Eddie the Aviator

Sometimes I decide to make a bear, creating it's persona, and sometimes the bear tells me who it is going to be.

I made a parade themed bear I called Franklin for the Teddy Bear's on Parade Show back in July. I was quite pleased with the bear--he was made from one of my favorite big bear designs with a fur color I hadn't used before. In keeping with the parade theme, I made him into a drummer with a band uniform. He was the only bear who didn't find a home during the show. No matter, I thought. I'll just save him for my next show. He waited patiently in my studio.

On a trip to Hobby Lobby, I found an sweet little wooden airplane in the decor section. A few years ago, I had made a bear with a sailor collar and gave him a little sailboat to hold, so I thought I'd make an aviator bear to hold this little airplane. When I got home, I set the plane next to Franklin and immediately decided he needed a change of attire! I bought a child's bomber jacket on ebay, and not only was the color a perfect complement to Franklin's beige and taupe tones, it was a perfect fit.




This was the point when "Franklin" spoke up. "My name is not Franklin," he said, "I am Eddie the Aviator!"



Not only did he let me know who he was, but he also told me very clearly (although not by using actual words-Teddy Bears rarely do) whose bear he is! Every time I looked at him, I just knew he was my Dad's bear. ( My Dad was in the Air Force) So I called up my Dad, and described Eddie to him, and he was very excited. He came over for dinner tonight, and I gave him his bear. I am happy to say, Dad loves Eddie.

Portrait Techniques of the Masters

I am so exited! My mom and I have enrolled in an oil painting class through the Art Academy of Cincinnati (their community college program). The class, called "Portrait Techniques of the Masters" is taught by Carin Hebenstreit at Essex Studios.


I haven't painted with oils since high school, but I love the technique we are learning and by the end of the first class, I was feeling more confident with the medium as well as somewhat pleased with the results of my efforts and Carin's instruction. We started with a canvas covered with burnt umber mixed evenly with white, and then used those two colors to paint the face values in. Fun stuff!








I thought the photos I took looked a bit lighter and more muted than my actual painting, so I clicked "auto levels" in photoshop and this (below) is what I got...now it's darker than it is in reality, but it looks good--maybe I should intensify the values in my painting? Learning from the old masters and new technology!







I am still working on bear orders, as well as a couple of Hallween bears for my website, then the Hunt Valley Teddy Bear Show and Christmas Treasures online shows are right around the corner, and school has started for myself and my sons, so I'm busy, busy, busy! But it's a happy kind of busy not a stressful kind, and that fall smell is in the air and life is GOOD! Oh, yeah!

I Love Teddy

After two years, I have finally finished the third installment in my series of bear and doll sets for Teddies of Mt. Holly. This all started with an idea I had way back in 2002, on the 100th Birthday of the Teddy Bear. I wanted to create a bear which played on the Teddy Bear's namesake, Theodore Roosevelt. I pictured a realistic baby bear cuddling a "Teddy" doll. The bear I could make, but I wondered how to make a doll which looked like Theodore Roosevelt. I thought I might make a rag doll and paint the face. But the project stayed in my sketch book and in my head for a few years. In the meantime, I had taken a doll sculpting class with Jack Johnston and while my first doll was quite pitiful, it ignited the spark of a new passion. So when I came across the idea in my sketchbook in 2005 I knew I could sculpt the Teddy doll. And I made this fellow and sold him on ebay.

This set from 2005 is called "I Love My Teddy"

Then a few years after that I was asked to create a similar series of bears for the shop Teddies of Mt. Holly. The bears are larger than the one above and they are all made with the same basic design, but I've chosen different fabrics and finishes for each one. Making the doll is a bit more involved that doing my bears as each one is hand sculpted so each one is slightly different.

This one from 2008 is called "Theodore Loves His Teddy"


In 2009, I made "Clifford Loves His Teddy"

And here is my latest in the series "Roosevelt Loves His Teddy"

He has a reversable vest.


Because I wanted to do a white bear this time, I decided to use patriotic colors for the set. The costuming for the bear and doll in this set was inspired by this illustration of the "Roosevelt Bears" by Seymour Eaton.


The doll is always called Teddy, but I tried to give the bears different, but related names each time. It is a bit of a challenge as I'm running out of variations of the 26 President's name! Clifford is named after the political cartoonist Clifford Berryman who's images forever tied the name of the President with a cuddly bear.


I will be making two more sets for this series so if you are interested visit Teddies of Mt. Holly.

Bears On Parade online show is now open!

The Bears On Parade online Teddy Bear show is now open! Here are the bears I've created especially for this show!

Tiny Little Floppies; Louis, Larry, and Laurel

Shilo

Miguel and His Puppet

Franklin



Visit the show at http://www.teddiesworldwide.com/ for a better look at these cuties as well as hundreds more bears by artists from all over the world!

The Preview is Open!!!

The preview for the Bears on Parade online show at Teddies Worldwide is now open!!!

Here is my parade themed preview bear, Franklin.

He will be available when the online show starts along with a few more of my bears as well as bears from 75 artists worldwide! Visit the preview now for a wonderful collection of parade themed Teddy Bears and vote for your favorites in two catagories. (You vote by clicking on the artist's name. You may click on the photos to see the images larger.)

Then be sure to come back to Teddies Worldwide for the show July 15-17 2011!

Something Old, Something New

I have finished a couple of bears for a Guild of Master Bear Crafters' challenge called "Something Old, Something New". This was the challenge as set by Paula Carter, the guild's creator:

THE CHALLENGE ...

1. Classic/vintage style bear makers:
Create a bear in contemporary style, using at least one of the following additional contemporary elements in your design, ie., extra neck joint, trapunto paws, claws, doll's eyes, eyelids, eyelashes, airbrush shading, open mouth, teeth, alternative nose treatment etc.

2. Contemporary bear makers:
Design a traditional or vintage style bear using traditional materials and methods of construction. In the case of vintage design work, utilise distressing techniques, ie., staining, shading, shaving, patching, embroidery etc., to 'age' your bear.

I first decided that since I make mostly contemporary bears I would try a vintage looking bear. I have done this before, but I had this very sparse lovely blue fur, and I thought this time I would try to take the "aging" of the bear farther than before. The biggest challenge was the nose. I really wanted to make a nose with stitches missing like they had been worn away with kisses over the years. I tried three times and was just not pleased with the result. I finally stitched a full nose as usual, but waxed it to make it look like worn leather. I think it works for him. I also used a razor to "wear" bald patches in his fur and I think this worked out too. If I do another vintage- look fellow, I will be sure to have felt on hand for the paws because ultraseude isn't perfect for a vintage bear--there was no synthetic seude "back then"!

Here is Little Blue.





After reading some of the other artists challenge bear ideas, I thought I'd have a go at a new contemporary bear design, too. I wanted to try the double neck joint. I have tried it once or twice, but have never been thrilled with the result. This time I am pretty happy. Even though I do far more contemporary styled bears than vintage ones this proved to be the most challenging of the two.

The purpose of the double neck joint is, as I see it, to create a bear which can be posed sweetly on all fours as well as seated. The neck allows the bear to look in all directions. Adding the extra wedge shaped piece at the neck changes the proportions more than one might think, and I found it challenging to keep all the pattern pieces in proportion.

My fabric piece didn't leave much room for error, but I did end up having to make the back legs larger.

I finished with him and I am overall quite pleased with him. I took many pictures. Say Hello to Knuti! (Named for the sweet cub from the Berlin Zoo who enchanted so many in his short life.)















Both Knuti and Little Blue will be available at the My Friends and Me signing event May 28 in Leesburg, VA. Please visit my "Shows" link above for more information.

THE END!

You know it's time to clean up your studio when...

...you lose your 11 year old son in it!!!


Let me explain. I know I am one of the lucky artists who have a dedicated space in my home for my creating, and the best part of having that space is having a place for my stuff (you can read about that in my very first post on this blog, if you'd like). However, just because I have a place for my stuff doesn't mean I always put my stuff away. I love looking at the beautiful organized studios in magazines like "Studios", or "Where Women Create", and sometimes I think I could show my self-designed studio proudly among them. But other times... not so much! When I am working hard, I am a slob. I take out boxes to get something, and just leave them on the floor or a chair. I have a nice handy basket for my oft-used tools, but they don't seem to make it back in to the basket. My work table is always littered with bear parts, mohair scraps, bits of thread, sketches, and lists of things which I must do today as long as I can find the list.





The floor of the studio is usually not much better. It certainly wasn't the evening I "lost" my son!



It happened like this: Brendan had been playing outside with his friends until dark. When I called him in, it was about 9:15. He asked me if he could take the cat to bed. I was surprised he wanted to go to bed so early on a weekend, but he said he was really tired. I told him it was too early to close Missy in for the night and that I would bring her to him when I went to bed. Then I joined my husband in our basement family room for some TV time. Our older son Alex came home from his friend's house around 10:00, and was getting ready to go to bed himself at 11:00pm when he asked Sean and I, "Who is Brendan spending the night with?"


"He's not spending the night with anyone, " I answered.


"Then, where is he?" Alex asked.


"Upstairs, in his room. He went to bed early."


"He's not upstairs."


"Yes he is."


"No, he's not. I climbed his ladder and looked." (Brendan has a loft bed)


I decided to go upstairs and check for myself. I climbed the ladder and pulled back the cover. Alex was right! Brendan wasn't there! I looked in Alex's bedroom, both in his bed and on the floor on the other side of the bed. Then I checked our bed, and next the couch on the screen porch. With each empty "bed" my heart beat faster. Where was he? Did he go back outside? I called his name a couple of times. I opened the front door and looked out at our dark empty street. By this time Alex and Sean had come up from the basement and were putting on their shoes to go knock on the neighbors' doors. I ran back downstairs to get my shoes from my studio where I'd left them--and there was Brendan, cocooned in a white blanket, curled up on the floor next to the cat, sound asleep! A staircase with a half wall on both sides divides our finished basement into two, with my studio on one side and the family room on the other. All three of us had run up those stairs without noticing a body lying there in the middle of my studio floor! Why? Because there is always stuff lying about on my studio floor!!!


Note to self: Keep your studio clean, Tami, or you might lose something important!