For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Hi all,
I have a bear that is giving me trouble and I'm tempted to put him aside and start a new one but I don't know if I have the willpower
Have you ever done this successfully without it driving you mad and just kept going? He's sitting there looking at me as I write this, what to do??????
Hi Sheree,
I understand you well.
Sometimes that happens to me too. I'll wait then, and start new again later.
Oh yes ! Done that a couple of times now , sweat blood undoing cotter pins altering , etc but normally there's an improvement if you stick at it .. If not face him to the wall and ignore him ! Aah
Nan
I think this probably happens to many of us. I do not stop, I keep working till I work it out. I have only ever tossed one bear, I finally gave up. But I think I don't ever loose many because I just won't stop till they work themselves out. Sometimes they are not how I envision, but how They want to be, and that seems ok.
When I have a super problematic bear, which usually means more than one issue, I set it on my stairs along with other unfinished bears. Then as I am working I can look up at all of them and eventually they "tell" me what they need or who they want to become. I've had some there for a year or more. Oftentimes, it requires the laborious task of opening up/unstuffing and unjointing because I need to add length to the torso or make head larger or smaller. Sometimes I was forcing a fully costumed bear to be girl when in reality it was meant to be a boy and it needed to be undressed and left to stare out to see this. If however, I have just one particular issue that is problematic, I stick to it like a bulldog for as long as necessary until I solve it.
If it seems an unredeemable mistake (IT USUALLY NEVER IS) then I use that opportunity to be riskier, such as cut all fur off the face up past the brow line, or make an unusually shaped or super large nose or experiment with a radical ear or eye placement that I'm usually too conservative to try. Oftentimes, this freedom can create not just the solution to the problem, but has invented a whole new look that you will pursue purposely. Mistakes are more the mother of invention than necessity. Happy bearmaking!