Bobby

And this is Bobby!  He is a lovely, solid bear - with a big bag of steel shot in his stomach to make him feel more substantial.  His face is quite plain in some ways but I think that - as with Donald - I am really happy with the way he is made.  It is one of the advantages of cutting out 10 bears of one design, and making them one after the other: you quickly work out the most efficient, effective way of doing things, and then apply what you learn as you make each subsequent bear.

I can give an example - although it might not mean much if you don't make bears yourself.  In the past, I have tried adding features to the face (eyes, nose, ears, mouth) before I attach the head to the body, and afterwards.  In the first case, I then have to remove some stuffing from the back of the head in order to fix the joint - in which case all the stitched-in features loosen slightly.  In the second case, if something goes wrong when I am adding the features - I then have to open up the whole bear to remove the head.

I have worked out now though that, when using a double neck joint, I can joint the head to the neck first, then add the features, then joint the neck to the body.  It's a minor thing - and I suppose really obvious if you think about it - but if you only have to deal with the problem once, you don't bother (or I didn't bother) trying to come up with a better solution.

So, cutting out ten of one design may mean they seem less unique (although I think Donald and Bobby do look very different), but hopefully they are better bears as a result of being one and two of ten.

Millicent Mammoth

Another mammoth - the very, very fluffy Millicent.  She's made from alpaca, with a cashmere undercarriage (or gusset), and measures approximately 10.5 inches to the tips of her ears.  If you would like to buy Millicent, or indeed Bogart or either of the two paperweight bears, you can contact Sophie of the Tannenbaum Christmas Barn via their website.



Catch-up

Many apologies (to my two readers) for not posting recently. I have been busy faffing around, as usual - not getting much done. I have done a few things though!

You may remember this little bear. My sister took him/her off to South Africa with her when she left. I only had a little of that mohair left, so I decided to make a smaller version, hopefully to sell at this up-and-coming craft fair.

I'm not sure it quite worked out...

His name is Macintosh. He is quite sweet, but not a patch on the first one. I have had this mohair for several years now, but I always passed it over - sniffily thinking it rather inferior. In fact, with the right design, it looks wonderful (something to remember when I'm gazing despondently at the dregs of my mohair stash). I think the pile is perhaps a little long for such a small bear as the one above: he looks too scruffy.

Anyway, I have managed to complete another bear - Albert.

I'm sort of on the fence with this one. He didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but nonetheless, the more I look at him, the more I warm to him. Maybe I should have used a darker brown, to get a proper contrast with the white stomach. Both fabrics used are lovely though: the brown is alpaca - incredibly thick and fluffy - and the white is a silk-mohair mix which, although rather tufty, is really silky.

It is the first time I have made a teddy bear nose like that. It is clay, fashioned around a small glass eye, then baked in the oven. It looks quite good to me!

In the meantime, my mother has also been busy, making things for the craft unit. I think I have probably mentioned before that I buy in manufactured polar bears that are suitable for children. This is partly because they're less costly than anything else I sell, and partly because it seems a bit mean to have a teddy bear shop in which nothing is suitable for children.

Anyway, my mother has made some cracking clothes for them in the past. For the lastest one, she has made a little pink hat and jacket...

Note the button sewn to the pointy end of the hat - very, very sweet!

She has also painted some more greetings cards:

What you can't see in the photographs is that - because they're done in acrylics - the paint actually stands out from the paper, where it's laid thickly, so they are really textural (is that a word?).

Anyway, onto the next bear!