Marking out the Body Pieces

You have to be a little bit crazy to be a bear maker.  Both Terri and I have made convention souvenir bears in much larger numbers, so I guess we thought with three of us working on the ones for the 2010 Jubilee, it wouldn’t be such a big job.  At least that was our story…

I sewed the bodies and ears for the souvenir bears. I like to cut out my pieces on my deck, weather permitting. It keeps a lot of fluff out of my house and it is pleasant to be out in the fresh air. My little dog Rowdy loves to dig for ground squirrels when we are outside as opposed to climbing on my lap when I try to work indoors, so it’s a good plan all around !

First, I traced out all parts I needed, then cut them out and sorted them into pairs.  I piled the pairs up and took them in to my sewing machine.

I always chain sew as much as possible – sewing one part after another without breaking the thread in between.  I ended up with these pretty chains of body pieces after sewing darts.

That’s how it all started.  Cathy Draper and I had been emailing back and forth, hammering out the list of previous Teddy Bear Jubilee themes and souvenir bear artists.  Then, “I have an idea to run past you…” she wrote.    Would Once Upon a Needle be interested in making the souvenir bears for the 2010 Jubilee?  My first thought was “poor Cathy, she has lost her mind”.  At the same time, I wanted to say “Sure!”   Not wanting to answer for all, I quickly sent an email to Terri and Peggy.  Emails flew between Kansas City, Lincoln and Des Moines.  I believe we each used phrases like “I may be crazy, but…”  We agreed.

It has been a fun process.  The bear has been designed and created as a team.  Working as a team presented issues I hadn’t considered.  All three of us work differently when we design.  Sitting down to come up with a pattern was interesting.  We got together for a weekend.  It felt like an art class or something.  Our goal was to come up with a bear that was not instantly recognizable as having been made by any of the three of us.  A new “species”, if you will.  There was a lot of drawing of parts and pieces, a lot of comparing for scale and a final joining of them to make a single bear.  We cut the pieces out of mohair, stitched, stuffed, jointed, eyed, eared, nosed and arrived at Juan.  Juan was the first prototype.  Juan has issues.  He was cute, but not the right kind of cute.  Tabling the design for a while, we decided on mohair and felt and made our orders.  After the supplies arrived, we got together for another weekend.  Altering our first pattern, we made Owen.  Owen was the second prototype.  Owen has fewer issues but is still not what we had in mind.  More alterations.  Frustrated but optimistic, we divided the fur and felt to begin sewing on our agreed upon parts.

Felted Mushroom Container

Today after I got too hot in the garden and had laundry in, I made a mushroom. I had in mind to make a group of of needle felted containers like the ones we did for our challenge last spring. I sketched out several ideas and got out the colors I needed, but when I sat down with my trusty needle, I ended up with a mushroom.

I must confess that I am rather obsessed with mushrooms. I have concrete and resin mushrooms in my garden and I even have a mushroom house charm on my garden bracelet. I also have a ceramic mushroom bird house that I got on Etsy.com.

It has certainly been ideal weather this summer for mushrooms to pop up all over the yard. Earlier this month when I was stuck in traffic due to flooding, I observed huge white mushrooms in several yards along 56th Street.

Mushroom Container with Open Cap

Maybe that was all stuck in my head, because I really hadn’t intended to make a mushroom!  Sometimes if you just start working, you get a surprise.

Anyway, here it is.  The cap is hinged and opens to reveal a hollow stem for hiding tiny treasures.  I’m not sure where I am going with this – maybe I’ll make a tiny critter to live inside.

Bear by Linda Dorr, Vintage Sailor Suit and Flag

My favorite find is an antique child’s sailor suit that I was lucky enough to come across several years ago on a cross-country trip with my husband. I am not a very good antiquer or maybe I just don’t look often enough, but I never seem to find as much cool stuff as my friend Linda Dorr. She finds lots of wonderful vintage clothing and accessories for her bears – and quite a few antique bears, too! I seldom find anything.

Anyway, Artichoke Annie’s outside of Columbia, Missouri was just opening up and had maybe half of the booths filled. We were on our way home and I hadn’t found much of note on the entire trip. I remember coming around a corner and there it was! A little blue sailor suit complete with hat! It reminded me of one my grandfather wore in photos of him as a little boy. That would have been around 1900. Even better, the price was really reasonable! I was beside myself!

Of course, my husband didn’t get it. But then, I was not charmed by the knife he bought there, either.

I bought the sailor suit thinking maybe I would make a big bear for it and sell it. Who was I kidding?

A couple years later, I bought a Linda Dorr bear on eBay from someone I know who had just purchased a couple of new Linda Dorr bears at the Kansas City Jubilee and, according to her rules, had to get rid of a couple of bears. I’m pretty sure this is one of the big bears Linda brought to the Jubilee in the late 1990s when we shared a room at the show, so I had coveted it for a long time. I was delighted when I tried the sailor suit on this bear and it fit pretty nicely!

Combined with a vintage flag and a drum, this bear adorns the top of my barrister’s bookcase all summer long.

Patriotic Jester by Joel Hoy

In our entry hall, we have an old painted wood pew that holds several bears and an antique doll.  On the floor beside the pew sits an old wooden garden tool box.  Currently sitting in the box is one of my cloth bodied jester bears, all dressed for a patriotic occasion.  While visiting a local shop we found garland made of twill tape and American flags.  I made use of just one corner of the garland, draping it over the front of the box and tucking the remainder under the bear.  For a little filler I used a couple of painted wood stars that were purchased at a big-box craft store (after Christmas sale) a few years ago.  They have been waiting patiently to find a use.  A bunch of vintage millnery flowers is tucked into the corner.  For some balance, I tied a resin star ornament to the handle in the opposite corner.

Patriotic Mabel by Joel Hoy

The second display is in our dining room.  Another of my bears, Mable, is joined by a white Steiff monkey and a small antique doll.  The artist made vase is filled with rusty stars, bird houses and berries.  Another of the painted wood stars lies under the vase, to add a little more color to the scene.  Very simple, and quite easy to pull together.  I hope these examples have made you think of thinks you can pull out of boxes or drawers, to liven up your house for the summer holidays.

This blog will share some of the interests that connect us.  Of course, there is our love of collectible teddy bears that brought us together in the first place and our love of fabric and sewing.  We love antiquing and finding treasures on our shopping trips – primitives, old lace, vintage children’s furniture, old hats, vintage postcards and graphics…you get the idea.  So welcome to our world!

Chelsea Chick Candy Container by Peggy Fleming

Our theme is candy containers!  We already have oodles of ideas.  Daniel Epley gave us each a vintage post card as inspiration for our springtime creations after a recent antiquing adventure.   It will be fun to see what we all come up with, so be sure to tune into my website for the show!

I wish I could make wonderful all the time!  But, a lot of us have decided we need the security of a regular income and benefits that a full time job provides.  For me, it was fine to supplement our income with my teddy bear sales when my kids were young and I wanted to be home with them, but when it came time for college, it was time for Mom to go back to the office.

Now, I do happen to know a bunch of teddy bear artists who have been able to support themselves and sometimes even a family, with their teddy bear businesses.  It was a lot easier to make money 10-15 years ago when the industry was at its height.  There were lots of collectors who would come to a show and buy from several artists.  The economy was doing well and there were lots of shows and conventions to attend.  Classes and seminars on making and collecting were filled.  Ah, for the good old days!

In these economic times, though, fewer people are spending a lot of money on collectibles.  Shops have closed, shows have disappeared.  A lot of the collectors who used to buy lots of bears have just gotten older, downsized their collections, and, in some cases, have died.  And the Internet has changed the way people sell and shop for bears.

I think it would be really hard to start a full-time teddy bear business right now. 

What do you think?