Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

You an be proud of your achievement, Leanne!
This bear your made looks fantastic. It is really obvious you did a hard work on it.

Now it is hard to have everybody understanding how much it means for us to get some positive and construtive feedback on our work.
My own parents do not show any interest in my bears. My brother does not show much interest, but obviously was happy the first time I gave him a bear.
Lots of people still consider teddy bears as toys and see no point in making collector ones.

So way to go!  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

:clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

I really love this beautiful very yummy bear! He has the most lovable face!

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Thank you very much for your nice comments, Denise, Cheryl, Eva and Joanne!

It has been pretty hard to make him. First I had to struggle to attach the eyes. My concern was that I wanted to make the node at the neck section, as for my big bears, but I just could not manage tu push the needle through the whole head as it was stuffed too firmly!!! So I finally hid the nodes under the ears...

To my surprise, the mini cashemire fabric had less elasticity than mohair. So once stuffed, the two-part body looked very slim...

I was lucky I managed to avoid tears linked to my bad habit to stuff the most firmly possible.

Now I have to say it is very hard to sew such mini bears : keeping an even seam allowance everywhere is pretty hard and if you happen not to see you did so, your bear an ome out with an ear bigger than the other or a leg wider than the other... just because you may had counted two squares instead of three in some places!!!!

I was very happy to notice that my mini bear an stand on its own thanks to the glass shot stuffing...  :dance:

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

"Once upon a time a mini bear who dreamt to become a water lily...

Everybody laughed at him when he told about his dream. Even fairy mother laughed at him.
Finally he decided he would visit his tailor friend.

His tailor looked seriously at him, took a few measurements and asked him to come back in a few days. The tailor chose a few fabrics from his stock of Liberty of London Tana lawn and began to sew.
The mini bear went back a few days later. His eyes shined with stars at the sight of the result.

There was a sit, a hat and two rows of petals (sort of skirts).

He quickly tried the whole lot.

Oh dear! He felt so beautiful in his new outfit! Like a king! He never felt so happy!

From the ceiling mirror he could see he really looked like a water lily.

He thanked very warmly his tailor friend and lived the shop.

When all his friends looked at him, they became green with envy. Even fairy mother!
Then no longer laughed at him."

This mini bear is 10.5 cm tall standing without his hat. Not that mini for many of you, I guess, but very mini for me!
I used three different mini cashemere (or similar).
I stuffed his head with kapok and the rest of his body with glass shots plus a little polyester fibres).
his head it cotter pin jointed and his limbs are thread jointed with extra buttons for deco.
He has glass black eyes.
I embroidered his nose with cotton embroidery thread.
I added some shades of textile and acrylic paints near his eyes.
He wears a non-removable collar made with Liberty fabric.

His sit is made with fimo clay.

He is not perfect, but I like him the way he is. I could not expect to make a perfect one as a first try!!!!

One thing is sure, I will not make many minis, as this is very taugh for my eyes and so tiny.
One thing is much more sure : my awe for all mini bear artist has increased a lot, when realising how hard they are to make... 

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

I would say : follow the pattern you drew and then look at the result.
Then you can see what you can improve for your next bear according what you want to get.
You have to follow your own idea as I suppose you want your style to be unique and recognisable as yours.

Good luck!

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Nice to see you again, Shari!  :dance:  :hug:
I cannot give you any advice concerning the best way to sell your bears, as I am definitely not the good person for it...
I am happy you feel ready to make new bears and I really look forward to see them.
Have fun!
Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Yes Cyndee! That's the one!
Thank you very much!

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Can someone tell me whether Maple Music website is a good and safe place to by music from???

There are some CDs I want to treat me with but they are too expensive on Amazon.fr.

Many thanks,
Sophie.

He is adorable.

How tall is he? What's his name?

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

:hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:
Poor little doggie...
I will keep him in my thoughts.

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

a sample of Liberty of London fabric quality Twill Cotton for me?

I have been considering the idea of trying to make a bear from Liberty fabric if I could find one of adequate quality.
To what I could find on internet concerning Twill Cotton, it has high grammage (334 g/m).

So if someone could send me a small sample for me to check its quality (if it is thick enough, if it frays or not), that would be great. Can just be a few cm square.

Unless some of you already tried this fabric for teddy bear making and can tell me about it. I would rely on your criticisms.

Many thanks,
Beary hugs,
Sophie.

I suppose I'd better translate what is written under the photo.

"Surprise for the passengers of the boat Svalbard sailing in Arctic sea when a polar bear climbed the hull to try to come inside a cabin (looks more like the kitchen to my view point) through a porthole."

       
They well deserved it, Marion! You are so talented!

I saw lots of familiar names among the other winners. So well done to all winners! Congrats!

I have to say it has been very hard to choose for the voting : so many great bears and friends...

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

           
She is absolutely adorable. The kind of bears that appeals a lot for me...

So really, do not be shy again! 

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

PS : she looks like a big bear, hehehehehehe!

:crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:
Thanks for the laugh!

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Beautiful! He looks like if exiting from Alice in the Wonderland.

Your rabbits make me dream, so, please, keep making more!

I love this new design and I loved your previous design too.

Beary hugs,
Your secret admirer not secret anymore :
Sophie

Thanks for your lovely comments, all of you. They are much appreciated.

Peter : at this stage, you ,have two possibilities : either begin to make your own bears or find a partner who makes teddy bears, hehehehehehehehehehehe!!!!!!  :crackup:
Sorry, I need to laugh to get sorrow out of the way.

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Thanks for sharing, Brenda!
I enjoyed a lot the tour.

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

... the photos I took from my visit to Saint-Vincent Abbey in Le Mans (France).

I have willingly blurred the photos here as a teaser. 
You will be able to enjoy all the photos on my blog.
I just published part one :
http://sophiezours.blogspot.com/2009/09 … t-one.html

Part one will give you the history of the abbey and some views of its buildings from the outside.

Part two will bring you inside.

Part three is about angels in the abbey. 

Enjoy the visit, it's free!!!!   

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

:dance:  :dance:  :dance:
What a darling!       
It is good you decided to adopt a new kitty. He will for sure keep you busy.

I look forward to see more photos of him.

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

I would love to share links with you too.

Sorry for being late to answer. I was too busy.

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Here is the big baby bear I made for Maxence for her birthday (she is now 5 years old).

I named that bear Pepito and his new mom loves him a lot.

I hope you like him too.

You will see more photos of Pepito on my blog: http://sophiezours.blogspot.com/2009/09/pepito.html

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

Oh dear, I have been a long time without posting a lot, being very discrete. It looked like I always had more important things to do, hehehehehehehehe.

So I am trying to be a little more present now I have a little more free time.

I have decided that I would play reporter on my blog better than on TT, so I will try to let you know when you can read some interesting articles on my blog.

I love to share my visits with you.

Today I have been busy preparing new notes for my blog concerning the visit of a beautiful abbey in Le Mans.
I should get them published from tuesday if I do not forget. There is already a new note waiting for tomorrow.

Today I posted about an agricultural festival I went to (photos of goats and Belgian Chinels).

Then I will share with you my first experience at harvesting grapevine.

So if you enjoy reading blogs, watching photos, keep an eye on my blog, as you will have a lot to discover in the next few days.  :photo:

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

I was wondering how you were... Doh! I really hope you will get better soon.
I loved watching your drawing.

I look forward to hear from you.

Beary hugs,
Sophie.

a pattern to make a sleeping/laying wolf?

A fellow French teddy bear artist needs one and I thought someone here might help.

Beary hugs,
Sophie.