Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hi, Gaby,
Summer is winding down here to and the leaves have already started falling from our river birch tree. Freckles just had to go out and play in them! He is not necessarily a fall bear but I think that would be a great challenge as I am already plannign a fall bear and  Halloween bear.

Actually, Jared, I just got an email from Connie and Amber and they still have a few spaces left and I'm toying with the idea of putting it into high gear and trying to get enough work together to actually go! I have a local show in the middle of this month, so I'm working toward that right now.

Deb be sure to show off "snow flake bently" in Teddy Talk!

Jared, Thanks for your complement! I was just checking out your Parma-John. Pasta makes me THAT happy too! It's so great that you are doing the souvenir bear for ABC's Octobear Faire. I just love shows with a souvenir bear. I'm really sorry now that I won't be going! I don't do a whole lot of shows but that one is a lot of fun. I may do the April Schaumburg show, in 2007 if they have one.

Hi, Bonnie,
For me the Createx paint makes the fur a little stiff too. I wondered if I was putting it on to heavy, but when I was introduced to the dye na flow dyes, they worked so well I didin't think about it much more. The dye na flow stays fairly soft ( I think you will notice a slight change in the fur's softness no matter which paint you use.) On the ultraseude you can't feel the paint at all.
When I did my avitar panda's eye patches I had to put the dye na flow on pretty heavy ( in several layers not all at once) so it is a little stiff there. As I said before the alpaca doesn't accept the color as well as mohair and he's alpaca. Since it was so close to his eyes---not an area you touch a lot--I didn't feel it detracted from the bear, though. 
Whew! I'm long winded! Now to answer your question! I just set my hair dryer on high and take a fairly close aim at each of the airbrushed areas and hold it there for about two minutes. No bouncing around in a dryer for my bears--if they take after me, they'd probably throw up!  

Hi, Jared.

Have you done any felting at all? My directions assume you have...correct me if you haven't.

Start with a stuffed head. First you would trim the fur from the area of the face that you want to add the felting. You want to cut it all the way down to the backing. The same rule applies here as trimming your snouts, go easy as you can always trim more, but you can't put it back. I begin in the center (nose area) and fan out.  Next I take an amount of wool fiber roughly the size of the area I want to felt , roll it up in a ball in my hands,  I begin to felt it separate from the head so it just begins to firm up. Do this by placing your "wad" of wool on a rolled up kitchen towel or a foam block and pushing your needle through repeatedly until it begins to hold a loose ball shape. I mean barely firm. Then you hold it over the area you want to cover and felt it right on by pushing your needle through wool, mohair backing and into the polyfil of your stuffed head. Continue this until the piece is well attached, and then you can begin to sculpt the area they way you want. Anytime I add more fiber to create fullness I do it the same way--first felting it a bit off of the critter's face, then attaching it.
Hope this is helpful.

Gosh, what wonderful, thoughtful answers! I don't know if I've ever had an epiphany or great turning point with my bear art. I can't recall any specific moment.
But I know my bears have improved over the years ( not all at once) when I have made certain discoveries, many of which are described above by all of you, but the most important for me is doing what makes me happy.
Perhaps the biggest turning point was probably when I designed my first bear with a painted open mouth. It doesn't seem like that would be a big deal now, but in 1996 there were almost no open mouthed bears around. Now lots of folks do really nice open mouthed bears.

What Beautiful bears they are! The faces are wonderful and that fur looks positively cuddly!

Hi, Deb. Thank you!
Yes it is still a traditional three piece head.( I just shorted the snout a lot and made a higher forhead. I'm not sure if it fits the anime look completely, but it was fun.  In general my bears are natural looking and traditional. I wanted to play around with the proportions like I keep seeing, but still make it my look.

OK. I know this is an old challenge. But I was playing with these fun proprtions earlier this year too. Here is what I came up with.

This is Noah and Nolan.

Thanks for taking the time to share the beautiful photos and "ramblings"! What a wonderful experience! Now I really want to go!

Hi, Tami-with-an-"I" Lahey! This is Tami- with-an-"I" Eveslage!
Berwyn is precious from his delicate wings to his curly toed shoes!
I also really like the ribbon treatment you have done on your avitar nbear's neck and on some of the bears on your website. Do you wrap ribbon around a book or something, and then stitch through it? It's a lovely effect.

Jenny I love your open mouthed cutie! It's a lot of work but so worth it!

OK, here are the "before" photos of my "bear room" :redface: . This was the room I used which had no storage at all and it was always a mess. I thought I was a hopeless slob , but I was able to clean up once I had a place for my stuff!

Very nice Jodi! I was waiting to see him finished! He's got a playful expression and looks great on the little pin cushion you've made for him.

Where is Gahana?

What a sweet expression!

OK, as good as it feels to hear you all say how neat and tidy I am     , I feel I should introduce you to the "real me".
You are right, Edie, the photos were taken before I'd actually worked in my new bear room! Although, I have been keeping it much cleaner then the old bear room, as it really helps to have  PLACES to put stuff away.
Here is a link to my Shutterfly picture site. You will have to put in my password  (tambear) to be able to see any albums, but then you can click on the Studio Project album and view it as a slide show. Then you'll see how I really work--BUT people can change and I'm really trying!

http://www.shutterfly.com/account/userhome.jsp

Paula, I LOVE the bear in your post. What a wonderful expression and body language. I like BIG hugs!

I'm working on an open mouthed bear too, but I love doing it ! Before that I was redoing my "studio".
That was a huge undertaking but I am so pleased with the result! I made a whole online photo album on Shutterfly documenting it (including some scary before pictures) but you have to send share "invitations" to folks emails, you can't just send a link. So I'll do my best to include some pictures here (my first time). I'll have to figure a way to show the Shutterfly album for the before pictures...It really is quite a transformation. I truned my old "bear room" into an office for my husband, and moved my stuff downstairs. Now my bear stuff is all in the same place, YAY!
Here's my bear in progress.
View one of new Bear Room.View Two

Jane, what a horrible thing to happen! I've generally had pretty good luck selling on ebay, except my most recent auction where my bear had first met his reserve, and then he didn't because the bidder retracted his/her bid at the end. I was mad ! But the scariest thing   was just a month ago someone stole my ebay identity and listed a whole bunch of electronics (twenty two listings). Ebay helped me straighten it out right away, but its just down right scary how easily it happens.
BTW I just love Joey! Your little girls are perfect, but being the mother of two young boys, Joey really tugs at my heart! I had just seen that he was relisted and thought "OH NO! Why?" I knew there was no way he'd not meet reserve!
I also have one of your patterns (Nola) I haven't used it myself but I did use it as a teaching pattern when my sister in law made her first bear with me. It's a lovely pattern and her very first bear turned out nicely!
Hope you have better luck this time with your cuties!
Tami

Judi, Debbie, and Heather, hello and thanks for the welcome and complements on my bears! I love Teddy Talk! I've been trying to check out as many folk's websites and workas I can. So much "eye candy", this could really become addicting. I may have to set a time limit for myself so I still get my own bears done.
Tami

Hi Chrissi,

While I have never tackled an air brushing project as involved as Judi's fabulous tiger (although someday I may as I have a brother who loves tigers), I have been using an air brush to accent my bears for about seven years now. I would say just play with it to get a feel for it. First, I airbrushed on fabric, paper towels and even purchased an inexpensive plush bear to try it out. Different fabrics will take color differently. Mohair seems to "grab" the color more easily than alpaca, and alpaca accepts color better than most synthetics. The paint I like to use is Dye-Na Flo silk paint by Jaquard. It really works well on the mohair.
Of course if you can take Judi's class, it would be great, too. Anytime you take a class you get a head start because you get to learn from the instuctor's experience as well as your own!

Have Fun ,
Tami