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Posts: 8,574How long did it take before you knew you had to begin designing your own bears?
I quess it took me about 2 months. I didn't like this in this pattern, I didn't like that in that pattern but gosh why couldn't I put this with this and change that, and make this bigger, and change the angel of that.........Oh heck, its just like quilting I might just as well make my own patterns-
And I didn't know there WERE patterns for Gollys. I just took a basic body pattern and figured out how to use this wonderful really long black mohair.....fun, really fun.
so let here you stories
I'm betting it will be fun
Dily:lol:
Back Road BearsI started altering patterns on my third bear. Like you, Dilu, I didn't like this or that about the pattern but wasn't ready to make my own from scratch yet. My 7th bear was an original Daphne pattern. No one will ever see that one! (But I'll find a picture of the first revision - much better!) Now I love making my own and even tweek those from time to time. I've been asked a few times to make a bear from someone else's pattern but even then I have to change SOMETHING to the way I like it.
I do the same with quilting. In fact I've never used a pattern for a quilt - the blocks yes, but the overall quilt was always my own design.
I just have to be different, I guess!
Hugs,
Daphne
Delartful BearsHi Everyone,
What an interesting topic. My very own new from scratch pattern was my fourth bear. Like Daph, no-one will see him. Pretty similar to the ones I do now, but I thought his tummy was huge, but he ended up like a stick figure LOL
Danni
Posts: 8,574Daphne- I hear you loud and clear.
If I ever do another large quilt I am taking geometric black and white and appliquing Rorshack (SP?) blocks and putting them together with a rainbow geomteric colored fabrics done up in flying geese and moving from large to small to large, like its a path.....did that make any sense?
There is a satisfaction in designing your own- I've had couple real disaters.....And I just so hate wasteing the mohair!.
Now I try a dubious pattern out on a 6-7 incher and if it works I can go up or down at will.
Nancy Tillberg teaches a class on the super highway on face sculpting and I think that will be a great avenue to explore.
Dilu
Past Time BearsI made bears from commercial patterns and fabric store fake fur for about 6 months before I decided I wanted to create my own designs. Finally after I had taken a design workshop from Linda Mead (formerly of Spare Bear Parts), I managed to get up enough courage to try my FIRST design in MOHAIR!! 
What a DISASTER!! Of course, I still keep the little monster sitting in my work room to remind me of where I started . . . and very few people have seen that first attempt. I applaud those whose first bears actually look like bears and are in proportion. Way to go!! 
Posts: 8,574The not so handsome bears in our closets keep us humble :)
Dilu
LuxembearsI can't remember exactly how long it was before I started making my bears enitrely from my own designs. Like most of you, I too started from commercial patterns ...but they weren't "me". I wanted my bears to reflect my inner self. It can be tricky sitting down and drawing something two dimensional while picturing it three dimensional. Trial and error.
I am sure that those of you who design your original patterns feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I know I do. If you are going to call yourself a "bear artist" your bears should be your own original designs...other wise you are a bear maker. There is nothing wrong with that but there is nothing like creating your own designs from scratch. Almost like having a baby..without the pain. (just kidding!)
Delartful BearsOooh but Judi, I'm sure I felt the pain while trying to make my own pattern! LOL Not the easiest thing for me to do (not a sketcher) but I got there in the end, and got the look I so wanted (which keeps evolving as my skills get better)
Fool's Gold BearsHi All,
When I started making bears to sell, I was a soft doll artist. The first jointed bears I made were from an older book. I just now went looking for it and it is either gone or buried. It may have been a pamphlet. Anyhow, it had me making joints out of cardboard. I used corrugated cardboard like a box is made of, and wondered why the joints were so sloppy. :P:rolleyes:
Another book came along that was much more sophisticated; 'Teddy Bears and How to Make Them' by Margaret Hutchings, printed in 1977. My first designs were not very close to what might be cosidered an artist bear, even though they were my own designs. In the beginning, I didn't even know that artist bears existed. It wasn't til probably 1992 that I first saw a copy of a collector magazine. When I saw what the possibilities were, my wheels started spinning, but not until I had a moment of frustration did they engage the track.
I had an invitation to attend an international cloth doll show, but was unable to come up with the money it would have taken to travel to the show and attend classes, let alone eat, for heaven's sake! That was when I chanced to sew up a pattern I had purchased from Gooseberry Hill, their '1903 Bear', which had a very Steiff-like shape. The first one I made was of knitted-back synthetic, but it looked pretty good compared to what I had managed up to that point. The pattern suggested using mohair, but the only mohair I could find was some barely fuzzy coat fabric. I still have the bear made from that coat fabric. Somehow, probably through the collector magazine, I managed to procure some real mohair, made a Gooseberry Hill bear from that, and since I already knew the priciples of how bears were made, from that point on, I began creating my own designs. The first ones were fairly classic, but with somewhat longer legs.
Old Ted, the Gooseberry Hill pattern made from mohair coat fabric.
The older bears, I don't have .jpgs for, only photoshop scans, and they won't work with the photo hosting site I'm using. Too bad, 'cause I wanted to show you one.
Anyhow, I just keep having more and more fun the longer I'm at this!!!!
I once read that an aspiring artist asked a famous artist (I forget who), "should I continue to pursue art?" His answer was, "Only if you must." I've asked myself the same question, and undeniably, the answer is, "I must."
Wisdom BearsHi, Like most of you I too started with 2 commercial patterns, but I never really fell in love with them, being a Tailoress ,I suppose the designing side of it came quite easily to me, But Eyes ,Ears, and noses came with lots of tears and tantrums till I got them right. When I finish one bear ,usually another one is taking place in my head, I get bored if I do the same bear twice. When I stuff my bears I enclose a small piece of mohair in the back on top of the stuffing ,just in case through the years a piece is required for repairing. Huggles Rita xx
Baird'sBearsGreat topic, Dilu! :D
I've never used a pattern for stuffed animals, maybe because I couldn't find patterns for what I wanted. My first 'bears' were a family of Berenstein Bears I made for Christmas. My middle daughter was mad for them. I also made her a tree house out of wood, chicken wire and paper mache. My second bears were 3-foot Care Bears--Grumpy, Birthday and can't remember the third. I just folded and snipped and folded and snipped some more until I got the shapes that looked right. The tree house finally came out well, but my first attempt collapsed with a great SCHLUMP just as I was abandoning it for the night!
So when I started on my first 'artist' bear, haha, I thought I wouldn't need a commercial pattern. I did make a clay model, draped it for a pattern and made a muslin prototype. So far so good. When I started making the bear in fur and stuffing it, all the proportions seemed off. So I'm on my second head, my second pair of front legs, etc, etc.
It's my learn-as-you-go-bear. :lol:
Eileen
Wisdom BearsHi Eileen,
Even though I have been making bears for over 8 years now, I can still get things wrong ,Second heads ,arms legs ,each time you try to do something different ,you usually have to tweek it hear and there. in the beginning like you I tried calico prototypes ,but it was not the same. What a topic Dilu. GGGGRRRRRRRReat. Hugs Rita xx
Baird'sBearsThanks, Rita :D
You give me hope! My husband keeps saying, "Well, I guess you must be almost finished now . . . " :/
But I think there's a lot to be said for experimental trial and error. My least favorite errors are the ones I make when I'm distracted, e.g., jointing the arms in reverse when I was swept up in an audiobook--King Lear, Paul Scoffeld, divine!!
Eileen
Past Time BearsGREAT Old Ted, Laure!!! I had that pattern early on, too, but my bear didn't turn out NEARLY as well as yours! Think I used a stretchy fake fur, and you know what happens when you start stuffing . . . you can't quit! 
Winneybears and FriendsI also made the Gooseberry pattern a loooong time ago ha, ha...
My designing new bears takes me along time to do, I usually use fake fur because of the costs and often waste of good mohair. Right now I am trying to design a fairly thin vintage type bear that has a 2 piece front head and 2 peice back head...you would think this would simplify things a lot ...I am on my 4th head.
Now that I think I have got that head shape like I want it ...the top of the body/ neck is too weak ...this morn . I noticed the legs don't sit right, may need to joint them higher onto the body...oh, and fatten up the body too...see what I mean ? I will eventually get it right...all it take is a keen eye and more adjustments .......... Winney
Posts: 8,574My mom taught me to sew in 6th grade- from then on I was making my own clothing. Then when I was older she started teaching me about construction/ patterns etc. Sometimes we would take a pattern that was too small and figure out how to maKE IT BIGGER/ where to add, were to subtract...where to add darts or gussets....
I think it has helped a lot in desingning my own bears. I do take the easy way out though....I design a bear in the 10" range then when I am happy I can scan and resize. So I have got bears in 5 or 6 sizes. My favorite pattern is in about 8 sizes. From teeny tiny 3"- 4" up to about 18-20"
I write the size varient on the plastic pieces, 80% smaller that kind of thing, then I keep them in those big leagal size mailing envelopes.
I find that when I do my own patterns I really know the bear- I know what to expect etc. There aren't any surprises in the basic construction.
I like that safety- then I can move out into the creative side.
still feeling wonky
Dilu
Baird'sBearsGreat idea, Winney Making prototype of faux fur. I'm going to try it next time!
Eileen
Back Road BearsRita,
What a very clever idea, slipping a piece of extra mohair in the back of the bear!
I can think of a few antique bears I've repaired, wishing I had an extra piece.... wonder if anyone else was as clever? I never thought to look!
Hugs,
Daphne
Wisdom BearsHi Daphne,
It was after doing some repairs to vintage bears that I got the idea, its so frustrating have to try and match up and duff up mohair just to get the right look, so about 6 years ago ,I started to put in a scrap piece ,in the hope that my bears last that long .It will save the restorer hunting to match up. In our W I ,we were told if you know a Good thing ,Share it. Great Oak Trees from little Acorns grow. The same applies tp Bear Makers/Artists. Just my thoughts for to-day.
Hugs from Scotland. Rita xx
Posts: 8,574Rita- what a wonderful idea- I'll try to remember to do that-then 50 years down the road....
Thanks
Dilu
I made a couple of bears from commerically available patterns years ago and was quicky bitten by the bug. Those patterns just didn't 'do it' for me though, so I started to fiddle around with bits of card, a pencil and a large eraser (!) and gradually found my way into design. Here I am more than ten years on still fiddling!
The first bear I ever made was of course, a blob. I laboured over him for days, stitching purely by hand (ouch) and praying for miracles. Sadly the miracles never materialised, but 'Orange Blob Bear' did ...
No, he's not an original Paula Carter design! I purchased him in 'pre-cut' kit form from the local toyshop!
Below is one of my first ever completely all my own work bona fide designs ... meet 'Pomeroy' ... I wonder where he is now?
Past Time BearsWow, Paula, great "first" bears!! I don't know if I'll ever get the courage to show my first design/mohair ted . . . it's waaaaaayyyyy amateurish!
Winneybears and FriendsHey, Pomeroy is cute..maybe he took a flying leap from that tree and flew away? I am sure his new owner has a true friend in him now....Winney
Posts: 8,574Wow Laure and Paula
Your first bears are so sweet-I'm impressed
Dilu
EEks, where's the blushing smiley? Those furry chaps were made more than ten years ago ... I can't believe the time has gone by so fast! The Orange Blob Bear was adopted by my son and haunted me for ages until he hit puberty and decided he was too old for such things (thank heavens!) I really can't remember what became of Pomeroy. I remember being very pleased with him at the time of finishing him, but can't for the life of me think where he went to! Must be my age!!!
