For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
To those of you who stuff your arms and legs before attaching: Do you completely stuff and close the limb before attaching?
I stuff paws and feet to the ankle and before I attach. But, like Laura, I find it hard to close the seams. Maybe stuffing, closing then jointing is easier. What do you think?
Hmm... I stuff the limbs partially and then attach them to the body. The seams close OK for me as long as I don't stuff them too tight! Hemostats come in handy if a tad more stuffing needs to be added or removed as I'm closing the seams.
Put the disc and cotter pin in, stuff the arms and legs and stitch them closed. Also, the ears are the very last thing to go on my bears. Then I stuff the body and stitch it up.
I don't close the limbs before attaching them to the body because I usually use nuts and bolts and need to reach the bolt side in the limb and the nut side in the body.
I close the limbs and attach to body then attach the completed head last. I save the head for last because I do alot of styling on the fur and I don't want it or the nose to get messed up while I'm attaching the limbs!
I stuff my legs and arms as far as I can before attaching them to the body. I then place the joints and attach to the body. Many times I am able to stuff to the bottom of the open seam. This way it makes it faster for me to complete the bunny or bear. You have better control over the shape and stuffing of the limb if you can completely stuff it before attaching. Due to the fact that I use lock nuts and bolts I can't completely stuff and shut a limb. Yes, I have tried expoy to set the bolt, but that is an extra step that requires at least 24 hours for the expoy to set. And then there are those times when the bolt would breakfree from the expoy. So in the end the expoy costs more and takes more time, so you really don't end up making the bear any faster. Now, if you know that you will use X number of discs of a list of sizes, then you could take a day and set up all of those bolts and discs. But even still there is the problem of the bolt breaking from the expoy and then you have to go in and open the limb back up and insert a new expoyed disc set or you just break down and use the rachet wrench and attach it.
I think I will stop now as I am rambling.