Cherry Blossom

Hello everyone,

I am pleased to introduce you to my latest creation - a cute little bunny called Cherry Blossom. She is 11 inches tall from top to toe and comes in an Easter themed basket with some cute little chicks!!!

She has been created from pink mohair and pink ultrasuede on her inner ears, foot pads and paw pads. Inside, she is stuffed with polyester filling and glass beads in her arms and legs. She is further weighted with some steel shot in her tummy. Around her neck she has a purple ribbon complete with five easter themed buttons and a little bow on her ear finished her off perfectly :)

I have just had a call from my mum. I sent a picture to her earlier of Cherry Blossom and she loves her so Cherry Blossom is now sold! I will be making a grey bunny similar to Cherry Blossom, so if you liked her, then watch this space :)
Thanks so much!
Kelly
xxx

Lemon Drizzle

Hello,

The month of March is going very quickly! I have now been teaching my new class for two weeks! It is still strange to be teaching on my own, I still sort of feel like a student, but sometimes I feel like I am the class teacher and it is fab :).

I finished my latest bear yesterday - Lemon Drizzle. He has had three photo shoots now as I have entered him into an online award! I don't mind if he doesn't get anywhere, it is the experience that counts and I look forwards to getting some feedback eventually. He is made from a beigy-yellow mohair and is stuffed with heavy polyester filling and some glass beads in his arms and legs. I had him without ears for at least four days, I adored him! He looked like a little Yeti, but at some point, he had to be able to hear properly. Im so pleased with his overall look, he is a  little sweetie.

This is an amazing week for me, as Lemon Drizzle is sold! He is my first sale and is going to a fab home to a lady I met last week. I visited my mum today and she asked if he was for sale as she wanted him. She was so sad when I said he was sold, so she has asked me to make her a black bear in the same style.

In other news, I have just started to cut out the fur for my next challenge....a bunny! I designed it earlier, I have had the design in my head for a while but wanted to finish Lemon Drizzle first. The fur is pink, and she will be an easter bunny, sitting in a little basket :)

Here are some piccies of Lemon Drizzle from the last couple of days, I hope you enjoy him and feel free to leave a comment :)
xxx

Hugglets and a Very Special Launch!

Hello fellow bear fans,

As Spring is dawning on us, I hope that you are all well and enjoying the amount of bear related events that are going on. I am suffering from my yearly early hayfever but it isn't putting me off bears!

Hugglets was a fantastic day out! Standing in the queue, fairly near the front, we were an hour early and although it was very cold, the wait was worth it. As the door opened, we scrambled inside, gave in our tickets and ran downstairs like a herd of wild animals and descended upon Kelsey's stall in the basement. What a site! Some beautiful bears, both mohair and plush which literally flew off of her stall! After much deliberation, I chose a gorgeous pink mohair bear called coconut ice, here is her picture:

She is wonderful and as you can see, her foot is signed by Kelsey :)

Onwards we went, from stall to stall admiring the talent that swept through the four halls. It was then time for me to pounce on the bear making materials and I chose some lovely material and bear making bits and bobs for a good price including a large bag of stuffing which became my santa sack. After we had dinner, we had another walk around all of the stalls where I picked up some more mohair and chose a beautiful little Jac-q-lyn bear pictured here:

Her name is Tip Top and she is from the Urchin range.

The day then ended and we traipsed back to the car with big smiles on our faces! So Hugglets was a huge success and I am already saving up for September!

Today is a very special day as it is the launch of the new Kaycee Bear collection. The launch is being held at Magpies Gifts down in Devon with two special mohair signing bears and the chance to purchase some of the new collection. Due to Magpies being a 5 hour drive away, I was unable to make it, so instead drove with a friend to One More Bear in Trentham to see some of the new bears and bunnies! I love going to Trentham as it is a beautiful place to spend the day shopping. Once in the shop I chose a new kaycee bear - Cherry pie:

I also purchased a charlie bear bunny - Caitlin who has poseable ears, she is just fantastic! Along with the new bears, Kelsey has given us the chance to purchase limited edition prints of the limited edition bears. So you can buy the number that corresponds to your numbered bear. At Trentham today, I pre ordered Lucy Locket and her print and put Harvey on layaway also with his print :) I cannot wait to get them!

In bear making news I am still working on my small bear. I haven't had time this week with my new job but hope to spend a couple of hours on him/her tomorrow. I already have a name though - Lemon Drizzle!!!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog, keep an eye out for my next bear!
xxx

Designing

Today I finished designing a new pattern for a bear. The bears that I have made so far have ranged from 13 inches-15 inches and after realising this, I decided to challenge myself. So I have designed a smaller bear...and blimey - it is small! Not in the minbi-bear category at all, I imagine he/she will be around 10 inches from head to tippy toes but it will still be an interesting bear to create.

Now that I have finished designing I can get on with making the bear...oh wait, no I cant...I don't have any fur :(. However, I am not at a loss as Hugglets is fast approach (T-3 days!) and I intend to spend all of my saved money on furs, joints, eyes, filling etc. to last me at least a month. With this bear being quite small, I expect to use a smaller amount of material as well, so I may have some money left over for a small bear :)

3 days is a long time when you are itching to make a bear. So if I have the time, I will start to design my next idea so it is ready when I need it - an easter bunny. I had no idea on how to start designing a bunny, so I have been studying various bear bunnies, patterns and pictures of real bunnies to get an idea of the shape of the head. I have ideas on the rest of the bunny as well (long, big feet and short little arms, how sweet!) so it is just a case of trying to get my ideas down on paper (took me about 20 attempts to draw a leg out last night!!!)

My eyes are getting tired, I will leave my blogging for another day - probably Sunday after Hugglets although I officially start my new job on Monday so I may need an early night!!
Kelly
xxx

Edward

Hello all,

This is my new bear Edward :) Edward is a very handsome and regal chap. He is made from two types of mohair including a swirly beige and a chocolate brown. His nose is hand emrboidered and his eyes are black glass complete with white eye felting and a black outline giving him that adorable 'who, me?' look. He is sporting a ribbon made from yellow and green giving him a somewhat spring/easter theme to his overall look. He is a very proud and handsome bear and would love a forever home.

He is up on bearpile, the link is to the left of my blog so please feel free to take a look. Here are some piccies of him :)

Kelly
xxx

Bearpile!

Hello all,

I have finally jumped straight in the deep end and become a member of bearpile, so Romeo is on there for sale :)

http://www.bearpile.com/detail.cgi?id=1521&item=42646

I have just ordered some more mohair for my next bear.

Looking forwards to tomorrow night, Charlie bears are on QVC at midnight and I will hopefully be up watching the show. I will miss all other shows on Monday as I start my new job and then going out for V-day - but it saves me a bit of money I guess ;)

Kelly
xxx

Making the head

As promised, I am posting some pictures of how I created Romeo's head. Please note, the techniques will differ from artist to artist :)

 After sewing, the head needs to be firmly stuffed. And I mean firmly stuffed or the nose caves in (this happened to me once, poor bear is still unfinished :( )

 Here is the opening of the head at the bottom. I have stuffed it but left a little room for the joint.

 To close up the head, I use strong sailors twine. I stitch around the opening before I put the joint in.

 As you can see, the joint is in. I then pull very very firmly on the twine to close the seam (its hurts sometimes).

 After pulling on the twine, I use a sailors know where you simply tie the twine together twice and snip off the loose tails.

 After this, i position the ears using some pinms and use a measuring tape to ensure that they are in the right place. I use a long needle and a curved needle to sew the ears on using ladder stitch.

 Now here comes the tricky bit! I do an underlayer for the nose (it is a tad scruffy as you can see) and then create the mouth again using pins so I can experiment with the placement and expression.

 After creating the mouth, I spend time on the top layer of the nose, using the backing of the mohair to help create straight lines.

When the nose is complete, I use more pins to position the eyes. I then take the eye, use more whipping twine and attach the eyes using a long needle and brutal force! Only joking, just some force lol!!!With this bear, I used eye whites to create a cute but sad look and just put them on before attaching the eyes. And there you have it, Romeo's head was completed. It was then the simple case of jointing the head to the body, stuffing and closing up the back seam. He had a tidy up and his accessories were added and he was complete :)

Hope this gives you a little idea of how I create the heads. Sometimes, I leave the ears til last, I just wanted a change this time lol!

Kelly

xxx