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sarahjane Brisbane
Posts: 2,951

Arghhhhhhh.....I am completely frustrated at the moment....I decided that I had to make a lovely synthetic bear out of some beautiful cream fur (not cheap) that I have here...you know I wanted one with those gorgeous puffy cheeks etc etc....Well I now have a new appreciation for all you artists who work with synthetics, I have fur everywhere...and I mean everywhere......and after hours and hours of careful scissor sculpting (after carefully lining and cutting out) to try and achieve something that resembled something more than a cream puff I finally came close to what I was after, set my eyes, lids and whites...moving along fine....ears a tad difficult but ok......THEN my beautiful bears eye fell off!!!! B&%$*^^ I haven"t had that happen in such a long time....the back of the glass eye broke!!!!!  bear_cry  bear_cry  bear_cry  bear_cry

My poor bears is now blind and banished to the corner of the room.....where she landed at the end of my temper tantrum!!!  :twisted:

Jodi Moisan Storytime Bears
Posts: 1,122

Man don't you HATE that, It's funny I keep the broken eye, I keep thinking I am going to figure out a way to use them,  but talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen , so I never will, I just hate throwing away something I paid for and never really used.

cherylbruinwerks Bruinwerks
Edmonton
Posts: 784

Isn't that weird - I keep the broken eyes too! I have a divided plastic box that I have sorted my eyes by size in (one of my few organized areas bear_thumb ) and one compartment has all the broken ones. I keep hoping they'll breed when I'm not looking and make new eyes I guess bear_tongue  bear_grin

Sorry for all your stress Sarah-Jane, I always find that walking away from the whole thing for a bit really helps.

Cheryl bear_flower

bumblebearies Bumblebearies
Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 436
Website

Awwwww Sarah Jane, what a shame.  Never mind...take a deep breath... vacuum again for all the flying fur bits and then go give him a big hug.  He will be patiently waiting for you .... and... at least this is something that can be fixed.  Thank goodness it was not something to do with the trimming.  What if the scissors had slipped and you wrecked his puffy little cheeks??  Eeeeeek!!  Think of this as a good thing and post his picci as soon as you can cuz you know we are waiting to see......

burlisonbears Burlison Bears
Louisville, Kentucky
Posts: 1,174

Oh! I too have gotten so angry when the back of the eye breaks off. It's happened a few times....hey, I have kept them too! Haha! That's weird!

-Eliza

Aleta - The Silly Bear The Silly Bear
Portland, Oregon
Posts: 3,119
Website

You threw your bear across the room?!!!  bear_shocked  bear_shocked  bear_shocked

Keeping broken eyes??  What??   :crackup:  :crackup: You girlies are funny!

Warmest bear hugs,  :hug:
Aleta

K Pawz Guest

I know just how you feel Sarah!!! It is just not fair!!My kitten Simon has hand painted eyes and all was well, I set the eyes and they were nice and tight and then I looked and there was this wierd line across one of the eyes....after examining it I realized it was broken....so had to take out both eyes since there was no way I would be able to paint another to match, and paint a brand new set...thus delaying his vision another day waiting for eyes to dry!!!

Hugs,
Krista

Stellajella Wien
Posts: 1,399

Sarah Jane,
I hope you quit your tantrum by now :crackup:
What I usually do, when something goes wrong: I put the bear away, make another one and after this is finished, I go on with the one, where something went wrong.....well, I guess I do  :crackup:

...and I also keep the broken eyes bear_whistle

Gaby bear_flower

sarahjane Brisbane
Posts: 2,951

:crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

I feel so much better now!! I too keep the broken eyes...I thought I was the only one!!!  :crackup:  :crackup:

My poor bear is destined to remain blind for a while now as they were hand painted and I have NO eyes left....so I have to wait until I can make a trip to get some!!! Oh well. I have retrieved her from the corner of the room and will work on her again soon.

Veronica and Ellen you are right it could have been much worse!!  bear_grin  bear_grin

Jodi Moisan Storytime Bears
Posts: 1,122

I know Isn't it just silly to save the broken ones, I am so glad there are others out there that do the same thing, I keep thinking that  one of my sons school projects may need eyes glued on them and Bam~!!!!!!! I have them just waiting :crackup:  :crackup:
It's really bad that they were hand painted because then you are left with that one mismatched eye, I have thought about making some aliens with mine so they don't go to waste bear_grin

I LOVE the tip about the little vacuum, I swear sometimes I feel like my cat, I breath in and swallow so much fur that i could start hacking up a giant fur ball  bear_shocked   bear_noexpression wait I need to learn to not be a mouth breather :crackup:

BearBottoms 'Bear' Bottoms Originals
Ft. Bragg, NC
Posts: 2,465

Awwwww DANG!  What a bummer...  I can't jump on the bandwagon and say I keep my broken eyes though, as I've never had one break...even as tight as I pull them.  But, I know all too well the frustration of having something go wrong with a bear that I've put many many hours into!! Argh!

Kimberly W.

Michelle Helen Chaska, Minnesota
Posts: 2,897

uhmmmm...I break eyes all the time. When I do, I try to fish out the wire. Sometime I can sometimes not. If not, I just put in another eye....I think needle sculpting the eye socket cuts down on the tugging and pulling to sink in the eye. This may help in not breaking them...So don't give up on the little fellow. Give him another eye and than post a picture for us to have a look-see!!

Terrie Terries Bears
Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 3,614

That is so frustrating Sarah Jane after you have worked so hard!! Now you will have to give that poor little bear a big hug, afterall it wasn't his fault  :crackup:  :crackup:

SunnieOne Sunnie Bears
Ridgecrest, CA
Posts: 1,167

Oh my! I too am in the "broken eye keepers club". Whats up with that?
Sonya

TamiL Dolls N Dreams
Aurora, Colorado
Posts: 6,454

Oh, so sorry!!!! I can give you a  :hug:

thumperantiques Newcastle, Ontario
Posts: 5,643

Add me to the list of "who saves broken eyes"!  That's really funny.  At least mine are very tiny, and I have used some of them for eyes in my wooden rocking toys, so I have an excuse - what's yours :crackup:  :crackup: !

                                    hugs,

                                    Brenda

sarahjane Brisbane
Posts: 2,951

:crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

This is so funny!! I can't think of an excuse yet but I'm sure I will find a use for them sometime!!!  bear_ermm

carsoncreations Carson Creations
Macomb, IL
Posts: 252
Website

I know, I'm always the odd woman out but .....

I always look at this from the "other side" ... when a glass eye breaks while I'm finishing a bear, it is frustrating, but then I say to myself ..."Thank God it broke with me and not the collector who just bought it" .... how embarrassing ... what would they think, that I use sub-standard materials???

So I  just count to ten, throw away the broken eye, and replace it with another one and count myself lucky that if it was going to break, it did it before it left my hands.  I usually spend a little bit more and buy the best eyes I can hoping to avoid this situation.  Don't answer the door, but that is me knocking on wood as I don't have this happen very often ...probably because I sculpt the eye socket before inserting the eyes, puts less strain on them.

Sorry it happened, but one of the few downsides of creating teddy bears.


Hugs,

Wanda

Daphne Back Road Bears
Laconia, NH USA
Posts: 6,568

Hmmmm.... hadn't thought about saving broken eyes! Don't give me any ideas! bear_wacko

I save pieces of thread and embroidery floss.... ya know, whatever is left on the needle that is too short to sew with and the tails I cut off after I sew. I have no idea why I do this. Yes, I do... I'm a pack rat! I do use the embroidery yarn pieces for attaching my hang tags if they are long enough. Otherwise I just have the glass canning jar full of useless thread!

Glass eyes.... hmmm.... I'll have to remember that.

Yes, go fetch that bear and give it a hug.... this didn't happen on purpose. :hug:

Dilu Posts: 8,574

Poor Sarah Jayne....what a time you've had....I hate the way the synthetic goes up your nose.....broken eyes?  Haven't had the problem since switching to the U shaped ones.....

But how clever of you gals for saving them-the eery mosaic comes to mind as a use......


or in pictures so that it seems like the eyes are following you......

interesting effect added to a tiling project?

What else could one do with broken bearyeyes?

eastbenchbears East Bench Bears
Chicago, IL
Posts: 133

Glad to know I'm not alone in the broken eye club!!! I thought I was really, really daft to break the eyes! I know it's frustrating, Sarah Jane, but you will totally make it work!!
(I have a broken eye collection too- I keep thinking I am going to give them to my future students to use in collage or something maybe?!?)

Hugs,
Anita

kim "a bear by kim"
merseyside
Posts: 2,401

ooooohhh, its nice to know im not the only one who throws stuff in a fit of frustration!!!
my house is a snzzers heaven, i sit with a mag on my lap when i scissor sculpt. you still get bits everywhere but most of it can then be put in the bin!

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