Category Archives: Behind the Scenes

This week in the Studio

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I had a piece of beautiful faux fur, similar to the fur I used for Walter, but in a beautiful cream and tan color. I had just enough to make a large bear like Walter, but I changed it up a bit. I wanted to make a ‘girl’ bear. At least that was my intention, I’m never sure what I will end up with, sometimes my best laid plans take on a life of their own and the bear ends up being totally different than what I thought it would.This fur reminded me of the coloring of a Kermode bear, also known as a “Spirit” or “Ghost” bear.
Here is the head after some clipping around the muzzle. I had to decide how I was going to make this look more feminine. I knew I would be adding needle felting to the face to give it more shape and character.

I always love to show you the before, in the previous picture, and then the finished face. It only seems like magic. In reality, it took me a couple of days to get the look I wanted. Lots of layers of needle felting here and there, I changed the glass eyes out, added a lower jaw so her mouth is just slightly open and then had a bit of fun with the shading of her face. I initially used just browns but when I added the touch of pink, she just came alive with personality. I’m very pleased with the result. Her name is Kady, the Kermode Bear. You can click on the photo to see it larger.

I’ll be putting her on Ebay tonight or tomorrow.

In the studio

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The bear I’m working on will be a big bear. The material I’m using is recycled from an elegant designer faux fur jacket. I think it may be faux silver fox. It is so soft and silky and the coloring is just lovely. I’m finishing up the face today and as usual, I didn’t really have a plan for what I wanted it to look like. I find it  works much better to make decisions as I go about whether to needle felt or needle sculpt the face or how much to clip the fur. Each step sort of informs me  on what the next step should be. So, it’s sometimes a nice surprise for me to see how it ends up. It was an all day process, but I’m pleased with the result. In the pictures below, you can see what a difference a day of intense face work can do! You can click on the photos to enlarge them.This bear should be ready by tomorrow, I hope.

Just starting to work on the face

Almost finished face

I also worked on a new paw and foot design for this bear. I’m very pleased with the look of it and I think I’ll be using it more. I’m deciding  if he needs some accessories to hold in his big, bendable arms. The photo at left shows him almost finished. He needs  the paw pads worked on and to be sewed up the back. He also needs to spend a few minutes with a brush to get that pretty fur all smooth again. Stay tuned for the final photos!

 

 

 

Another discovery on a rainy day…

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I found another  forgotten bin of supplies from years ago. There was a small stash of leftover mohair, enough to make 4 or 5 small bears. As I looked through it, I tried to remember the original bears I had made from each piece. Among the  jumble, underneath it all, I found a box that contained the pieces of an unfinished bear, partially stuffed. It was very different from what I usually design, with long skinny limbs. I remembered what it was. Quite a while back, I began a series of bears that I designed to replicate fine art. I think it may have been backin 2006.These pieces were meant to be  one in that series.
I found a photo of one of the other pieces in my ART series. It  was of the well known sculpture “Little Dancer” by Degas. I may add more to that series, but for now I have a different idea for the pieces I found in the box. I’ll be working on it over the next couple of weeks. 

Meanwhile, I’m making another traditional teddy bear from a piece of gold curly mohair that I also found in the box. I have it all sewn together and now I have to pick out all that curly fur that got caught in the seams so it won’t be sticking out when it’s right side out. It’s a chore, but not entirely unpleasant as I’m sitting quietly with the dog at my feet, listening to old James Taylor songs, while outside my window, the trees sway in the wind and rain and fade into the darkening, gray sky.

How lucky am I?

In the studio…

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The Ebay Auction has been up all week for Woodland Wonder (and ends tonight at 7pmESt), so I’ve been busy on the next bear creation. As you may know, I’m using up all the mohair I had in my stash before I order any new material. I only have a few small pieces left so I’ve been challenged to keep my designs small. My tendency is to design larger bears, so this has been a challenge. I decided since I am making them smaller, I had to add lots of  special details to make them stand out; open mouths, claws, accessories or ‘friends’.

I’m making a little polar bear with an open mouth. At left you can see how I create that open mouth. I add a lower jaw to the head and then insert a piece of suede, attaching it to the upper and lower jaw. It looks kind of scary at this stage, but  when I am finishing the head with needle felting and some extensive needle sculpting, it will look a lot different.
Back in 1998, I was one of the few bear artists to design an open mouth on a bear that looked a bit more real than just tacking on a flap for a lower jaw. That technique tended to look like an add on and gave the bear a very unnatural look. I’ve changed and tweaked my design a lot since then. There are lots of ways to create an open mouth and I don’t always use the same technique. Most bear artists today make very natural looking open mouths. We’ve come a long way.

This little guy is still looking a bit scary, but  don’t worry, now the fun begins in creating his face and character. I used clear blown glass eyes so I could color them myself. I’ve added a bit of silver leaf for sparkle. I like eyes that sparkel! This mohair is more distressed than I like so I will probably steam some of that out, not sure yet. I’ll be making claws and little teeth too.  But at this stage, we are sitting in front of the TV watching Project Runway All Stars ( Oh my, they are making ball gowns in one day!) while I  start needle felting his face.

The next day…he’s looking a bit more friendly with a new face! We’ll be going back up to the studio to work on those claws. He’s visiting with Cubby who just got  his new little teeth before he heads off to live with Leisa M. in Florida! I’m a little jealous…it’s going to be frigid here on Cape Cod this weekend!

(That teeny Panda in the background is holding a teenier panda baby. You can find them on Etsy.)

I’m going to make a little surprise friend for this little polar bear. I love surprises, so I’m only going to show you  this picture…. a pile of wool with my felting needles…the very start of his little ‘friend’. Check back tomorrow to see  what it is!

Woodland Wonder

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Woodland Wonder is  now on Ebay   

First, enjoy the story and photos….Details follow

As the bear was walking through the forest gathering sticks and pinecones to build a fire to chase away the cold, he came upon a startling sight!

Something magical…

Oh My, what have we here?

Where is her mother? The bear looked left….

He looked right, searching the trees for a sign of the Wood Fairy.

The sleeping baby was so small, her tiny wings fluttering with each little breath.

The Bear saw her shiver slightly, so he removed his scarf….

…and covered the sleeping baby

The Bear heard a noise in the wind and looked up, anxiously…
it was the Wood Fairy returning for her little one.

The tiny fairy safe with its mother, the Bear went on his way.


Woodland Wonder

The Details

This is a One of a Kind creation. The Bear is 13″ tall, fully jointed with a double neck joint so you can pose his head at different angles. He’s made from an imported, distressed mohair. He is stuffed with polyfil with glass beads in his feet for weight.  He has sculpted polymer clay claws and painted paws. His arms are wired for bending. His face is needle felted in many layers of wool to give shape and character and shaded in several colors for depth and contour. His nose is custom sculpted polymer clay. The Bear’s eyes are amber blown glass. I wanted to  create an expression of surprise and wonder.
The  Bear carries a crocheted twine bag  to collect his pinecones. He wears a hand crocheted scarf and carries a walking stick.
The tiny fairy is sculpted in polymer clay. She is just two inches long. Her wings are made from transluscent clay. Her hair is a wisp of wool.
She lays on top of a real wood log covered in real moss from my woods out back. These are the pieces that inspired this project on my own walk in the woods. All have been dried and are free of moisture. The tree slice base that holds it all is 9×12 inches and is covered with a sheet of moss. I’m including extra moss and tiny pinecones with this piece.

Woodland Wonder is  now on Ebay   
( beginning 7pm EST Monday, January 9 )

The Final Touches…

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Accessories!
As you may know, I make a lot of bears ‘naked’, without clothing or accessories. However, I have this story in my head that inspired this woodland vignette project and part of that is how I imagine this bear’s character. Of course, his facial expression plays a big part, but I also wanted to go a bit further in developing the story of this bear’s life in the forest and adding a few accessories does just that.
I didn’t want to get him all fussily dressed up, knowing that  a natural setting is what I was aiming for. But, I imagined he’d like a hand knitted scarf to keep off the morning chill as he gathered up pinecones and sticks in his twine bag to build a fire in the hearth when he returned home. ( can’t you just picture his home being a hollowed  base of a big tree with a table and chairs built from logs?) So yesterday, I broke out the crochet hook and  made a little twine bag and scarf. The wool  for the scarf is actually from alpacas raised right here on Cape Cod. A walking stick, which I’ll be embellishing a bit, completes the look.
I also sculpted tiny claws and added those and today I’ll return to  finishing up the needle felted face to get the perfect expression. Oh, and that “other something” is finished…and I think it is awesome. I can’t wait to share it with you tomorrow when I expect the whole vignette to be complete.

The next steps…

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So Far...needle felted face almost finished.

I spent last night parked in front of the TV (really, there was nothing good on….looking forward to the return of Top Chef tonight). I needle felted the face, giving him a slightly open mouth…it’s about half done. I decided on a sculpted polymer clay nose. Even though his face is a bit whimsical, I wanted a real looking nose and I can get a good result with the clay. I also sculpted 20 tiny claws that will go in today. The expression on his face is almost what I want, so today I’ll add more wool and some shading.  Oh, I’ll be working on the  other thing ….the surprise, that is going with this project. I don’t think I’ll show you until I’m finished, but feel free to guess what it is! Hint: it’s not a bear.

In the Studio…

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I was walking in the woods with the dog the other day when I got an idea for my next bear. I’m not going to give too much away because I want it to be a surprise. All I’ll say is that it is going to be a vignette with a bear and …something else. It is something you may find totally unexpected from me, but it is something I used to make a lot of. It will be a creative challenge, but one I welcome. When I came back to bear making last month, I had already decided that I was only going to create bears that kept my creative juices flowing….that spark that makes me itch to get to the worktable each morning. This next project does that for me.
The beginning…
So while I was walking in the woods, I saw all kinds of natural material on the ground; moss, sheets of bark, pine cones. I got an idea. Bears live in the woods. What if a bear was out for a walk and found something? Something that made him stop short. Maybe something magical? That story in my head is my starting point. I’m making a woodland bear with a realistic shape and look but maybe with a more expressive face.

. This is how it looked yesterday. I drew a freehand pattern. I do that a lot. Considering the tweaking I ended up doing, I may eventually develop a standard pattern to reuse, but I think the tweaking, while sometimes time consuming, is where I get the most satisfaction. I think I would have a hard time making the same bear over and over. But, then again, I could go crazy with the materials and finishing touches. So, we’ll see.
What do I mean by tweaking? In this example, I sewed together the head and the body and then lightly stuffed them to see if the shapes and sizes were what I was expecting. In this case, except for one little tweak where I restitched the body and rounded the belly a tiny bit , they were fine.
So, I sewed up the Woodland bear and  jointed him all together. I put glass beads in his feet so he could stand on his own. I’m not going to put  stuffed toes and pads on his feet because I want them to stay flat so I may needle felt them. I’ve packed up a box of tools and supplies I’ll need so I can sit in front of the Tv tonight and do the finishing work. So far, he looks just like I want…a real bear ( well, maybe a story book bear) that lives in the woods. Check back tomorrow to see how much more I get done. I’ll be working on that “other something” tomorrow and hopefully  have this  project ready for Ebay on Thursday or Friday.

Don’t forget, Winter is still on Ebay. Her auction has only one bid but it has over 57 watchers! It may be an exciting last day on Thursday!

Bear in progress- part 2

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The bear making  has been running a bit slow with the holidays and all that entails, but I was able to make some progress yesterday. I stitched together the pieces of Winter, the bear I’m working on. But, because it is such a dense plush, before sewing it together I first had to trim the long fluffy fur from all the seam allowances on each piece …by hand, with little scissors. I was parked in front of the TV with the bear and my little box of tools so I decided  that I would also  baste most of the pieces together to make it easier to machine sew and not have to have pins sticking out everywhere. It took me forever to trim the seams and baste but it was also very relaxing. I had a cup of tea next to me, my feet up on the footstool…..very nice.
Making Adjustments
The next day was not so easy.  I had to make a lot of adjustments. I always do when I design a new pattern. I have a vision and an idea when I make a pattern, taking into consideration the material I’m working with, however I always know I’ll be making changes along the way. That’s what makes this interesting, although sometimes frustrating, when things don’t turn out the way I think they should at first and I have to figure out what will work. I don’t ever worry, because I am confident that I will always figure out a way to make it work the way I want it to. I’ve been doing this a long time ( 15 years), so I plunge those scissors into the bear with confidence. I remember in the early days, I was afraid to trim a bear’s muzzle….what if I made a mistake, I couldn’t glue it back on! I don’t look at anything as a mistake now….I call them adjustments. Even when the finished bear is totally different than what I envisioned, it usually ends up even better than I imagined. I think making adjustments to my ‘plan’ as I go along is part of being a bear artist and not just a bear maker.
Almost there
So, Winter is all sewn together and it is definitely a polar bear…a cub actually. The length of this fur really made it impossible to make it a realistic adult bear, but I think this little guy ( I’m feeling boy, not girl, but you never know) is turning out great so far. Today I’m going to  start needle felting the face. I love to do that because I can add so much more character and it gives  the bear so much more personality. I don’t know yet if I am gong whimsical or real. Check back tomorrow and see.
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I’ve also added a lot of photos to my Gallery page. Do you see any of your bears there?

 

Winter-in Progress

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Well, it’s finally feeling like Winter here on Cape Cod. We’ve had such unseasonably mild weather, I really can’t complain. Yesterday, I decided to get some exercise and took the dog  to the beach for a nice romp. Brrrr….that lasted about 4 minutes…sorry Boomer.
Speaking of Winter, I’ve started to create my second bear in my seasonal series called, appropriately, Winter. I’m creating each bear as I experience the season. Shivering a bit in my studio with the heat turned low ( heating oil is an  astronomical $3.90 a gallon) is a great inspiration. I’m working with a  very dense, premium white plush. It’s a little longer than I usually use for polar bears so I’m not sure if this one will be a polar bear or not. I designed it  in the shape of a real bear but I won’t decide until it’s put together what it will actually turn into. I have a few ideas, though.

Unlike the last bear, Chester, where I decided to add suede toes and paws after he was assembled, I smartly added these before I sewed the limbs together so I could machine sew them on. Well, I didn’t like how the machine stitching looked. So, I spent last night in front of the TV watching Rick Steve travel around Europe, while I laboriously stitched each toe and paw pad onto each paw by hand.

The stitches don’t show and I’m happy with how it looks. I have one more to do this morning and then I’ll start stitching this baby together! I’ll make decisions after that on whether to needle felt the face or put  loc-line in his or her arms. I’m thinking this might be a ‘her’….we’ll see what happens. Check back to see the progress!