The fun of finishing bears

Welcome blog tourists and welcome back to all my regular readers. I hope you have enjoyed the blog tour - I know I have explored some fascinating blogs that were new to me.

Let me tell you a little more about the Silent Companions blog and me. I set up this blog in July 2011 to share my creations but also to do a little more than that: to share my ideas, inspirations, struggles and successes. So this blog houses the stories of my one-of-a-kind bears as well as other stories from my creative journey. 

And me? Well I make stuff. All sorts of stuff! Crafts have always been a part of my life since a very early age - something I owe to my mum who is always sewing, cross-stitching or knitting. I started making teddy bears in my teens, when I was bought a kit for a simple button jointed bear. As my enthusiasm for bear-making grew, the actual bears shrank and I now love making miniature bears. In order to clothe and decorate my miniature bears, I have explored a variety of other crafts including knitting, crochet, embroidery, wire work - all of which had to be scaled down of course!

And that brings us neatly to the subject of my blog post today.

I'd like to share the process of finishing bears. By this, I don't mean attaching limbs, eyes and ears.

I mean creating the character of the bear. Adding the embellishments that will give the bear a story, a personality and, ultimately, a name. This can be a bit of a challenge when the bear is only 5cms tall.

Most bears spend a little while in this pre-character state while they try out a few styles. They usually try out a bow first to see how they get on. Some are happy to just wear a smart bow and the embellishment stops there.

Smudge

Other bears seem to be asking for more than just a bow and so the journey begins. Bears also like to wear hats and scarves (like Harry), glasses...

...and flowers...

...in fact, any trimming that is small enough is appropriated by the bears!

Some like more complicated costumes that include wings...

...blankets (like Christopher)...

 

...and even googly headbands (Henry loves his headband)! 

Some bears can be VERY demanding! My regular readers will remember the story of Benny and how difficult it was to find the identity of this tiny bear.

 The possibilities are really endless and only limited by my imagination (and my dexterity). Each new bear gives me new challenges as it struggles to assert its character.

Arthur

Nicholas

Jack

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the Silent Companions blog and this glimpse into my bear making world. To celebrate the blog tour stopping by, I am offering a 10% discount in my Folksy and WowThankYou shops. Just quote "blogtour" when you order and I will send you an amended invoice.

Giocolino

Meet the bears... Henry

Today, I would like to introduce you to Henry.

He, like Benny and Bella, is one of a range of "fancy dress" or "costume" bears. As you can see, Henry is dressed as a ladybird. I made him a little over 2 years ago for my first craft fair.

He is made from black upholstery velvet with black ultrasuede paw pads. He is thread jointed, has a brown embroidered nose and black glass beads for eyes. He has come out only 4.4cm (1 3/4in) tall or 5.5cm (2 7/8in) including his antennae!

His ladybird top is made from red and black felt. His "antennae" head band is made from very thin wire embellished with red felt.

He has his own little ladybird on his left arm which is made from wooden beads.

I have to say that the black upholstery velvet was a complete pain to sew. It literally took me days to finish him as I had to keep leaving him and going back later. It was like sewing a black hole! The stitches just disappeared and it was almost impossible to focus on. Taking accurate photographs of him has also been a nightmare. Suffice it to say that it may be a while before I attempt another bear in black!

So I shall continue to enjoy Henry for now and give myself a little more time to recover...

Henry is currently available for sale over on Folksy.

Meet the bears... Benny

There has been a strange shortage of bears on here recently, so this month I'd like to introduce you to Benny...

Benny is, I think, my favourite bear creation to date...

  ... not least because he caused me so many problems! He started life as a plain bear because I really couldn't figure out what to do with him. 

I have found some photos of the pre-Benny bear and I hope this one illustrates the problem....

Pre-Benny bear looked grumpy! You can't deny that, can you? The down-turned arms, the dark fur, the slightly-too-big nose, the down-turned mouth all shout 'grumpy'. I tried a bow: still grumpy. I tried flowers which just made things worse. So I was stumped. I was a bit concerned that I'd hit a wall: that he'd just be "the little grumpy bear" forever. So for a while he sat in his box and bothered me... 

And then one day, for some reason, I was thinking about costumes for bears. And it hit me. I knew exactly which costume this bear would like. But where does one start, when the decision has been made to make a bee costume for a 5cm bear?

I started with the jumper. With cross stitch needles for knitting needles and two strands of embroidery cotton, I set about knitting him a tiny, stripey jumper. 

The little jumper came out well and, once joined at the back, is a nice, snug fit.

Next the costume needed some wings. At this time I didn't know that you can actually buy miniature fairy wings, so I set about improvising. I didn't have any jewellery wire or anything fine enough for the task but I did have some of those plastic ties that come free with food bags... Once these had been stripped of their plastic coatings, they were perfect! They were pliable enough to bend into shape, yet robust enough to hold that shape while being wrapped with gold metallic thread!

 

The "lacy" effect was created by carefully knotting the thread. I think I was aiming at a sort of loose crochet effect (but since I hadn't taught myself to crochet at this point, this is the closest I could get!).

 

Of course, no bee costume would be complete without a headband with a couple of googly hearts attached! Consequently, another food tie was de-wired to create the springs and, after shaping them around a coctail stick, tiny felt hearts were added to the ends.

The bee costume is complete and Benny is born. Was it fiddly? Yes, soooo fiddly I almost gave up several times. Am I mad? Sometimes I suspect that I am. Would I ever do it again? No, not if I can help it!

Benny is certainly one-of-a-kind and he is no longer a grumpy little bear. He is perfectly content with his outfit and wouldn't change it for the world.

I think he was worth the extra work, don't you?

Benny will be staying in my collection as I would be very upset to part with him. If you would like to see more of my bears visit my website, my Folksy or WowThankYou shop.

Meet the bears... Bella

Today I would like to introduce you to Bella.

As soon as this little bear was completed, it was obvious that "it" was a "she". Her big eyes and rounded head, set slightly to one side, left no doubt. How to dress her took rather a lot more thought. So she sat for a while (as most of my bears do) trying out a bow for size as I waited for inspiration...

A while later I saw a delightful photo of a friend's little girl. Like most small children she loves to dress up and in this photo she was wearing a fairy costume complete with wings and a wand. She was sitting looking up at the camera with her head slightly to one side....

The tiny bear's expression was so much like that photo that I knew that she would have to have a fairy costume.

So now she has a skirt made from pink and white flowers cut from Guipure trim. She has tiny bows made from a single strand of embroidery cotton and a tiny pink bead. In her right hand she holds a wand made from coloured beads and topped with a star.

Bella stands just 5cm tall. She is made from a light brown upholstery velvet with cream ultrasuede paw pads. Her limbs are thread jointed so she can stand or sit. Her eyes are black glass beads; her nose is hand embroidered with black cotton.

Bella has now been adopted and is enjoying life in her new home. If you would like to see more of my bears visit my website, my Folksy or WowThankYou shop.