A Knock on the Head!

Unfortunately, I had an accident in the garden two weeks ago that left me with a head injury and concussion.  I am gradually improving, but have been told it may be several weeks before I get back to full health.  In the meantime, Mike suggested I try occupying myself with something crafty, but undemanding.  I have wanted to create an album or journal of my bearmaking for ages, but I never got around to it.

I picked up a sketchbook and have decorated the cover over the past few days.  I created some embellishments in polymer clay.  I used papers, lace, sequins, ribbon and buttons from my stash and used a Lucy Atwell stamp that I hand coloured and aged. All good fun!

Now I can start adding some photos of my creations!

Before I took the hit on my head, I had just finished little Minty.  He has been sitting patiently waiting to have his photo taken.

He is a happy little chap...about 9 inches tall...I think.  He stands nicely unaided.

His head and paws are hand sculpted and painted by myself.  He has glass eyes.

 

I have started sculpting again in the last couple of days, but I can't do much before my head starts to ache, so it is slow progress!

A Girly Bear

OK, so most of my bears are boy bears.  Time for a girly bear!  I have been enjoying myself playing around with paper clay, and thought it might be fun to make a closed eyes bear.  Camille is the result.  I often feel I have little control over how a bear turns out.  They seem to have a will of their own.  I thought it might be different, working in clay...but no, the bear decides its own look!

She has a blond mohair body, an armature and 4 nut and bolt joints.  Her head and paws have been hand sculpted by myself, gessoed, painted and sealed. Her outfit is made from silver panne velvet, ribbons, lace and an oystershell button.  She stands beautifully on her own and is one of a kind. She will be coming to Hugglets with me next month.

First Bear of 2014

Kristian is an 8 inch bear cub...my first of 2014.  His name means 'new beginning', so very apt for the start of the year.  I hand sculpted his head and paws using paper clay. They were then gessoed, painted and sealed.  He has glass eyes.  His body is made from a butterscotch coloured, short dense mohair.  He has a sachet od stainless steel balls in his tummy.  He cannot stand unaided.

Belated Happy New Year to all!

A Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I sculpted this seasonal fellow from paper clay.  Due to lack of snow, he is covered with glittery artificial snow.  Ho ho, ho!

Christmas is coming...

I'd like to thank the lovely collectors who adopted bears at the Christmas Treasures online show!  It is always lovely to know they have gone to loving homes.

I haven't posted in a while.  Unfortunately, my health has not been good this year and this has impacted on my bear making.  In fact, I have had to withdraw from the Great Brighton Teddy Bear Event this weekend.  Apologies to collectors who were hoping to see me there.

I have been finding it more and more difficult to work on large realistic bears, especially their armatures, and so in future I will only be creating smaller teddies without armatures.  It is difficult to explain the amount of strength needed to create large bears.  I do have three large, realistic bears  that I will offer for adoption over the next few months, but they are likely to be the last.  For the forseeable future, I will be developing my smaller whimsical designs.  This is a very difficult decision for me as I adore realistic style bears, but I need to put my health first.
I hope to launch my new Whimsical Teddies  designs at Hugglets in February.

Wishing everyone a lovely Christmas

Hugs

Sue

The Christmas Treasures Preview has Begun

Ooooh!  There are some lovely preview bears on show at:
www.teddiesworldwide.com

You can vote for your favourites until November 14th.

I've had great fun creating my preview bear!  I adore polar bears, and Christmas is a great excuse to make one...or more! 

The show is open from the 15-17th November.

Not Just Twiddling my Thumbs

I may not have been blogging much lately, but have been very busy Chez Teddybuys.  Here is my 'To Do' list:

1. I am busy creating bears for the Christmas Treasures online show in November.  I am not allowed to show any of my creations before the show opens...not even a peek!  
2. I am also starting to create for the Great Brighton Teddybear Event in December.  There is a sweet photo of Teddybuys Whisper  in the October\November edition of Teddybear Times.
3. I have a collector and a shop waiting for bears, so am fitting these in around everything else.
4.  I am beyond delighted at the prospect of becoming a grandmother for the first time next April!  Of course, that means making a cot quilt for the new arrival.  Progress can be followed on: http://www.mygreatquiltingexpedition.blogspot.co.uk/ 
5. I am also making mug rugs for the Quilting Bloggers Fall Inspired Swap.  I have a lovely swap partner, Zanna, who is South African but living in Bahrain.
6. Oh, and I started the Advanced Quilting course at Kathy's Patch last Thursday and need to finish my New York Beauty block.  I have made New York Beauty before, but this is a more complex block. 
7. I also have some polymer clay sculpts waiting for completion.

I'm not sure it was a good idea to make a 'To Do' list (now that I see how long it is)!