Vintage Mink Bears by Kathy Myers

Vintage Mink Bears by Kathy Myers
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Thursday, August 29, 2019

I have a studio!!! I'm finally getting back to work ...

Well, after my last post ... way back in May ... I found that I was much too optimistic about finding the time, space, and supplies to work on my mink teddies. It has taken me this long to finish building my storage cabinets, unload and sort through my supplies (bear making supplies, drawing and painting supplies, sculpting supplies, airbrush supplies, silk painting supplies, wood burning supplies ... and other various arts and crafts supplies). Then I had to organize a space for each and label their location. Of course, after filling all of my storage spaces I then had to decorate the doors. Yes, my studio is full but it is organized.

I had maybe 3 or 4 times as much before the reorganization. I made multiple trips to make donations. And I filled 11 trash bags ... yes, eleven ... full of scraps of mink that I had been holding onto for the past 30 years. Even with getting rid of all that I still have a closet full of mink stoles and coats for future teddies.

The arthritis in my fingers has been bothering me from the stress of building and moving things. So I decided to get back into teddy making gradually by finishing some mohair teddies that I found in my old storage boxes (working with mohair is so much easier than mink pelts).

I also need to figure out a new place to do my photo shoots ... this is my first attempt at a new location indoors with two lights set up:


 These are the mohair teddies that I have completed recently. They range in size from two inches to eight inches. The two light colored teddies in the middle are my designs and the others were unfinished bears from teddy bear conventions ... I would sign up for classes taught by other artists but I would spend most of my class time socializing instead of bear making. That resulted in a box full of unfinished teddies but I always had a good time because it was something to do until the showroom opened and I had to go to work selling my teddies.


One wall of my studio


The opposite wass of my studio


My desk with the same two custom teddies from my last post still waiting to be finished.


I share my studio space with my cat, Gypsy.