We have a mouse in the house!

Below are photos of Gilbert, a naughty 15 inch mouse.  He has been pulling baubles from the Christmas tree and nibbling on the Quality Street.  This is obvious... just looking at that fat tummy!  He is made from two shades of lovely Schulte mohair in blonde and ginger.  He has six joints, including a double-neck joint, cashmere paws and pads, glass eyes with felt eye whites and a hand-moulded nose made by myself using epoxy clay.  He has whiskers and a long tail.  I have knitted him a scarf and bobble hat using hand spun banana silk in lovely shades of brown and gold as he looked to be feeling the cold.  He has been carefully stuffed and weighted so that he stands beautifully.

He is looking for a new home.  His adoption fee is £140 including tracked, insured shipping worldwide and Special Delivery in the UK. 

Wishing You A Very Peaceful Christmas Holiday

Hoping you all have a wonderful holiday and find something beary under the tree!  The bears in the photo are Magic and Socks.  They were nominated for an award at the British Bear Artist Awards 2010, but were unplaced. 

However, Blossom won the Realistic Design category.

 Hugs
Sue

Linda Benson Giveaway Win!

I am really thrilled to have heard that my name was pulled out of the hat for Linda's giveaway bear, Wee Bear.  This is just the pick up I needed, as I fractured my foot two weeks ago and have been feeling rather down.  So I will be making room in my heart and hug for this little fellow!  If you would like to see a photo of him:

click here

Hugs

Sue

2011 TeddyBuys Calendar

Personally, I never seem to have a calendar to hand when I need one, so I have created a 2011 Teddybuys calendar that you are welcome to download.  You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.  Just click on the Image below, then save and print!

Below are a few bears looking for new homes for Christmas.  They are very well behaved and cuddly, with excellent pedigrees, as they have been made with the highest quality materials and much love.  Please contact me sue@teddybuys.co.uk if you would like further information or to see more photos or to go on my mailing list.

Tinker - a standing clown bear

This is a brand new design for me.  He is 17 inches tall (without his hat) and is made from beautiful Schulte mohair.  He has six joints, including a double-neck joint.  He is stuffed and weighted with polyfill and plastic beads.  His ruffle is made from satin and his hat is made from wool felt.  The pompom on his hat is made from banana silk.  Now adopted.

Goldie - standing clown bear

Goldie  is 17 inches tall without his hat and made from beautiful ivory and golden Schulte mohair.  He stands well on his own and has a very sweet expression.  His ruffle is made from satin and his hat is made from wool felt.  The pompom on his hat is made from banana silk. Now adopted
Filbert - realistic style teddy

Filbert is a lovely, soft, cuddly fellow made from German tipped alpaca.  He has six joints, including a double-neck joint and hand-moulded epoxy clay nose and claws.  His paw mads are made from black leather.  He was featured in Teddy Bear Times recently.  He is a wonderful one-of-a-kind bear.  Now adopted.

Not Long Now!

This is Tinker, one of my clown bears for the Holiday Show that starts this Saturday.  He is designed to stand unaided and is made from lovely soft, curly Schulte mohair in mocha and ivory.  He is hoping to find a loving home.  The other bears will need to wait  in the wings until then!

Holiday Show Preparations

My bears for the online holiday show on November 21st and 22nd are complete.  I am not allowed to show pictures of them before the show starts, but here is a little sneak peek.  The bears are a new departure for me and I am really pleased with how they have turned out and hope you will like them too.  Can anyone guess the theme?

Hugs

Sue

Keeping the Faith

I have recently been working with a beautiful, curly Schulte.  It has been a real challenge for me to turn all those lovely curls into a recognisable teddy bear face.   This is probably due to having working with straight alpaca for quite a while which is a breeze to scissor sculpt.  The mohair does not have an obvious direction to the pile.  It goes everyway possible!

I have really had to take a deep breath before cutting into this curly mohair.  Too much brushing and it loses its lustre.  Too little cutting and the face has no definition.  I think that if I had tried using this mohair a year ago, the head would probably have ended up in a box of failures. 

However, by wetting the muzzle fur and using a hairdrier I have managed to straighten the fur enough to scissor sculpt the muzzle, at the same time avoiding brushing the rest of the fur that I want to remain curly.   He just needs a body now!

Reflections

It's funny how something can set off thoughts and memories of loved ones.  A couple of days ago, I was looking for a watch I had mislaid and came across a small jewellery box containing my granfather's 'pips'.  For those of you not from a military background, pips are insignia that are worn on lapels and shoulders.  (He was, during WW2, a Major in the Indian Army who served in Manchuria and was twice mentioned in despatches). My beloved grandfather was Reginald Charles Quentin Von Donop Hardinge, otherwise known as Rex.  He was a wonderful person...very, very witty and a wonderful teller of stories.  Although reasonably tall, he was always very slender and it always amazed me that he ever survived his childhood in India.  He was born in Poonah.  His father, Colonel Henry Hardinge, spent much of his working life posted in India. Rex was also the author of a large number of books, some of the best known were Sexton Blake detective stories. He was a great walker and enjoyed smoking a pipe. Although he was wonderful company, he needed peace and quiet for his writing and spent much of his writing time living on Dartmoor in Devon with his cocker spaniel dogs Jasper and Sandy.  I absolutely worshipped him and still miss him.  He passed away in 1990 at 89 years of age in Dawlish, Devon.  I have always felt that he is my Guardian Angel.

My Stash and Deadlines

One of the greatest pleasures of teddy making, is to have an idea for a design and then to look through my stash of mohair to see if I have any fur that will suit my idea.  I have spent quite a long time working nearly exclusively with alpaca, but recently have wanted to create bears from two different coloured mohairs.

So today I have dragged out my stash and played around with different combinations of colours...such fun!  I have found combinations for three new bears. 

I am busy bear making for the online Holiday Bear Show on November 20th and 21st and for the British Bear Fair in Brighton on December 12th, so am unlikely to have any available for adoption before then.

Linda Benson Course

On the 18th and 19th September I attended a two day bearmaking course, taught by the wonderful Linda Benson and hosted by Bill and Jean Ashburner of BearBits fame.

The two days were full on and packed with plenty of techniques and tips that were new to me and should help me to improve and extend the way I work.  Jean and Bill were very hospitable hosts and great fun.  They provided delicious lunches and kept us plied with refreshments.

I have always adored Linda's work, so the opportunity to spend two days learning from her was an opportunity not to be missed!

I still haven't quite finished my bear as I have some bearmaking commitments and deadlines to meet...so my little bear will have to sit and wait for time to finish.

It was really lovely to spend the weekend with others that share the same bearmaking passion!

Hugs

Sue

British Bear Artist Awards 2010 Nominations

Teddybuys bears have been shortlisted in this year's competition in two categories: Blossom in Realistic Designs and 'I need a hug', otherwise known as Magic and Socks in the Group of Bears over six inches categories.  So they are all looking forward to a day out at the finals at the British Bear Fair located at Brighton racecourse on Sunday, the 12th December.

 Blossom

'I need a hug'

Hugglets and Linda Benson Course

I travelled up to Kensington via the High Speed train from Kent to visit Hugglets on Sunday.  Had a lovely pub lunch with the long-suffering other half and headed into the Halls.  As usual, there was a sufeit of fabulous bears.  I only managed to see 3 of Paula's (All Bear) bears as the others were sold, but they were just wonderful.  There is no doubt that although photos are great, there is no substitution for holding the bears yourself.  I had a chat with Marjan Jorritsma of Tonnibears (another of my favourite artists).  Her bears have such a lovely, gently aged appearance to them and she had brought with her some absolutely charming little prim dogs.  I must have one soon!  I also managed a good hug from one of Dawn's (Hugs Unlimited) bears. He was very hard to put down...just like holding a baby and just as appealing.  So many other wonderful artists...I could go on forever!

I picked up a couple of lovely pieces of ivory pure silk plush fabric from the Japan Bear Co.  I will need to think carefully about how best to use them...possibly another polar bear???

I am off to Lincolnshire on Friday evening for a weekend ourse with the wonderful Linda Benson.  I said hi to her at Hugglets and had the opportunity to see the bear we will be making.  Can't wait but also feeling some trepidation.  Hope I will be able to keep up and not make a hash of my bear.

I have done the pre-sewing and hope to produce a sequence of photos of my progress.

The kit has arrived from Jean and Bill Ashburner.  Just beautiful shiny black and ivory mohair.

I have carefully cut out the pattern and completed the presewing.  No head yet!

More to follow next week...

A new blog giveaway

Gorgeous bear Giveaway,  by Wayne Lim !  Click the image below and follow the instructions to give yourself a chance of winning this lovely bear!  I hope it's me!

Teddybuys Workroom

I have recently moved my teddy making space from the dining room into an upstairs room.  After three years, we can now sit down and eat without having to pack all my equipment and supplies away!  It always took me ages to find my tools afterwards. :)

My new workroom has space to store and work and best of all...I don't have to keep moving things at the end of each bearmaking session.

At the moment, most of my materials are in a large old Victorian wardrobe, but I hope eventually to get something more suitable.

I am really pleased with the functional shelves in the photo.  They were £50 from Argos and are extremely sturdy, so a great buy.  I also bought a large filing cabinet (also a bargain, as it was a second) which now houses my patterns etc.

It's lovely to have my own space for my bears.  It feels all cosy and the dogs snooze by my feet.  I can shut myself away and forget about everything else!

Hugs

Sue

Sox - an experiment

I have just finished Sox.  He is a large bear cub made from Shulte mohair and alpaca.  I usually make most of my bears from alpaca, but have restricted it here to the cream fur on his muzzle, ear linings, chest stripe and feet.  The golden mohair is really soft and silky to the touch.  He has the usual double-neck joint, but I have used cashmere instead of leather for his toes.  His toes have been pulled, as usual for my bears.  He is soft and cuddly, designed to sit.

Blossom - large black bear cub

I am  now properly into bear making mode.  I have just finished Blossom, a black bear cub.  She is large for me...all of 19 inches.  She is made with the most beautiful Shulte alpaca.  It is really soft and smooth for alpaca.  It is very dark brown, almost black at the tips while the undercoat is a slightly lighter reddish-brown.  This gives a very natural appearance.  Her muzzle is a short Shulte alpaca that has been lightly shaded.  Blossom has 6 joints, including a double-neck joint and leather pads and paws with pulled toes.  I have given her lovely, realistic large ears.  I have posted a couple of pictures as well as the photo I used as a source.  I have not tried to copy the photo, but just to capture the essence of the bear cub.

Hugs

Sue

Source photo

Buddy and Filbert at Play

have finally got around to photographing Buddy.  Everything has been in chaos for the past week as I have been moving my bear-making equipment from the dining room to the back bedroom.  Our dining room has been restored to its original use and the back bedroom is now a bear friendly zone.

Buddy is a 13" open-mouthed bear cub made from my favourite tipped alpaca.  Unfortunately, I only have a few scraps left and don't know if I will be able to source any more.  The fur has a lovely, dense, soft feel to it and is shinier than most alpacas.  It is a dream to work with.  Back to Buddy...his arms and legs are wired for extra posing possibilities.  He can stand unaided.  His paws are made from black leather and his toes have been pulled.  His mouth is also made from black leather.  His tongue is made from ultrasuede that has been hand-painted.

I couldn't resist photographing him with Filbert...although, from his expression, I'm not sure Filbert appreciated Buddy's hugs!

Hope you like him!!

Back from Derbyshire

We have returned from our summer holiday in Derbyshire.  The weather was mainly cloudy, but this didn't spoil our enjoyment of this lovely county.  We visited Arkwright's Cromford Mill again.  Last visit was in 2001 and it was great to see the further restoration to the first mill.  The Industrial Revolution was the first History topic I remember studying at school, so has always fascinated me (satanic mills,etc...)

We walked along the Cromford Canal (used to move raw and finished cotton) from the mill site to the steam powered pumping station that was used to lift water from the river to the canal.  This was a lovely, peaceful walk with lots of ducks, moorhens with their young to see along the way as well as a cafe half way along for a break and welcome cup of tea.

Mike is very keen on trams, old buses etc., so we twice visited the Crich National Tram Collection and travelled on a variety of trams, some over 100 years old.  They also sold the most wonderful icecream...not good for the waistline!

There was also a lovely woodland walk full of wonderful wooden sculptures.  My favourite is below.

We also visited Poole's Cavern at  Buxton.  The guide was absolutely brilliant and this made the visit really enjoyable.

Now I'm back home, I am in the process of completing a little brown bear, Buddy.  Will post photos when he is finished.

Playful now has a body!

My little polar bear now has a body, making him 13" of heavy, cuddly bear.  He has my favoured double-neck joint and I decided to wire his arms for greater posability.  His body is a totally new design.  I wanted to make his outline chubbier and younger.  He has pulled toes and paws...just claws to add.  I need to make them first - my next task.  I may not get them done before we go on holiday at the weekend.  Anyway, some quick snaps of 'Playful'. 

Hugs

Sue