
I hope I could help and didn't go on and on too much!

He's amazing! I just want to give his big scrunchy ears a squeeze!

Oh he's lovely! And I don't think you over trimmed his face at all! He has such a cute shy face 

This bear is absolutely gorgeous!! The sleepy-face is adorable and I'm totally in love with her pierced ears!

Hi everyone and thanks for all your comments! Making these guys is awfully addictive, now I'm working on a tiny llama with the same colours as little 'Blue-Sky' here (yes I'm awful at names but he came to exist at the same time as the clear blue skies began to peek through the clouds again), and I'm trying to get a little space cleared to take some decent photos of my critters. Unfortunately I'm moving house for the billionth time again soon and all my bear making stuff will have to get packed up for who knows how long. :(

Hey, I don't know if it's just me but I can't see the pictures 

Wow he's amazing for your first attempt! The shape of his muzzle is fantastic and I actually think his sort of cross-eyed look is really cute!

Aww! This is the cutest bunny ever! The ear tufts and super-cute fabric really make her stand out.

So after getting way too excited and ordering tiny bear parts..    I had to make a tiny bear!
He is 5 inches tall with gorgeous pink german glass eyes (finally i ordered them online, i just used plastic safety ones before and they don't sparkle like this!), lovely fluffy synth fur and he's 5 way jointed with cotter pin joints.. another first for me! I wish I had put some shot in him now but I sort of chickened out.
He's not perfect but he looks so happy on my shelf!
Anyway, I hope you like him!

He's amazing! His profile shot really shows off his wonderful shape.

Such a sweet face!!