Australia Day... here come the rains!

It has been SO HOT here in sunny Australia for the last month or so. Ridiculously hot. I know, I know - it's Summer. It's supposed to be hot. But this has been nasty, sticky, sweating-through-your-clothing-at-7am-in-the-morning kind of hot. So to finally see some rain has been a wonderful relief. It kind of came at a bad time in terms of festivities though, as it's Australia Day here today. We spent the day inside watching kids movies and eating cupcakes while listening to the rain on the roof. So not too bad really :)

But what I really wanted to show you guys was our latest work for the last fortnight or so. We decided to use one of our finer/stretchier faux fur pieces (Fluffy Duckling)  in a larger bear design to see how it would turn out. I had a very specific idea in mind for this bear - and I must say (for once) the end result was pretty close!

Meet Samson - all 21" of him! He's a big chunky boy with a head on him as large as my 2yr olds! And HUGE ooak hand painted glass eyes that just set him off.

(Because it's hard to tell size comparisons in photos, I thought I'd take a few photos of Samson with some of our other bears. Above he is holding 'Jonas' - one of our old style 13" bears, and below he's holding onto 'Grace' who is 10" tall).

We also had a custom request for a black and red bear... and this little sweetheart was the result! This is 'Scarlet'. She is made from our 'Licorish' black kid mohair, and our 'Queen of Hearts' red/black tipped mohair.

We also thought we'd try a choc/blue mix bear in the same pattern (Osias), and Angus was the result. He is a mix of 'Pudding' kid mohair and 'Bermuda' two-tone mohair. I wasn't completely sure how they'd work in this match due to the length differences between the kid and regular lines (25mm versus 20mm) - but it is actually pretty cool. I love how full and fluffy Angus's limbs and ears look, and his sweet little face has such a wind-swept look, it makes you want to push his hair out of his eyes and give him a cuddle.

Angus is actually available at the moment in completed form, and as a kit if you'd like to have a go at making your own version.

And lastly, we were asked to make a custom bear in our Arctic Wolf faux fur with some roses by her neck - very much like our original 'Alivea' bear, but without the hand shaving/shading, and a different face. I just love the softness in this bears expression - and her gorgeous lilac eyes tie in perfectly with the colouring of this fur. I would say that Arctic Wolf has to be my favourite of our current lot of faux fur for bear making. It's dense, and soft and lends itself to facial scissor sculpting perfectly. I'm yet to try it in a bear under 18" tall though... so would be curious to see any of your creations out there if you've purchased this fabric for us for a smaller project?!

Showing off some of our first 2013 bears!

We've been busy over the last week or so - three bears to show for our efforts so far this year! This cheeky little guy is 'Benjamin'. He is made in our Osias pattern using our 'Sasquatch' faux fur. I wasn't sure how it would work because it's quite dense, and Benji is only a petite 10" tall - but it's worked beautifully!

Benjamin is now sold, but we do have kits available for making your own bear just like him - he's a nice easy beginners pattern too - so great if you're just starting out!

We also just finished this stunning girl. We've called her Lexi, and she is the painted-eye version of our original pink/black panda Lilly. She is made in our FREE pattern (available through the link on the top left hand corner of this blog), and we also have kits available in our etsy store for her in painted eyes and for the black-eyed version too. The actual bear herself is already sold (sorry!).

And last, but not least - this little bundle of colour is 'Imp'. He is made in our 'Willa and/or Attila bear or bunny' pattern (using the bear version). We made him up in some of our last pieces of rare mohair - a bright orange kid mohair and an orange/blue tipped shorter mohair. His eyes are hand painted in a teal-blue, and actually glow-in-the-dark! And you thought he couldn't get any more intense! lol

Little Imp has been adopted as well, and is well on his way to his new home in the US with a lovely collector who particularly loves orange... so it was a match made in heaven really!

There's a lot going on behind the scenes here at Emma's Bears and Fur Addiction at the moment with the creation of a new, easier to use website for our fabric supplies, AND a new shipment of fur due in somewhere at the end of Jan/early Feb. We're busy preparing for, and finding space to store all of our new rolls (which is fun! lol). So stay tuned - we'll have some exciting posts coming up! ;)

The last bears for 2012!

This is our latest creation - little 4" 'Mallory'. I dreamed her up after finding this gorgeous mini chair during my christmas shopping expeditions. I pictured Mallory immediately - and she is one of the few bears who have actually finished the way I imagined when I started.

Mallory has since been adopted, but we are making her kit available for purchase (same mohair, eyes, joints and pattern - we just don't supply the mini chair!).

Then, earlier in the week we made these three cheeky bears. These three are made from our soon-to-be released 'Lyric' bear pattern. It will include all the pieces and instructions to make three very different 16" bears from the same basic design - a panda (complete with eye-patch insers and darker fur strip across the chest), a traditional one-colour bear, and a face/belly insert bear. This pattern can be made in mohair, faux fur or a combo of both  - as you can see above. It has been one of my most treasured designs over the years, and it just seemed right to release this one for you guys.

(we hope to have it available for general sale in January. Watch this blog for more information!)

This big fluffy ball is 'Caleb', and he's the face/belly insert example of our new 'Lyric' pattern. He has been made in a mix of faux fur (Golden Peacock) and kid mohair (Polar). These two colours have worked so beautifully together. I'm really happy with Caleb's look. He is currently available for adoption.

This is 'Macaroon', and she's the panda version of the 'Lyric' pattern. We decided to make her in a mix of our pink (Sweetheart) and light brown (Milk Chocolate) kid mohair colours. I don't know why I didn't do this pairing sooner - she is just so yummy I couldn't not give her a food-related name!

Macaroon is adopted, but we will make her kit available once the pattern is released, or you're welcome to purchase her mohair to make your own patterns/designs.

And last (but not least!) - we have 'Marmalade', so called after the mohair of the same name! Marmalade is a stunningly vibrant bear - this mohair looks so much better made up then it does flat off the roll. We gave Marmalade some bright, shimmering hand painted eyes to make her colouring 'pop' even more, and paired the whole look up with a handmade Czech glass necklace and some modern summer clothes.

Check out that funky butt! Love the small details on the Pumpkin Patch clothing - even the smallest pieces get all the embroidery!

This is a close up of the Czech glass necklace we strung just for Marmalade - made to match her gorgeous eyes, and to sit perfectly around her neck. She looks so lovely just sitting 'in the fur' with her necklace on as well (all her clothing and the necklace are fully removable so you can choose a different look for her everyday).

And that's it for our 2012 bears - unless we somehow whip one up tomorrow... but that's not very likely!

End of the world? (why not stock up on fur!?)

Mark and I have decided to approach the CRAZY hype about the supposed end of the world tomorrow with a bit of humour (after being bombarded by it all week through TV, internet, radio... basically every media outlet available. And I'm sure we're not the only one's feeling that way. I think we'll all breathe a sigh of relief when the 22nd comes along - and not because we've survived, but because we can leave all the apocalypse stuff behind us and get on with Christmas!)

So, for approx 24hrs we've got a 40% off sale happening in our eBay Fur Addiction store. We figure if the world really does end tomorrow, we won't need a house full of fur and you won't need that extra bit of cash! And if it doesn't end - then you get some serious bargains to keep you crafting over the Christmas holidays!

my amazing MamAmor birthing and breastfeeding doll

I've recently stumbled across an amazing handmade creation called a 'MamAmor' doll - there is a facebook page and a blog and a store if you wanted to check them out too. Basically, these incredible creations are cloth dolls with very clever detail that allow them to birth and breastfeed their babies in a tastefully blend of stylized realism. Which is just a fluffy way of saying 'I love this doll'!

This is my doll 'Pamela'. I should really correct that and say Chelsea's doll.... but I think i bought her just as much for me as for Chels. Chelsea's only 3yrs old, so the birth questions haven't really begun yet. She knows she grew in my belly and then she 'got out' - but that's about as much detail as we've gone into so far. She was too young when Byron was born to understand (she though everyone had babies in their bellies)... so i figured this could help me answer questions when the time comes.

Plus, I just had to have one. Handcrafter to handcrafter!

(doesn't she have amazing hair!) 

So this is what these gorgeous dolls look like undressed. I love that she looks like a woman - real mumma curves. The genius of this design for me are the press stud nipples - meaning the baby can actually 'latch on' (photo to come).

The photo above shows the mumma with the baby in her belly. There is an extra piece of fabric, kind of like a pocket that the baby can be slotted inside of like a real belly. The baby can also emerge as if being born as well.

I also love the detail of the placenta and umbilical cord - also attached with a snap clip so that it can be removed after birth (the base of the clip then acts as a belly button! So cute!). I think this really appealed to me after my attempt to make a pregnant mumma and baby bear back in 2010 who also had a removable umbilical cord).

Then mumma and baby can get down to the nursing. 

And cuddling. 

The doll was going to be a christmas present for Chels, but I couldn't help myself from showing it to her when it arrived. She had a mixed reaction - all wide eyed with wonder at first - then got distracted by a toy her brother was playing with (that was hers). So I think I might put her away for now with all the chaos of christmas and the many commercial, plastic toys the kids will get over the next week or so... I think Pamela will be overlooked. So she can be my doll for now. Until I hear those curious words 'Mum, when i was a baby, how did i get out of your tummy?'...