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Jazzy RagsWhat i would like to know now , is that when you are ready to make up your new designed bear for the first time :bday: do you use mohair or do you make it up first in a cheap fabric ,and can you tell if its going to work in a cheap fabric or would i be wasting my time Fran thanks 
Adorable BearsI just use the mohair or Alpaca.If you use cheap fur you will not get the same result. You will not only waste your time but your money. You may also have a great design and decide not to use it because it may not have made up as you thought it would in the cheap fur. Just go for it.......use whatever you imagined the design in. That may be a mohair or even a synthetic..if that is the look you want. But go for quality.
Hope that helps a little. :)
Susan
www.adorablebears.com.au
Jazzy RagsThats helps a lot someone told me to make it up in calico first to try the design but it wouldn't look the same would it? thanks fran 
Baird'sBears
Fran,
I made up my very first ever design in muslin, and created the pattern from a clay model. I was so completely unsure of myself that I wanted to be sure the proportions were at least reasonable. The final version was made of mink, so I wanted to proceed carefully.
On the other hand, at that point I'd never made a bear from someone else's pattern, so I had no experience at all in standard bear patterns, much less pattern drafting. The animals I've created in the past, for my kids or others', were make-it-up-as-you-go projects--lots of folding and snipping and basting, but no pattern.
It seems to me that you've got enough experience to decide how you want a new bear to look, and how to produce the results you want. So go for it! I was clueless! :/
Eileen
Rufnut Teddy'sAlot make a proto version in a smaller size, to test the pattern out, then improve it there, you use less fabric too.
You can always pick up some cheap small pieces of mohair to try your designs on too.
DoodlebearsI always use mohair as using any other fabric will give a completely different look. I have made mistakes and ended up with a bear nothing like I have imagined but they have all been sellable. The not so good ones I sold for a lower price on eBay saying prototype and I gave an explanation why I started at a low bidding price. I still sold them for enough money to cover complete costs (except time) but I was happy as I had enough money to make up the bear again emitting the mistakes from the prototype. I always had good feedback on eBay and so I'm happy.
Jane
Posts: 8,574I stuck with muslin and reduced my patterns until I had more confidence.
And my very first bear ever I made out of "apparel" mohair that was dirt cheap because I found it on line in the summer.
Cutting that very first piece of 'real' mohair was a toughy....back then.
Now? Let the fur fly!!! Wooohooo!
LuxembearsWell Fran , you're seeing two sides here. It looks like both ways work. I always fly by the seat of my pants...and go for my gut feeling. I draw up a design of how I want my finished bear or other animal to look...then go for it. Maybe this way is not as 'safe' as doing a prototype in muslim or cheaper fur fabric ,but like Jane, even my mistakes are sellable and I can make adjustments on bears that follow. When I look back to my beginning bears.............. :doh:oh my.......they have come along way. It is all part of the learning process. :dance: 
:dance:
There are some really good book available to help you learn the designing process. " A bear of my Own"...author...help me out ladies...can't think of the author. "101 Bears" by Nancy Tillberg. I am sure there are others as well. Read all you can.....I have been designing bears for 6 years and I am still learning as I go, by experinece, and by reading and listening to others on this forum. 
Hi Judi - I think it's Rotraud Ilisch or something like that - I've tried to get the book but haven't had much luck in the UK.
Fran I have a book by Jennifer Laing, Teddy Bear Art: How to Design and Make Great Teddy Bears which is also very good.
I also go the whole hog with new designs. I just go for it with the mohair and more often than not something is wrong, but I've learned to always have a little more mohair than I think I will need - that way if anything is really bad I can make up new replacement parts. 
Country BearsI always 'go for it', I don't like messing about, if it doesn't work, well onto the next...... :doh: To be honest though, I'm the same as Jane, they've always sold so they haven't been complete disasters (well there have been 2, but that's a discussion long ago now and we'll scrub quickly around that!! 
)
I think as you make more bears, your confidence grows. In fact I was just going through some old pictures last night and found some of my first bears...... let me see......
This is the bear I ever sold!! Bless!!!
Jazzy RagsI think that bear is great .
LuxembearsClare, I can't see your photo. It is so large all I see is grass and a very tiny bit of mohair. Wonder why I can't see it but others can ?:doh:
Hi
Rotraud's book is only available from her and she does have a web site so you could contact her that way
Hugs
Gail
Upstate New YorkFran ~
Our very own Help Advisor Neysa has a book called Whimsical Teddy Bears that I refer to all the time when I'm designing a bear. It's awesome, with excellent instruction and design tips.
Clare, I can't see your photo. It is so large all I see is grass and a very tiny bit of mohair. Wonder why I can't see it but others can ?:doh:
Judi,
Close down your favorites box (bookmarks) ... then you can see the whole picture.
Hugs,
Wanda
SingaporeI make mini versions first so not to use too much mohair. If it looks fine, then I enlarge it using a photocopier to the size I want.
I tend to have a disaster ever so often. I'd hide it somewhere at the back of the closet :D
I don't like to make the prototype in synthetic too much cos I don't quite like synthetic. I find the backing normally hard to sew and they tend to stretch. Some synthetic have silky backing and it "slips" often. Others are rather thick and hard to turn out. So if I use it for prototype, it would not turn out quite the way I wanted it.
I've not tried Muslim or Calico... somehow I think the effect with and without the fur would be different. It's like my dog before and after a short haircut. He looks much nicer when he has more fur than when he's shaved almost bald. My dog's a Australian Silky Terrier.
Jazzy RagsI have order Jennifer Lang book but i would love more thank s to all you great girls i am going to have a look now :hug:
Nova Scotia,CanadaNever mind,I see it now :redface: :redface:
Hi Judi - I think it's Rotraud Ilisch or something like that - I've tried to get the book but haven't had much luck in the UK.
Fran I have a book by Jennifer Laing, Teddy Bear Art: How to Design and Make Great Teddy Bears which is also very good.
I also go the whole hog with new designs. I just go for it with the mohair and more often than not something is wrong, but I've learned to always have a little more mohair than I think I will need - that way if anything is really bad I can make up new replacement parts. :)
Vicky,
Rotraud Ilisch has a CD-ROM available, I purchased it directly from her, she posted it straight away and it arrived in Australia within a couple of days, you can also buy it from Edinburgh imports. Her book is out of print but I was lucky to purchase one on ebay. This is her website
http://www.rotraud-ilisch.de/
Denise
Hi Denise
Thank you - the CD Rom sounds good. No wonder I couldn't get the book! I'll pop along to her website in a minute and have a look.
Thanks again.
Vicky
Childhood TreasuresJudi
I absolutely love your bears. Your airbrushing add such an amazing tough. I've tried the airbrushing using acrylic paints. Is there some special paint meant for painting onto mohair?
Jare Hares & BearsI go to Wally World and buy cheap broad cloth or muslin and make my designs out of that just to check the proportions. I have always had trouble with that. I will even goes so far as to completing the bunny/bear in that fabric to get an understanding of what my finished piece will look like. But even after that I find that I refine my designs as I use them. The only timeI do that though is when I create a totally new pattern. Most of the time it is simple modifications of my existing patterns.
