Nellie - Open Mouth Teddy Bear Workshop

Ta-da, she's finished! 

Nellie, my open mouth bear with the full works.  She has a built-up lip line, sculpted tongue, teeth, hand painted eyes with eyelids, clay paws, waxed nose... Her mouth can open/close, and lots of subtle shading and sculpting went into creating the bear just the way I envisioned her.  I will be teaching a workshop to make Nellie on 17 November.  There is only one place still available in class and there's homework to do.  If you would like to join us, you need to jump to it.

 



Below I have added pictures that show the process of making a bear with this type of head. 

In the beginning, there is not much to see.  This bear could be anyone.

Sculpting the inside of the mouth.  This is the part I like least of all, but also the most important if you want to have a friendly bear who is anatomically correct.

By now the lips have been added, and shading done inside the mouth.  From here on the bear is heaps of fun, she was laughing all the while I worked on her.

Teeth in, and working on the nose.

Painting the eyes, and making eyelids.

Eye sockets coloured in preparation for inserting eyes.

Hard to believe that this bedraggled looking creature is going to be a beauty in a short while.  The fur still needs trimming too.

Now we are starting to get there!  Trimmed around the eyes so that Nellie can see properly.

Because the jaw is wired, Nellie's mouth can open and close.

Here Nellie is completely finished.  The crochet collar and flowers are a nice finishing touch, but not absolutely necessary on a realistic type of bear.  You can accessorize her in any way you like.
For this project we are using Loubear's new fabric Adele. 

Megan's Happy Birthday

Yep, today is my happy birthday.  It's an ordinary working day though, I have too much work at the moment to take time out, will take a relax day soon.  You know you are getting old when birthdays are not the day when the world has to stop so you can eat cake :-)
I am grateful for all the things that surround me though, for having enough work, stimulating work.  For my family and friends and animals.  And I'm grateful to everyone who has phoned or sent a message to congratulate me.  It makes me feel loved.  Thank you everyone!
The internet is a large part of my life, I think some days I virtually live in it.  I also get a lot of clues about what happens in the world from my interaction with various websites and people by email.  When I opened Google to do a search this morning, the home screen had birthday cake on it.

I immediately clicked through to see which famous person shares a birthday with me, only to get a message that says 'Happy birthday Megan'.  So there you have it, I must be famous.  Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.  Who says the internet is impersonal?

And in case you wonder how the animals are celebrating...

Today I was supposed to start work in earnest on the open mouth bear that I will be teaching in November. What did I do instead??? Put up the Christmas tree!!! Some of us have no self discipline. I will regret it in the coming week when I have to work very late at night to catch up the hours, but ho, ho, what fun I had today. Right now the studio is a mess, boxes of ornaments and strands of lights lying around everywhere. As soon as I finish writing this I will have to start cleaning up, tomorrow we have a sale day in the studio, and a teddy bear lesson in the afternoon.
Hope you are planning a creative weekend too.

It's a dog's life...

It's been crazy busy at Tin Soldiers this October, which is why the blog is a little quiet.  One workshop after another, mail orders to pack, stock arriving and needing to be sorted and shelved... the dogs are exhausted just from watching me.  Today they are sunning themselves in front of my office window while I catch up with paperwork.  I hope you are having a relaxed weekend too!

Centurion Craft Show - Report

Today I have a creative excuse for not being active at the clay table in my attic work room.  While I was taking mail order parcels to the Post Office, a swarm of bees decided to take up residence in the roof beams.  We have been experiencing a heatwave and insect and animal alike are hot and short tempered.  Every time I stick my head in there they buzz around me in a most threatening manner.  I've decided to leave them be till it grows dark this evening, when it cools down I will roust them out.  Fortunately I have experience working with honey bees, and am not allergic to their sting so when they have calmed down we will probably come to an amicable agreement over ownership of the attic.

In the meantime let me tell you about last weekend's craft show.  There isn't much to say, except that it was AWESOME.  We had a good turnout of visitors on all three days, and Henning virtually whipped the table cloths from under the last customers still working at the demonstration tables at 5pm on Sunday.  Doing demos and letting the ladies sit and make a small project was a very good idea.  It helped ensure that we were busy all the time.  Classes at Tin Soldiers are now almost fully booked for the remainder of 2012.  How lovely to meet so many new crafters!

Here Manie Kriel is entertaining the ladies at the demo table with the creative use of a scarf from the stand next to ours.  Manie from Manique Beadwork was a fellow exhibitor.  He's famous for his intricate beaded jewellery.  If you haven't seen his work, head over to his website for a peek.
Probably one of the things I appreciate most about this craft show is the level of collaboration between the artists who exhibit.  Because everyone is doing something different, there is no competition in our individual fields, and everyone gathers a heap of inspiration by watching their colleagues at work.

And this is what our sales tables looked like. 



Even the BBS (Big Black Suitcase) went with.  With such a generous amount of space available it is possible to build a beautiful display.

The next Centurion Craft Show is planned for 4-6 October 2013.