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For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Chaska, MinnesotaHello Teddy Bear Friends: I was just thinking about how to design a new bear that is different. It really is something I want to do that makes it my own. When you design bears or other critters, what is your inspiration? Where to you get your ideas from?
KezjoyKritterzkind of hard to answer..sometimes things just "grow" in my head..sometimes i see things that inspire in stores..sometimes i see a pic of something id like to try..theres no one answer
Kerrilyn
Posts: 8,574I think from the ether---I pour a doll and when I remove her from the mold I begin planning her future...My last doll came about because of a picture of Akermann's a designer in the 1800s....I loved the court dress he had done up so I tried to stick to his original design.
The ideas are from everywhere, they pop into my head and I start planning: how to do-is it possible, do I have the supplies?,whats her name, does she have s story....
commercials, book names, people I know, everything and anything can give you an idea.
You don't have to act on every idea, you can let it sit and perc along in your brain.
I figure when its time she will flow together.
I say go for it Lady....let the imagination roll!!!!
dilu
Matilda Huggington-beareI do the lot in my head. I just day dream and a 'look' will come to mind. I will develope it and slowly the 'whole look' comes about. I then work out how to put the 'look' into a pattern. I also do this in my head. Only when I have worked all this out do I then put pen to paper.
Fabrics, accessories or even the pile direction can be catalysts to a new style.
Wendy
FenBeary FolkOh yes daydreaming definitely, it may sit in my head for weeks, months 
I also imagine bears I have made with different features, big noses, long faces, can be quite fun :hug:
Aside from things just popping into my head, I have to second what Matilda said, the fabric often lends ideas, as do neat little accessories- for instance, this afternoon an idea popped into my head for using something I saw last weekend at a show. Of course I didn't BUY this cute little thing then so now I will have to email them and wait for it in the mail 
Magazines are good for inspiration too- not bear magazines usually- decorating, craft (Somerset Studio really inspires me) and doll magazines are great sources to get your brain ticking over.
I also keep a sketchbook/s for when I am in one of those 'creative moods' to jot down the ideas in pics and often words as well, to refer to later.
mjbearsall my idea come into my head when i have the fabric to hand and then i shop for all the pretty things to match the fabric its sooo fun i normally nip into hobbycraft for 1 thing and come out with a carrier bag full lol............. i am also known for writing ideas down even late at night thats bears for you on the brain all the time....... 
its like i have just had a new fabric its lovely but very scruffy hard to descirbe so i am thinking a wacky bear or a pair of scruffy kittens...
Mutz's Tootsz Bears & BudsHi All,
Fun topic! There are all sorts of ways that that ideas come into my head. Some are actually the products of my dreams or nightmares in some cases. Sometimes it is the fabric that inspires. I have a piece of mohair that has been travelling to work and back with me for a week now. I want to do sometime with it, but I don't know what. Sometime it is a name that I hear or think of that triggers a critter or bear. Sometimes it is something that I see in a magazine or a store, and I think, "I could do that in MOHAIR!" The very important part for me though is remembering those fleeting ideas. I always have 2 journals, one at work & one at home to record my ideas. I do a quick sketch and description of my thought & when I am looking to stat a new bear I browse through my ideas. I also keep lists of names in there and sketches on napkins from when I am out and all sorts of neat stuff. Now, I am NOT a sketch artist so some of my drawings are even like stick bears,, very simple very brief, just enough to convey the idea.
TTFN
Amy
desertmountainbearI take my iinspiration for my bears from where I live. I live in the desert southwest, They place of cowboys and Indians, and all the fun wild west history. The stories and characters are endless. I bet where you live in Minnesota there is a very unique history, that might help give you inspiration
Joanne
Chaska, MinnesotaThank everybody. It sounds like almost anything you see may spur on an idea. I wish I could just see the darling bear in my minds eye and replicate it on fur!! Harder than you think...for me anyways....
Thank everybody. It sounds like almost anything you see may spur on an idea. I wish I could just see the darling bear in my minds eye and replicate it on fur!! Harder than you think...for me anyways....
Well now, actually getting it to come *out* like your sketch/mental image is another subject altogether!
Jellybelly BearsOh lord, everything, everywhere....I just need to feel in that inspired mood 
Books are probably the biggest impact on my imagination, story and picture books. And like others have said, the fabric...and trims...accessories..and my bears often grow into what they want as I'm making them and often become something I'm not expecting when I start out hehe
Matilda Huggington-beareMichelle you need to relax about it. 'Teddy block' is all that you will get if you stress on the matter. It happens to us all, all the time. I can hear you..... sigh....... take yourself off to the art gallery or the museum or even the botanical gardens. The Zoo is a good place too. Let your senses free with all that is around you and relax. Don't think of bears just experience the moment. You will be amazed at how refreshing this is to the imagination. Its like a defrost and or spring clean for creativity.
Wendy
puca bearsI really second what Wendy said - RELAX - the ideas WILL come, but you can't force them! I had a really frustrating week, and then yesterday - suddenly........I figured out how to achieve an idea which had been lurking (tho' whether it actually WILL work, remains to be seen)...........and then, shopping, I spotted a garden ornament which screamed at me - BEAR PROP! - and another bear joins the queue of "bears to be made".
I'm sure we all go thru' dry patches.........and they can be VERY frustrating when a show is looming on the horizon(!)
but we get there in the end
huggies
Maria
