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For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Going to make my first 'antique style' bear. Before I make the first 'cut' I want to gather all the tips and information available from "experienced EXPERTS" as possible. I've searched the archives a bit and havent found what I'm looking for. Tips on making mohair bears look "antique old". What do you do to the mohair to give it that antique - been loved and passed down from great grandmother look ?
Thank you.
Donna A
A man was blissfully driving along the highway, when he saw the Easter Bunny hopping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the Bunny, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of his car and was hit. The basket of eggs went flying all over the place.
The driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road, and got out to see what had become of the Bunny carrying the basket. Much to his dismay, the colorful Bunny was dead. The driver felt guilty and began to cry.
A woman driving down the same highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong.
"I feel terrible," he explained, "I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny and killed it. There may not be an Easter because of me. What should I do?"
The woman told the man not to worry. She knew exactly what to do. She went to her car trunk, and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the limp, dead Bunny, and sprayed the entire contents of the can onto the little furry animal.
Miraculously the Easter Bunny came to back life, jumped up, picked up the spilled eggs and candy, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped on down the road. 50 yards away the Easter Bunny stopped, turned around, waved and hopped on down the road another 50 yards, turned, waved, hopped another 50 yards and waved again!
The man was astonished. He said to the woman, "What in heaven's name is in your spray can? What was it that you sprayed on the Easter Bunny?" The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: "Hair spray. Restores life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave."
A man was blissfully driving along the highway, when he saw the Easter Bunny hopping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the Bunny, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of his car and was hit. The basket of eggs went flying all over the place.
The driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road, and got out to see what had become of the Bunny carrying the basket. Much to his dismay, the colorful Bunny was dead. The driver felt guilty and began to cry.
A woman driving down the same highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong.
"I feel terrible," he explained, "I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny and killed it. There may not be an Easter because of me. What should I do?"
The woman told the man not to worry. She knew exactly what to do. She went to her car trunk, and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the limp, dead Bunny, and sprayed the entire contents of the can onto the little furry animal.
Miraculously the Easter Bunny came to back life, jumped up, picked up the spilled eggs and candy, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped on down the road. 50 yards away the Easter Bunny stopped, turned around, waved and hopped on down the road another 50 yards, turned, waved, hopped another 50 yards and waved again!
The man was astonished. He said to the woman, "What in heaven's name is in your spray can? What was it that you sprayed on the Easter Bunny?" The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: "Hair spray. Restores life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave."
I love my Olympus. Its 'older' (6 yrs) a but bulkier/heavier than the new cameras out today.It has Macro function that works great.
Heres some suggestions that might help with the fuzzy problem.
Optical Zoom is better. The higher the number the better. Digital zoom enhances the pixels on the photo often making photos fuzzy.
The number of pixels determines how sharpe your photo is.
For my photos I use posterboard for the background. The kind kids in school use for projects. Most poster board has different colors on each side (light & dark) My favorite colors are blue, brown and white.
I take my bears outside and set up a tripod. When I take photos inside I go the a bright sunny room and set up on a table using my tabletop tripod & macro function. The bears are positioned on the posterboard which I tape at the top & bottom to the wall or
table top. I use the white posterboard to deflect shadows. The tabletop tripod comes in handy when I use one hand to hold up the
white posterboard and the other to 'click' the photo !...Sometimes I'll use the flash and hold a small white piece of posterboard
over the flash at an angle. That deflects the light so I don't get shadows.
Whats really great about digi cameras is that you can take hundreds of photos and delete delete till you get what you want.
Donna A.
I bought some odd 'n ends off ebay. White from Edinburgh no labels on the pieces so I dont know what
I have. Can you send photo ?
armstdl@yahoo.com
Donna A.
Perhaps your hubby would consider a 2nd wife ?
congratulations and drive safe !
huggs,
Donna A.
Tracy,
Being from Texas USA it was hard to imagine how deep the snow was from the first photos.
I am 'blown away' from the clean up photos ! Thank you for sharing.
You mentioned cleaning up the barn and chicken house. Were there animals in the barn ?
"frozen chickens" How do the chickens stay warm ? 
Bear Huggs,
Donna A.
MEn............. there brains are wired alike. My Mr. sent me the same photo !
Wants a kitten like that for his :bday: Birthday day!
Yea Right. They dont come with the 'extra equiptment' duh !
Donna A.
Paula,
I have lip prints on my PC monitor. My 2 yr. old grandson crawled up in my lap while browing TT.
He saw your bear, leaned up and kissed the screen. Then said " I love him.". Marcus has never done that
before. Since he's learning colors his comments are usually about what color the bear, rabbit or animal is.
And then he wants to play one of his computer CD games !
I'd say beautiful Isdora has been hugged ! Good luck at the show.
Donna A.
Catherine,
I've ordered from Sassy fabrics and LOVE the fabric descriptions. Very detailed.
My first order consisted of almost every type of mini fabric. Keep in mind some are stretchy and
need the magic fabric fixer. That stuff is MAGIC. Easy to use and does not soak thru and mess up the
'fur'. I had some questions and they were answered within hrs.
Donna A.
Me 2. Me 2, I wanna swap.
What fun. I have pieces of mohair hanging up with
"NO clue" as to what it wants to be !
Great way to meet a new "neighbor".
Donna A.
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Those of you who have a wish to make a real fur bear, Nancy has a great book "Teddy Bears with a Past"
some available on Amazon.com.
I have both "BEAR BIBLE" books -101 Bears to make and T B with a past.
This bear is my first real fur 18 in. (Mink) bear. Black - what wuZ I thinking ?
Couldn't have done it without Nancys help !
Bear huggs 
4 U Nancy.
Donna A.
Awwwwwwwwwwww, I wuv him. I was wishing for one of Kims bears with the jelly bean noses.
Its beautiful.
Thank you for the compliments on my bear to Kim
Donna A.
Hi,
I'd like to share a photo of a 3 1/2in. crochet bear. He's going to live with Kim of
KimBee bears who I met here on TT. She challenged me to make a bear with candy.
The pattern is Berta Henson-Minten 2006 crochet calendar pattern. The candy & cookies are
my own crochet stitches.
I must mention I submitted a photo to the FACE BOOK, my copy has not arrived. I'm told that
he's on page 49......... Monday is a holiday Presidents Day our postal mail will not be delivered.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !
Donna A.
On the other side of the coin - as a customer I received along with the bear I'd bought a
ATC -Artist Trading Card. Then at Christmas time I received a Christmas card and nice note.
I often will email a photo of my new bear with the other bears of my hugg to the Artist who made him.
When I sell a bear I've made I like to email or give a hardcopy photo of my bear to the buyer.That way they can share the good new with friends and family "a new bear in my Hugg". I love ATC's..
Donna A.
When my granddaughter was 3 yrs. old cut her hair. Most ALL children do some time
or other.
My daughter arrives at work very early, the wonderful babysitter didn't mind and instructed her to drop off Brianna in her jammies and she'd feed her breakfast and
dress her. Brianna's hair is very natural shoulder length curly. It has to be very wet to get a comb through it. The babysitter had a special touch, and would find new bows & bobbles. It always looked really cute.
One particular cold morning with only the night light on Mommy went into Brianna's room. noticing tufts of what SHE thought were cat hair on the floor. Darn CAT. No time. I'll have to clean it up later. SHe scooped up the sleeping child wrapped her in a blanket and buckled her into the car seat. The still sleeping child was delivered
to the babysitter. About 3 hrs Later Mommy got a phone call from the Babysitter.
When Brianna woke up she noticed her hair was stiff and all stuck together. Thinking Brianna had probably gotten into some of Mommies hair products she proceeded to
shampoo her hair. It started to fall out. Handfuls. Curls and more Curls. Brianna told the babysitter PROUDLY that she'd cut her hair - Brianna was not fond of having her tangled hair combed each day. She wanted short hair. BUT changed her mind. So she "glued" it back on with gobs and gobs of hair gel.
Brianna is 11 years old now and she is NOT at all embarrassed when we tell this story.
She says " most kids I know have cut their own hair, who thinks to glue it back on ?"
Donna A.
Diary of a Snow Shoveler...
December 8: 6:00 pm . It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!
December 9: We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the whole world? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalk. This afternoon the snow plow came along and covered up the sidewalk and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life!
December 12: The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry, we'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man. I'm glad he's our neighbor.
December 14: Snow, lovely snow! 8" last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way. I wish I wouldn't huff and puff so.
December 15: 20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.
December 16: Ice storm this morning. Fell on my butt on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like hell! The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.
December 17: Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere. Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her. God, I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.
December 20: Electricity's back on, but had another 14" of the dang stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Ssnowplow came by twice! Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he's lying.
December 22: Bob was right about a white Christmas, because 13 more inches of the white crap fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt till August. Took me 30 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to pee. By the time I got undressed, peed, and dressed again, I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob, who has a plow on his truck, for the rest of the winter, but he says he's too busy. I think the jerk is lying.
December 23: Only 2" of snow today. And it warmed up to 0. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she...nuts??? Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she's damn well lying.
December 24: 6". Snow packed so hard by snowplow, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the guy who drives that snowplow, I'll drag him through the snow by his you know what! I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling, and then he comes down the street at a 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been. Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was too busy watching for the snowplow.
December 25; Merry Christmas. 20 more inches of the !=3D@x@!x!x1 slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's an idiot. If I have to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm going to kill her.
December 26: Still snowed in. Why the hell did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.
December 27: Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze!
December 28: Warmed up to above -20. Still snowed in. THE WIFE is driving me crazy!!!
December 29: 10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I've ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?
December 30: Roof caved in. The snow plow driver is suing me for a million dollars for the bump on his head. The wife went home to her mother. 9" predicted.
December 31: Set fire to what's left of the house. No more shoveling.
January 8: I feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me, but I don't like being tied to the bed.
Our mail does not arrive till late afternoon. Sometimes as late as 6 pm !
The postlady and I have become friends and she's just as excited as I am. She's
promised to "HONK" when she delivers my face book. But she may find me bundled up out there
waiting by the box.... its 32 dddddegrees cccold !
A poster is great idea. I want one... I neeeed one. Really I do.
Thank you Miny for posting the cover pic !
Donna A.
Thanks for sharing those photos. Now I want to get out my real fur, pattern, thread, sissors, well YOU know ! Make a bear.
Do you have any tips on trimming the 'cheeks'.
I've only made 4 real fur bears. I have no problem trimming a mohair face. But real fur is sooo fine that
I sometimes get 'chop' lines. In other words the 'cheeks' are not so puffy. You can see where I've trimmed with
the sissors.
Thanks Bunches
Donna A.
The InterCal warehouse is a short walking distance from where my Mother lives in Newport Beach California. I live in Tx now and when I visit my family I give Joanna a call & make an appointment
to visit the warehouse. No matter how little I spend I'm always treated like the most important
BIG spender ! The warehouse is wonderFURly unbelievable.
Donna A.
I'm jumping in with both feet. Hope they don't land in my mouth !
1. I've been adopted twice. First time paternal Grandparents 2nd time by foster parents
As an adult my search for Birth parents resulted in heartache and more unanswered questions.
2. I collect childrens antique chairs for my mohair bears.
3. I was a cheerleader in High School. A fact my Grandaughter finds FUNNY !
4. I just turned 50 yrs. old. I can STILL do a cart wheel - Just as good as my Grandaughter !
Donna A.
Thank you Sandra, Some great ideas I hadent thought of. The sure make good sense. Thanks for sharing.
Donna A.
