Ta daaaa!

..... And here is Sarsaparilla! Sadly I wasn't able to capture the true cherry red of Sarsaparilla's body fabric... But I hope you enjoyed watching him come to life, from first pattern sketch to finished product.
Don't forget if you'd like to try making a Sarsaparilla of your own, the pattern will be in the next 'Bear Tales' book, coming out soon. Just get in touch with Kim or Josey at Bear Essence (link in sidebar) and they will be sure to help you out! A whole year of lovely bear patterns designed exclusively for Bear Tales by artists from all over.

Ahh that's better, now we have a nose and a mouth.... Almost done!

Almost there..

Now we can see..... Lovely sparkling glass eyes...... Now where's that nose thread...

Together at last....here

Here we are, all put together... Waiting patiently for eyes and nose.....

Writing a Bear Tale.. Part 4

Here we go, all stitched and stuffed.. Ready to assemble... What an exciting stage this is when it's a new design!

All ready to begin sewing on the Bear Tales project! I love this mohair. It can be hard to find nice mohairs for making small bears...... This fur has wonderful texture, a great easy to work with backing AND it comes in lots of fab colours! Perfect all around.
I'll update you with more pics once I upload them from my camera... The project is due by the end of the month so I don't have a whole lot more time:)

Location:Ready to go....

A Bear Tale, part two....

........and here we have the finished pattern 'assembled' on my workbench.. This is a time for making fine adjustments, shortening legs or arms, making ears smaller, or heaven forbid starting over if something is too small! Hehe... The gusset is missing from this photo, as I didn't get a good photo of the whole thing!
Next step, tracing onto the fabric, and sewing!

Writing a Bear Tale..

I'm always struggling to come up with things to blog about... Some bloggers seem to be able to post every day with interesting things.. I don't seem to be one of them!:)
Recently, I was asked by Kim, the lovely owner of Bear Essence here in Melbourne to do a project for the next issue of her pattern magazine "Bear Tales" so I thought hmmm maybe I could blog the progress as I go.. So here I am! I thought you might find the process interesting...
Like many bear artists, I have more than a few sketchbooks filled with ideas for new bears waiting to be be brought to life- sometimes I refer to those when I want to make a new bear. Then again there's the fabric inspired bear, which is what this bear is going to be.. I bought a small piece of lovely cherry red coloured short knotty mohair from Kim at the end of last year, and as you'd know, cherry red isn't exactly a colour I use very often! So it had been sitting with the rest of my mohair stash waiting patiently. I thought this would be the perfect time to bring it out... So my brain started working.....how about a little clown?
Kim posted me a piece in matching light tan and I was away! Here, you see the first stage of my pattern development ( that makes it sound so technical! lol) I start with sketching the head, imagining the snout lengthwise only, not allowing for the width of the gusset. Next I sketch the body.. You can see here my dilemma if how long the body should be?
Then I sketch in a rough idea of the arms and legs.... The feet are really just a guide, as once I establish a basic ' look' for the bear, I will then sketch the footpad the size I like, and adjust the foot on the leg to fit the footpad.
Not shown here, I then think about the head gusset, if the bear is going to have one. I fold my paper in half and sketch the gusset out, concentrating mainly on one side, using the fold crease as the centre line, as I will fold the paper in half again and cut the gusset on the fold so it is identical on both sides.
For the snout, I go by eye from the sketched head side for the snout length, then add the width I want. Now, I'll cut out the head, allowing extra length on the snout for the gusset width ( remember, I didn't allow for this in the first place) then the head gusset and body. Measuring carefully, I compare the gusset and head sides making adjustment for fit, and finalise the shape.
Next I'll redraw the arm and leg, drawing the foot to fit the footpad I've already drawn and cut out ( again on the fold)....

Back on Bearpile...

After a short break, I've just listed some more bears on Bearpile.. I do hope you pop by and take a peek.

My workbench is busy hopping with new pattern designs and new bears for upcoming shows- the fabulous Gold Coast show and a local Doll and Bear show here in Melbourne.... Right now, Melbourne is having a cold snap which even includes snow and sleet not too far away, so its a lovely time to be indoors working with the soft fluffy furs. It's making the sunny Gold Coast look very enticing!

A wonderful Day...

Well yesterday was the big day- the Melbourne Teddy Bear Fair! As always Melissa did a fabulous job organising, and it was wonderful to be back in Berwick... So nice and close to home:)
It was great to see the line of early bird ticket holders outside the door at 10 am! As always I was running late and wasn't able to get much of. Look around before it started, though I did manage to grab a few bits of lace and some old flowers from my lovely friend Di, and later on a lovely pair of pointe shoes from another lovely friend Adella. I love picking little things up at shows and feeling the ideas brewing to use them!
Another lovely part of shows is catching up with people, artists and visitors,
Judging by the many shopping bags being carried around, more than a few bears found new homes- I know I had quite a bit less to pack for the trip home. Now the dreaded unpacking! Specially since the white stands I use usually do duty in my studio to hold little bits and pieces such as beaded handbags, flowers, shoes etc.... Not to mention the tidying up that's waiting for me in said studio lol..... Ah well, better get to it!
special thanks to the lovely Carol for the above photo.. As usual I fell down on the job with show photos- thank you for snapping the pics for me Carol!