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Back Road Bears
The Mimzy Bunny has to have a white belly, feet and muzzle.
The oil painting I did ended up looking like she'd had her nose in a jar of marshmallow fluff! The movie producers didn't like it and I don't blame them!
So, if I use white plush felt for insets then the seams really stand out. They want the colors blended. To look seamless like in the picure above.
They don't think airbrushing will work now that I've found the airbrush I want to order and gotten a quote on rush shipping.
Could I bleach the felt, say after I sew the pieces together just dip a foot in bleach?
Or paint just at the seam... say a bit of white paint on the tan felt to blend it?
Anyone got any other ideas?????
Judi is the expert. My feeling is that you'd be better off using white plush (or whatever fabric you're using) and then airbrushing the colored parts, much like Judi airbrushed the color onto SERGEI, her tiger.
Why don't they want you to airbrush it?
It doesn't look to me like they'd end up with that particular soft and fuzzy outcome if you used insets. The lines of demarcation would be very stark in that case. Don't you think?
I can understand about the oil painting not working; it's not great for extreme lightening of large areas and doesn't have that "airbrush" look; it's a different animal entirely.
What a puzzle for you this has been, Daphne; I admire your sticktuitiveness!
Sunnie BearsDaphne, Have you thought about needlefelting the white onto the felt plush? A fine layer needlefelted onto it should blend very nicely.
Sonya
Pandy Potter Bears
Spot on Sonya. I would say the same thing, it would be perfect. I did a similar thing for my Red panda, it would work even better on your chosen fabric.
Oh, yeah! As a non-felter I didn't think of that, but it would have a very nice effect if the work I've seen here is any indication!
Yeh, but airbrushing would look exactly like the drawing...
Back Road BearsOh yeah!!!
Brilliant!!
Why didn't I think of that?
Because I am too close to the situation!
Sonya, I'll start forwarding my checks on to you!
(Shel - it's those checks that keep showing up at my door that keep me 'stuck' to this project!)
I did email Judi for her input and am waiting to hear back when she has time.
Hmmm..... 6 bunnies and all that needlefelting..... anyone want to come to NH and help me out here???
I'm thinking wool bat would be the thing to use? That's the most coarse stuff, right? It'll felt on the quickest and I can keep some of the texture that the shaggy plush felt has. Now I have to go to the yarn shop, shucks! HA!!!
Back Road BearsJenny, you are right. That's my bunny in the picture that they photo'd and stretched the ears out, moved the legs and did the recoloring on. I'd like to know why they don't just use a computer animatied bunny and fire me!
Sunnie Bearsdaphne, Waiting on my check, then I will be on the next plane.. lol
Sonya.. Batting should work perfectly.. and much cheaper!
Just a thought ,If you don't want to needle felt(I've never tried but imagine it's a lot of work)you could cut out the pieces all in white and dip into fawn then wash and sew.Bleach could perhaps compromise the fabric.I did this once with a bears muzzle .
Diane xxxx
Just Us BearsDaphne..methinks for such a subtle and soft look...airbrushing's going to be your friend. It is soft and the edges will blend perfectly. I wonder if the producers really even know what airbrushing means?? 
Back Road BearsI've tried needlefelting the face.
It's do-able. Time consumming though. And still I'm not sure it's going to be as subtle as they want.
I haven't gotten out the bleach yet. Jenny had some good suggestions on bleaching which I must go read.
I keep thinking that airbrushing is the way to go, too. Especially on the face and up the nose to the top of the head. That's shading I can't imagine getting any other way.
I'm going to do this a bunch of ways, email them photos and let them decide what they like best.
Keep the ideas coming if you have any!!!!
Starlite BearsDaphne,
I have no ideas for you at all but I think I missed out on telling you what wonderful bunnies you had made :clap: :clap:
I think both are absolutely adorable :clap: :clap:
Terrific - you will soon be more famous than Jim Henson :dance: :dance:
:hug:
ToadBriarI love this bunny! & I am feelin ya on how it is
to have to change fiddly little stuff...grumble...lol
I'd do airbrushing if you can. needle felting will
take forever. airbrushing will be speedy & look
just right!
Sunnie BearsThe only other option I was thinking of is to use white felt to start with, then after sewing up each piece, dip them in tea to tea dye the tan parts, leaving the white parts out. the tea dye is very subtle, but on white, it would take very quickly and after rinsing, the white parts would still be white. The biggest concern woud be dipping evenly to be consistent on all of the bunnies.
Sonya
Sunnie BearsOh yea, I forgot something else I thought of. You might want to experiment since tea won't hurt your fabric. You also can start with white and airbrush the TEA right onto the finished bunny. No need to rinse out, just let it dry. just start with a few scraps to determine the strength of tea to use and go from there. All the advantages of airbrushing, without the "paint" (if that is what the producers are concerned about) and the added bonus that it smells great!
Sonya
ToadBriarwill tea work on synthetic felt as well as it does on cotton?
if so, I can have a lot more fun than I thought I could have...lol
Back Road BearsYou all have such great ideas!
If I did any dying or tea staining it would have to be the air brush method. I could NEVER dye first then cut and sew or cut and sew then dye and have all 6 bunnies look identical.
The guy in the art department's wife does needlefelting and I guess she's convinced him that would be the best way. The only tricky part there is the white that has to go up his nose to the top of his head. (Did I mention this challenge already?) I spent 2 hours trying to get that right last night without success. Visualizing everything on this bunny at the close up size of 43 feet wide is intimidating!!! (Prop guy reminded me that's how big a movie screen is!!)
I don't see any easy way out of this. I got a super great deal on a Paasche H airbrush (Sorry, Deb.. thank's for your time in giving me the Badger info, though!) and will have it by Thursday now so I'm going to try that when it comes with some white paint and let the prop master and art department decide which they like better.
Why again aren't they just doing this themselves??????
Sunnie Bearswill tea work on synthetic felt as well as it does on cotton?
if so, I can have a lot more fun than I thought I could have...lol
I have found tea dying worked with both synthetic and natural materials.
Sonya
LuxembearsDaphne, Sorry, I have had problems accessing my direcway email so I have not had a chance to read any emails sent there.
I have to agree that the best way to achieve the look in the photo is with airbrushing. I also want to say that white is one of the most difficult colors to airbrush especially if you are new at it. To get the right opacity youwould have heavy pigments running through the airbrush and it can lead to no end of clog and sputtering problems.
I would reccomend a white bunny airbrushed with light brown. From the look of the photo that could be done on less than five minutes. I am serious. Needle felting will take hours...as you already know. In the end you need to do what you are comfortable with.
The Paasche H is a GREAT airbrush. I have been using mine for 22 years and it is the one I learned on. Get lots of practice in before trying it on bunny. Let me know if I can help. I wish we lived closer...
