Hermione & Anthony

Good morning!  A long time ago I went to a car boot sale, and found a stack of very old teddy bear magazines.  I stupidly didn't buy them all - I guess they didn't look particularly interesting; it was just the novelty of finding a vintage magazine devoted entirely to teddy bears.  Anyway, I picked out three or four.  All of them had a 'free gift' stuck to the front - a cellophane package holding a teddy bear outfit.  I ignored these at the time, thinking it was very unlikely they would fit any of my bears.  Then recently I found the hockey player's outfit lying around, and decided to try it on Hermione (above).  Not only do they fit (with a little room in the toes for her feet to grow), but because of the firm soles, they allow her to stand!  I really am going to have to try making them myself - they are perfect!

I have posted some more pictures of Hermione below.  The shoes are of course removable.  Underneath she has ordinary cashmere foot pads with embroidered claws.

I have also listed little Anthony (see below) - and he carries a brown leather-look school satchel, another free gift from the ancient teddy bear magazines.  For some reason he turned out slightly smaller than the other bears I made in this design, and with a slight tilt to his head.  But I think it makes him look all the more inquisitive.

Anthony and Hermione are now in my Etsy shop.

Tannenbaum Christmas Barn

Hello again!  Apologies for the long absence.  Originally I was busy making bears for Teddies 2014 - the Kensington show on 14 September.  Then, I spoke to Sophie from the Tannenbaum Christmas Barn and she has agreed to have some of my bears again this year!  Very, very chuffed!  The Christmas  Barn is in Baythorne End in Essex, near Clare.  It is a little Christmas shop based in a converted barn - really pretty and with lots of lovely things to buy, apart from bears.  In particular, Embar Pottery has items there, and when we visited last year, we bought some wonderful, hand-painted vintage wooden stools which we use in our kitchen.  So I highly recommend the Christmas Barn!  (And, did I mention, they have bears.)  It opens Saturday 4th October.

So below are a few pictures of the bears I made for the Christmas Barn!  First, Brian - a revisiting of an old design, but he is quite small - about 9 inches in a sitting position.

Then another little moon bear, called New Moon.  I am very fond of these, as you might have noticed.  This one seems slightly more bouffant than usual - I'm not sure why.

Then Gordon - made from a remnant of beautiful, long, curly, red/brown mohair.  He does look quite scruffy, but I made him a little chequered tam o'shanter with a pompom on top to keep his hair out of his eyes (it sort of works).

Then Cameron, made out of bright, scarlet red mohair which was very, very difficult to photograph!  These pictures look like he's been [badly] coloured-in - sorry about that.

I've also made a few more little birds, and moose, and I'm thinking I might send a meerkat there too.  I don't expect him to sell, but he might cause some interest.

Right now I have the difficult task of trying to figure out how much each of them cost to make (my worst job), and then moving onto making bears for Kensington!

New stuff I made for the Clare Priory fair

I didn't have as many small bears as I wanted for Clare Priory - partly because I spent a load of time in the run-up to it trying to design an open-mouth pattern for the crows.  I just couldn't get it right, and eventually that project went on the back burner so I could get something satisfactory made for the show.

I did make four more of the original crows - modified slightly so they don't have to sit right on the edge of the table.  At the last minute, on Saturday morning, I decided to take Peregrine with me.  He was a crow I made when I was experimenting with the linen-polyester mix fabric.  The experiment didn't work (I thought): the fabric stretched too much and he turned out rather chubby.  In the event though, he was the one that someone took a shine to, and off he went to a new home.

I also wanted a new bear design.  A while ago - before the Winter Bearfest - I came up with a random head pattern that seemed to work (see this post), but I was having trouble with the body.  I finally decided that I would like a sort of slim, doll-like body, with long, straight legs.  Years ago, in 2011, I made these hanging bears (below).  They were made out of cotton, and the final versions had little cashmere wings.  They were meant to be a sort of baby mobile, hanging from the ceiling, but they didn't quite work.  The arms were a bit weird, as I remember, but I always liked the body shape.  If I did make bears for children, these would be an easy thing to grip on to.

Anyway, that was the look I was going for with the new bear pattern.  I got them finished just in time for the Clare fair… Bingo (left) and Charlie.

They look quite vintage-y to me.  Charlie, in particular, is a bit Sooty-ish.  Anyway, they are made out of a new fabric.  It is viscose I think, but made by the same German company than makes the mohair.  It is lovely and soft, and as you handle it, it loses the perfectly smooth look and becomes a bit… moth-eaten.  But moth-eaten in a good way!  It starts to look rather aged.  It's perfect for vintage bears.  And - although still relatively expensive - it costs less than the mohair.  

I am going to try a larger bear in this design and fabric, just to see what happens, although I suspect it is more suited to little bears.

Finally, I had one more bear planned for Clare Priory, but she wasn't quite finished on time.  She is another little moon bear with wild hair.  Her name is Patti and she will be coming with me to the Marks Hall Gardens fair in Coggleshall, if she doesn't find a home before then!

Updates

A few updates.  First, the last window in the kitchen - which is tiny compared to the rest of them!

Then the new fridge and freezer arrived...

And, on a side note, I finished a few more bears for the craft fair.

I've been a bit of a failure this time around.  That's, what - seven bears made for the fair?  Seven mini bears no less.  It doesn't seem like very much.  I just got started much too late.  I have today to mooch around worrying about it all.  There's a bear that I started and which went terribly wrong which I need to try to sort out.  And I need to try to come up with some kind of plan for arranging the stall.  And of course, if I can make any more bears, that can only be a good thing.

Then tomorrow, I collect the bears from the Art & Craft Centre in the morning and then we drive over to Clare to set up the stall in the afternoon.

I'm not really looking forward to it but there is a good side.  It has given me something to work towards in the last week - and even if I haven't made as much as I'd like to, I've had a lot more ideas.  And not just vague ideas, but ideas that have become pretty solid plans.  Perhaps this is what I'm lacking the rest of the year round - some definite, concrete target.

Sarah and Doodle

Wow - I haven't posted for ages! 

I had a bit of a blip.  After Pongo - my bear cub on all four feet - I thought I'd try making a parent bear for him.  To cut a very long story short, after a lot of long-winded testing it all went horribly wrong, and I ended up with a little head on a massive (but beautifully tailored) body. 

I'm still working on the ability to be able to just shrug/laugh/whatever when that happens, but unfortunately deformed bears have always tended to precipitate a bit of a personal crisis.  I've been trying to keep on working - to get on with something which I know works reasonably well.  So, here are two well-worn BigFeetBear designs: Sarah...

I guess she should have some sort of embellishment - I just think the design works really well on it's own.  It is the same with Doodle...



I was intending on saving Sarah and Doodle for the Clare Priory Craft Fair, which I'm doing again this year (hooray!) but since my unit at the Art & Craft Centre isn't exactly full at the moment, I guess they might just as well sit there as on the shelf at home.

4 little dressed bears!

The dungarees are finished for my little red bears!  I will spare you the twenty photographs I have of them (although, if you wish to, you will soon be able to see them on the website), and just post a few to show off all my mother's hard work.

I went to work today with four dressed red bears, four rabbits and nine teddy bear bouquets (the latter of which I had to dust assiduously, before putting them out!) - so it all made a nice change.  I feel like the unit is full of colour and pizazz again!

And onto the next project... bears (and rabbits) for the Thirteen Brushes Gallery.

Drumroll please...

My latest completed project... teddy bear bouquets!

Please excuse the multiple photographs - they took so long to make, I wanted to make sure I photographed them from every angle. 

This is my second Valentine's idea, although I'm hoping people will appreciate them as gifts even though Valentine's Day is long gone.  They are little bears (approximately 3.5 inches) attached to willow twigs (approx 27 inches), and I have included a piece of red twisted willow too.  I have packaged them up to look like bouquets - each bouquet has two bears to it.  They have 'Hand-made by BigFeetBears' labels, printed on clear plastic and attached with a piece of red satin ribbon.

Naturally, after all that work, it turns out that they don't photograph well(!) - the plastic wrapping picks up dust incredibly easily.

This will be the first time I've made something for BigFeetBears which is so fragile.  I am slightly worried that they might get broken or damaged at the Centre, but we'll see how it goes

Anyway, next step is to get the dungarees made for the four little bears.  I'm hoping to take all the would-be Valentine's items in this Saturday.  I also need to start making some rabbits for the Thirteen Brushes Gallery - if they'll still have me, after being out of touch for so long.