Photoplay!

OK. I learned that with a cloning tool in Photoshop, I can get rid of the seam in the background of this picture. (See the post below for the original photo.) Pretty cool, right?
Brendan's Paddington


I also learned that if I just play around in Photoshop like a little girl with her hands in fingerpaint, I can do this! Really cool, right? Well, OK, I'm not ready to do my own web design yet, but it was fun and I kinda like it!

Enlightening Experience

Well, after years of taking all of my Teddy Bear pictures outside, and freezing my fingers off (and other body parts, too)in weather like we are having today, I bought a light tent studio. I still really like the look of the pictures I take outside--the bears look good in their natural habitat--but magazines and stores require pictures with "plain, uncluttered backgrounds". It will also be nice not to have to depend on the weather to cooperate when I need to photograph a bear.

I have taken some photographs with my new light tent, and of course I will have to experiment to find out how to best use it, but I do think it will work out.

This is how the studio is set up. My camera tripod is, of course, empty because I had to take it off to take THIS picture!



Here is a photo of Brendan's Paddington now fully outfitted with his hat and coat. (He did a beautiful job with the clothes, too, didn't he?) This photo is one of the best I took, because the bear is smaller and less of the light tent shows. If I had aimed my camera a bit more carefully none of the tent seams would have shown.I'm learning!



I also learned that I don't care for the black background--not the one that came with it anyway, the folds show,(I know, I know,I could iron it, but who wants to do that very time?) and it washes out the bear.



The white background shows the folds a bit too, but not nearly as much as the black, but I think the bear's color looks great with the white. The other backgrounds included are bright red and bright blue, and they are shiny. I am thinking that I will use the included backgrounds as templates to cut the blue felt and the tan vinyl that I've used before to fit in the tent. Neither of those are wrinkly at all. This photo could be cropped better as well.



Here is one more.I was thinking that photo editing software could adjust the backgrounds, too. For example, I think could use the cloning tool to wipe out that seam area behind Paddington's ear in this one, but I'd rather not have to fool with that too much.



Anyway, this was an enlightening experience!

Paddington's Progress

I finished Paddington! I've finished the bear himself, that is. He still needs his coat and hat, and I have plans for more items from the stories to put into his suitcase (Scrapbook, jar of marmalade, picture of Aunt Lucy, centavos, etc.). I found his suitcase at Michael's.It might be a little big for him to carry, but I wanted to display him sitting on it most of the time. So far,I have made him a scrapbook, but it doesn't have anything in it yet. The Paddington Bears will be sort of an ongoing project for Brendan and me, but I have to set it aside for now, as I've got lots of bear orders to work on (and dolls too)! Yay!

Here is a picture of him before I used my airbrush. It shows the size comparison to my next largest bear, Figaro.



More poses to enjoy...
(You can click on any picture in my blog to see it bigger.)

More About Paddington

I thought I'd borrow the title of Michael Bond's second Paddington book for this post as it seemed to fit perfectly. I have been working away on my Paddington and he is getting close to being finished. Brendan had made a suitcase for his bear complete with the intitials P.B. on it. He bought a little wooden hinged box and lined it with black fabric. Then he painted the case black and glued in the letters for the monogram. We found a small jar to put in the suitcase and now we justhave to figure out how to make it look like it has marmalade in it.

Brendan's Paddington:






My Paddington is nearly finished.
I have chosen to make him "life-sized" or at least how I imagine he would be. One of the books says he weighs "nearly 16 pounds" and the drawings show him about the size of a toddler. I hope the Paddington I am making will be recognizable as Paddington even though he will not look like the cartoon illustrations of Paddington. I love the first illustrator's gestural pen and ink illustrations for their lively feel, but it is certainly difficult to duplicate that quality in 3-D. The Paddington I am making is going to look like the picture I get in my mind when I read the stories...
I made some pen and ink sketches mimicking the style of Peggy Fortnum,

And then I drew a sketch of what I see when I read the Paddington stories...(the one on the left). This is how I hope my finished bear will look.

Back to work with me! Or should I say back to play--this bear is for ME!

Paddington!

Many Christmases ago--nearly thirty, I think--I received a set of paperback books in a slipcase. I can't recall what those books were or even who they were from...So why am I even bringing them up? I bring them up because my brother Aaron also received a set of paperbacks in a slipcase that same Christmas---and his books I loved! I'm not sure if he ever read them, but I read them all, again and again. I loved bears and these books were about a sweet, polite, and doggone funny little bear named Paddington, who was created by Michael Bond.
A couple of years ago, while browsing on ebay, I saw that set of books and had to buy them to share the stories with my kids (and because I am a nostalgic kind of person).
This picture shows the paperbacks in the slipcase, a Paddington made by Boyds which was a Christmas gift from my husband several years ago, and a tiny little clip-on Paddington who lived in my dollhouse when I was a kid.



Paddington also inspired my creative side when I was young. Here is a picture I made based on the cover illustration on the first Paddington book. I remember when I made this picture I didn't like it at all. It was an art class assignment which involved tearing tissue paper and gluing it to create the picture. We were not allowed to use scissors and I was frustrated with the picture since I was actually pretty good at drawing--especially bears--but I could not get the realistic look I wanted with the torn tissue. My mother, an artist who tends to favor abstract art loved it and has saved it all these years.



I recently checked out some Paddington books on CD from our library to listen to while I sew, and naturally began to envision how I would make my own version of Paddinton. My son Brendan was listening too. He asked where my Paddington books where and when I gave them to him he read straight through the first one. Then he came to me and said, "Mom, can you help me make my own Paddington?" Ha! No one has to twist my arm for that!

I just happened to have a Paddington pattern I had purchased from ebay (for nostalgic reasons too). I didn't know if I would actually use it or not, but I bought it because, during my childhood Paddington obsession, my mom had purchased the exact same pattern for me. (I'm not sure if I ever made him, but I do recall making his duffle coat for a stuffed bunny I had.) I thought it would be a perfect beginner bear for Brendan. The date on the pattern is 1977.



So on Christmas Eve, Brendan began to make his Paddington bear from a remnant of fleece I had purchased for him. We worked a bit on Christmas day too and finished Paddington.

I helped with the pinning and Brendan did all of the cutting and sewing (both hand and machine sewing) except for the gusset and the foot pads which I sewed for him. He placed the safety eyes and nose,stuffed the bear well, and closed the stuffing holes with a ladder stitch.

Brendan is very proud of his bear and I am very proud of him!

I'll have more to post on this topic as I do plan to design my own Paddington and Brendan has plans for a coat, hat and even a suitcase for his bear.

A New Bear---well sort of!

I finally finished this fellow for a special collector in Wisconsin. He had seen Santa's Little Helper and Jingles at the show in Schaumburg, but they had already been adopted. I told him I could make something similar but not the same. There are two reasons for that. First, the other set was sold as one-of-a-kind. Second, the reason I described it as one of a kind, is that I knew I had purchased those fabrics some time ago and would not be able to find them again. So he's not really a new design, but he is a new bear! I hope Jeff likes him.

Five Random Things About Me---

I have been tagged!!! Thank you for tagging me goes to both Ellen Borggreve of
Ellen Borggreve Design and Kim Basta of Wild Thyme Originals. Thank you!!

So if I understand the game right, I am to list five random things about me and then to tag five other bloggers.

Here are my random facts:

1. I am listening to George Winston's December CD and I love it. I always think that musicians possess I kind of magic that I wish I had as well. This piano CD certainly is magical.

2. I have three brothers and no sisters. I do have four lovely sisters-in-law, though including Sean's brothers wife, and soon there will be five!

3. I have known my husband Sean for more than half of my life and I am still totally infatuated with him!

4. I am not 40 yet! (but will be soon!)

5. I do not like the taste of coffee--or even coffee flavored sweets, but I love the smell of it.

I am going to copy the rules of this game here and tag five more bloggers.
Please visit these lovely artists' blogs. I love to pop in on these folks!
Jennifer Stanfield
Laura Matthews
Daphne Blau
Christine Pike
Amy Thornton



HERE ARE THE RULES FOR PLAYING INTERNET TAG:

Share 5 random facts about yourself on your blog
Link to your tagger (that's me!) in your "random fact" post
Include these rules in your post
Tag 5 people by including both their names and links to their blogs in your post
Let those you've tagged know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog