Friday, August 29, 2014

Silly Bears

Here are a few of the bears now winging their way to Silly Bears of Aberdeen, Scotland. I loved making these fellows, especially their accessories!


This is Phillip (One More Ride)

Phillip is a 9" cub made from curly mohair. It is time for bed, but like little ones everywhere he insists, while rubbing his eyes sleepily, he's not even tired! He begs for just one more ride on his rocking horse.
Phillip has five joints and curved arms for hugging his horse. His needle and scissor-sculpted face features premium glass eyes and a multi-layered stitched pearl cotton nose. I have needle-sculpted his paws and shaded them to create a similar look to my applique trapunto technique for larger bears. The needle sculpting works well for this smaller scale foot! Phillip features air brush detailing as well as some hand coloring with fine art pens. 

I had the idea for a bear on a rocking horse at the last moment (which is how many of my best ideas come) and ended up working late hours all week in order to finish him. But like any new design, it was loads of fun to do! The rocking horse is made of dense short-napped mohair, and it's firmly stuffed body has a heavy armature for stability. Its hooves are painted leather, and its mane and tail are wool roving. Like his rider, he features glass eyes, a needle sculpted face, and some hand coloring. 














If you are interested in  these bears please contact Silly Bears. There are two more bears on their way in the same package but I will post their photos later.

Gifts

So much is going on right now! I feel like I have been see-sawing between 12 hour days of bear making to 12 hour days of getting ready for school. But my new classroom is mostly organized--I'll just have to do the rest as I go along , school has started, and I finally have a few bears finished! I will post them when  my camera battery charges. It is great to be teaching again. As I  mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, when I feel stretched to the limit by the myriad of things a teacher must do outside of instructional time, I consider letting go of the teaching career (but never the bears and dolls.)  After just one day back with my young art students, I am in love with my job again!