Vintage Mink Bears by Kathy Myers

Saturday, July 4, 2015

WIP ... custom order

I am finally working on Laura's custom order!

Laura sent me this collar Feb 2011. Since Laura is a long-time friend she kindly let me by-pass her many times while I was backlogged with orders. Now, after over 4 years, I am finally ready to create something special from her mink collar.

The collar is not very big so whatever I make will be a miniature

It is a pretty color. It is cream with a few areas of tipped beige. The hairs are long so that may be a challenge when working with a miniature.

As with most collars it is a full pelt (as opposed to little strips of mink sewn together). I prefer working with full pelts because they are easier to hand sew as long as the pelt is not too thick. All of my miniatures have to be sewn by hand.

What am I making?
Well, I have a choice because Laura has two ideas:

"Out of the collar we had spoke about a baby mouse but if you look

at the mink and want to create a bear instead, I love the Vanilla

Sundae pattern (who I adopted and is one of my absolute favourites),

which is similar to the little sheared polar bear cub I adopted as

well.  As it was my Gramma's mink collar, I would love whatever is

created to be feminine.  She was a farmer's wife but still very much

a lady, very smart and I can remember her dressed up with pearl

earrings on her Golden Wedding Anniversary."

Here are some examples of each:

This is a similar mink in color and length of hair

This is mink but I sheared the hairs because they were too long

Another little mouse

This is "Vanilla Sundae" miniature polar bear. The pelt was ermine rather than mink. Ermine has a very thin pelt and short hairs which makes it perfect for miniatures.

This is a mink polar bear but I had to shear the hairs because they were too long for such a tiny teddy.

This is an unsheared mink miniature polar bear

Which one will it be?

I think I will have to ask Laura to decide which she would prefer before I cut into Gramma's collar.

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.

To see more photos of this teddy please CLICK HERE.

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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.

CLICK HERE to see my Custom Order page

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

Please CLICK HERE to see all of the photos and details of this very special panda

Thursday, May 28, 2015

WIP Panda

Work In Progress

As stated in my last post

I am making a One Of A Kind Panda

in celebration of my daughter's recent graduation

where she earned her Master of Social Work

Sorry ... I was going to post this panda for adoption but I

forgot that I had promised Deb the next panda that I made ...

This Panda is on HOLD for Deb

She has already named the panda "Louie"

This panda will have some new and unique features:

The eyes are glass that I assembled and painted myself,

so they are one of a kind eyes.

I have never made these paw pads before because I knew they would be

time consuming (I don't enjoy needle felting, so I may never make them again).

The paw pads are wool, needle felted, waxed (and I will probably seal them).

I am making something special for the panda to hold or wear:

A koi (fish) in a pocket watch

I sculpted it myself

I hand painted it

This is actually my newest hobby and hand therapy ...

making koi in vintage pocket watch bodies

These are my first attempts at making koi in pocket watches. They are hanging next to my work table.

My hands can cramp and become painful after many hours of bear making

I find that kneading and sculpting with clay is great exercise for my hands

and a wonderful creative outlet for my imagination.

This came about quite naturally after recent outing at my local Antique Market where I came home with some broken pocket watches. As soon as I saw the watches I immediately knew that I had to sculpt koi in them. We used to have koi as pets that lived in a giant tank in our "dining room". So I spent many happy years watching them swim in our house.

I had almost forgotten how much I loved to sculpt until I started taking classes with my friend, Kathy Davis, who is one of my favorite artists and a great teacher. (I posted the projects I made in her classes on my "Next Stop FantasyLand" page ... see link above or in right-side column. I also have more Koi photos and details on that page)

Now when my hands start to hurt I just take out some polymer clay and let my imagination soar.