Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Congratulations! 

           
Awwww she's a gorgeous baby dragon!!! Love her!!! Would love to own a baby dragon by you like her one day 

Hi Sheree, long time no talk!
Just a suggestion for you to think about..... you could always try creating your own pattern????
I can already guess your possible reaction but trust me it wouldn't be that difficult as you already have an idea of how the patterns work. You could use a pattern you already have for a bear, change the shape of the body slightly to the shape that you'd like, perhaps reshape the legs. Then you'd just need to change the shape of the arms to either stand (if you want a cat on all fours) or just curve them or use a hook-arm pattern to make them look more feline. The head wouldn't need changing unless you want a super realistic cat..... you could just use a pattern you already have for a bear's head, and give it pointed ears!

Hopefully you don't think I'm suggesting something far too adventurous lol  It's just an idea and you may not have already considered this so it's a possibility. Let us know how you go! Best of luck with cat pattern searching or creating 

Hugs!

               
Wow! He's absolutely stunning! What a perfect bear. Absolutely adore him. Well done you are such a talented artist  

       
Vanilla is gorgeous! Well done Kelly She's got so much personality 

Hi everyone,

I still have 3 bears left available for adoption from the Christmas period, they're all waiting patiently for their new homes.

However I have marked down on bear, The Entertainer, and he is now only $90.00 AUD to adopt (plus postage)! That really is a fantastic price for this gorgeous, detailed bear. All details on my website and my bear pile store.....

You can view all his details and more photos here (website):
http://gjoyfulbears.com/the-entertainer.html

Here he is!

PM me through this site if you are a member or email me through the website to let me know if you are interested in adopting The Entertainer.

Thanks for stopping by! We hope to hear from you soon

Hi, I voted too ~ love anything about music. Best of luck for them! 

What a sweet little piggy! I agree, as a matter of personal taste I'd like to see her nose nose become more obvious since pigs have such cute noses, I don't think you'd have to have a head gusset to achieve this - just some needle sculpting. Or perhaps you could needle felt the nose next time? So that it became more obvious. But this is personal taste - you might have been looking for a small feminine nose for her so in that case her nose is perfect

She's a gorgeous pig! Well done!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! 
             
She's ABSOLUTELY gorgeous!!! Love all the photos of her on the auction! She's so beautiful! Well done!

Oh I wish I had spare funds to bid on her with! lol

Well done Melisa!

            He's so gorgeous!!!!!

I find from people my own age (I am a young bear artist also) reactions are much like Heidi's class-mates, however from other bear collectors and artists the reactions are either loving the bears, or if they are not bear people they are amazed that a young person would like sewing and that a bear like that could be made by hand. I find generally reactions are very positive and encouraging, but I don't take my bears to places that would likely be full of non-bear-lovers lol, so that is perhaps why....?

And Sheree don't worry about the not so good reactions, if you love your bear making that's really all that matters. And you will always get good reactions regarding your bears here!!

I always create a pattern based on an image I had in my mind for a character but I never know until it's finished what gender it is. Even pink bears can be boys, so I never know until I'm finished and then the bear tells me. They also usually tell me what name they want too lol, I usually have a name picked out however the bears tend to change my ideas and give their own name ha ha. I have the idea but they always become what they want to become.

Awwww he's gorgeous! Love him!       

Gorgeous bear Kathy!     

I sent you a PM Wendy

That is absolutely gorgeous and just what they're like lol     

Peaches is gorgeous!! Well done!     

I used to think mink was the be all and end all however now I feel like anyone who can make a nice looking bear in mink is a God lol. I have only tried making a few and none have made it to the real world - all went to teddy bear heaven 

The kind of mink you describe is like the kind I worked with on my first bear and I was told the lines were not the actual pelt thicknesses, they were there to add strength to the coat. I still lined it which helped the strength of the coat, my problems came from a lot of other mistakes hee hee  I sew very tiny stitches and all by hand, I am always being told my stitching looks like machine sewing so when I sewed like this on mink I just ripped the skin all the way around each piece and when i turned it RIPPPPP! Not fun.

Needle felting - no. There's no way I'd even want to try it after my experiences. I personally would choose now to use a molded clay nose so that there was no extra puncturing of the skin around the sensitive muzzle area of the bear.

I am by no means an expert in this field at all, far from it so please don't quote me I'm just saying from my own experience. Kathy Myers makes absolutely stunning mink bears and animals of which I am very lucky to have a couple of and I happened to think she's a genius hehe ~ I can't fathom how she makes such perfect creations from mink. Perhaps a mink expert will be along to view your post and help you out. In the mean time I happened to think you are BRAVE and need congratulating for venturing into mink bears! Best of luck and don't give up if your first bear in it isn't what you hoped for. Practice makes perfect.......... I keep telling myself this although I keep coming back to other mediums lol.

Perhaps you could try tissavel fur? It is my favorite medium for making soft sculpture realistic animals and has been perfect so far..... I'm making a lion cub and loving the fur I'm using as it's very realistic and easily shaded, sculpted and scissor sculpted. Tissavel is very expensive though, depending on what kind you get etc. Hope this helps.

OMG I laughed so hard!!!! Love it!!!! Thanks so much Becky that is absolutely hilarious!  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

Merry Christmas to you too Sheree 

Well that's a relief. At least I wasn't deserted Thanks Kelly

Thanks everyone I wondered what was wrong there - I kept exiting blogger and returning and it never changed so I was a bit worried. Not really worried that people had possibly chosen to leave, I was worried that they knew something I didn't that was possibly wrong with the blog lol. Thanks!

Ok, yesterday I had 28 followers of the GJOYful Bears blog and today I check and only have 6...... so I'm wondering if perhaps my blog has been affected by spam or something and that is perhaps the reason many followers have ceased following...... I can't see anything wrong with the blog from where I sit however any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm confused as to why, in a matter of only hours, 22 people would choose to un-follow the blog???? Is there something I don't know????? What's happened????