Finally.......

Well, I don't know how long it's taken me (and I don't want to figure it out! lol) but I finally got round to opening a Bearpile 'shop' today! I have six bears listed at the moment and when I get time I will list a few more. Next up is listing on Etsy, where I will also be offering our patterns and maybe the occaisional kit.
http://www.bearpile.com/artist.cgi?id=1300 should get you to my page if you would like to check the bears out.

I've been busy designing a couple of new patterns, hopefully I will be able to finish them off and photograph them soon. Summer has hit us early with today being the first Total Fire Ban for the season, and it's not technically Summer til the 1st of December.
Saturday I am off to Tooradin to teach another Magnolia class at Bear Essence, which will be another fun day with lots of chat and giggles.. and hopefully some bear making as well!

It feels like January..

Well, the last show of the year is done and I almost feel like it's my "New Year". It's a few months before my next show so I am hoping to start a few new projects and design some new patterns.
The show deadlines are good for getting me focused but make it hard to act on ideas- either new or old- so to not have any looming feels wonderful!
So I've been making a list of things I want to focus on- fingers crossed I can get some things crossed off.
I didn't have any new bear pics as yet but I thought I would post this one instead- one of the most fabulous places I went to when I was away, Versailles- and this view down the Grand Canal. Standing there looking at that view was one of the most breathtaking moments I can remember. Pictures don't do it justice. How wonderful it must have been back in Marie Antoinette's day!

Oh, so long...

Yes, I can't even look at how long it is since I made my last post... ahh what can I say? It's been a super busy time and things have been going on, lots of shows to get ready for!
July shortly after the last post, was a trip to Sydney for the Doll Collectors Club show, which went well. Lots of bears and a few dolls went home with new owners, which is always lovely. You might be thinking well yes of course- it's money- but its always more than that. It's so wonderful when something you create brings a smile to somebody's face, even if they don't decide to take it home with them.
A couple of weeks after Sydney I was off to Adelaide for the wonderful show put on by Margaret and Kylie. They always do a wonderful job, and even though the show was moved this year it went off fabulously well. I have always enjoyed going to Adelaide, and the people there are so wonderful. So nice to catch up with them. After the show I had a couple of days with my wonderful friend Sarah and her Mum and Sister. We had a great time chatting about bears, sewing bears and even a little trip to the wineries in the Barossa Valley where I did my first wine tasting and we took a little tour of a winery. Lots of fun!
Once I got home it was time to prepare for Hugglets! I have been looking forward to this since I was accepted in early May, it seems to be the pinnacle of the Teddy Bear calendar these days:) Lots and lots of work before I headed off to London in early September. What a fabulous time! After the show my wonderful friend Susan had myself and two Kiwi artists, Tracey and Laraine, as houseguests, and made sure we saw lots of fabulous things. Day trips to Bath, the Cotswolds and Brighton, a weekend in Bruges and a few days in Paris. Not to mention lots of trips into London. What a fabulous time! If I give too much detail the post will read like a book! hehe.
One of the things I wanted to do when I was there was find some antique/old laces, as I love these for my bears and dolls, and they are not always easy to come by. Well, I found antique lace galore! The Sunday morning we were in Bruges there was a huge antique market, where most of the above pictures were taken, stalls full of lace and one even had millinery supplies- I got a shopping bag full of vintage flowers- anyone who knows me knows I was in heaven:) As you can see there was some lovely old dolls ( in their original clothes in original boxes no less!) and adorable old bears. Don't you love that grumpy one there? Or the big boofy-shouldered one? So much to see......
The other photos are of lovely Bruges, the statue is a Michelangelo sculpture in one of the churches ( I can't remember which church offhand) I don't think you can capture the skill and beauty of something like this in a picture.. imagine sculpting something like this from Marble, no mistakes and adding bits on here like you can with clay! And of course Bruges was filled with the things it's famous for- chocolate and lace! Just about heaven for me:)
I somehow managed to stumble across wonderful things to buy for my bears and dolls (and me!!) almost everywhere- I happened to be in London and wandered to Covent Garden on a Monday which happens to be the day they have an Antiques market- more lace:) Then a trip to Camden Passage Market where guess what- more lace! hehe There is also a tiny hole in the wall old Doll and Bear shop here that looked fascinating. So tiny in fact if there was a customer in there, there wasn't enough room for another one:) Well worth searching out if you are in London and like old Dolls and bears though.
Well I will sign off for now.. I could go on and on but this post will be way too long!:) I am back home slowly adjusting to the time change... settling down to work to try and get a nice stock up for the Woodend show at the end of the month. Oh, I just realised I didn't say much about Hugglets show! hehe.... It was a wonderful eye opening experience, so many great artists, lots of lovely new and old bears ( I came home with a lovely girl I will probably show off in a later post) and to top it off, I managed to sell almost all my little creations. I hope I can get back again soon!
Bye for now

A Change of Scenery...

Since getting back from Brisbane I have been at work preparing for the next show, in Sydney. Last year when we went I didn't take any dolls at all, but this time I decided to do some new pieces. Of course neither of them are finished yet! I expect they will be about 24" tall, two different faces that will use the same arms and legs, and each will be finished differently, different hair/eye combos, different outfits. Making bears spoils me, not having to do multiples in an Edition and getting them exactly the same, where as with dolls, if you do an edition you have to make sure you get them as identical as possible.
While that is easier than with a bear ( for instance, stuffing doesn't change the shape of a face, or the nose embroidery doesn't change the expression) doing editions of dolls has its frustrations. For instance, ensuring you have enough of a fabric lace trim or flower to finish the number of dolls in the edition... you can bet sure as anything, if you choose something and don't have enough to finish all the dolls before you even start making them, the colour fabric or style of lace you use will be discontinued before you even finish the first one!:)
Or maybe thats just me and my bad luck!:)
So, madly working away on dolls *and* bears, and a new miniature bear pattern for the upcoming show, as well as planning out what to take to Hugglets. Phew a busy time!

Heading North For the Winter

Well, I'm off this weekend to hopefully sunny Queensland! Brisbane specifically, for the Winter Wonderland show ( http://www.winter-wonderland.com.au ) The weather has turned decidely wintery down south in the last few days- not surprisingly since it is Winter after all!:) - so I will be crossing my fingers for some nice sunny days up there. I always look forward to going to shows I haven't been to before, or like this time, one I haven't been to in a while, because it's fun to see new things to admire and buy:)
The photos above are a little sneak peak of Victoria's handsome groom, Albert- well at least I think he's handsome, but maybe I am a little biased! As with Victoria (featured in an earlier blog post) , he was designed specially for Bear Essence's Bear Tales pattern 'magazine'. If you make bears (or critters!) this is a wonderful deal, a whole year of pattern booklets posted to you- and Kim gets some wonderful pieces for you to make! Well worth checking out.
Back to work for me, lots of bears to finish off before I fly off on Friday afternoon!

testing...

Some people will attest to my lack of Photoshop skills (Sarah?? lol)... even "Photoshop for Dummies" is a bit over my head! lol. I've just been trying to add a blurred border to my pics to make them more interesting, my trusty book mentioned above was no help:( Google searching tutorials, the same. Poor Mum came to the rescue, and voila! So here is two posts in one day, because I might forget how to do it again, and I want evidence that yes, I did do it once upon a time:)
This is one of my little bears perched on a Mushroom in the front yard. It was a bit smaller than the one I took with Sarah's bear. These mushrooms were so magical looking, I think all up there was 5 or 6 of them over a couple of weeks. Sadly they are all gone now, hopefully they will be back again next year!
Now, off to practice mly newfound skill on more photos!

Time Flies..

I don't know where the time goes between posts.... I always think I am doing well at keeping up then when I see the date on my previous post I know different!:)
Getting ready for a show this weekend, close by here in Melbourne, and teaching classes at Bear Essence. We also lined up next term's classes already! We are doing Babycakes, kind of a large bear for me, and also doing a separate hat class- no bear, just hats, small hats:). I will update the Class section in the sidebar with dates.
As usual, classes were a nice mix of familiar faces and new- one of the students had not finished a bear before. It was a nice reminder of how exciting it is to finish that first face:) Thanks all for coming along!
Working on some new patterns, and I will probably make them my next blog post:)
For now, here's Babycakes, for the next class at Bear Essence....