Doing things the other way around

THe last two bears I've made/ am making I've had to do the wrong way around. That is make or work on the body pieces before the head or the head was finished. WHile usually I make the head first ( as I feel it's the most important) and then work on the body bits.
the first was actually meant to be last week's creative space, but after taking photos of him i lost my camera cord. With him I had only got so far with making his head before I realised I didn't have the right eyes for him at the time, so there was nothing else to do except start of the body pieces while I waited for them to arrive.

The second one, the current one I'm working on now, was because of a certain Near perfectBear head disaster in which I needed to die mohair to make another head because I didn't have enough left since i had already cut out all the body pieces.

It's funny how hard I found it to do it the other way around- work on the body pieces without a head or finished , that somehow the bears soul was not complete, and how wrong it felt.

And while often it's good to do this a different way around change it up, i didn't like this, and would not do it again by choice.

I'm not sure it makes much a difference to the bear in the end ( or I hope not) they come together but it made a big difference to my pleasure it making, funny isn't it.

Do you have a certain way of making something that would feel wrong to do another way?

Have you had any of your own experiences like this?

I'd love to know.

( this pic above here is a before the ageing and after the aging or two legs)

Tagged again- the new ones ( and the now permanent ones)

As you may remember a while ago I got my first ever proper permanent tags on my toys, thanks to the genius of one my Lola.
As happy as I was with the tags, i couldn't get the idea of the other tag she had suggested (but at that point had not much luck with) that was of the snap button tag or the rivet button tag.

Sort of like my big inspirer Steiff use.

And as much as I was thrilled with my first ones, they had some issues. THey were a pain to attach, sometimes I would spend way to long trying to attach one securely and secondly i did slightly worry about how secure they were and there for how safe they were around children.

Luckily a supplier in China finally got back to my enquiry about such button tags and then began a long process of us discussing the possibilities with her limited english, and my limited business finance language know how. It was a complete learning experience I have to say this whole thing from start to finish. If you ever want a sort of custom tag or button like this, as far as I could tell my only options were producers in China who will only take minimum orders for quantities like 10,000 or 15,000 buttons. Negotiating with this lady I had to learn a whole new language.

The place I choose had a minimum order of 5000, which was the smallest amount of any of the suppliers I could find.

I was torn i had to say, as I doubt very much I will ever make 5000 bears, the tag we had come up with i liked more, and felt was more safe, and for even a huge quantity was cheaper than the other tags in the end of the day ( as would never have to re order more). I had to hope I would like them as much in the real that i did in the pictures, as i had had to make a bit of an investment

So i took the plunge

So I went ahead and here they are.

I have to say I'm thrilled with them.

I love their old fashioned look, i love how secure they are, they have to be banged in with a hammer which is heaps of fun and how they are not shiny.

The only downsides to them is they are a little bigger than my first ones and well I have 5000,

I guess i better get cracking!!!

Perfect for a rainy day

These are my two drops of rain

waiting on the window pane

I am waiting here to see

Which the winning one will be

Both of them have different names

One is John, and one is James

All the best and all the worst

Comes from which of them is first

James has just begun to ooze.

He's the one I want to loose

John is waiting to begin.

He's the one I want to win

James is going slowly on

Something sort of sticks to John

John is moving off at last

James is going pretty fast.

John is rushing down the pane.

James is going slow again.

James has met a sort of smear.

John is getting very near.

Is he going fast enough?

James has found a piece of fluff.

John has quickly hurried by.

(James was talking to a fly)

John is there and John has won.

Look! i told you! Here's the sun!

By A. A. Milne from Now We are Six.

the quintessential raining day poem i think.

when craft goes horribly wrong

I wrote the other day about a certain bear, a bear who i needed to get right for me, who I was enjoying working on slowly, who was the first thing I had made simply " for me " or just because, and who I was feeling finally quite a bit happier about.

Well yesterday when feeling I was finally there, he was perfect or as perfect as I could get this time , when putting his eyes in properly and putting a joint in his head, the seam around his eye split.

My heart sank and i desperately tried to fix it and , but somehow this made matters only worse.

WHen I finally did managed to sew it shut, it was ruined, or not ruined, but not the bear i had been feeling sort of proud of. As you can imagine, i was a bit devastated and distraught, something i had spent so much time on , energy on and love on, has been lost just like that.

I know I'm going to sound like a bit of a hypocrite with my love of wonk, but believe me the bear was wonky enough, it was something was wrong, which couldn't be fixed and had changed the head changed the spirit etc. I showed mum and she said it was obvious too, so it's not just me being silly. It also wasn't strong, and something I pride myself on is my bears are made to be loved this guy was already to fragile.

Look god i know there are so many many far worse problems out there but at the time, i was shattered. It's hard when something you had is taken away from you just like that.

The good thing is though , i feel like i've cracked something and I still have the pattern.

And today's a new day so it's dye another lot of mohair, and start all over again ( with a wee break from him i think)

do you have any craft horror stories you can relate to mine with?

PS. Apologies for two photoless posts in a row,but as you can imagine, i'm not really feeling like posting a pic or even taking on of the ruined head.

Habits old and new

The other day when i was walking home from the market i suddenly thought, i always toast toast in the right hand slot of the toaster, not the left. I had never really noticed, but i never toast in the left. It's one of those things i do without thinking, but then the thought of putting in the left, made me unsure- what if it works differently to the right i know it so well don't mess with it. Why i always use the right i don't know, and i can't find a good, reason- it's closer to the bread, bin, i've right handed.

Or how when i go to the supermarket i always walk down the left aisle before the right. I always walk to the market one way and come home another

or I always brush my teeth in the morning before my hair.

It's funny these habits we get into that aren't even thought of or logical. Or perhaps they are. But they've been so long done, that to change them seems totally odd. ANd I don't think of myself as a person who needs order or has OCD tendencies but still to change these seems a bit wrong.

But the thing is with me, anyway i acquire new ones. Sometimes good: turning stuff off at the switch if i don't need them, to bad: replying to emails and then forgetting to send them until days later, to just plain odd: putting my bra on in the morning after I've gotten fully dressed ( by that I don't mean I wear the bra over my clothes, i basically have to unthread my arms through my tops and pull it up underneath, ala beach style) - i mean come on where is the logic in that?

We are all in some ways creatures of a habit.

DO you have some weird ones, or ones you feel like you can't change.

I'd love to know.

My creative space

There's been another black lamb ( who is a closet RIchmond supporter)

and returning to a bear I was determined to get There with.

I've actually been working on this guy on and off for  week or so, in between bits and stealing moments.
I've enjoyed actually not rushing, and allowing myself to take as much time until I'm happy with him, he is no order, just for me, even though i will not keep him. Yes I may never ben 100% happy with him ( though I can live in hope) but i felt so much last time i needed to happier with him.

And yes it's me at my most perfectionist, obsessive but something I've learnt is no matter what you yourself need to be happy with what you've made.
for more creative spaces.

Another love affair

We recently took a wander down memory lane to rediscover one of my first loves Cosmo. Another delve into my mum's red box revealed i had another obsession ( quite a common one ) with Santa.

Here are some of the many cards and letters i wrote to Santa

And I couldn't resist adding this one too.

My creative space.

this time this week i'm feeling a bit more on top of the Aprilpalooza. Easter wonklings finished, shop updated and re- opened, and have ticked off a few orders from the April rush.

 Firstly an ele for a April baby

 most recently a Panda for another.

 Both times I changed the patterns slightly as with both of them there were things that were bothering me. and I'm more happy with the results.

For more creative spaces

Love where you live- favourite piece of furniture.

I've been thinking alot about Kate's post love where you live.
And have been appreciating all the things inside and out that make my place and it's surroundings home.
today i was looking around at my place at all my furniture. Tables, chests, draws , chairs couches all collecting over time from various thrifting trips, ebay bargains and roadside pick ups. Each with their own difference story and all of which I love.
and if you had asked me which piece was my favourite, i would probably have automatically said my 50s yellow laminate table, but when I really thought about it my favourite piece would have to be my $40 dollar couch.

I bought this couch when I was moving out for the first time, and as well as being a steal and loving the way it looks it's extremely  comfy. It was everything my mum's furniture was not, nanna daggy, old and worn.  But why it's my favourite is because of the world that has become and has become over my life with it. It is where I do a majority of my bear making, crafting, emailing, dvd watching;  it's where a majority of my old guys hang out keep my company and lounge about, it has been a prop and a background to endless photos and it's top has been a place for many an ami invasion.

iIt's usually 3/4 full with numerous calico bags filled to the brim with yarn and various toys in progress, bits of stuffing, a few books, a snuggly cat, and the odd stuffing stick.  It has a wonderful capacity for losing things in swallowing eyes, needles, pencil and lighters, but the upside to this is when I'm convinced I have no more 7mm eyes on me all I need to to is lift the cushions off and take a lucky dip, which might not revel the eyes, but that great pencil I lost all that time ago ( and very often the eyes as well)
It is a world within my world, and a home within my home.

it's my $40 couch and worth so much more than it's original price.
Do you have a favourite bit of furniture? Does it have a story behind it? I'd love to know

Our creative space

Right now everyone seems either to be having a birthday or a baby in April.  Well all the people that want my toys at least anyway at the moment. Is there something particularly romantic about August, or is kanoodling with your loved one a good way of keeping warm?

And also in April is Easter. So for me right now, it's all about April.

Not that I'm complaining, i'm thrilled people want my guys for the loved ones, honoured in fact, but as so often in life when it rains it pours , for me anyway .  But orders are suiting me right now as a way to get back into my "own " thing post exhibition. 

I'm just curious about April ( and august too, the month of conception)

 So this week in my space my easter update continues to grow, part of getting reading for my shop reopening post show. I

a couple of heads that went no where for a bear I'm determined to get right ( not pictured here) 

 And Egbert for a lady in Spain

the home of creative space.