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Northern IrelandI have never used garnet to weight my teddy bears and wonder what it is like and how it compares to steel shot or glass beads.I've read that it gives a nice weighty feel but is almost undetectable from the outside.Does anyone know is it available in the UK?
Past Time BearsDo you mean garnet as in the gemstone?
Hi, I have been using crushed garnets on my bears for more than a year and I am still loving them. In the past, I used glass beads to weight my bears then I stopped using them because they are expensive and lighter in weight comparing to garnets.
Garnets are gemstones, reddish in colour. The ones I am using are finely crushed into sand size.
You can visit my etsy store to look at more pictures.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/83056873/cr … ef=pr_shop
I would usually lay garnets at the base of the bear then using bigger glass beads on the center of the body for bigger bears.
If you are working on smaller bears, garnets would be a good choice.
Hope this helps.
Hugs, Wayne
Never heard of that. See you learn something new every day!!
Sacred Bear StudiosHey Wayne...do you have a link to your garnet supplier?
desertmountainbearI do have some garnets from Wayne. The weight of them is heavier than glass beads but not as heavy as bbs or steel shot. I have not used them yet because I make larger bears. I am waiting for a small bear to weight it with the garnets.
But I have experimented with them for this past year. I have read that the color bleeds and they are dirty. I read that here, so I experimented with them. I do not know if all garnets are the same, but when I first got mine I put some in a glass of water to see it they would cloud the water, they did not. Then I put them wet into a white paper towel and wrapped it in a plastic bag to see if they would bleed, they did not. Now almost a year later they are still in the towel and they have not changed the color of the towel at all, it is completely white.
They are little gem stones. Wayne says they are like sand, but they are courser than sand. They are nice and crunchy. I do not see that they would ever break down into something that would cause a problem.
This is the towel that they have been wrapped in while wet. It has sat for the past year, it is still completely white.
Northern Ireland
Many thanks for the very helpful responses.Unfortunately the international postage costs make it an expensive alternative filling but I like the idea of using semi-precious stones inside my teddy's tummy so I'll keep it in mind for a special gift in the future.If anyone discovers a UK supplier in the meantime I'd appreciate the info.
