Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Very happy places, I'd say!   Six!! Lucky you.

I had the last of my three at 40. Let's just say that Mr. Right took his time showing up.

I feel very blessed to have 2 of mine still living at home, along with a son-in-law who couldn't bed better if I'd designed him myself, and my third about 20 minutes away by streetcar. 

So we've got 3 households worth of stuff here, plus a total of 17 assorted critters, most of whom shed like mad. I won't be ready for an empty nest anytime soon.

Eileen

Wow. Very neat trick, Laure! :D

I want to hear what Judi says about sculpting the eye sockets. My books all suggested inserting the needle behind an ear, bringing it out the eyesocket, reinserting it in the eyesocket and bringing it out again bhind the ear.

I tried this and got an eye position that didn't look right. So I tried sewing the sockets side to side through the muzzle. Still not right.

Then I read Judi's post on focusing the pupils, which explained why my cub still looked a bit demented.

Since the eyes were already strung and glued in place, I did a bit more squashing and squeezing and needle sculpting through the stuffing at the back of the neck.

Long story short, he's now looking me in the eye, no longer at my right ear and the ceiling!

I suspect there's a better (not necessarily easier) way!!

Eileen

Got it. Thanks again, Dale & Judi.

My shaver is also a pet groomer. I didn't think of the undercoat issue--really good point.

Eileen

Judi,

Are the eyes you're using concave at the back?

Eileen

Thank You Judi and Dale!! :D

What an incredible treat for a beginner, getting instant expert advice!!

Eileen

Hi Laure,

That post about gluing fishing line and leather to the backs of taxidermy eyes was mine. :|

Understand that I'm a rank beginner, but it worked!!

I'd presunk the eyesockets with fishing line but, since I was working on mink, and the head was already stuffed hard, I was afraid to pull too hard. That was before I read Shelli's post on the topic!

I didn't know how to secure a wireless, concave-backed eye, so I decided to fill in the back and add a wire  substitute, in this case fishing line. I glued a scrap of linen to the concave back of the eye, glued two loops of fishing line onto that, strung the fishing line through two scraps of leather, and glued down the leather pieces one at a time. This allowed me to attach the eyes in the usual way, and pull them in a little more tightly.

There's almost certainly a better way . . .

Eileen

Belated Happy Mothers Day to all from the Great White North,

As Shelli says, ditto to mommies of multi-species families and of bears.

I wonder if Dale would agree to be our site-mother, as in James Bond's 'Mother'?

I can see where Judi's bears get their sweet little faces.  What inspiration . . .

Welcome Laure, your bears are gorgeous. Really nice website, though I don't believe for a minute that you're a grandmother, much less a great-grandmother . . . . unless you were a child bride?

Otherwise, just eatin' my chocs, sniffin' my flowers, cruisin' the web and messing with my bear stuff, and hearin' somebody else cook dinner. Bliss.

Eileen

Beautiful Bear, Judi. I weep with envy . . .

When you speak of picking the fur out of the seams, do you mean a)from the front, after the seam is sewn, b) from the back, before the seam is sewn, c) from the back, after the seam is sewn? What about trimming the fur off the seam allowance before sewing?

Help

Eileen

Thanks, Shelli and Dale and Everybody!!

Thanks for all the great advice and information. I feel full of shaver-confidence (got a guard, Shelli, and I'll make SURE it's secure). One problem with real fur muzzles, I'm finding, is that if the pelts are tiny, it's hard to cut a piece without some seaming. When I shaved too close, these little bumpy places were easy to feel, if not so easy to see.

Speaking of dreams, I had a really bad one last night--found one of my bear's glass eyes shattered.    I woke myself up hyperventilating. And guess what was my first stop, even before the bathroom . . . ?

I'm now wondering about hair/fur in the seam allowances. Not with the shaver, I assume, but is it best to trim it off before sewing the seams, or clip/pluck it out later?

Eileen

Thanks Dale and Judi,

I discovered a silk dye place in the city. I'll try that for now, and then get my 'birthday wish list' up on the refrigerator asap. One airbrush. Those effects are amazing. Maybe I'll practice on the dogs? ;)

Eileen

Thanks again, Dale! Is silk paint an art-supply or a fabric-supply product?

Eileen

AAaaarrrgghhh. :mad:

I'm trying to paint some black bits on mink, and everything I've used so far rubs off. I think I'm going to try oil paints, but does anyone have experience with another medium that works on real fur???

I don't have an airbrush (yet), but I DO have a birthday coming up in July . . . .

Eileen

It's hard-wired. Even though my youngest is a ripe old 22, when I hear the call of 'Mom', 'Mommy', or 'Mother', first response is that it's one of mine. Or maybe it's just a bad memory?

Eileen

Great idea, Dale. Thanks:) I'll do 'er.

Eileen

Help!

I've never used a shaver, but I now have one which I'm so far too chicken to try.

Do you shave against the fur direction, or with it?

Eileen

Thanks, Dale

Super and very timely information for me!:D

By the way, I like your 'location' info--very nice.

Eileen

Wonderful, wonderful stories--keep them coming.

I've already told mine (at some length:/), but I'm wondering about the medical background issue.

Stitches come to mind, of course. And I'd rather have holes in my fingers than stress.

Though I don't have a medical background, except through caring for my AnxietyDisordered/OCD'd daughter and sick kittens and squirrels from the Humane Society and various injured/aging beasties,  I have been an educator and overtime mom.

I used to quilt like a demon, and it was a thrill to see the pattern come together. But what I like about bears & other critters is that they really, really come ALIVE.

So it could be a nurturing thing, or a Dr. Frankenstein thing, or a God-complex, or a super-nurturing thing, like mothering or nursing or teaching or something similar.

Eileen

Beautiful Avatars, ladies--must learn.

Thanks Judi, for the advice on focus with pupilly eyes. X-actly what I need at this very moment!! I couldn't figure out what wasn't right!!!:/

Eileen

Phew,

Glad he's not a taxidermist! Serious type, eh? I'm sure the witty bears on this list can get a laugh out of him one way or another.

I haven't got much experience on black fur--just one little guy, very small, and I'd swear I was sewing by touch most of the time. Which wouldn't be a bad skill to develop, actually.;)

Eileen

Oh no, Dilu:(

DON'T tell me your husband's a taxidermist . . . NO NO NO

No intention to offend. OK, I know that taxidermy is a respectable profession in many places, but in Toronto, definitely not. Nor is making bears, for that matter.

Hope your eye is better soon. I need both of mine plus grow-lights plus lighted magnifier thingy around the neck to keep my sewing straight.

Eileen

Right, Shelli!:D

This is not an enterprise for the faint of heart, that's for sure!

Thanks for tip on Elmer's Sue Ann. I used Krazy Glue because it's all I had, but I'd rather use something that doesn't threaten to attach me permanently to my bear.

Dilu--I forgot to mention that when I glued the fishing line to the back of the eye, I covered it with a little scrap of linen. Much easier to hold the thing in place for 30 secs. And I used a surgeon's knot.

Double ditto

Vandykes is definitely the place. I called around Toronto to find out if there was a local source, just in case. Everyone orders from Vandyke. They also sell mouth/teeth/tongue insets.

In the course of my researches, I also talked to some verrrrry weird characters.I think taxidermists must be very lonely people--probably with good reason. One was dead drunk and told me the story of his life. Something about a stuff-off he'd had with another taxidermist, also drunk, involving pheasants.

Eileen

Hi Jane,

Welcome. I'm working with a set of taxidermist's eyes--absolutely beautiful  bear eyes with whites, but nothing but a hollow place on the back. Here's my solution, born of ignorance and desperation.

I started by presculpting the eye sockets. Then I crazy-glued the midpoints of two pieces of fishing-line, crossed at 90 degree angles, to the backs of the eyes.  Once these were set, I threaded the the fishing line on needles and drew it through two layers of leather. Each layer of leather I then crazy-glued to the back of the eye, one by one. This filled up the hollow spot in the back of the eye, and gave me a good strong base for stringing the fishing-line through the head, and pulling the eyes in further. 

I'm a half afraid that the whole head will explode, but so far so good!

Eileen

Hi Dilu--

Judi's advice about the undercolor is right on (thanks, Judi). I tried black leather first, but the brown leather inked black looked much better.

Overneedling the skin worried me too. I molded the nose. undid the gusset/side face stitches, pulled out just a bit of stuffing, and jammed the nose in. That way, I could stitch it in place without overstressing the skin. I guess you'd call it an inset nose. I didn't think of doing this until the face was almost done, but it worked. I was sure at first that I'd wrecked several days' work!

Nancy Tillberg's wonderful book has several patterns for onlaid leather noses--I just like the inlaid better on this little cub.

Eileen

:lol::lol:That's me!! I've got a pile of neglected mending and ironing.

Basting with staples and clips gives me ideas about how to whiz through the mending, though!!

Eileen