Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

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Sophie Z'Ours
Sarthe, France
Posts: 2,770

lapousmor Nov 5, 2009

"Once upon a time a mini bear who dreamt to become a water lily...

Everybody laughed at him when he told about his dream. Even fairy mother laughed at him.
Finally he decided he would visit his tailor friend.

His tailor looked seriously at him, took a few measurements and asked him to come back in a few days. The tailor chose a few fabrics from his stock of Liberty of London Tana lawn and began to sew.
The mini bear went back a few days later. His eyes shined with stars at the sight of the result.

There was a sit, a hat and two rows of petals (sort of skirts).

He quickly tried the whole lot.

Oh dear! He felt so beautiful in his new outfit! Like a king! He never felt so happy!

From the ceiling mirror he could see he really looked like a water lily.

He thanked very warmly his tailor friend and lived the shop.

When all his friends looked at him, they became green with envy. Even fairy mother!
Then no longer laughed at him."

This mini bear is 10.5 cm tall standing without his hat. Not that mini for many of you, I guess, but very mini for me! bear_tongue
I used three different mini cashemere (or similar).
I stuffed his head with kapok and the rest of his body with glass shots plus a little polyester fibres).
his head it cotter pin jointed and his limbs are thread jointed with extra buttons for deco.
He has glass black eyes.
I embroidered his nose with cotton embroidery thread.
I added some shades of textile and acrylic paints near his eyes.
He wears a non-removable collar made with Liberty fabric.

His sit is made with fimo clay.

He is not perfect, but I like him the way he is. I could not expect to make a perfect one as a first try!!!!

One thing is sure, I will not make many minis, as this is very taugh for my eyes and so tiny.
One thing is much more sure : my awe for all mini bear artist has increased a lot, when realising how hard they are to make... bear_grin

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Tuppies Teddies
Lindenow, Central Gippsland
Posts: 1,969

tuppies teddies Nov 5, 2009

Sopia, he is delightful and your piccies tell the story so well..

bingle bears
Upstate, NY
Posts: 1,559

binglebears Nov 5, 2009

Sophie, I absolutely LOVE him! I recently tried making a mini bear and finally gave up and needlefelted a mouse instead! bear_grin It was just too "fiddley" for me. All those teeny-tiny stitches on those teeny-tiny pieces--my eyes, fingers, and patience just rebelled. I now have a profound admiration for mini bear artists!
Cheryl

EJ's Crafts
Fort Mohave, Arizona
Posts: 829

EvaJ Nov 5, 2009

What a sweet story to go with your sweet little bear. I admire anyone who can make minis. I just don't have the patience or the fingers to do it.

desertmountainbear
Bloomsburg, PA
Posts: 5,399

desertmountainbear Nov 6, 2009

He is just wonderful
Joanne

Sophie Z'Ours
Sarthe, France
Posts: 2,770

lapousmor Nov 6, 2009

Thank you very much for your nice comments, Denise, Cheryl, Eva and Joanne!

It has been pretty hard to make him. First I had to struggle to attach the eyes. My concern was that I wanted to make the node at the neck section, as for my big bears, but I just could not manage tu push the needle through the whole head as it was stuffed too firmly!!! So I finally hid the nodes under the ears...

To my surprise, the mini cashemire fabric had less elasticity than mohair. So once stuffed, the two-part body looked very slim...

I was lucky I managed to avoid tears linked to my bad habit to stuff the most firmly possible.

Now I have to say it is very hard to sew such mini bears : keeping an even seam allowance everywhere is pretty hard and if you happen not to see you did so, your bear an ome out with an ear bigger than the other or a leg wider than the other... just because you may had counted two squares instead of three in some places!!!!

I was very happy to notice that my mini bear an stand on its own thanks to the glass shot stuffing... :dance:

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Laurie Lou Bears
Norfolk
Posts: 3,246

Laurie Nov 6, 2009

He is lovely Sophie bear_wub
It can be a bit of a challenge making minis.I always struggle with the 3.5 inches as it is hard to make a nice face on that size bear..I keep trying and want to go smaller.I admire those that can make such tiny bears such as 2 inches...maybe one day bear_whistle
Laurie :hug: