Showing posts with label new design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new design. Show all posts

Friday, May 31, 2013

Rhubarb the Pig



Remember that Rhubarb dyeing I experimented with on the weekend? (you can see the finished coloured mohair below) .... well, I decided the colour was too perfect for a pig to make anything else.

So I set about designing a pig pattern.





Meet Rhubarb - the pig. I am in LOVE with this little guy. He just worked - and I really do feel very grateful when that happens. It saves so much time messing around making adjustments and alterations. I think it gives me a lot of confidence that I'm finally getting this 3D soft sculpture thing too!



Rhubarb stands in at about 9", and with his over-sized head and cute little nose, is just the kind of critter I'd like to keep for my own collection... but we put him up for adoption and he found a home immediately! lol.

I will probably try working with this pattern again, maybe in a not-so-real piggy colour to see how it comes up? I don't know if I'll be able to better Rhubarb though. There was just something about him!




Friday, April 12, 2013

Kosta, Skittles, Ace, Avalon, Aristos, and 'Sneeze' meet the world!




We had another big week/fortnight here at Emma's Bears. It always amazes me when I pop on over to Blogger to do another post, and look back at all the new faces I need to show off - and see just how many have emerged since I last chatted to you guys.

This week we had a lot of bears.

And a rat. And a rat pattern.

And some more bears! lol





This little cherub was 'Kosta'. He was made in our Lyric pattern (the one that includes pieces to make three very different bears) using our black and tan faux fur fabrics. Because the backings on our faux fur lines have been chosen for their lack of stretch, they're very easy to work with and allow us to do face-inserts and tricks like that with the bears without warping of the shape. I actually really like the colour combo of the black/brown here too. But I choose Kosta's bright blue eyes late one night while I was working on his face, and found them a touch too pale in the light of the morning.

Kosta has left home to meet his new family, but we do have kits available for him. And you can choose whatever coloured eye you'd prefer from our eye listings. He would look completely different with gold eyes, or green eyes or even basic solid black eyes.












The other new, exciting product we've added to our bear supplies section of our Emma's Bears/Fur Addiction store is the addition of our 'Rat Pattern'. These were my initial sketches of Mr Rat back in 2012 when I first got the bright idea to see how one would turn out. The prototypes were made in rainbow dyed LouBear mohair, and worked out beautifully (see below).







But I hadn't tried the design in a more natural colour-way, so decided to use our shortpile/antiqued line of mohair to see how it would look. The result was 'Skittles':








Skittles is so sweet - as far as rodents go - and I love the big, droopy ears. His tail/rear legs are wired for posing, and his front legs are jointed. He's a really interesting, easy pattern for a beginner-to-intermediate bear maker to try out. Something a little different to bears.

The biggest challenge with him would be turning out his tail, but my advice to anyone embarking on the 'Rat Pattern' journey is to only sew one side of the tail, then turn it out and ladder stitch it over the wire frame rather than attempting to turn out out fully sewn (which is what I did - and 30mins later and lots of choice words, I finally managed to get that little bugger turned! Why do I always end up making things harder for myself due to laziness! In this situation, a little hand stitching will save a lot of pain!).





'Skittles' is available for adoption if you're looking at adding a rat to your collection ;)









We also had the 'A' triplets - 'Avalon', 'Aristos' and 'Ace'. These guys were made from our 'Willa/Attila Bear/Bunny' pattern (using the bear pieces, not the bunny pieces).




Avalon was made in some left over mohair pieces I had from my personal stash. She has found her new home.






Ace was made from our 'Latte' tipped, distressed mohair. He has also found his new home, but you can purchase his Kit if you'd like to try making one yourself.







And Aristos was made in our 'Milk Chocolate' Kid Mohair. He too has found a new home, but is available in Kit form.











Then we switched pace a bit and ended up with this crazy big guy. My initial plans for this bear were that he was going to be a sweet little lady-bear with maybe a pink hair bow... but when I'd finished with that face I knew this was no girl-bear!

And so 'Sneeze' was born - a gorgeous, unusual bear in luxury green faux fur and floral print pads. Sneeze has now found his own home as well.












And to leave you guys with a sneak peek - this is our latest work-in-progress. He will be a big, chunky boy and is made in our 'Island Sunset' faux fur. We'll upload his finalised pics as soon as he's done!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Missy



I'd like to introduce little 'Missy' - my latest design.



I thought for sure I'd need to adjust this pattern after seeing how it went together this time around, and wrote down a list of things I was going to change as I was assembling her... but now that she's finished, I don't think I want to change anything!




Missy is 8" tall and has jointed legs and head but floppy arms - meaning they sit so beautifully in her lap. She is currently on etsy and bearpile if you think she might fit into your collection.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

An update on my 'critter' sewing adventures


I've been a bit slack with updating my bear blog lately. Between the two very active children in my life, the husband who is home for a few weeks over the christmas/new year period, 40+ guinea pigs in the backyard, a reasonably well behaved dog, giant fish and now two new baby cockatiels... we have a busy little world!

But here is a look at the last bunny I made in my newest rabbit pattern. This little lady is named 'Maple', and she has already been claimed. She was made from a mix of coffee and cream ratinee curly mohair - which I think worked quite well as something a little different.



Maple ended up sitting a lot straighter - which is what I originally wanted, after I changed the method of stuffing the tummy/legs (really firm, heavily weighted belly, firmly stuffed and weighted feet, and much softer top-part of the legs).







I've also been working on some quirky new guinea pig plushies (because I am a little guinea pig obsessed...).




(The belly of the mumma piggy is lined in 100% cotton quilting fabric, and padded so that the babies snuggle in well and stay in place while mumma sits over them - kind of like a guinea pig version of a babushka doll!).


Babies in the tummy...

...babies out! I think it's something a little different, and a little fun, and will appeal to those who loved those 'puppy surprise' toys from years ago. (or even those pregnant barbie dolls that used to be available... which was me! lol)