Two sets of Twins!

Normally we don't make more then one of the same bear. Mostly because I get bored easily. 

But lately I've been in the mood for twins!

These two are made in our black and chocolate kid mohair lines using our FREE pattern (see link on the upper left hand side of this blog). And I'm just in awe at how cute they've ended up. And how similar!

It's actually REALLY hard for me to get faces the same - even when using the same pattern and fur.

Jude 1 of 2 has found his new home, but the cutie shown below - Jude 2 of 2 is still available.

Then - to just flip over onto a whole other direction, we thought we'd do twin rainbow bears. 

These guys are also made using the FREE pattern. 

The differences are a little more obvious between bear 1 of 2, and bear 2 of 2 here  - mostly due to cutting the pieces from different areas of the hand-dyed quarter. One bear is mostly gold/yellow while the other has more blue/indigo. The faces are also both slightly different as well.

I've called this bear 'Orion', and both of the editions are currently available. So if you prefer one over the other (or if you want to keep the duo together) you get first choice!

Seven bears

We've been a busy little bees over the last week or so ... but have neglected this blog a bit. Which makes me a little sad and nostalgic... i think back to the early days of this blog when it was a mix of baby-photos and random daily postings and how much simpler life was back then! :)

Now I try to condense a weeks worth of bear-making updates into one post... which makes for a lot of scrolling for you guys! So to counter that - I'll keep my text short and sweet. Pictures are what we're all here for anyways isn't it! ;)

These are the seven bears we've finished in the last seven days or so. A few are already adopted, but where they're still available I'll link them back to their etsy listings for you guys :)

This sweet girl is Willow. I finished her on the weekend, in the dim light of our lounge room. When I got to see her in daylight the next morning I was pleasantly surprised that she was so whimsical and sweet. She has already found a new home.

These little oddities are 'Apple and Crumble'. We got some special help on our facebook page to name them. Crumble has found her new home now as well, but Apple is still available.

Then there was this little fluff-ball. We made him from a piece of our long-pile white mohair (Cloudland) that we dyed a sweet pastel blue (I literally just dipped this mohair in the pot of dye for about 10 seconds, then pulled it and out rinsed it off! - and we got this awesome pastel shade!).

Aoki has also found a new home already.

Then there was this awesome big bear! He was made as a custom order for a collector's grand-baby. He has big hand-painted green safety eyes and a removable double-bow. I love how innocent and huggable he turned out.  It really, honestly surprised me how the bears end up looking sometimes. Even after using my same designs for year - just a slightly different eye placement, nose size/shape or fabric choice can make such a huge difference to the end result. The part of me that likes control struggles with this aspect of the craft a little bit, but the part of me that likes surprises get's a treat every time a bear is finished!

And last but not least we have the fluffy-belly twins 'Taite' and 'Torrin'. Both of these boys are still available (because I forgot to list them on bearpile! lol). They are made in a faux fur I collected a few years ago. I drew up the patterns back then as well, and had even gotten to the stage of cutting and pinning - but had never finished them. So I decided to breath some life into them...

.... but I misplaced their bodies! lol. So I improvised with two complementing sparkle longpile faux fur pieces. I really love the look actually, and I've stuffed the bellies with lots of beads and squishing filling so they sit beautifully on a shelf or in your hands.

I was actually doing my next round of sewing yesterday (another 7 bears!) when I picked up an odd bag of bear-bits. I opened it up and found two sewn and turned bodies - belonging to these two bears! lol. So now I'm thinking I might build two new bears around those two misplaced bodies and see what happens. Stay tuned for more franken-bears to come! ;)

Aussie Beach Bum Bears

I was busy Christmas shopping for the many babies in our lives (friends and family - not ours! We're quite content with our Byron and Chelsea!!! lol), when I came upon these super cute mini clothes meant for teddies. The idea is that you can buy your child's teddy the same outfit as your child. They're made by kids designer clothing company 'Pumpkin Patch' - and are usually too expensive for me to even think about looking at.... but these mini clothes were too awesome to pass by.

So, an idea was sparked.... and these bears were the end result! Meet Bohdi and Belle - our Aussie Beach Bum Bears! 

Bohdi wears an incredibly detailed and well made UV resistant rashie swim shirt (yes, the tag actually had the UV information on it... Mark and I had a little giggle at that!), and a pair of trendy board shorts. Belle wears a modest two-piece swim suit complete with super cute tiny swim undies (with little bows).

Both bears are completely made from mohair, so can be undressed if their new owners prefer. But I have designed them to be dressed (matching the mohair colour/eye colour to the outfits), so I personally think they look best like this. The perfect homage to the start of the Australian Summer in a few days!

We decided that the bears needed to be photographed in the appropriate setting, so we took Byron (who was home from Kindy) down to the waterfront near our house to do the photo shoot. He spent the whole time babbling about the 'WAL- LL - LER' (Byron for 'water' - try saying it while twisting your tongue at the same time and you'll kind of get how he says it!). It was cute for the first 10mins or so, but after half an hour of the same enthusiastic cries about the water, and the non stop pointing, and the trying to climb over the sides of the walk way and into the water... we decided to go home again! 

(and were reminded why we don't venture down to the waterfront that often with a 22month old!)

The lighting from the mid-morning sun has given a really interesting feel to the images. Something a little different to the usual ones taken in our suburban backyard I think. I love the one above of Belle's face... with the sun shining over her shoulder and the sparkle of her hand-painted green eyes and sweet earrings... 

Both Belle and Bohdi are currently available for adoption. We don't have this pattern available for general purchase, but you can purchase the mohair these bears are made from. Belle is made from 'Dried Apricot' matted mohair, and Bohdi from 'Harvest' matted mohair.