Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Here is my swap bear from Susan of Mason Bears. I meant to take a photo last weekend, but time got away from me. Here is Theo along with some souvenirs from England. Thankyou very much Susan!

Hi Gail. I am also doing that Nose course on Ebearz. 

Thankyou for sharing.

Aww he is gorgeous 

Cute little fella. 

Ohh count me in. I was dabbling with a realistic pattern a few months ago. This gives me an excuse to finish the prototype and then make him in realistic colours.

I also use Gutermann for sewing my bears. I use venus upholstery thread for closing up the seams.

I just finished stuffing my bear for Susan yesterday. He just needs a name and final touches and hopefully will go into the post later this week. 

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Therese

I just let it dry. I actually use leather glue as a fray stopper. I find that some fray stoppers dry really stiff and hard. The leather glue doesn't do this. I would test out your fray stopper on a bit of scrap fabric first to see how it drys.

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Therese

Susan and I have decided our deadline is end of June for the bears to be finished and posted. I am a bit swamped this month with workshops and competitions. I have managed to get my bear designed though. And I was going to start cutting out this past weekend but I managed to leave the pattern at work.

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Therese

Whoops 

I know it's time to clean my bearmaking space when... I cannot see the floor. I was hoping to take over our spare room for a studio but my Mum ended up putting a queen sized bear in there. So I end up doing a lot of my sewing in my bedroom. Once I start tripping over things and the floor can't been seen then I know its time for a cleanup. Which is quite often as my room always looks like a bomb hit it. Hopefully once my sister moves out in a few months I can use her room as a storeroom for all my bearmaking and craft supplies. 

How about dying some mohair green. Buy yourself enough in the beige mohair for the whole bear then dye a portion of it.

Happy Easter to all!! I m enjoying my 5 day weekend as Easter and Anzac day are together this year.

You can easily substitute mohair for synthetics. I just opened it and it works fine using adobe reader.

Susan and I have made contact, all is well. 

You can if it is a sparse fur. Also if you trim the fur off on the face you will see the backing. 

I'm trying to finish mine today, well at least one of them.

Ohh count me in for the swap too!! 

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Therese

Finished jointing and stuffing my fairy bear last night. He is all ready for me to give him wings. My monkey's head is almost finished minus the ears. Hoping to get some more work done this weekend.

Im in! I am designing a fairy bear at the moment. And I want to try out some new techniques for the wings. Bought heaps of bits and pieces for them ages ago and I really want to start using them.

Ohh and I am also attempting to make a monkey from an old pattern. It has sooo many pieces and the head is quiet challenging. Plus it is designed with string jointing which I will change to normal joints.

I messaged your partner Geraldine, I will let you know.

Yeah make sure you experiment with your colours before you start. I had a few problems matching my colours on the head when I airbrushed it.

Hi all. I know that Andrea's swap partner was unable to post her's until January. So hopefully it shall be along soon.  I also messaged your swap partner Jane. She sent it in mid December. I have a feeling it got a bit lost. I think she intends to send you another one though.

Is there anyone else out there who did not receive an ornament?? Let me know and I will get in contact with senders.

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Therese

Hi Jaina! Silvia doesn't use the copic airbrush system. She gets the copic marker refils and pours a little into a small container. She then uses a paint brush to apply the copic marker paint. She uses a bit of Isocol if the paint drys in the container. I actually got to do this little fella as a workshop.

Here's a few photos of the ones I have made... The top two are hand painted. The bottom is airbrushed. I didn't use any marking tape.