Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Am going to give wired arms a go and I was wondering, is it best to have the zigzag arm, a straight arm, a curved arm, etc., for wiring? 

Thank you for your advice!

Amelia

*LOL*  That explains alot!!  I grew up loving trolls too, I made little houses out of Altoids tins for them complete with sofas, beds, rugs, a stove for one, etc.

I am so glad Twigger made it safe and sound to you, Diane!      I was really sweating thinking about how fragile polymer clay can be if it's drop-kicked into a plane, etc.  Whew!  *muchas sighs of relief*

Here's my new little guy---sneak peek for tonight!

Thank you to all for your wonderful compliments---I must say that Diane's daughter is really lucky, I just loved that little face---haven't been able to come close to recreating the expression yet!

Amelia

I read awhile back that permanent marker bleeds when you dye it---at least, that's what I remember.  I recently bought a yard of upholstery fabric to practice dying with. 

Now, I'd like to draw out my bear pattern and then cut out the portion with the pattern and dye that---small amounts of fabric with Rit dye in increasingly dark colors, but a new pattern cutout for each intenser hue.  Will the Sharpie permanent marker bleed and ruin the fur AND the dye bath?

Thank you for any help on this subject, it's much appreciated.

Amelia

Ooooooooh!!  She looks like a movie star!!  I love the shading around her eyes and her EYES!!  Gorgeous bear!  She reminds me of ice or crystal...glitz & glam!  Congratulations, I would say she's a success!!!

Amelia

So adorable!!  I vote for Pistachio, sounds cute!!  = )

Amelia

I am doing a swap with holly-noelle for a marvelous unicorn---this is my effort of a panda with matching fur eye patches.  I can honestly say that I'll probably just shade in the eye patches from this point forward.  Seems like that would be easier.

http://www.ifribble.com/panda.htm

Anyways, I had lots of fun making 'em [and tore my hair out at times!].  Really like the pawpads---am having a blast shading!

= )

Amelia

I tried a 2" bear once...I think I might have to try it again with different fur...it was the hardest thing I'd ever done!!  And to be so worried about ripping the little thing that was no thicker inside than your hemostats---aurgh!

Melissa, that's definitely a micro mini!!

Amelia

...ish, well, I'm really late on this topic---but in the future, if one has to make 20+ footpads out of clay, Sculpey has this fairly new product on the market, it's an elasticizer/mold making clay substance---you could make your main footpad and then one toe footpad, and then take a mold from that and waalaa, you can produce umpteen footpads in one heck of a hurry.

Also, to get a good color variation on the pads [it looks like in the photo it goes darker pigmented around the outside of the pad], mix up your regular clay color [pink] and then visit the make-up section of any store, find the shade of blush a few shades darker than your baked clay color, and before you go about baking all of your footpads, take a soft brush and highlight the areas around the footpad you want.

The blush will be permanent when it's baked into the clay.

Amelia

Does anyone know where I can get a few yards of a nice thick luxuriant white upholstery fabric [medium/long pile] fairly cheaply for dying?  ..am not entirely certain how much it would run normally, but is $40+ relatively reasonable for a price per yard? 

I want to try for a more varied color selection for my faery bears, am toying with the idea of mixing up Rit dye and [after previously drawing out my pattern a zillion times] and dying a entire bear piece at a time, starting with the lightest shade of a color, and then darkening it up.

Should I perhaps contact a local upholsterer, and see if they have good sources for this sort of thing?

Thank you for your time.

Amelia

Ooooh, so cute!!  I love the beaded accenting on the bag, and your little one's expression is so adorable! 

Amelia  *hopes to see more like this*

Brenda, I hope your strep goes away uber quickly!

As for sewing anywhere else but the house---my mother-in-law just gave me the most wonderful big make-up bag [hard outer case] that I throw all my materials [pre-cut bear pieces, thread, stickpins, eyes, scissors, hemostats, etc.] and I take the whole mess over to the in-laws' and sew while we watch Stargate, Vegas or Monk---and I also take it to my parents' house out of state.  Other than that, we don't really go anywheres else 'cept for visiting, and I think it'd be kind of rude to bring bear stuff along, plus I might screw it up.

I must confess, I have been working on a new pattern for some feet and arms, and my little 10 month old decided it was time for him to have a bath---so we ran a tub, I put him in and then got in myself---with a little plastic baggy wif my teddy bear fur pieces, needle and thread, and he happily played with his rubber duckies, froggy and piggy while I sewed away on my new arm pattern.

Now, that MUST be a sign of addiction---being naked in a tub with your baby and sewing bear parts!!

..hey, it kept him quiet!!  = )

Amelia

I am working with ultrasuede now and having a blast---however, due to the large amount of colors available, am having a hard time choosing what pawpads look right with different colors of fur. 

I'm all right when it comes to monochromatic colors, choosing a shade lighter or a shade darker, but am terrible at choosing contrasting colors..or if the color has a bit more yellow, or red, than the fur color...aurgh! 

Is there any rule of thumb when it comes to choosing pawpad colors other than holding it up to the bear and trying to figure out if it looks better than the one just before?

Amelia

I agree, Sing-Lee is MARVELOUS!  So awesome! 

I can't really give you any tips, Sam, but I like reading other people's suggestions!

Amelia

I love him!  He's adorably cute---definitely a keeper for sure!!  = )

Amelia

She is adorably cute!  I love her eyes with the half-lids, so much character!  The dress is LOVELY!!  Best of luck with your auction!  = )

Amelia

*LOL*  Not really secret...I should really do a tutorial, it's super easy to make the little critters.  I've noticed though when I taught other people, it winds up more like however that person draws.  I tend to draw cartoonish, cutesy things...and that's the way the felt comes out.

I like using 'em for props with bears or faeries.

Amelia

...not entirely, no, but some of them are.  Like the cat you can see up on top that the head is pompom, same with the alligator/crocodile.  The bodies however are all felted.  = )@Kim

Amelia

Thank you for all the wonderful comments!  = )

Fribbling is something I came up with when I was about 16...my brothers and I had little troll houses, and my brothers wound up using these little pompoms and called 'em cats.  Well, one day I added ears, nose, feets, tail and eyes to the little pompoms, and fribbling was born!

I make fribbles out of felt, sometimes using foamie and polymer clay as accents---I use fabric paint to color them.

Here's an assortment of some of my animals:

The giraffe heads are about 1/2" in diameter...with the ears on about 3/4", just to get scale established.  It's from the song..

..green alligators, and long-necked geese
some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
cats 'n rats 'n elephants, as sure as you go
but don't you forget the unicorn...

Amelia

Actually, no, that's just one of Holly's poseables.  She's making me one with a snowflake theme as I live in Montana, land of snow and ice.

Here're what my little fribble unicorns look like:

Holly does magnificent, MARVELOUS work.  She's amazing.

Amelia

Actually, this little guy is for a swap---are any of you familar with artist holly-noelle on eBay?  Holly bought one of my bears awhile back, and she contacted me afterwards and wanted to know if I would like to swap one of my creations for one of her creations..

..so, once I get all the kinks ironed out with this pattern, am going to make the real swap bear.  Holly's crazy about my little unicorns, so the panda will have two unicorn companions, one white with gold horn and one black with silver horn---she's naming 'em Ying and Yang.  =)

I can't wait to finish this swap up to get my poseable unicorn she's making for me! 

Amelia

Thank you, Anne, Amanda and Kim!  That helps out alot to see your eyes, Amanda, and Anne, I never even thought of searching "panda patches"  I just looked up "panda".  Am off to do that right now!!  And Kim, as soon as I sell some more more and not SPEND it all, I'm definitely going to be buying some Copic markers to shade.

Thank you all for such helpful advice!  = )

Amelia

I don't know if this belongs in the tips 'n tricks section...am trying to make a panda with actual fur patches instead of coloring the fur after everything's all sewn together...when the eye patches are maybe 1/4" x 1/4", it gets to be a real pain sewing 'em---they've got a tendency to go off in different directions.

I'm making them so that there's one patch piece for the eye patch...it gets sewn firstly into the side of the head, then has a little bump left over to be put into the head gusset.  However, since the eyes go right on top, plus the needlesculpting, I'm thinking I could just sew the bottom part of the patch into the side of the head and not leave the little bump to be sewn into the head gusset.

I know Amanda does little pandas, and I saw Melissa's adorable little Eithne..and Anne's delightful Pan Pei Min...here's a photo of mine---help!  = )

Amelia

Oh, they're about 3/4" at the largest size.  I should've included something for size comparison.  Each monkey would fit inside a quarter if you put the quarter and the monkey up against one another.  The basket is the same size as my bunny basket.  The bananas are about the size of a baby's toenail clipping, only of course more three dimensional.

It's a prototype, so they're a lil rough.  They aren't sewn, they're made of felt, but not felted.  It's a process I call "fribbling".  They gave me lots of smiles during the creative process, and after! 

Thank you for the compliments!

Amelia

My husband looked at the photo and said to me,"A grand??  For that plain ole bear?  Honey, you need to buy lots of fabric and START SEWING!"

Amelia *laughing*

Here're my latest little fellows...

Whaddya all think?

Amelia