Walking bear!

One of the letter keys on our keyboard isn't working.  I can't type it obviously, but it's the one next to the 'n'.  So lets see if I can get through an entire blog post without using that letter.

Right, this is Silas - the walking bear!  Isn't he lovely!  (Please excuse the chicken *anure pellets.)  The balance thing was an issue, but in the end - in addition to his three tripod legs - I put steel shot in his back right leg, and used light-weight stuffing in his front left leg (the lifted one).

I feel like I have overdosed on big-eyed baby bears, so Silas has tiny, intelligent-looking, adult eyes.  The lifted paw is just an ordinary paw pattern, over a piece of curved wire: there are a few wrinkles, but they are actually quite realistic-looking.

So, a success, I think.  I really like the bears I have created using wire skeletons, and I especially like the fact that they constitute a stylistically recogniseable series of bears.  I have thought recently that working this way - with a 'series' or 'range' - could be particularly efficient, focusing on one style at once, rather than going back and forth between one and another.

Having said that, I need to stop this style of bear for a little while because the Clare Priory craft fair is approaching fast, and I need to have lots of little, less expensive bears to sell there.  On the other hand, it would be nice to display the wire bears there as well.  Ah well, I'll have to see what I can fit in - I do still have four weeks.

Red Cardinal

It is unbelievably cold here at the moment!  The builders have knocked part of the way through the wall between the existing kitchen and the extension.  The gaps for the windows and doors in the extension are just boarded up, and we are still open all around the eaves.  Unfortunately, we don't have a door between the kitchen and the rest of the house, so short of going back to bed, there's no getting away from the cold.

Anyway, I wanted to show you my latest attempt at bird-making.  I loved this little red cardinal, right up until the point where I put his eyes in.  Then he started to look extremely cross.  'Cross' in an ever-so-slightly evil way.

Part of the problem is that the glass eyes are too big, and too close together, I think.  But also, the combination of the thick pile to the fabric, and the type of eye - which has to be pulled in tightly - means that the eyes looks quite deeply recessed.  In reality birds' eyes tend to sit flat against the surface of their face (do birds have faces?), or even protrude slightly.

The solution would seem to be to do the eyes in a different way, and not to use mohair, but I am really reluctant to give up on the mohair.  I wasn't sure it would work for a bird - being furry, rather than feathery - but actually in that respect it works perfectly.

My angry cardinal does have a few other problems.  I kind of like the tail like that, but the fabric looks a little... baggy.  It could do with being a bit more jersey-like, and stretched taut.  He also has no wings - they just didn't look right.  I'm not sure whether he will do without them - does he look like an amputee, or is the impression of wings given by the shape of the body?

Finally, there's his legs and feet.  Undoubtedly, he would be more appealing if his legs and feet were properly formed in wire - but would he survive at the Art & Craft Centre without them being bent out of shape and, more to the point, would he survive on my stall at the Clare Priory Craft Fair - given the odd gust of wind and whatnot?

The alternatives to forming the feet properly and having him stand independently would be - either to supply him with long wires (as in the photos), so a buyer could secure him as they wish, or to form the feet around something - some kind of perch - which would make him more secure at the craft fair.

I need to make some decisions fast: I'm hoping to have a little collection of birds ready for the fair.  It's getting scarily close!

Dominic

I have finished my latest bear.  His name is Dominic and - like Hugo and Pongo before him - he has an internal wire armature, and his limbs are unjointed.  I am still not certain about this.  I do think the rigid, unjointed body is very appealing.  Maybe it's the realistic thing - there is something very unrealistic about a bear whose limbs you can move as you please.

However, I have never managed to make these bears as sturdy as I would like them to be.  I suppose I am making something that is fragile and breakable - like a piece of pottery or (and I thought of this when I was making the teddy bear bouquets) the bunches of twisted willow you can buy from florist shops.  When you buy something breakable, you treat it with due care.  The problem is that people don't expect teddy bears to be breakable - they are characteristically hard-wearing and long-suffering - so I worry that these bears will get bumped around and the wire armature damaged.

I'm thinking perhaps a note on the label to explain their construction might be a good idea.

What I would really like to do is to make a bear standing on all four feet, but in walking pose - rather than having all four feet flat on the ground.  As you can see below, Dominic pose is actually quite close to this.  Balance is going to be a problem though.  As he is, he leans onto his lifted front left leg, and his rear right leg goes up in the air.  When you pull his rear right leg down to rest on the floor, it looks great, but he won't stay that way - even with steel shot in that rear right leg.

I suppose his front right leg could be angled in slightly, but effectively it is already quite close to the centre - as close as it can be without looking unnatural.  Hmmm.



Hugo

I have finally finished another of the bears-on-all-four-feet, with the wired framework.  His name is Hugo, and he is made from one of my favourite types of mohair - a really silky, textured mohair, with blonde roots and a very dark tip.  Unfortunately, it doesn't photograph particularly well - particularly the black eyes against the dark brown mohair...

I think I said this before - on finishing Pongo - but the plan is to continue in this direction, but adding a little more movement into it - i.e. walking/jumping/whatever.  It will be trying to get the balance right that will be the problem.

Minty

I was asked recently to make a blue mohair rabbit.  I do have some blue mohair but it's of the really long, lustrous kind - meant really for big bears.  I had a look around for something more suitable for a little rabbit, but blue mohair is hard to find - and what there is tends to be quite expensive.

So, plan B: dye some mohair! 

I had some mohair dye that I bought ages ago, at a teddy bear fair somewhere, but I've never tried it.  The process seemed simple enough though...

I was really pleased with the way it turned out!  It one of the good things about accepting commissions: I often end up doing something new - getting to grips with a new technique.

The lady wanted a sort of blue-grey colour, so we went for the more muted of the two colours above - the lower one.  I'm not sure how well the photos show it, but it is a beautiful sea-green colour, and the backing fabric is slightly paler than the pile, giving it a lovely translucent effect.

And this is Minty!

And, flying the pink flag...

Finally finished my two pink rabbits - Strawberry and Russell!  It's difficult to tell them apart, but Russell is the one the label.  I have made each set of rabbits, one with a label and one without, since the gallery at Coggleshall have asked that the bears (or rabbits) I bring have sew-in labels.  The labels are probably a little too big for the rabbit, but I can't do much about that right now.

The next project is actually another rabbit - a commission rabbit - made in a gorgeous blue-green mohair. 

And here is an update on our kitchen extension!

Aimie

My new patchwork mammoth!  I once made a patchwork bear, which found a home at the Clare Priory Craft Fair.  I love the way these patchwork creatures turn out, but I realised yesterday that actually putting the patchwork together is one of my worst nightmares!  I know it is so important to get the pieces in the right place - to get the pattern right - but I find it very difficult to imagine what the finished article will look like when I'm preparing the flat pieces, and I get paralysed with indecision!

You might notice that, down her right-hand side, there's a row of little ribbon loops.  This was just something thrown in to add interest, but it has given me another idea, so yes, I am going to try for another patchwork mammoth.  I have also cut out the pieces for one of my extra large mammoths, but I'm not sure I can face the idea of so much patchwork!  Maybe next year!