Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I wish I was patient enough to make a mock up...like I probably wouldn't have had to make 3 squirrel heads!!!! I just get too excited with what i am making and when I did make a mock up I got frustrated doing it so chucked it in the bin and made one out of mohair instead. I think it's really great if you can do it...I am just always in too much of a rush to take my time!!!!! I am no good athe planning stages!!!!

I don't make a muslin copy even, I just make the bear...I figure that even if it's not that good I can probably do something with it to make it ok...and I can't tell from other fabrics what the pattern will be like so I see it as waste of time, I learn more from making an actual bear from real fabric.

Oh Nancy...I love this look....he looks really sweet...I'd give him a chance on ebay

Laura...you know what ...that is such a good idea...leaving the neck open...that's one of those 'duh' moments for me!!!!

Thanks.....!!!!!!! :clap:  :clap:

Sue Ann...this bear is not only adorable but is a superb piece of craftmanship...If you struggled with this bear you can't tell...it has a serene expression that belies the pains you went to create it!!!!! I know that your sister will love this work of art!!

Thanks everyone for looking at my latest design....this of all the designs I have done has to be the most annoyingly simple yet the hardest to achieve. There is something about a squirrel that to capture it's essence seems so difficult to pin-point. You can't just stick a fuzzy tail on...there is something characteristically squirrelly that is so hard to 'get right'. Like I said ...I did 2 heads before this one and I am still thinking about making changes to my next one...I'll re-visit this design sometime....

It's a funny thing isn't it? We had the discusssion about what makes a rabbit a rabbit...and there are individual characteristics which makes it interesting to define them ...but it's so hard to pin-point just what they are.......aaaaaaaaaaGH!!

I used a long pile red faux fur knitted back for the tail Shelli...it was perfect as it had silver grey guard hairs. I get most of my faux fur from Edinburgh...and now I know how easy it is to line the knitted type I'm not so restricted what I buy.

Donna, I am so into oil paints since Shelli suggested it...I just think it's so versatile...and effective....

Here's the squirrel design I have been working on....three heads later and we're getting somewhere at last...but it's been a total nightmare...I think the fabric doesn't help...it's not easy to work with.

But I'm not keen to make another.....but I'll have to, because I can't let him beat me!!

Thanks again everyone for looking...Scott, I am a world authority on hairy legs...I have a pair of my very own!!!!!!!

Beautiful bear..as usual....she's just lovely!!

Yes....Happy Australia Day!!!!!! :dance:

Thankyou everybody for looking at Hamish...Donna...he has only 5 pieces in his head...for a change!!!...He's quite small at 11 inches ....I know that's positively humungous for all you 'mini' folks....but for me it's a fiddle so I kept him simple. I am glad it worked...but I figured that the ears being where they are on his head he wouldn't need the pile direction to change around too much...

I love making rabbits....I should do though my husbands name is Steven Bunn...AKA ..Bunny!!!

Very...very sweet

My goodness me, Shelli!!! I am blushing at the mere thought.......

Penny...I hope you're right!!!!

Heres a new rabbit design.. Inroducing Mr Hamish Mc Rabbit...I changed the head shape and gave him slimmer feet than my other rabbit design...he's wired for posing and weighted so he can stand. He has the chubby cheeks and I've shaded his features with natural shades of oil paints using a dry brush..

He'll be on my table at Hugglets....along with a few bears if I ever get off this here computer!!

Wow...impressive...can you do me a squirrel head?....Just kidding ....but designing your own patterns is the best fun!!

Vicky...I do use a mask....especially when scissor sculpting...I don't want furry lungs...especially as I've probably already got hairy ones!!!!

Hi Vicky..I haven't tried kapok...the fluff puts me off...but I regularly use cotton fibre which is great for packing into small spaces...they do say it disintregates over time...but how long ...who knows...!!!!!??

I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about how to make something...I end up getting up.....not last night though...I slept like a log!!!!

Thanks everyone for your kind comments...

Deb...She's 16"....quite a big girl for me...I tend to like the 12-14 inchers!!!!

I know the feeling....I just made a squirrel, of which the body turned out fab...but the head.......aaaaaaagh...he looks like he's eaten all the nuts.....

So it's back to the drawing board!!

Headless squirrel???? Spooky!!

Watch this space!!!

I make a wire loop which I sew to the head where I want the ears to go...then slip the ears over the loop and sew on...easy peasy...I do secure the loop to the ear at the top too to stop it wobbling about.

I walked past a Mabel Lucie Attwell bedtime story book on a stand at a fair...I kept looking at it..thinking that the clothes she'd drawn on the little characters show just how I like my bears to look.
I am always inspired by my dogs..and cats....my baby grand-daughters inspired the chubby cheeks I now do. Hairdo's that I do in the salon...bits of fabric, flowers, jewellery...the squirrel that runs along my fence every morning has finally inspired me to make one...

Oh, loads of things....it never ends....it's good job really!!!!

I just made a bear with knit back faux fur which I lined using muslin...I first tried fusible iron on interlining which was ok...ish... but it creased the pile in places through the heat of the iron...though I was careful not to press down....I then tried a permanent spray fabric adhesive which worked really well...and I simply glued the muslin to the backing leaving a non stretch fabric  backing which was a great smooth surface to mark up the pattern on also.

It machined up splendidly and I stuffed the head ....still no stretch. Having done this I won't back off from knitted synthetics in future...they are easier to come by and there are some wonderful ones around.