Vintage Mink Bears by Kathy Myers

Vintage Mink Bears by Kathy Myers
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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Finally finished last customized teddy ... Whew!


I'll say it again ... Whew !!!
This was by far the most tedious and uncooperative teddy that I have made in a long long time.
Thank goodness the results are adorable.



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Starting tomorrow my daughter will be in the hospital for a week. Those of you who have known me for a long time already know that when she is in the hospital that I am always there with her ... so my hands will get a rest from hand-sewing but I will probably tote some clay with me to keep myself occupied during the long days of sitting in a hospital room.

I am looking forward to working on my next orders because they are for collectors who have become dear friends ... both of whom graciously let me by-pass them to work on orders for others.

 Well, Laura, after waiting years (not months) I am FINALLY going to use your collar to make either a mouse or a mini-polar bear and your cross-cut mink to make (maybe) a skunk (or something else special). 

And for Deb I will take a look at the mink that you sent me to see if there is a mouse hiding in there. My love and thanks to both of you for your patience and friendship.

Monday, June 22, 2015

WIP (last "customized" order) / Changes to Future Custom Orders

Work In Progress

To my collectors who have been wondering what I have been doing
I'm still here
I've just been struggling with my very LAST "customized" custom order.
By "last" I mean that I will no long customize my patterns for future custom orders.
What does that mean?
To those who are interested in sending me their mink stoles for me to transform into 
teddy bears you will see on my Custom Service page on my website
that I will NO LONGER consider customizing your order ... I will only make
you a custom teddy from one of two patterns that I offer.
Why?
Because it is WAY TOO time consuming to design a new pattern or even
alter my patterns to accommodate your ideal vision of a teddy bear ... if you don't like the two patterns that I have to offer please find another artist to transform your vintage mink into a teddy bear. For future custom orders I will only create from my two teddy bear patterns and I will no longer offer any of my other animal patterns for custom orders.

For the past two years I have been struggling to keep up with my Custom Order Requests and I even stopped accepting new orders several months ago until I was able to catch up with the orders I already had.



This last customized teddy bear has literally been a pain to make ...
among other problems the pelt is so thick that I have to push the leather needle through with my metal tipped thimble and pull it out the other side with pliers while wearing my support gloves. Then I have to take long breaks until my hands and fingers stop hurting. I was able to sew part of the bear with the machine but so many additional details were requested for this teddy that most parts can only be hand sewn.

Even though you will see additional detail on this last customized teddy ...
please note that I will no longer consider adding any of these details (that you will see on this teddy) to future custom teddy orders: No trapunto paw pads, no heart blaze, no different colored face.

In the future my Custom Teddies will be a basic mink teddy without extra time consuming details that were originally designed for my One-Of-A-Kind creations ... and those details will once again be reserved for only my OOAK creations to be offered to my collectors ... who patiently wait for my new designs ... which I have not been able to create because of my backlog of custom orders.

I have been working on this teddy for over two weeks and with the cutting and sewing issues and extra detailing. I have not gotten very much accomplished ... except frustration ...  and new streamlined requirements for future Custom Teddy Bears

Monday, June 8, 2015

OOAK Panda "Carpe diem"


OOAK Mink Panda
created to celebrate my daughter graduating with her 
Master of Social Work degree