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...you wouldn't know where to start?
I only raise this topic because of my recent experiments with various aspects..namely some very fiddly trapunto paw pads..which I have decided I will try again because I think there must be an easier way than the one I used!!
Also having been working on a miniature bear this week I have found lots of issues in the pattern design that I had not considered ie millimeters count!! It's something I always wanted to do but never did because I felt my method of doing thing wouldn't work on minis so they would not look like 'my bears'...but so far so good!!
Are there aspects of bear making that you would love to try but don't because you can't work out how?
Selling, lol!
Never really got a hold of that after my Lemonade Benefit Sloth sold 
Ah well, that's what the holidays are for...
I've always been curious about teeny bears, but wouldn't really know where to start. I mean, I'm used to 3" hardboard joints, heavy duty nuts n' bolts, great big industrial strength cotter pins, lumpy polyester and cotton filler, sensible seam allowances, long pile fabrics and most of all A SEWING MACHINE!!! I wouldn't know where to start sourcing the relevant materials and tools for little 'uns, even if I knew what it was I needed to source! 
... and then of course I'd have to get down to the optician's and invest in some specs ...
Tiddly teds aside, I'm also constantly frustrated when I try to work on classic style bears ... I can get a lovely contemporary classic look, but I'll be ******ed if I can get them to take on a genuine 'old style' look! I reckon much of that is to do with my fabric choices and treatments? :doh:
My problem is always too much to do and too little time to play! 
HeeHee you 3 are funny ! 
Jenny and Paula I'm the same in reverse ; I'd kind of like to make a biggun for a change !
But the acres of fabric , strange paraphernalia and mountain of stuffing scare me stupid 
I really like big bears
as well as minis ...... but could I make one ???? :doh: 
I'll probably never know .......
Ruth
Oh Ruth, of course you could! Any time you want any advice, please shout out! 
Wazza Bears AustraliaYES I have tried over the year so many times to make a cutie bear. and funny this subject has come up cos i just finished a cutie bear. even though i still think its not cute enough. I have a box full of unfinished bears from trying to make a cutie or a traditional bear. Its frustrating me.
Pandy Potter BearsInteresting topic Jenny. I would love to do old style bears in miniature, maybe next year. I have'nt made a mini for over a year and it will be the new year when I start again. I'm sure I will be all fingers and thumbs and it will be getting used to 'small'. I started in big bears then did a few minis years ago. Good fabric, thin needles and the right thread makes such a difference. I've learnt a lot in the miniature posts off other people on here. It could be a good New Year challenge, to do an 'opposite' look to what you usually do, in size or style.
Back Road BearsI've tried countless times to make an old fashioned ted w/out success. HOWEVER... I think I've got it this time!!!! I'll know for sure when he's done tomorrow! I don't mean the worn look... bald spots, falling off ears, missing nose stitches. I just mean the overall pattern design. Normally their feet and noses end up too big like my contemporary bears!
Airbrushing.... that dang thing is still sitting in my closet intimidating the heck out of me!!! 2 years now! Would someone PLEASE come to New Hampshire and show me how to use it????? :pray: LOL! I have this huge mental block about it and need a push to get over it.
I've tried a few little bears (5" is little for me!) and found that I really need a whole different set of tools... mini tools! Like Paula, I'm used to bigger joint materials, etc. Turning and stuffing is very different with little ones too. It's almost a whole different process... very different tricks of the trade with smaller bears.... I found anyway.
Ruby Mountain BearsHeeHee you 3 are funny !
But the acres of fabric , strange paraphernalia and mountain of stuffing scare me stupid
as well as minis ...... but could I make one ???? :doh:
Ruth
I am right withyou there, I have even purchased the Mohairs, some lovely synthetics, I have lock nuts, bolts and large washers.I have the eyes. I just keep adding to the pile even some lovely larger ribbon but I am so chicken to start a larger bear. AAHJAAAAAHH!Literally scared stupid to cut the fabric for fear I will destroy it and hate the bear!! It just seems so overwhelming, when you are used to working on a tiny scale to go to larger scale. I am determined though and I have two weeks off to give it a try!!
Oh golly gee, what would I like to try? Hmmmm. I've done mini's.....too fiddly for me. Twenty four inch bears are my absolute biggest.....any bigger and it's a wrestling match! Let's see.....(thinking while typing). This year I've done a mixed media bear, a Japanese style bear, a stick bear and most recently a three piece bear. The three peice bear was a hoot and sooo quick and easy. That was the balloon bear in Lisa's Thanksgiving Parade if anyone is wondering what a three piece bear is. Two front pieces and one back piece, that's it! I'm actually reworking that pattern so that the head isn't quite so.....balloonish?
Okay, getting to what I'd like to try.......armatures. I have all the "stuff" and I've read the directions several times over but I still have yet to actually apply myself to doing it. Light bulb moment just now! If I make a bear with an armature it can hold a not quite so balloonish three piece baby bear!! Thinking and typing....who knew?
:crackup: :crackup:
Dee, you sooooo can do the airbrush thing. Take an old piece of cloth and pin it to a box so the surface is upright. Practice writing your name in cursive with the airbrush. Big and small writing. Then do it in regular script, starting and stopping until you get used to the trigger feed. After an hour or so grab a bear and go for it!! (Judi is probably fainting at my simplistic instruction. Ha!) Really though, Dee, you CAN do it!
Gotta go......packages to wrap and get to the post office. UGH! Maybe a little side trip to Michael's on the way home!
Warmest holiday bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Wazza Bears AustraliaI just want to get better at what I do and that already is quite frustrating, because sometimes you try really, really hard and the bear looks worse than your previous ones instead of better. Mybe I should learn that less can be more... :P
I agree 100% with that Quote
Past Time BearsNeedlefelting. I love how it looks, but (and that's a BIG BUT) I have arthritic hands and it's so time consuming. Guess I can't deal with taking a lot of my already stressed time to end up making my hands hurt a lot. 
Got to agree with you Sue Ann, my hands are okay but I find needle-felted such a slow process ... it really doesn't suit my temperament!
TinyBearAirbrushing..
I would so much love to figure out how to do that..
I only know how to use pencils 
I've tried trapunto pads but want to perfect them, and plan to try to do so in early 2008 (that idea is already on the project table.) I also want to start sculping lids using new materials which I've acquired, but haven't worked up the courage to use just yet. I'm still pondering it all. ALSO on the to-do list for early 2008! And I'm wanting to redo my bear "look" proportionally, which is a larger enterprise because it takes a long while to get that pattern "just so." But I'm thinking of moving away from the very "teddy bear" look I currently have to a more quasi-realistic look, with a smaller head in proportion to a much longer body, and shortish legs, longish arms. Challenging!
Posts: 1,836BIG BEAR bears I started with mini's then moved onto mid sized bears and now I'm itching to do some nice BIG bears and "bear" bears. I've been drenching myself in photos, books and anything else i can find with real brown bears. I have one on the table that I'm pretty excited about, totally new design.
I'm waiting for disks...I had nothing near big enough. He's also my first attempt at Trapunto (which looks to be a trend in 2008!!) I practiced it on a few dummy feet and really like the look so much....it's a lot of work at first, but the end result is worth it.
I'd also like to try rabbits......the head design is something that I'll have to really sit down with....that's one that I could say I'm not exactly sure where to start as of this minute.
:hug:
Chrissi
Wazza Bears AustraliaSHEL - Your new look sound interesting. can't wait to see the finished bear. good luck
I am in for a change too i think 2008. I love the cutie bears and i am going to work really hard to perfect that. I will still have my big toes and big feets bear, But i love the Shabby chic look.
Apple Dumpling DesignsI would just like to get back into making bears. I've lost it...I love making them...love acquiring them...but every time I sit down and start thinking about what I want to do next I get overwhelmed and walk away. It's been about 7 months now since I touched a piece of flat mohair. So, in answer to your question, I want to try a little of everything right now and find my "it" again.
Perhaps 2008 will be a better year. 
Cleathero CreationsArmature. i really want to make more realistic dogs and cats and need to use armature to help get some of the looks I want. I would also love to perfect airbrushing which I will be doing as it is easier to start with white fur and airbrush to the color you want. It is more the mixing of colours that worries me then the actual process.
A good thinking topic - okay, well I've tried a lot of things a case of been there, seen it, done it I would really like to perfect embroidered noses - such a pain for me to do! I know practice makes perfect BUT it didn't work for me and I was so happy when I got to use the cabochon noses and also making the leather ones
Mini's I've tried but like Aleta too fiddly for me - needlefelting gave that one up as I was stabbing myself more times than the wool I reckon I'll stick to the mid to larger bears and improve on my work - a really large bear would be a challenge for me as I only do hand sewing - me and sewing machines don't go together very well Oh yes one last thing I would love to come up with something a little different, but I'm working on it! big sigh!
Hugs Lyn
Tami Eveslage Original Teddy BearsDee, you sooooo can do the airbrush thing. Take an old piece of cloth and pin it to a box so the surface is upright. Practice writing your name in cursive with the airbrush. Big and small writing. Then do it in regular script, starting and stopping until you get used to the trigger feed. After an hour or so grab a bear and go for it!! (Judi is probably fainting at my simplistic instruction. Ha!) Really though, Dee, you CAN do it!
Airbrushing is something you just have to do to get the feel for it. I started by writing my name and encouraged Connie B to do the same when she came over for a "lesson"
Daphne, I've never been to New Hampshire---I'd love to come and show you!
Hey, Miss-Event-Organizer! I just had a thought (look out, I do that sometimes :crackup: ) but I'm not as good as you at organizing. I belonged to a cloth doll guild and each year they held a "Doll Camp" (I know that there are other doll guilds which do this, too.) It is basically a long weekend away where different workshops are offered from "experts" in different areas of dollmaking. We had ours at a state park lodge and it was usually held where there were nice shops of interest near by. There were other fun things like swaps, themed dinners, and even a bonfire. Some clubs do a "rummage sale night" where folks can shop each others extra materials stashes.
Like a bear convention, but without the show and sale part. Teddy Bear Camp---something to think about....
I guess maybe I ought to answer the question, now I want to branch out and make more animals. I made a darling bunny a couple of years ago and I'd like to do more with that pattern, make a bigger one perhaps. I also have in my mind's eye a bear which has more realistic, but still cub-like proportions. Also, I am another who finds creating that special vintage look challenging, but I'd really like to do it. Paula, I do think it is largely a function of the furs we are drawn too. It's difficult to make an old looking bear with dense alpaca or luxurious swirly long mohair.
It's been really interesting,this topic..and it's funny that many of the things are exactly the concerns that I have!
Paula I ahve tried to make old looking bears and quite frankly I get them to how I want them to look ..then I start 'fiddling'..and then they start looking all 'done'..and so i stopped because I can't stop..and also I don't much like the scraggly mohairs..and keep going for dense ones.
Shantell..I know how hard it is ..and I have forced myself sometimes when my enthusiasm wanes..it's definitely one of those thing that happens every now and then to most people.
Ah, Tami and Jenny, we are soooo alike in our preferences for fabrics! It always seems such a hardship when I think about having to swap a gorgeous dense piece of mohair for a scrappy, sparse piece! Working with 'skinny' fabrics feels all wrong, but I guess that comes down to considering what the essence of bear-making is all about for me. It boils down to wanting to recreate the feeling I had as a little girl when I was presented with my very first big teddy bear. He was a brand new 22" Chiltern Hugmee and I thought he was absolutely perfect. His mohair was dense and so soft to the touch. He wore a satin ribbon and there was something very special about his 'brand newness'. Funnily enough, there is now something very special about his 'forty somethingness'! That's probably what intrigues me the most about creating bears in a vintage, tatty ted kind of style ...
Maybe I'm better off continuuing to make 'em all shiny and new looking, so that in forty plus years they are still around but have become are a little time worn, with time! That way I don't have to start out using skinny fabrics to create the look artificially! (Taking the easy route eh?!! I know, shame on me! :redface: )
Shantell, we all feel that way sometimes. I know that after working hard to stock a show especially, I can't face making bears for about a week afterwards and even the week after that, I have to bully myself to get back to it. I deal with the problem by simply making a bear. I don't set out to design anything new especially, I just pick the nicest piece of mohair from my stash and a pattern I am happy with and get to it. I usually find that by the time I've found all the pattern pieces and laid out the mohair, fresh ideas are already beginning to form in my head ...
Hi there,
I too am the same as Ellen, Paula, and Jenny. I would love to attempt making older looking bears but just prefer using the more luxurious interesting and dense mohairs! I have often thought that I would make a more worn looking bear but when I stand in front of a display of different mohairs, it is always the luxurious end that is calling out to me!! I have purchased the more scruffy-type of mohair with the intention of getting creative and making new designs for this type of mohair, but just can't rustle up the enthusiasm to do it!!! I have tried in the past but then find that I just can't "ruin" the mohair! It is definately an art in achieving a good result and producing a good looking "worn" bear, so I admire people who can do it. I find it is the beauty of the mohair that gets me inspired for a design, but I am not very good at doing it the "other way around" if you see what I mean!! I have cheaper sparse mohairs in my workroom that have been there for probably three years and that are just never used.
Ellen - you sound so much like me it's untrue!!!!! I am very easily distracted by de-cluttering and absolutely love it!!! I think it should be my profession to go and de-clutter people's houses!!!
I would like to have a go at an open-mouthed bear but feel too scared to do it! I am going through a period of not being able to just "get on with it" and get going on a project! If there seems to be a problem, I am tending to just leave it!! Must be the time of the year!!!
Sorry, I am rabbitting on - better go and ice the Christmas cake!!! (another job I hate doing and have been leaving !!!)
I really must get some "ooommph" for Christmas!
Hugs
Marilyn
I couldn't agree more Ellen, the challenges and encouragement to develop offered on TT are a great source of inspiration! :clap:
