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I still don't think they would hold up Michelle, just trying to stuff them would be a real pain. I could understand if they were velvet or something like that but I don't think these dresses are. I think there would be major complications no matter how much muslin you used the fabric will not hold up.
hugs
shane
I'm gonna stick with my original answer Sue, seeing a close up of the fur it certainly looks like beaver. Beaver usually has a wonderful sheen to it. Just be careful when you do needle sculpting, we have found that the skins don't like to be sculpted to much 
they tend to be very tender on most skins. He's coming along beautifully though, the linings always make nice bows.
Keep up the good work.
hugs
Shane
I would recommend not making them from the dresses. We did 13 bears a couple of yrs ago from a blanket, it was awlful to work with. It was very time consuming and it was difficult to work with, hard to do up seams and do jointing and such. I would recommend doing furry bears and dressing them or making blankets out of the dresses to sit on. The dresses will not hold up I can tell you that now, they will be far to delicate and the fabric will not last. She will basically be throwing her money out the window and then she will be coming back to you because her bears are falling apart. Even if you line the fabric it will not last. Just a word of warning. I know it's a lovely idea, but when your the bearmaker/artist you will know better than the client and you should tell her as well what will happen.
hugs
Shane
You would be very close with saying it was Nutria, I do believe it is beaver though. Nutria is related to the beaver family. That would be my guess just from having a quick look at the pictures.
Nice job by the way with the bear, came out very nice.
big hugs
Shane
Welcome back Louise you have been missed and can't wait to see your creations, Lily Beans is so sweet I just love those dogs so much, we have several friends who have them and love them.
big hugs
Shane
OH Cyndee you are a sweetheart yourself, and I do apologize for spelling your name wrong ( I know better than that sheesh).
big hugs
Shane
Hmmmm how about a pig, I wanna see a pig . I bet that would be adorable. Can't wait to see the elephant.
hugs
Shane
Cindi I believe Steve would think any Janome is a good machine . The one you have is fine as others have said if you like it and works well for you that's all that matters. I know his sister who does dance costumes as well as used a brother machine she bought at Wal-Mart for under $100.00 and it worked great (granted she replaced it with a Janome when she could afford to and her daughter now has the brother).
The singer we got is not a feather weight, I have not had time to really look at it and research it to see what it is, it certainly does need a good cleaning. We have a great shop where we buy our machines from and they give us good deals and are great with service, so we may just wind up taking both of them in there and have them spruce them up. I don't know if we will keep them or not. Each one weighs a ton that's all I know so good and rugged construction. Steve just located an Industrial serger for his sister that does nothing but rolled hems as she does a lot of those with the costumes and she needed a work horse, they picked it up for about $200.00 so it was a steal.
Thank you for the compliments on our bears and critters, we have backed off on shows this yr and we aren't doing another one until August which is TBAI in NY state. So we are hoping to spend that free time working on new designs.
Steve's swim suits he has started are mainly for men, I had a hard time finding nice looking suits that fit and weren't all baggy. So Steve has designed some and all of our friends want them, so when he gets the chance he sits down and makes a bunch of them. I think he'd like to do something like that full time, he is so creative and can make just about anything. I'll have to see if we have any pics of the swimsuits or not, if not will have to make sure we take some.
big hugs for now
Shane
Cindy to answer your question about sewing machines, we are a Janome family here (Steve is the poster child for Janome). I have one Janome that will do everything I need it to and also has a quilting table attachment. Steve has another Janome sewing machine, plus a Janome embellishing machine (felting machine). Plus he has a Janome embroidery machine. I have lost track of the number of sergers he has plus a rolled hem machine (I don't know what it does for sure lol). Plus we have a fur machine specifically made for sewing fur I think it's from the 1940's I don't think they even make them anymore. Plus we have a Pfaff industrial sewing machine. Funny enough we have all of these machines but I spend majority of the time hand sewing them. Just like you thought Cindy I do sit with my feet up and usually one dog on my lap and another on the back of the couch at my head as I sew and or stuff the bears watching TV or movies. Our living room is pretty much where we do all the sewing and work on the bears. Even tracing out a bear I have a lap desk that I use and sit on the couch and trace and cut out (the oldest dog doesn't like this as you can't be in my lap while I do this but manages to snuggle in close to me). Although we do have a room set up in the basement for sewing it is mainly for the sewing Steve does for dance costumes and bathing suits and stuff like that. I'd take a picture of it but it really does look like a couple of goats exploded in that room :crackup: . Someone did just give us a couple of very old sewing machines, one is hand crank machine and the other is an extremely old singer. They both need a really good cleaning, oh I did forget that we also have an antique tredle sewing machine that is in the upstairs hallway but we never use it.
hugs
Shane
OMG Maria that is too funny, I just loved that T shirt as well. I too have emailed her but have not heard back from her yet, perhaps she is away on vacation or something. I will email her again in the next few days if I don't hear from her. He pictures are so nice and all the dancing bears I love.
big hugs
Shane
Well there are several that I want, but it came down to two. the first one was the fat bear dancing in the moonlight, that's the one I would like. The second one was the dancing bear that was unbalanced I will order that one later on. LOL. cause I am a bit unbalanced .
big hugs
Hmmm that's a tough one, we have used the cold water dye but we actually boiled it when we did that it coloured both the mohair and the backing. I would be very interested to see how you make out with it. Keep us posted with the results.
Hugs
shane
Heehee I know someone who's gonna love it 
. Great work as always honey.
big hugs
shane
We call it Persian lamb here, not sure why but it is lamb. Come's in shades of grey, black, and we have had one light beige coloured.
hugs
Shane
I've already emailed her as there is a T shirt that I am interested in. I love her greeting cards especially the ones with all the dancing bears. I may order a few at a time and frame them and make a collage out of them. Great stuff and thanks Maria for posting the information. A friend of mine posted it on his facebook as well so she should be getting a lot of hits on her website he has over 1300 friends on his facebook page.
big hugs
Shane
Hi Bobbie,
Check with Debi McCarthy-Beckett www.tedsfromthreads.com. She use to have a very small eye punch, I checked her site for you and didn't see it there but maybe send her off an email. She may still have some kicking around if she's not selling them anymore. They were for small eyes, so likely the size you are after.
hugs
Shane
Karen I so agree, they just keep changing things. They have to get their money somehow as they are not getting new buyers to their site. It's always the seller who pays the price.
Pat , when we do our clay noses we insert a very small eye into the back of it. The nose is then baked, we attach the nose the same as an eye with a bit of crazy glue gel on the back of the nose. There is no need to pull on the nose that much , but insert the same way you would and eye and just tie it off in the same way as an eye. We have never had a problem, again if you pull to hard the nose will snap because the clay will break.
hugs
Shane
I agree Melissa but I still can't be bothered. It's really a shame, I use to buy so much off of ebay but they have ruined it. Trust me they will be going down in a few yrs, they aren't getting the number of new members and the sales aren't great that's why they are upping their prices for the sellers.
Jacqui you are so right. I use to look for artist bears and now there is so much crap in that listing that I don't bother anymore. I couldn't find anything if I wanted to and I use to check on it daily. I also find there is a ton of stuff by R John Wright , I am sorry but they are not artist pieces either, they are manufactured and they should be under the manufactured heading not under artist. I have a very hard time to find anyone's bears listed in there, It's a good thing the artist who have been using ebay for yrs have a great mailing list to tell their collectors they have listed something otherwise no one would ever find them.
big hugs
Shane
I'll take one of each please , the bugs and the bunnies are fantastic. Well they all are but those ones really jump out at me. Good luck at the show.
big hugs
Shane
Beautiful bear Tami, no one does paws like you do that's for sure.
big hugs
Shane
I agree Paula when it comes to size, when being judged by just a picture there are lots of times I would have no idea exactly how big the big is based on the picture.
Just a thought, but realistic doesn't always cover all creatures as many bear artists like to create more whimsical, character based animals.
I think what Edie was saying Paula was people make more than realistic bears, they make other realistic animals. The realistic class would not take into account Whimsical or character based bears that would fall under the contemporary category.
hugs
Shane
yes Brenda you are right I to tend to be grumpy heehee. It was just funny reading everyone's suggestions and how big the list was going. That's why I said the wish list was getting kinda big, I know everyone would like to have more categories, I guess I was just getting confused with everything that was being thrown out there. I hope I wasn't coming across as some old kermudgeon (sp), wasn't meaning to sound old and grumpy. The categories do need to be revamped I totally agree with that, was just trying to put things into perspective that's all. It's a tough decision that the magazines will have to make, and if one magazine doesn't make a change then it's comp will be left in the dust.
hugs
Shane
