Meet the Crew's Studio Manager: Sebring Austin Slater

Happy Friday, everyone! Today, I would like to introduce you to New Avenue Crew's sweet, ultra-cuddly, no-nonsense studio manager: Sebring Austin Slater. I love this guy!

(This introduction is long overdue; I've been keeping Sebring to myself for far too long. You'll see what I mean by "far too long" when I tell you his story.)

It all started with an idea for a big bear, a new pattern design, and some luscious wavy batik mohair. In the picture below, you can see the batik mohair in the bottom right corner. (As always, if you want a closer view, click on the photo.)

Did I forget to tell you when I started work on Sebring? Sorry about that. It was in 2002. Ten years ago. And I didn't finish him completely until late 2010...if I'm remembering right. That's a long time for a bear to wait to be finished! Sebring is definitely a patient fellow.

I had an idea for a bigger bear pattern and set to work on it. I designed the head, ears, and body, and then I laid out the gorgeous batik mohair and traced and cut out the pieces. It was a flurry of activity: I sewed, stuffed, trimmed, embroidered, and otherwise finished Sebring and then came to a halt. No arms. No legs. Just Sebring's head attached to an envelope of a body. I loved him right away, but I was stumped because I found that I had made his body too large. Uh-oh!

During this time, I took a few years' hibernation from bear making. When I started making bears again, I still didn't know quite what to do for poor Sebring. He watched as more bears were completed and adopted. But finally--finally!--in about 2009 or 2010, I decided I had to remove his head from his body (while he was under anesthesia, of course) and make his body smaller. This was no small feat, but once it was done, I felt so much better, and he looked so much better. Of course, there was still the issue of him having no arms and legs because I had never designed them.

So I set to work again and made his arms and legs. I'm certain he was relieved! I attached them to his body with joints (discs, bolts, and locknuts), and then commenced stuffing him. I was delighted to see him sitting up for the first time.

About this time, I was creating bears for an online show and thought I would offer Sebring for adoption during the show. Here he is with sweet Cinnamon.

I even had his photos and description as part of my show site--but before I went to bed the night before the show, I found that I just couldn't sell Sebring! So I removed him from the show site and went to bed, thrilled that he would be staying with me as my studio manager. (Sebring is only the third bear I have kept in my 15 years of creating New Avenue Crew. You can see J. Cub, a bear I made in 1997, on the mantel in the photo below.)

Now, Sebring usually watches over the smaller bears as they're being created and keeps them out of the honey jar. I have used his pattern again; Sprout, the green springtime bear, was the result. Here is a group picture. It is not often that so many Crew members are together at one time, so this is a rare photo.

I hope you've enjoyed meeting Sebring!

Mohair, Luscious Mohair...

Hello, everyone! Happy 2012! I can hardly believe we have reached the year 2012 already. I remember when I was in second grade and we changed from 1975 to 1976; it was so difficult to get used to writing 1976 on my papers. Am I the only one, or do you have memories like that?

It has been all quiet on the bear-making front here in the studio. The Crew members and I have been taking a long winter's nap (which has been much longer than winter). I am hopeful that I'll be able to jump back into the fur and fluff soon. I think that Sebring is eager to oversee the making of more Crew members. Oh! I need to introduce you to Sebring. Soon. I'll do that soon.

Speaking of fur and fluff, there's a new group on Facebook for art, craft, and bear-making supplies. It's active with a lot of great materials on offer. Go on and take a peek and join up if you like!

Because of the group, I pawed through my stash of fur yesterday to see if there was anything I wanted to sell. Mohair and alpaca are such beautiful fabrics. I really enjoyed stroking the different pieces of fur and dreaming of the bears that might come to life someday. As a result, I had bear ideas cavorting through my head all night! Now, if I could just find the time to make them! Did I find anything to sell? Yes, a couple of beautiful, soft synthetic pieces and a piece of alpaca, as well as some mini fabrics. But the rest? I couldn't bear to part with it! I kept all the mohair pictured below--and then some. Ah, mohair. I do love it. Do you?

Springtime with Kalinka and Malinka

I have been wanting to share the story of sweet springtime sisters Kalinka and Malinka with you. I was inspired to create them by the lively Russian folk song Kalinka,* which is about a garden in bloom. Sometimes I'm inspired by things and people right here in my home. Our daughters are from Ukraine, and their first language is Russian, so the Ukrainian/Russian culture is a good source of inspiration for me.

Kalinka (Калинка in Russian, pronounced ka-LEEN-ka) means little snowball tree blossom. I created Kalinka from beautiful soft ivory kid mohair. She is lovely to hold! Kalinka's sister is named Malinka (Малинка in Russian, pronounced ma-LEEN-ka), which means little raspberry blossom. Raspberry blossoms made me envision a bear in pink, so I created Malinka from pink wavy distressed mohair. She is a sweetie.

*Here is the song Kalinka sung by Nikolai Baskov. I hope you enjoy it!

I'm Tickled Pink: An Interview

I'm not one who likes to toot my own horn, but I do love to share my bears and my life with you. I'm tickled pink today because Chrissie of I Love Teddies interviewed me and has put the resulting article on her site! Thank you, Chrissie!

This is such a thrill for me; it's the second article about me and the Crew that's been published in the nearly 15 years I've been creating my bears. I am humbled that someone was interested in learning a bit more about me and my little guys.

I hope you'll drop in to visit I Love Teddies and read the interview. Enjoy!

Then and Now

See the photo above? Garth found it today and scanned it into his computer. I just love it! It was taken 11 years ago this month (April 2000). It hardly seems possible that so much time has passed! Let me tell you a little about the picture. (You can click on it to see it larger.)

The blond bear in the foreground is Trudi. Early in 2000, I created a pattern I called Bear 2000. The first bear from that pattern is named Trua, and she looks very similar to Trudi. The bears from that pattern had the look I had been wanting to create since I started New Avenue Crew in 1996! The pile of black fur and the tiny pile of golden fur next to me on the ottoman became Gunnison (pictured down near the bottom of the right-hand sidebar), also a Bear 2000 bear.

Behind me (yes, that really is me!) is Garth's setup for painting. We were newly married, and this was our first apartment. We had the living room set up for painting and bear making--it was our very first studio. I really enjoyed our time creating together! And to my left, out the window, was a balcony, and beyond was the Santa Ana River (we lived in Southern California). We were able to watch so many different varieties of birds visiting the riverbed, such as cormorants and falcons and pelicans. Beautiful!

And above is a picture of me in our home in Colorado. I'm pictured with Sprout; he is such a sweet, cuddly bear. I finished him in early March of this year, and he was adopted during the Blooming Bear Show. He is not a Bear 2000 bear, but I suppose you could call his pattern Bear 2010!