Pages

Friday, October 22, 2010

Fun Fur Facts Friday: Pieces and Parts

In these final four weeks leading up to the big online Teddies Worldwide show and sale on November 20 and 21, I am trying to grab every spare minute I can to work on my three show bears. I am pleased with how they are coming together so far! All three are sewn, and I've been stuffing their heads and paws. So what I'm seeing now looks a lot like this:


But all three have their legs and feet sewn and turned; this photo shows what the legs and feet look like before that step. This is actually a photo of Logan when I was making him. And below, Logan is pictured with Ben (both bears have been lovingly adopted).


Where was I? Oh, yes. Pieces and parts.

Because I'm surrounded with the pieces and parts of my show bears, I thought you might like to see a teddy bear in progress. My typical bear has 19 pattern pieces that need to be sewn together. The top photo shows teddy Logan in various stages of completion. The head is stuffed, most of the pieces are sewn and turned, and the legs and feet are still awaiting attention.

What else is pictured in the photo? There are two stuffing sticks, which help with pushing the stuffing into the far reaches of the arms, legs, body, and head. There are two "ropes" of stuffing. I pull my stuffing into ropes before putting it into a bear's furry mohair "envelope" pieces. I find this helps the stuffing go into the parts more smoothly. And then there is a plastic zip-top bag for keeping all the pieces and parts together so they don't get lost. I also keep the joint disks and hardware in the bag with the bear parts, so that when the time comes, I can put all the pieces together into a sweet little bear.


Here are Ben and Logan all put together, before they were completely stuffed and finished. I kind of like their saggy look.

And so, I am enjoying having all these pieces and parts around, but I'll be quite happy when there are three little bears looking back at me, all ready for hugging and eager to appear at the show.

Monday, October 4, 2010

The Bears Bounce with the Raspberry Rabbits


Today, I am so touched and honored that New Avenue Crew and I are featured on Michelle May's beautiful blog, the Raspberry Rabbits. Michelle has so graciously put me and the Crew in the spotlight for the day! I hope you will hop on over to see her lovely needlework creations and her sweet rabbit assistants and take a peek at her blog post about the Crew.

Thank you so much, Shell! xoxo

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Showtime!

Have you ever been to a teddy bear show? It is such fun to wander the aisles looking at the sweet faces on every table, chatting with artists and bear lovers alike, holding and hugging fantastic furry creations, and falling in love with the little--or big--bear across the room.

The last show I participated in as an artist was in 2002, eight years ago. I miss bear shows! So I'm happy to announce that I will be participating in a brand-new show coming up this November, Teddies Worldwide, produced by Daphne Blau of Back Road Events. (She creates bears, too, under the Back Road Bears label. Talent!) 

And the best part? It's ONLINE. Yes, that means you can visit in your pajamas, if you prefer!

There will be 75 teddy bear artists from around the world participating in this show. This is the biggest online show to date!

I will be making three new Crew members especially for the show. The fur has been flying here in the New Avenue Crew studio! One bear is almost completely sewn, and the others are slated for sewing soon. I can't wait to work on their faces and see them come to "life"!

Please be sure to visit Teddies Worldwide for more information about the show. You can sign up for a reminder e-mail there, too. (If you like, you can sign up for my mailing list in the box in the sidebar at right, and I'll send you a reminder e-mail about the show, as well as news about New Avenue Crew and notification when I have new bears available for adoption.)

Don't miss this fabulous show featuring holiday bears by 75 international artists!

I thought you would get a kick out of this picture of me and my Crew members at the Nevada City teddy bear convention in April 2001. Enjoy!