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Back Road BearsI noticed the other day that I kept moving my lips and making strange faces while sewing on my machine.
I happened to mention this to another fiber artist and she said she does the same thing!! Are we just weirdos or do you do this too?
What other silly things do you do, without even realizing it sometimes, when you are making bears?
Do you whistle, tug on your ear, sit funny.......?
DoodlebearsI can't think that I do anything strange...maybe I do, I'll have to watch out for it. My husband however, whilst playing the keyboard, pouts his lips and pull a really silly face. I don't know why he does this. Also he looses the proper power of speach whilst playing. He only gets half of a word out, we call it keyboard language.
Hugs, Jane. 
"a bear by kim"WHEN IM SHADING MY BEARS FACES I ALWAYS END UP HOLDING A PEN IN MY MOUTH WHILE I BLEND THE COLOURS ..... EACH TIME IT MAKES ME HEAVE AND MY HUBBY THINKS THIS IS HILARIUOS... I DO IT EVERY TIME.
:redface: Well, I like to play music while I work and every so often a favourite tune will blast out from the speakers and I'll leap up and dance wildly until I'm breathless (about thirty seconds!) and will then resume my seat at the sewing machine calmly, as if nothing has happened. No-one in the house knows about this, so ssssshhhhhh!!!! :redface:
DoodlebearsPaula we all know now...now how to blackmail Paula, hmmm, let me think. 
I've got your phone number. :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: Paula, our very own dancing queen. 
Hugs, Jane.
Ah Jane, you wicked girl! 
At the moment Beverley Knight is causing me a lot of inconvenience (and breathlessness) with her 'Black Butta' track ... try as I might, I can't keep my bum in the chair when that comes on! 
Tami Eveslage Original Teddy Bears:redface: Well, I like to play music while I work and every so often a favourite tune will blast out from the speakers and I'll leap up and dance wildly until I'm breathless (about thirty seconds!) and will then resume my seat at the sewing machine calmly, as if nothing has happened. No-one in the house knows about this, so ssssshhhhhh!!!! :redface:
"Dance like no one is watching!" is always a bit of good advice!" I do this when I am doing housework.
When I am really concentrating a long while on anything like a drawing, sculpting a doll's face or trimming a bear's snout, I suck my lower lip into the space between my upper and lower teeth. ( I have a wee bit of an overbite) I usually do not realize I am doing this until I feel a little ridge across the inside of my lower lip with my tongue, then I stop so it goes away. Lots of kids stick their tongues into their cheeks when they are concentrating. Daphne, I learned from an occupational therapist Alex was seeing that these mouth things we do while working on something else are called "oral posturing". I figure they must not be that uncommon because they have a name 
. But maybe I'm just making excuses for being a weirdo!
I ALWAYS END UP HOLDING A PEN IN MY MOUTH WHILE I BLEND THE COLOURS ..... EACH TIME IT MAKES ME HEAVE
Kim, I can't hold objects in my mouth without gagging either, but like you, I still do it :doh: Sometimes you just need that third hand. I can't set the airbrush down once I've started--it would leak so I have to occasionally have to hold it with my teeth ( the cord and paint jar make a little front heavy). I was embarrassed When Connie B came over to try my airbrush. I wiped it with a clorox wipe, but would she notice the slight teethmarks in the handle? :redface:
LuxembearsWell the secrects are coming out at last! :crackup:
Daphne I would really like to see some video of your funny faces. 
Paula, Lets dance! I too have music on all the time. Usually dance tunes but sometimes classical and celtic,new age style music. I do cha-cha steps from the kitchen to my work area and back again. Hey we have to get moving don't we? When I am sewing I usually talk to myself. Being an artist can be a bit lonely at times.
Busser BearsI tend to stick out my tounge and lick my lips a lot...have to keep chapped lip cream very handy!!
hugs,
Leeann Krikau
Busser Bears
Back Road BearsDaphne I would really like to see some video of your funny faces. :D
I'm embarassed to say that most of NH saw those faces in the TV interview I did last year. I had to watch it last night to see if this mouth posturing thing was something new or if I'd been doing it all along. Sure enough... its nothing new! :redface:
I guess I don't have a very sensitive gag reflex. I'm forever chewing on the plastic cover that goes on the end of my awl.
Tami - Yup, must be a common thing if it actually has a name! :crackup:
My Teddy TalesWell, I shake my leg when I make my bears. Thank god I dont use a sewing machine for my bears! And I noticed the other day I also sit on the edge of my seat, for some reason I cant sit back and hand sew, I have tryed doesn't work!
Louise
Apple Dumpling DesignsI talk to myself...mumble, grumble or just have a little conversation. Frightening, huh? I do it ALL the time...in the garden I chat with the plants (tell them I'm yanking them out if they don't bloom this year, etc., and it worked my peonies are FULL of buds for the first time this year) It may be an only child thing. The cats think I'm nuts.
I scrunch up my shoulders when sewing or on the computer and have to keep making them relax or they get sore. My hubby does this strange humming. It actually sounds more like a growl. He has a very deep gravelly voice. Someone called it throat singing once. He has been doing it since he was a child and most of the time doesn't even realize he is doing it. Sometimes he says it gives him a headache. I can tell where he is in the house or the yard by following the sound. The kids used to hum Jingle Bells in July and before you knew it Bill was humming it too.
Past Time BearsMore often than not, I have my favorite CDs playing and constantly hum or sing along. If I don't have recorded music on, I still hum - making it all up as I go along. I absolutely KNOW I've composed some stunning tunes only heard by me. :crackup: :crackup: Also, while sitting at my sewing machine, I tip way back in my chair while doing the non-sewing chores . . . pinning pieces together to sew, picking fur out of seams, sewing up openings, stuffing, etc. Once I tipped back too far and . . . . . . well, you can imagine the, uh, fallout. :redface: :redface:
DENBY BEARS:crackup: :crackup: I also tend to sit on the edge of my seat when sewing or working on a bear. I also talk to the bear, like he is there. I am a television freak so no music, the tv is always on, watching it or not. i guess we all have our little ideos.
Teddy Bear and FriendsI know I talk to myself -- or maybe to the computer -- while writing and editing. I also tend to kick my shoes off -- by the end of the week there's a pile of them under my desk. And since I was a kid I've played with my hair. So there I am: barefoot, with hair sticking up and snarled, muttering. And swilling coffee, because I've always got a cup in my hand. And here I was lecturing everyone on "professional" attire last week! :doh:
Mindy
I love reading these little, er, habits. 
The dancing is great; I think I need more music in this house while I'm working my proofreading job. Maybe there would be a little more movement here in my loft instead of me sitting in front of the computer all day going bug-eyed. 
As far as things I do while making bears, you'll see me looking off into the distance every few minutes. I'm not really a daydreamer; 
I'm trying to exercise my eyes! The muscles in them are pretty lazy, I'm finding, and it makes for many difficulties trying to work on bears. I've taken to not wearing my glasses as much as possible so my eyes have to work harder, but just while I'm doing mundane things around the house, like washing dishes. I wouldn't be able to read anything unless it was in 14 point type or larger!
Pearl Button BearsI have a concentration face, I frown and sort of pout but not in a [INVALID] way in a grumpy way. 
This happens at work also which leaves one of the loveliest ladies I support asking me "whats wrong with your face then?" I try to explain I'm not sure she always believes me!
I can also do a bit of leg waggling but never sit on the edge of my seat always slouched in a mass of fluff and thread.
xx Julie
I frown and pout which makes me look as if I am in a real bad mood and it seems this is the 'look' whenever I am concentrating on what I am doing. I use to wear this 'look' when I was showing dogs and friends were always asking me what is wrong at a distance That is how bad I looked! They all got use to it in the end and if others asked they would just tell them 'oh that's just Lyn's concentrating look'
I don't know if I make a face or anything like that but I do have long hair and I keep it wound up on my head to keep stray strands from getting mixed up in the bear. The thing is, I don't really have a way to keep it wound up on my head....so what I find myself doing (without thinking about it) is using one of my crochet hooks (handle end) like an oriental hair stick to keep the hair wound up and out of the way. Then later I'll be searching and searching for the crochet hook and wondering where the H*LL I put it! LOL
/bearhugs,
Back Road BearsAhhh.... all these wonderful little things that makes each of unique.... crazy.... weird.... silly.....
I love hearing about the things you all do while working and can picture some of you with pouty faces, singing, dancing, gagging on whatever is in your mouth, twirling your hair barefoot... but Sue Ann..... you know better than to tip back so far in your chair! :doh: LOL!
:hug:
Flying Fur StudiosLouise I'm a total leg shaker as well. Always my right leg though.
Before my baby i used to work at a computer all day and my leg would just shake and shake. Ir's a tough habit to break
Apple Dumpling DesignsI just realized yesterday when I was working on an Annie that I stand up (usually lean against the desk or countertop or whatever) when I'm doing something detailed...sewing the nose, highlighting a face, etc.
Fun thread to read...
Plum Cottage BearsI listen to classical music or jazz when I am stuffing, closing and ear-ing (new word?--putting on the ears). The rhythm keeps me going. Nothing with lyrics, just music.
Plum Cottage BearsWell, with KUSC classical music going in the background, I finished stuffing, closing and ear-ing the last of 21 bears that had been jointed and were patiently waiting (!). Now I have 21 bears waiting for their eyes, noses and mouths. But tomorrow is another day, as Scarlett O'Hara put it!
