During the summer, we all met at Joel’s studio to finish the convention souvenir bear heads and divide the parts for assembly. Terri had sewn and stuffed the heads and we place a basket full of them on the table between us. I started the assembly line by taking a head out of the basket and sewing on the ears. I passed the head to Terri who embroidered the nose and mouth. She passed the head to Joel who set the eyes.
You didn't think I would show you the finished heads, did you?
I sewed and turned all the ears before we met because they are pretty small and I am used to dealing with tiny ears. I have a system for attaching ears firmly. It doesn’t take too many stitches since the ears are small, after all. What I’m getting at here is, things went pretty fast for me. I built up a line of heads waiting for noses. Terri did a great job of embroidering the noses and mouths. She was not using her usual technique and she has made many more big bear noses, so she was taking her time to get them just right. The music was playing, so I took a short dance break while she caught up.
The eyes we used had a large shank and Joel is more comfortable working on a larger bear, so he was quite meticulous about setting the eyes. What am I saying? Joel is always meticulous! There was a line of heads with ears and noses waiting for vision, too!
At the end of the day, we had a basket full of bear heads! Their little faces were delightful! Unfortunately, you can’t see them until they have been delivered to the conventioneers!
When I got home I couldn't wait to attach heads to bodies!
Mud Pies and Sassafras Tea