New directions.

Well, here we are again, nearly the end of another month! Where on earth has 2013 gone?! It's absolutely whizzed by.  They say time flies when you're having fun, and I've certainly enjoyed this year, so far - I do hope it's been a good one for all of you, too! In June I did the first Bear fair I've done in many years, and it was very satisfying - not simply because my work was appreciated, but because several bear makers remembered me from Orkid Bears' previous incarnation, and expressed pleasure to see me return - that was very gratifying!  As a result I have booked 3 more, slightly higher profile, bear events for this year, and am making some bears specially with them in mind - here's a sneak peek!

These Bear events mean that I shall be, briefly, more accessible to those who like my bears but don't live in Dorset! The first is the Telford Teddy Bear Parade, at the Park Inn in Telford, on Sunday the 27th October - hoping to see a few of my friends from Wales, Shropshire and Gloucestershire!  Then I have 2 in the run up to Christmas, for those who would like huggy Christmas presents, either for themselves or friends, on the 1st December, I expect to be at the Beaulieu Bear Fair, where I'm rather hoping some of my old customers might discover I'm back in business!  Then I have a completely new direction to go in - on the 8th of December I expect to be at the Great Brighton Teddy Event in Hove Town Hall. Sussex was always a very 'beary' area, but I never did any shows there, though, back in the 60s, I did go to boarding school in Brighton! Maybe I'll have time for a quick nostalgic visit ;o)

The other bit of news, hot off the press, is that I will be running a 2 day bear making workshop on 4th & 5th November, in Seaton, Devon. There is a lovely coffee house/craft centre there, with excellent food, who close to general business on Mondays & Tuesdays specifically to have making workshops, and we have got together for this project. They will be supplying lunches, snacks and drinks included in the cost, and I will be providing all materials, tuition and pattern etc.  In 2 days we will go through the whole process, from scratch, to end up with a little velvet bear that you can take home. The bear will be fully jointed, with button jointed limbs and a split pin joint for the head, you will have enough fabric to make another bear when you go home, and you have free & full use of my pattern.  The bear will be a bit like this -

 

but without the complex paw pads, so get in contact if you're interested! (mwmyn@yahoo.co.uk)

Lots to look forward to! Hope I can keep up with myself ;o)  I'm experimenting with new pattern ideas, and have some new directions to go in bubbling at the back of my mind - when I can find a suitable fabric, I want to make dragons again, but the right 'scaly' fabric is eluding me at the moment :(  The elephants and rabbits/hares seem to be popular, so I will explore where else I can go with those in the near future - I love 'star gazing' hares, so I'd like to design my own version of those! Onward and upwards, all the latest is on my Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/MwmynsMakesOrkidBears) The website requires Jiffy to update it, so it tends to lag behind just a little :(

Stop the world, I wanna catch my breath!

Since the Alton Teddy Bear Festival on June 20th, life seems to have picked me up by the scruff of the neck and hurled me off in several directions at once! We had already decided that we wanted to stay in this neck of the woods, close to where we were both born, but putting it into practice has gone so fast, it feels like life is saying ' At last! Right, now you've made your minds up, let's get on with it.'

The bear world has also grabbed me and hurled me into a social whirl (online) that didn't exist when I was last making bears, I've joined several bear groups, resulting in bargain fabrics and appreciation of my work from directions I could only have dreamed of 10 years ago. Not at all sure I can keep up!  My bears are continuing to evolve, becoming more like those I made 10 years ago, with larger feet and longer muzzles - a bit more like real, adult bears, but with human characteristics, too.

We have cancelled the Bath fairs we were doing, as we weren't really doing that well at them, and it's a long way to travel - made for a very long, wearying day. However, Alton was such fun, we are booking more Bear Fairs and hope to be at Beaulieu in Decenber - and. of course, plan to do Alton again next year! I'm also hoping that the shows at Kensington Town Hall will give me a chance sometime, that really being the top show in this country, so an important showcase for any serious bear maker.

In terms of craft, rather than bear, fairs, we plan to do The Exchange fairs in Sturminster Newton on the first Saturday of each month, and the fairs at Digby hall in Sherborne every 3 months, run by the same person - the lovely Millie! *waves in the hope that Millie reads this* These fairs have a lovely atmosphere, and the other stall holders are all quality makers, so I heartily encourage anyone who can to give them a visit - you won't be disappointed! We will both be exhibiting at Sturminster tomorrow, and at Sherborne next Saturday - looking forward to seeing how Jeffery's paintings are received ;o)

 

If you would like to see more of Jeffery's work, check out his Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeffery-Nicholls/487100734687889?fref=ts

If all goes according to plan, I hope to be running a 2 day bear making workshop, in Seaton, Devon, in early November. No details yet, as the venue are still sorting things out at their end, but let me know if you're interested and you'll be at the top of the list!

Brave new world!

I'm going to turn my newsletter into a blog, in the hope of reaching more people! Presumably, if my current subscribers can receive emails, they should be able to click on a link to my blog, so I hope no one has a problem with this - I can also include more information!

 

A week on Saturday is the Alton Bear festival, which I am really looking forward to. It's many years since I exhibited at a Bear Fair, this is my first since I returned to making bears after a long spell of injury & bad health, so it's quite a landmark from my point of view!

 

When I had to stop making bears, in 2005, I had reached quite a respectable standard (modest, aren't i?!) The pinnacle, for me was this open mouthed bear, which is much larger than I can manage now, but maybe, if I persevere, I can eventually make a small version!

When I first returned to bear making, I had much to re-learn, so the idea of doing a bear fair was far too daunting. Were my new bears good enough? Craft fair selling is one thing, mostly they're not packed with Bear afficionados! However, we recently visited a bear fair, and I was astonished by the low standard, compared to the exhibitors I had known in the early 2000s, quite depressing, really. I know there are many fine bear artists selling on line, so I obviously went to the wrong one!

This experience gave me the courage to book a fairly light hearted bear event, so off we go to Alton next weekend! I hope the Hampshire folk will like my little creatures, I'm quietly confident, but not over ambitious! Hope we might see some familiar faces, but it's along way from my usual stamping grounds!

P.S. I'm very proud of my new, tiny bears!

(And don't forget to check out www.mwmyn.com for all the latest!)

Knitting Necklaces

Next week I shall be running a workshop to help people knit necklaces to this pattern, which I adapted from one I found in a library book, it's quite different from the original, so I feel it was my inspiration, but so heavily modified I don't feel bad in claiming it as mine.  There has been much interest from knitters in this idea, so I thought I would share the pattern for anyone who wishes to use it!

It is worked from this chart, threading the beads onto the yarn before starting to knit, putting the beads on the yarn in reverse order to which they will be knitted.

 

The above picture shows quite clearly how the beads are distributed, including the 20-30 beads each side of the central motif and showing how the feature beads can be included to make the lower edge more interesting.

You will need:-
1 pair 2/2.5mm needles
Ball of Goldfingering or skein of Perle embroidery thread
Quantity of small round beads (with large enough hole to thread on chosen yarn)
Optional - 7 feature beads for lower edge

Start by threading the beads on to your yarn , in reverse order to which you will knit them. ie the first bead to go on is the last one to be put on the yarn. Follow the chart, remembering to thread on 20-25 beads each side of the row of beads that form the lower edge of the necklace. 
The easiest way to thread the beads on is thus:- Thread a fine sewing needle with a short doubled length of ordinary sewing thread, thread the start of the knitting yarn through the loop of the doubled thread so that it hangs down and you have a loop of knitting yarn through the loop of the sewing thread. You can now start threading the beads onto the needle, and thence onto the yarn.

Cast on by the backward loop method, this enables the beads to hang loosely between the stitches and drape properly.

Cast on 3 stitches, slide 1st bead up to needle, cast on 2 sts, slide up next bead, continue thus till you have 20 - 25 beads cast on, then cast on 2 sts between each of the groups of beads at the centre of the necklace (one,two,three, four, five, six, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. If desired, one feature bead at the centre of each odd numbered group) Then cast on 2 sts between each as before till you have another 20 -25 beads on the second side of the centre, then cast on a further 3 sts, turn.

2nd row, knit till 3 sts beyond the last bead of the central group, wrap & turn (move yarn to front of work as if to purl, slip next stitch on to right needle, pass yarn back to other side of work, replace slipped stitch back onto left needle and turn to start working back in other direction. written as 'W&T')

3rd row, knit 5 sts, knit to end of 2nd row of chart, inserting beads as chart - you will find yourself setting in beads exactly above the previous ones. one bead less per group. When all beads have been knitted in, knit 3, W&T.

4th row, knit till 3 sts past the last bead in previous row, W&T.

5th row, W&Ting at the end of the row, continue as before from the chart till all rows of the chart are worked and you've run out of beads (assuming you counted right!)
When all beads are knitted continue to end of row, turn and knit one row, then cast off loosely.

Sew hook & eye fastenings to each end, then wash gently in hand hot water, use a little fabric conditioner in the final rinse and pat dry in a towel. Hang to dry by fastening, this helps the necklace to hang properly in wear. 

 Hopefully, the photographs will give you an idea of how adaptable this pattern can be, it depends on your choice of yarn and beads! The last example is knitted with multicoloured perle embroidery thread, which gives quite a lot of pzazz! If you have any problems, don't hesitate to email me for help at mwmyn@yahoo.co.uk, and feel free to pass the pattern around!

Bears & Beasties

 
Just over a year ago I returned to making artist bears, Which I had done from 1997 - 2005, when arthritis & RSI put a stop to it. After my accident in 2007, I thought such things were forever out of reach, so attempting my first sewn bear in 6 years was quite a big deal!  I don't expect to ever be able to make anything as grand as my lovely alpaca pandas, of which I am extremely proud, but one has to start somewhere!

Sunflower was one of the first of my new career in bear making, 2.5 inches tall, I was thrilled to be able to create him! Over the past year I have gradually pushed my boundaries, and had to admit that doing my favoured, traditional button joints is too much strain on tired & damaged hands, so I now  mostly use split pin joints, like those in the early manufactured bears, and used by most bear artists.  I am disappointed, but being able to make jointed bears of any sort is a truly satisfying thing for me, so - onward & upward!

Returning to using luscious mohair & alpaca fabrics has also been a joy, Feargus may be smaller than my big alpaca pandas, but I think he is truly in the same spirit, and we all know the best things come in small packages! I'm glad to say that he has been adopted by people who clearly appreciate my work, as they have also adopted others of my bears and encouraged others to do the same! (Thank you, Lisa!)

When I was running the original 'Orkid Bears' I also made other creatures and cloth dolls, which I would like to try later on, but I have, at least, started down that road by making the first elephants since 2004!

First, in lilac, sparse mohair (with button joints!)

Secondly, in 'cashmere'velvet. Generally, I'm fairly happy with the pattern, but the ears need adjusting in their cut - they're a bit too much like flags!  Next time I will enlarge the pattern and make a bigger version - Cielo & Flora are only about 5 inches tall.

The next creatures I have to put my revived designing skills to is dragons! This is the most complex dragon I made in my earlier incarnation as a bear artist - not sure i can manage something that complex just yet, but, with my Welsh heritage, I really have to make a dragon of some sort! So, watch this space :o)

Ongoing evolution.

Finally got my own website up! Take a peek at www.mwmyn.com, still some things to be tweaked, but now you don't have to trawl through Etsy to find my cuddly friends and adopt one!

In other news, have also managed to make real another idea, that's been in the back of my mind for ages - Jeffery's charming drawings of my bears on tee shirts for little people!  Tee shirts in tiny sizes are difficult to get hold of at reasonable prices, so I'm printing body suits (like a vest, but with poppers to hold it down between the legs) with long or short sleeves - more practical, anyway.  I'm focusing on babies at the moment, but will do adult sizes on request.

I have sent out my second monthly newsletter today - let me know if you'd like one in your inbox, too. As the cold weather creeps up on us, my output is likely to slow down, arthritis doesn't much like cold and damp :(

 I'm focusing entirely on the bears now, knitting is for my own satisfaction only, now!  However, in response to a wave of requests, I'm running a workshop on making my knitted necklaces next month, still have a couple of places if you want to join us. On the 4th December, at Sue's Crafts in Cheltenham 10-4, get in touch if you're interested.

Also considering running a year of monthly workshops on bear making next year, have a couple of people interested, how about you? We'll start with a simple velvet bear, then work on to jointing, etc, going through stuffing techniques, needle sculpting, fabric choices, and anything else people need help with!

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!

In September I stopped selling through By Local, a brilliant 'pop-up' gallery/shop in Cheltenham, in order to re-assess what I'm doing and change direction somewhat!  I started making 'artist' bears in 1997, under the professional name 'Orkid Bears', and managed to do quite well, at a time when bear collecting was popular and money was a lot more available.  In 2005 I stopped, due to health issues and changes in my personal life.

Biscotti, just adopted!

Two years later I destroyed my right elbow, and thought my crafting, and independent, days were over.  I taught myself to write with my left hand, and discovered the amazing online community - you can do a lot of surfing using only one hand!  My orthopaedic Consultant, however, had other ideas and 18 months later, after diligent searching, he told me he had found a replacement joint that would be suitable to bridge the yawning gap between my my upper and lower arms. Just over 2 years after smashing my elbow I had to get used to having 2 working arms again!

One of my knitted bears

I gradually returned to knitting again, then, after selling my knitted bears in By Local, along with other knitted goods, for about 6 months, I decided to see if I could still sew bears. I can!  After a year of re-learning the skills and working out how to do it with limited strength and dexterity, I'm satisfied that I can do it well enough to re-commit to my bears.

My bears tend to be smaller now!

So, I've moved back into craft fairs, I have a Facebook Page for my cuddly friends, and my husband is creating a new website for me, where you'll be able to buy my goodies with the aid of Paypal!  In the meantime, you can find them at http://www.etsy.com/shop/MwmynsMakes  and my Facebook Page is http://www.facebook.com/MwmynsMakesOrkidBears.  Look out for www.Mwmyn.com!