A little encouragement

Hello Everyone

I know lately it may seem I am slacking off as I have not been on my blog much but I can guarantee that when I am not here there is a good reason. I am in the process of designing which takes time and vision... and for me quiet. I have been researching and looking back at where I came from, where did I start with my bears, what did I love about those first bears? I did a lot of felting on those beginning bears. They had felted faces, felted eyelids and hand sculpted noses or felted noses.

 

Then I craved a more traditional bear so I designed again and as some of you know I created new paw pads recently also using a quilting technique called Trapunto and a technique I developed during my doll making days in which I can turn regular cotton fabric into a very leather type look. It takes many stages but I have always loved this. So I went back there ... way back into my quilting and doll making.

 

I have been wanting to try a more contemporary bear for a while now; a bit realistic and a bit traditional with a pinch of modern. But I also don't want to loose that "Seraphim Bears" look that I love. So it has been put on the back burner many times. I have also armatured my bears in the past going back to my sculpting days in the movie and film industry when I was making prosthetic monsters and had to create a maquette of the design first and then create a mould... finally airbrushing the finished piece.

Then there is my hairdressing experience and dental assisting experience. I loved colour in hair and I loved making the molds of teeth in the dental practices... I spent this weekend dying my own mohair which I am very happy with the results but because I am creating this mohair specially for some bears for Silly Bears I cannot show you images of the mohair yet... one day I will.

So this new design I am working on will incorporate many levels of skills I have learned in my past. I love to research and have spent a lot of time reading and researching about colour, felting, armature, claws... you name it. But reading someone's technique is a far cry from trying to do it yourself. I do think it is a great help to find out what worked and did not work for another artist but you do still have to try it yourself to see what might become of it. No two artist are alike in my opinion so no matter what, your work will always be unique to you.

I have ready books, seen DVD's, read blog entries and blog tutorials like some from Dessert Mountain Bears with Joanne Livingston and chat forums like Teddy Talk or tutorials from Guild of Master Bear Crafters with Paula Carter and it is time to try out all that information myself.

I have ordered my new lockline style armature, I have dug out my felting supplies, I have begun drafting my new design/ pattern and at some point in the near future (I hope near future) I will be back with a new bear to show you all. This all started again because I have a challenge to do for the TBAI gallery and I got a vision of that I wanted to enter... that lead me straight back to my desire to create this new style bear.

When something just won't leave you alone it is best to just do it! DO IT! Stop procrastinating and do it. The worst that will happen is that I will end up with a fabulous bear that I never want to make again! Hahahaha The best is that I will fall in love all over again and incorporate a new line into my bears... a contemporary line that will go with my traditional bears that I have become known for.

So for any of you out there who are stuck, to scared to take the chance, to scared of what others might feel or think or just plain scared to try in case... something happens (like what?) I have this video for you to watch...

so, if DIANE ROSE can do it... so can I. So can you... I'll be back in a while but I need some "artist time" now to focus on this new bear so she/ he is perfect for you to see... or not perfect, but still for you to see.

Enjoy... you only get one life, at least this time around, so make it a good one! JUMP... you might just learn to fly.