Banjo

We're super busy behind the scenes at the moment creating quite a few custom bears - so to make some space on our work shelf for all our work-in-progress bears we decided to release one of our favourite bears made back in 2010 for general adoption. 

Banjo is the bear I didn't think I'd ever part with - but I have to stop being sentimental! 

So my loss is your gain. We only have him listed on our website at the moment, you'll find him here. 

Babette

With the last few pieces of hand-dyed turquoise fur left over from 'Umiko's' pattern cut out, we managed to whip together this little lady. Sweet Babette.

Babette is 12" tall (so a good deal more petite then Umiko), and made predominantly in the natural white mohair. We curled it to look the same as the pile effect on the dyed turquoise piece though (this mohair is called 'Eddie' in our store, and in the 'off-the-roll' form it's quite a flat/wavy pile. But add a bit of water, flick it out and hang it to dry and those flat waves become cascading curls!)

We've kept Babette quite softly stuffed but also very heavy, so you naturally want to kind of scoop her to you while you hold her. She nestles into your arms like a little kitten.

(If you can't tell I'm quite fond of this one!).

Babette is available for adoption. 

I couldn't help myself...

I just couldn't help myself. That pile of hand-dyed turquoise mohair was just sitting there staring at me, begging to be turned into SOMETHING... so I did.

And that something is the gorgeous big girl you see before you. We have called her 'Umiko', which means 'child of the sea' in Japanese. Seemed appropriate considering her lovely ocean-wave-like mohair.

I tried a different shape for her eyelid sculpt this time - going for a more almond shape similar to the shape I use when sculpting lids for the rabbits we make. It gives her a lovely soft expression that I quite like.

She is available for adoption at the time of writing, but I can't guarentee for how long that will be the case :)

A study on Turquoise

I will admit I'm a little Turquoise crazy at the moment. I LOVE this colour. There are so many tone/shade variations that are possible within the spectrum of what can be still considered 'turquoise'.

So I took that love/obsession and turned a couple of meters worth of white mohair into TURQUOISE mohair! Each piece is the result of a different combination of dyes and techniques. And surprisingly I've actually found getting specific turquoise shades to be quite tricky. So if there is a piece here you really like I recommend snapping it up, as I'm not likely to be able to replicate it exactly.

(also, it might pay to grab your favourite piece before I start pulling some aside for further Emma's Bears projects! Do you know how hard it is to put those stunning curly long pile pieces up for sale... I want to keep them all!!!)

Pandora the Pink Panda

We had another custom ted to work on this week - a BIG 25" pink and black panda-style bear. 

Her new mum requested she be made from our black 'Ace of Spades' fur and our unusual pink/choc 'Turkish Delight' fur. I would have to say that Turkish is our most under-rated fur fabric! It hardly ever gets used by us for creations - and is probably our worst seller as well! But it is really very lovely (if not incredibly hard to photograph!).

Mark takes it to heart a bit as this was the fur he chose with our last shipment, but I honestly think it's just because it's a little different to your ususual pink fluffy fabrics!

And here she is all finished and ready to meet her new mum. She has been named 'Pandora' - which is just perfect for her! If her shape looks familiar it is because she is a 75% pattern reduction of our 'JUMBO' design.

If you would like your own custom teddy, don't hesitate to contact us :)  

Baby Willow and Baby Thomas

Name: Thomas Jude 

Born: 13/01/15 

Time: 9:07am 

Weight: 4 lb 8oz 

Length: 17"

(currently available for adoption in our etsy store) 

Name: Willow Mia
Born: 12/01/15
Time: 4:43pm 
Weight: 3 lb 10oz
Length: 17"

(Also currently available for adoption in our etsy store)

Baby Willow

Bearpile now has the function to add a video of each bear listed and I've been watching artists upload them over the last week or so. I decided to try myself. It's actually feels so much more exposed to show a video as opposed to just photos of my work!

Mark thought the whole process was hilarious - so I kicked him out of the room. lol Let me know what you think. I've never made a video like this before, so take it as an extremely amature attempt!

CHUBBY CHEEKS pattern is now available

Our brand new 'Chubby Cheeks' pattern is now available for instant download in our etsy store. This bear is about 15" tall when completed, and the pattern includes shapes and instructions to make it in either a traditional jointed style, or non-jointed.

A bit of fun, and something great for making with a first-timer bear crafter, or with kids :)

Rainbows and sunshine

It has been raining a LOT here lately. A lot! So when we were blessed with a few hours of sunshine yesterday I took the opportunity to get some mohair dyed up. We don't actually have a clothes line at our new house... so the fence had to make do as a drying rack! Mark was tasked with the job of running the newly rinsed out pieces of mohair down to the fence, then coming back up to the house to grab the next bit. We didn't want to risk them bumping/flicking onto each other in case the colours bled.

It only took about 2hrs flapping in the breeze and with the hot Australian afternoon sun blaring down on them for the mohair to dry. I gathered it all up in a massive bundle and got it back inside the house just before another storm rolled over.

We were without electricity here for about 6hrs today (after some earth workers accidentally drilled through our mains power cable!), but I finally got back on to the computer this evening to get all of the new pieces listed. 

If you can't find a colour you're looking for - let me know (eleb2000@hotmail.com) and we can custom dye you up a piece.