For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
How many pattern designs do you use for your bears?
I have 3 or 4 that I like and then sometimes modify them.
Jane
Me too, I have a larger 14- 16" pattern I like and then a smaller 10-11"
and I play around with the pattern pieces on both of those.
I have lots of pattern pieces that I tend to mix and match depending on what I'm looking for...I did keep them all seperate for a while but I'm really messy and they kept getting mixed up ...I guess I have about 10 full patterns in total...
I have about 8 that I use often but almost always tweek something so no two bears are ever alike. I get bored so easily!!!
I have 5 or 6 basic patterns with various pieces and parts that I can innerchange...I get bored easily also and am always doing something different to a leg...an arm...making the nose longer, shorter, wider forehead...fatter tummy...rounder pawpads...longer feet...just something!!!
Between my mother's patterns and my own, they total many, many dozens (mostly her's, I must admit). In the earlier days, we had a different pattern for every bear. We now have perhaps half a dozen patterns that we lean on more heavily, and those patterns have "options" that go on for textbook length (four different leg options, three different body options, eight different head options, and it keeps going). My mother is a whiz with patterns, but she is a lifelong fine artist and seamstress, so she can sketch out exactly what she wants it to look like, then knows what to do to make a 2D sketch translate to a 3D bear. Yes, she is a little scary. I sometimes wonder if we're really related...
Best wishes,
Kelly
:crackup: I have about 30 golly patterns...and maybe 15 bear patterns
Why so many?
Because while i save everything can never remember which is which....so now I save them in brown envelopes with a piccy of the golly on the front so I can remember,then I don't have to reinvent the wheel every single time i sit down to do a golly....
this winter i plan on going through the box and analyzinf all the old patterns and weeding out the ones i don't like....I would love to be able to get them all into one file box.
honestly....I have never seen a more disorganized organizational system.
The piccys are such a great idea!!!....not mine...the Hubsters.... :crackup:
Maybe hes tired of me reinventing the same thing over and over.
The upside.....if there were another golly maker out there making gollies even remotely like mine i could proove I do it because I could just sit down and go for it ...
I am never satisfied with what I do so I can end up with loads of different pieces and I then have a problem with trying to remember what bear I done what with so I have a little book with their names in and what pattern I used and what differences there are to the original otherwise by the time I get to using it again I would have forgotten how I designed the last bear and how I achieved that look.Although I do have a handful of original patterns that I stick with.
Laurie :hug:
Loads!
I have an A3 portfolio file full of 'em! I intermingle all the pieces and keep pieces of card handy, so that if I want to make a new something or other, I can sketch it out and play. I keep looking at my very old pattern pieces and wonder whether I should give them a makeover, or whether I should just accept I probably won't use them again and keep movin' on. Sometimes I go through a phase where I like something in particular, for example, at the moment, I'm really into my straight arm designs. :P
If I'm making a limited edition, I try to remember to write the name of the bear on all the pieces I use, so I can find them again!
After ten years of designing...how many would you expect?
Two archive boxes full!
But of late, I have been working with only three of four basic patterns that have lots of interchangable limbs.
Hugs,
Like, Sandi I have two boxes full of patterns I have designed. And like other people have mentioned I have many with interchangeable parts and my new designs are often grown out of my previous ones. I like to work in different styles some traditional, some realistic, some whimsical, etc., so I save them all.
Yes,
Patterns are my thing. I work with about a dozen different patterns each month and I add features, like an open mouth (special added pieces in several patterns), and I'm always refining patterns. Because I have designed many different animals I have a collection of over 85 original patterns. Some, such as a 5 foot Tyrannosaurus Rex, I don't think I'll ever use again :P
Karen
KJ Lyons Design
Oh my I have a pattern box like you would not believe. And a ton of mimi patterns also !! I would say at least 100 , I know that sounds like allot but.......I don't like staying with one look very long.It is hard to keep track some times. I should sell off some of my older patterns. Maybe some day !!!
Jodi Falk
Oh my, I don't even know. I pretty much draw a new one everytime still. But I'm lucky to make one a month.
Even if I try to use the same pattern, I can't help but tweek it a bit.
I wish I was like your mom Kelly.
Ok so I thought I had a lot.
I had 30 patterns that are current.
But I have about 6 core patterns that I use most of the time.
Many of those have interchangable parts that makes it easy to come up different animals/styles.
My anime pattern is the most popular of late. I have 3 different sizes and about 6 different citters that I can make from each.
Literally.. hundreds. All different and for either my retail work or my (past 3, discontinued) kit lines.My quandry is, I no longer work in fabric.
Do I chuck them out?
Let them keep using precious storage space?
Let my descendents pitch them into that huge dumpster they're ordering as soon as I'm gone?
Bobbie -
I'd keep them if I were you. You never know when you might want to pull an old pattern out and make it again.
Right now I am tearing my hair out trying to find a pattern that I made 7~8 years ago, and it is no where to be found. Luckily, I can re-draw the pattern, but who wants to do that?
I create a brand new pattern for each toy I make. I have a couple of pieces I have reused before but not a full pattern. For me it's less stressful that way I don't want to worry about keeping track or storage space
Good question. I expected to have a well-ordered file after 18 months at this endeavor, but I've never yet used the same pattern twice.
Interesting concept . . .
I'd love to try a limited edition, but I'm afraid of producing an edition of wildly non-identical siblings. I guess it comes of being a confirmed tweaker, with a brain full of second thoughts!
Me too! I have a whole big winnie the pooh folder full of them even when i use an older pattern I can't help tweaking it a little then i end up with, 'pattern a with new pattern a leg' on my instructions...can get confusing! lol. Its fun tho...i enjoy designing
I started out with 3 and now I have about 18 or so...and counting. I chop and change all the time so I am always adding bits here and there.
I've just started in this bear making but I have for many, many years made cloth dolls. I have boxes full of patterns but I can not bring myself to make the same doll twice. I already know what that one looks like. I make up a new pattern every time. I am musing over the concept of having just a very few patterns with many options. That sounds great to me. You could put your bear together anyway you like...
My problem is...I tend to like the big bears...say 20 to 30 inches! I seem to be really wierd. Perhaps I should try making a smaller bear and trying to love that? To me Teddy Bears are for hugging and I can't see anyone hugging anything less than, say, 15 inches! Can you just see it, I am having a bad day, sitting home alone and reach for my teddy, a little 7 1/2 inch thing, to give me a big "it's OK" hug! Now that's a picture....
My smaller bears just give me smaller hugs, or we have a group hug-in
Hi, my name is Mary and I'm a pattern collector...hehe...I have tons of them, but I usually try them once or twice than make adjustments, mix and match parts, make more adjustments, etc, until I end up with another one...hehe
In general I have about 3-4 that I use on a regular basis.
/miniteddyhugs,
I just bought three bear patterns to chose from but when it came down to it, I made my own pattern for this baby bear!