Kittens!

I have just finished making my second "litter" of kittens ever, and my first for this year. I very much enjoyed making these, and I am so pleased with how they turned out. They are for orders, so I am hoping that my collectors will love them, too!

Each little kitten stands just 10 inches tall not including his or her ears, and is made from dense alpaca.  Their distinctive markings were achieved with many layers of hand coloring with Prismacolor fine art pens. In addition to these  markings, their faces feature careful scissor sculpting, needle sculpting, a stitched pearl cotton nose,  blown glass eyes, enhanced with shimmery gold paint (on the back). They are five-way jointed and stands on their own due to weighted legs and wired tail. Each one wears a simple neck ribbon which complements his  fur. My kittens will be an open edition, however due to the hand coloring each one will be unique and so I have chosen to give them unique and alliterative names. My first group were Scamper, Scooter, and Scout. These are Cricket, Colby and Cali.

Three Little Kittens!

Cricket

Colby

Cali

Cali has lost her mittens!

"It's OK," Colby consoles her, "Eating pie with mittens on is a bit silly anyway!"

Happy New Year! Celebrating 20 Years of Making Teddy Bears!

Happy New Year, Friends! How does a bear maker celebrate New Year's Eve? Making Teddy Bears of course! My first bear of 2013 was "born" just after midnight January 1, 2013 and the second bear was finished on the second day of this month. These little ones, made for an order were in progress for quite a while but December is an incredibly busy month for my family so a nice evening at home sewing is just what I needed.

I feel like 2013 is going to be a great year for a number of reasons. First, it is my 20th anniversary in the warm fuzzy business that is Teddy Bear Artistry! I made bears in many mediums before discovering the "world" of artist bears, but 1993 was the year I began to sell my creations. I am planning to celebrate this milestone with a couple of fun give aways later this year. The first will be in March. Since I cannot recall the exact date of my first sale, I thought my own birthday, March 7, would be a good time to have the first give away. This one will be open to anyone who reads my blog, so stay tuned for how to enter! The next one, to be given at Christmastime, will be a very special bear drawing for anyone who purchases one of my creations from me this year (including bears ordered last year, but delivered this year) More details for that to follow as well.

The second thing I am really looking forward to this year is doing five shows--two in person and three online!  Shows are my favorite way to introduce my work to collectors. I love to get to meet collectors in person and to reconnect with artist and collectors friends at the in person shows. Also, at both  online shows and the ones in person, there is such a nice building of anticipation and excitement as I watch my work table fill with pieces waiting to make their debut together. Please visit the "Shows" link at the top of this page for my 2013 show schedule.

And finally, I have already had some great news for 2013. I have had three pieces chosen as TOBY Industry's Choice Award winners! These bears (and kitten), were chosen by a panel of industry leaders and they will be published in the June issue of Teddy Bear and Friends magazine for public voting. Follow this link to see a slideshow of all the winners! I am so pleased and thankful to the judges for honoring my work!

Here are some photos of my winners!

Hatta, TOBY Industry's Choice Award in the Large Dressed Bear Category

Scooter, TOBY Industry's Choice Award in the Small Friend Category

Toklo, TOBY Industry's Choice Award in the Large Undressed Bear Category

Christmas Time in the Studio!

I added a bit of Christmas cheer to my studio this year! A couple of my ball-jointed dolls became little elves to help me with my own toy-making.

The kitschy Rocking Santa, once loved by toddlers now shunned by teenagers, swings along with the radio in my studio, and a lovely tiny nativity ornament resides on this shelf year round.

And there is the tree! I bought two little trees, one for each of the boys' rooms, but Alex didn't want one this year so I brought it down to my studio. I didn't really want to buy any ornaments so I thought of making a garland of thread spools. But what if I needed a color of thread for my work? I needed a way to put them on the tree, but still be able to access them easily if I needed them. I got this idea from this blog, Sew Many Ways, and I love it! Sean helped me make all the little hooks and it makes a lovely studio tree!

Merry Christmas from my studio!!!

Oh, Joy! A New Toy!

I had planned to do some housework today, but how can I when THIS arrived today!

I have wanted one of these Singer Featherweights for quite a while, and I finally had the chance to buy this lovely girl, "Olive" from fellow Teddy Bear Artist Cathy Forcino. In addition to making lovely bears, Cathy finds vintage Featherweight sewing machines and fixes them up for fellow crafters and collectors!

Olive came so carefully and cheerfully wrapped, I felt like it was Christmas morning!

There is nothing wrong with my "old" sewing machine--in fact I love it, and would not trade it for anything~it sews perfectly and it is sentimental. My mother gave it to me, and I learned to sew in this machine. It was the first thing she bought with her first paycheck from her first "real job" and she made clothes for me on it when I was a baby!

But "Susan" (since Olive came with a name I feel compelled to give this old friend a name too!) will be tucked into her table for just a bit while I learn about my new machine.

I expect I will use both machines. I love that Olive is portable! Although "Featherweight" is a bit of a misnomer as all of these older machines are a bit hefty with their metal geers, she is much lighter than Susan and comes with that neat case.

No playing now, though. I must get back to house cleaning, but I have something to reward myself with when it is finished! Some new fur came this week too! SEW exciting! (Yes, I know I am a nerd!)

Christmas Treasures!

The Christmas treasures online show and sale at www.teddiesworldwide is now open! (Actually, as I am typing this, it is the night before, but when I post this it will be open!!)

The theme for this year's show is Christmas songs and carols and I really enjoyed embellishing my bears to suit the theme. I have made the embellsihments removable so the bears can be enjoyed year round.

Here are Daniel and Holly. Daniel is the "Little Drummer Boy" ( you can see his drum at the show) and Holly represents "The Holly and the Ivy".

Jeremy's simple green bow and bell were inspired by "Jingle Bells" of course!

These two classic style teddies, Nick and Tasha, were inspired by The Beach Boys' "Little St. Nick" and by "O Christmas Tree"

I hope you will join myself and the 84 other artists at the show this weekend! See the link above or click on the banner in the sidebar of this blog. Thank you for looking!

I Love My Studio Cat!

The Holly and the Ivy

We have only just turned the calendar page to November, but Christmas songs have been playing in my head for weeks! The each 85 artists participating in the Teddies Worldwide Christmas Treasures online show was asked to create a bear to represent a Christmas carol or song. As I pondered my choice, my head was a virtual juke box of holiday tunes. I finally decided on "The Holly and the Ivy" There are so many Christmas songs I love for so many different reasons, but this is one of my favorites. I have a CD by pianist George Winston called "December" which includes the first version I heard of this song. It is this particular instrumental version that is my favorite, and the CD is perhaps one of my favorite albums ever! Each time I listen to it, a wave of warm emotions crashes over me, and while it brings happy memories, I often find my vision blurred with tears. What a wonderful gift George Winston has to be able to move someone like that with his music!

I also knew I wanted to keep my assessories simple because the bear I created has some nice detailing on her own. At 15", she is the smallest bear I have created with my detailed paw pads, although I realize she is still large by many people's standards.  Here are Holly's paws and feet.

Applique trapunto paw pads before airbrush shading!

In an effort to create a simple assessory that was also unique, I decided to make her sprig of holly out of sculpted leather. I always get the biggest charge out of trying something new--especially when it turns out nicely. I was so pleased with these!




A bit of the scrap I started with, plus some finished leaves.





First I cut out the leaves from a pattern I made. The I wet them and scored the
veins and shaped them with my hands.

 


I dried them on a low temperature in the oven . I experimented with
painting white on the edges, but didn't care for it. Holly looks pleased!



And here is Holly, all ready for her Christmas Treasures preview debut! The preview is open now! Please visit www.teddiesworldwide.com to see Holly and 84 other lovely Christmas Carol themed bears! Be sure to vote for your favoites in both catagories! Hope to see you at the show November 16-18