Our Garden

One of the positives of having a pet-free back yard is that we can start to fix it up a bit. For the past three years we've kind of let it just do what it wants. The shrubs and bushes have gone crazy and the guinea pigs had little tracks all through the undergrowth. I had a quick weed and 'stocktake' of our current plants this afternoon and thought i'd share this photo of our pink rose bush. My mum gave it to us as a house warming present when we first moved in, and now (thanks to hap-hazard pruning)it's taller than me!

New Bear - Malani

Well, the attempt to use eyes with sculptured eyelids didn't really work, so i ditched the idea for now. I will have to use a completely different pattern i think. I do like to make things more difficult for myself :P

This is the little bear i tried the eyes on. She has turned out quite nicely despite the last minute change of heart over her eyes! It was ridiculously hard to get the pink bow by her ear to actually look pink in the photos for some reason. Maybe early morning lighting in my backyard is not ideal for pink on brown contrast... who knows. But i did get some nice shots. Her full listing : www.emmasbears.bearpile.com

Chelsea was as helpful as ever, firstly getting into my sewing box and spreading embroidery thread all over herself. Then trying to climb through the cat door to get to me as i was taking photos outside! She's getting more and more mobile each day!

Cheeky Monkey

Had a lovely morning this morning having coffee with a friend from school and her 7 week old daughter. Chelsea was pretty good. I think she used up all her 'goodness' while we were out though, as she became a little more challenging this afternoon. I couldn't move without her crying and clinging to me. But as long as i sat on the floor with her she was content to climb all over me and chew on my jeans.

During the precious downtime i get while she has her daytime sleeps, i managed to sculpt and bake some polymer clay eyelids that i'm going to try on a new bear. I'll use the chubby 9" pattern i designed to try and get the multi-coloured Russian eyes to look right - and see if the eyelids help at all. Might get to work on it later tonight if I'm lucky!

Bear Reborning

A little while ago... maybe six months or so... i discovered that there was some hostility towards bear reborning out there in internet-bear-making land. I was totally oblivious to it up until that point, and had already happily re-done a number of bears that needed a little TLC.

Some of the points raised in objection to reborning a bear were that you were messing with someone else's piece of art, that bears have souls and by changing it's look you destroy it's essence, that no artist could feel secure that their work would be kept as they intended it once it is sent into the world, that the reborner would try to take all the credit for the bear etc...

So, last night i managed to muster up enough courage to try making-over a little bear called Morris that had been waiting patiently for his turn at a new life. I have tried to address as many concerns about bear-reborning as I can in his bearpile.com listing, but i'm still not sure how he will be received.

I feel that I have given him a whole new lease on life, but I do understand that there will always be those who disagree with what I have done. And I accept that. What matters is that I feel I have done this as ethically as possible. I don't wish to claim that I am the greatest bearmaker on earth and all bears should be 'reborn' by me, but i do think that this little guy will now have a good chance at being cherished by a new owner.

Would love to know your thoughts. Positive and Negative.

Sophie and Custard Move out!

So after last night's incident with the cat attack, it was decided that the surviving two guinea pigs, Sophie and Custard, should be relocated somewhere safer. This is a photo of them in their new home with a friend of mine. Her 3 year old Zeke is now their custodian, and he assures me that he 'will feed them every day'! lol. So cute!

RIP Bundy

Last night our neighbours cat attacked our guinea pigs, again. I ran outside but was seconds too late and our fluffy white one (we called Bundy) had been bitten. She was still alive, but in shock and whimpering in pain. She spent the night with her remaining sisters, then I took her to the vet this morning.

Her injuries were too great, so it was decided that it was kindest to put her to sleep. Chelsea and i said our goodbyes and left her there. Later this afternoon i will be taking the last two sisters to a friends place. She lives on acreage and has safer accommodation for them. So no more piggies for Chelsea to giggle at, which is a bit sad...

New Bear - Lukman

Finished another bear. Feels like he was a long time in the making! But i am very happy with him. His name is 'Lukman' which means wise and intelligent. (as much as a bear can be wise and intelligent!) - i think it suits him though. He has such a nice expression on his face! His full listing can be seen at: www.bearpile.com