Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

:clap:  :clap:  :clap: beautifully done! :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

serving up three hot chicks

a 6" silver leather saucepan witha copper bottom, brimming full of leather veggies simmering around three silk pluch chicks with leather beaks, feet and eyelids

thanks, folks!  whatta great bunch you are!  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

I do all of my handwork using a dritz #7 quilt basting needle.  they are about 2.5" long and very thin and fine without much bulge to the shaft.  they don't cut the leather the way leather needles do and pierce through quiet easily (at least for me) and the length makes them easy to handle. I keep a needlenpse pleirs on hand for the tough spots.  the other thing about these is that they are so fine that they eventually curve from the pressude of my fingers and then make a good substitute for a curved needle.  I buy these about a dozen packs at a time.  even better were the 'goldeneye' #7's that walmart used to carry, but those have dissapeared off the face of the earth...

inspired by a fisher nut commercial from my childhood, meet 'Fisher' - cause fisher says nuts!

12" Fisher is made of a square of Kravet faux fur with a tail made from a recyled fox fur collar. he comes with the kit shown, a 4" 'fisher
nut can sewn of bronze leather with a silk batiste labe,several branches of leather leaves and an armload of acorns sewn from leather but utilizing real acorn caps. the acorns all have magnets in them, allowing you to change the configuration and play. squirrel is multi-jointed (hips, knees, ankles, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, spine and tail.) and has antique taxidermy eyes.

as far as I know, there have been no official notifications made for the Golden Teddy Awards, the magazine seems to have dropped the ball and just tossed things out there, but I've seen the list in their online e-mag, so I thought it was probably safe to announce that my 'gunther' has won the golden teddy for the vignette category and I wanted to thank all of you who voted for us!

the rest of the artist list is below, congrats to all the other winners!

(the list was in java and I was unable to copy, so had to do this by hand. ouch.  forgive any typos or misprints)

undressed, under 5"       'Jojo'  -  Michelle Lamb

dressed, under 5"          'Lady Buggly'  -  Donna Griffen

undressed 5'-14"            'Max'  -  Linda Joan Chiasson

dressed   5" - 14"           'Kubuki'   -  Terumi Yoshikawa

undressed, over 14" -      'Heathcliff'  -  Kat Michslski

dressed, over 14"           'Thommy'   -  Susan Donaj

'other' non - bear            'Kenya'    -   Judy Paul

felted -                           'grey nutkin squirrel  - stevi-T

vignette                          'Gunther'  by Kelly Dean

hey, thanks, folks!   :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

meet 'Gillis' a 14" grizzly cub from KD&CO

Gillis is 14" tall (11" seated) and made of a very grizzly brown/taupe faux fur with black guard hairs. a traditonal 5-way jointed teddy with trapunto leather paw pads and leather nose and eyelids over german glass eyes, Gillis is soft, cuddly and floppy - and stuffed with silicone & glass beads and excelsior, he's a rather hefty little fella. available directly from me, give a shout if you're interested.

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mindy is indeed no longer with doll reader and her email is: mica1125@comcast.net

I use glass beads, available from edinburgh imports or crs crafts.  you can also buy them in bulk from industry suppliers by the 50#, 5 gallon pail.  sandblasting beads come in a number of different weights and sizes, you want to be sure to use the large clustered type bead.  I'd be wary about using any sort of copper, be it BB's or I've even heard of some who use pennies.  copper will oxidize and discolor, turning green over time and could leach out into your fabrics.  stainless steel bb's are fine, of course. 

a combination of glass beads and plastic pellets will give you a lovely weighted feel.

hey, thanks everyone - both for taking a peek and for the nice comments.  the lady who put it together is a serious blogger and they always appreciate it when they get viewed.  has anyone tried using that software for their own slideshow yet?

hey everybody . . . it's not really like me to toot my own horn, but a recent visitor to my shop & studio took a bunch of pictures here and was inspired to make a little slideshow/movie about her visit.  I so appreciated her efforts - and got such a smile out it (and isn't that a cute song!) that I thought it might be fun to share with the gang.

here's the link if you'd like a peek (blushing and taking no credit whatsoever for the content)

http://animoto.com/play/kQ6TgyoYz5g0rqQvVhARUg

ps: that first photo of me is about 14 year old,  she must have scoured the web to find that one . . .

by the way, the software to make your wee movie is available free.  I wonder if it might be useful for our own websites - it looks pretty simple.

:hug:  :hug:  :hug: gosh, thanks, everyone  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

wow!!!!!!!!!!!! Karen, he's absolutely breathtaking!   - and absolutely my favorite KJ Lyons piece. kudos, hats off and a big bow. . . :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

I've  been obsessed with the evolution of the chicken lately - my chickens, anyway - and I finally finished another pair, Orsino & Oriana.  I think they are my most realistic effort to date with some pattern changes and more compact, realistic tail feathers. done in assorted black & white faux furs & mohair with leather combs, beaks, wattles, legs and claws.  a full spine, rod-jointed hips. multi-jointed & pose-able. Orsino is 15", Oriana is 12"

:clap:  :clap:  :clap: beautifully done - Karen, your colorations are always the absolute best! :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

:clap:  :clap:  :clap: wow, a complete riot of color & texture - really well done :clap:  :clap:

:clap:  :clap:  :clap: what a beautiful lady - and what a fabulous dress!! :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

:clap:  :clap:  :clap: completely, utterly charming :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

wow!  those lips. . . that nose. . . those eyes!!!  :dance:  I think he might be the happiest bear alive  :dance:  :dance:  :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:

curiouser & curiouser, eh?  sometimes you just gotta wonder. . .

Karen, did you know that Tyber has bought Tissavel?  I wonder what that changes?

wow!  congrats, everyone :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  here's mine, 'Gunther', in the vignette category. . .

:clap:  :clap:  :clap: oui, she is. . . how you say.. . 'tre chic' :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

:clap:  :clap:  :clap: utterly charming (and beautifully crafted) :clap:  :clap:  :clap: