More sculpting in Polymer Clay

E and I have been working hard together to do some sculpting. We started with a wooden spoon as a base to the head, Sculpey clay and polyglass eyes. We followed along the instructions provided by sculpt university to make a witch.

http://www.makingfairies.com/collections/tutorials

I love this lady's work and her tutorials are so much fun!

Spoon head doll

You can see the base of the wooden spoon sticking out the bottom. Yes these heads are large! We still have to paint the face with heat set genesis paint and add ears. The back of the head will be built up from padding and fabric. Then onto hands, feet and armature. I was really impressed with E's one. She has done a fabulous job in creating the head. Mine is on the right. Not bad for a kid!

We are also planning her next birthday party. This year we will be doing an "Ever After High" theme. This is so new that there is not a lot out there. Thank goodness for Pinterest. We decided to play on the fairytale theme. Our craft is going to be a small terrarium with a mushroom house. The ladies will add sand, rock, moss and a few mushrooms (Polymer clay) and a mushroom house.

We will have a sit down dinner, so we have kept the number invited very small. A game of freeze tag- red riding hood and wolf style, some smores and a great movie... The sleepover has all been planned out by E and she is very excited: )

Sculpting another tooth fairy

The last couple of weeks saw me sculpting again : ) I was asked to make 2 tooth fairies and I finally have one done. The other will be a girl tooth fairy. Again the idea is an old grizzled fairy that has seen everything in his life, but now has found a dental crown under the pillow and he is not sure what to make of it - as it looks so real.

I get my "teeth" from a dental company that produces a laser CAD CAM system and these are the try out crowns to test the system. Some look so perfect!!

He has been sculpted over an aluminum wire frame. The hands, feet and face are Sculpey Polymer Clay and his eyes are black glass beads. The hair is a scrap of faux fur in arctic white.

I love to wrap the body in dyed cheesecloth and then build layers over that in felt. I use cotton embroidery thread to add my stitching and finishing details. Hot glue is fabulous for holding things in place so I can stitch better. His wings are Angelina Fiber that has been ironed over a wire frame. I used a incense stick to make the holes.

He has gone on to his new home and has been well received.

Taking a break from Bears

I love making bears but every now and then it is good to take a break. This last week I have started an online class in wire wrapping! Something I have always wanted to try. Craftsy has some really wonderful classes and I am finding it easy to follow and the user interface suits me just fine.

I have almost made one pair of earrings : ) I want to wrap more pearls on. If you want to take an online craft class in sewing, jewelry, knitting or embroidery have a look at what they offer. I am also starting to list my patterns for sale on their site. Have a look at www.craftsy.com. I get no kick back for that- I just think this is awesome and wondering if there needs to be a bear making class....

Of course I cannot take a full break from the sewing machine ; )  I made some small dogs and there are two needle felted faced bears happening. I also listed a new pattern on both Etsy and Caftsy. My Little Deer:

Little Deer Softie Pattern

Chihuahua

Jack Russell Terrier

Bull Terrier

My small dogs are about 4 inches high and while some sewing is done on the machine most is done by hand. I enjoy making these small guys and I think the Bull terrier is my best seller ; )

Washing faux fur

Polyester faux fur has a great advantage. It can be machine washed! I make a lot of bears out of high quality faux fur that is polyester rather than acrylic. I look for North American polyester faux fur with a good quality and with a tight knitted back. I decided to take four samples and test them out.

 

Polyester and acrylic fur before wash

I chose four of the most used of my furs. From the top left going clockwise I have: a Wolf: black base with white guard hair, Desert Fox Gold: dark brown base with gold fur tips, chocolate luxury shag fur and Spotted wolf: brown with tan spots. I bought all of them from Fabric.com

https://www.fabric.com/buy/0317412/faux-fur-wolf-brown-black
https://www.fabric.com/buy/0260757/faux-fur-desert-fox-gold
https://www.fabric.com/buy/dt-030/faux-fur-spotted-wolf-brown-beige?cm_vc=756b1813-cbc1-43b3-84bd-29889bf8fb7b
https://www.fabric.com/buy/bu-292/faux-fur-luxury-shag-brown?cm_vc=756b1813-cbc1-43b3-84bd-29889bf8fb7b

The samples were placed into an old pillow slip that I could seal shut. More to protect my washer from loose fur than to protect the fur. I think it is a great idea that if you want to wash a teddy, that you place him in an old pillow case and seal him in it to help protect him.

Old pillow case to wash fur in.

I placed the pillow slip straight into the washing machine. I have a front loader so it is more gentle on the washing cycle than a top loader with an agitator. I set the machine to normal wash, cold wash and cold rinse and added the HE cold wash type of washing detergent. HE means basically High Efficiency so you do not need much. The cold wash and cold rinse I felt to be important as faux fur does not like heat. The machine went through the normal wash and rinse cycle of about 58 minutes.

Faux fur straight from washing machine

As soon as the wash was done I removed my pillow case and had a look at the fur. Very bedraggled but still intact. I shook them out and placed them in a sunny spot to dry. Just look how bedraggled the chocolate fur was !

After a couple of hours I checked them. They were dry so I brushed them and voila:

Dry and brushed faux fur

They washed beautifully and were not damaged in the process. You cannot tumble dry faux fur! It will melt at that temperature. Just remember a beloved bear may need more than a couple of hours for the stuffing and fur to dry. That is my next challenge- wash a full bear. I do believe that if he is placed on a towel, in the sun, to soak up the rays for a while (turning over of course) that he will be fine. Just remember though- safety joints can be washed, Hardboard and cotter pin joints cannot be washed as the wood will swell and deteriorate. If you are not sure how your bear was assembled then do not risk loosing a loved creation. Just surface wash. I found Build-a-Bear has a great solution you can spray on and wipe off to clean a faux fur friend.

I also finally listed my mohair bear:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/208026595/mohair-artist-bear-cream-s-finish-fully?

Have a look and tell me what you think!

Mohair bear almost finished

The mohair bear is shaping up nicely. There have been some design changes along the way but I am happy with that. Sometimes what we start out to do, is not quite what we have when we finish, but that is okay. I still struggle a bit with the fear of maybe I should have done something else, or fear of trying something new.

I started with a honey colored glass eye- solid eye color and not painted on. I added a wool felt disc behind the eye to keep it's color from being changed. I added the usual waxed linen to the loop on the back.


Eye with white felt backing



Thread on back of eye

I now make a hole with my awl for the eye, in the head in the preselected places- where the test eyes are. Remove that test eye carefully so you do not loose the place! Otherwise you are starting over with the eyes placement.

Making a hole for eye loops to fit in

Eye in place

My problem here was that the eye was so close in color to the bear, that what I thought might be a elegant look actually was kind of scary. I decided good old black glass eyes would be better.

 

I have now added plain black eyes and a Sculpey polymer clay nose. The nose was sculpted from black sculpey and baked. Once cool I fitted it to the bears head. I could see it was not perfect so I sanded it a bit. That is why it looks gray. Oh- I add a copper wire loop to the back of the nose before I bake it. The waxed linen is threaded through the back of the nose just like the eyes. This loop was so set into the curve of the nose that I did not need to make a hole in the nose area for the loop.

Nose being sanded to perfect shape.

After the nose has been sanded to my happiness (never a perfect shape by the way). I will wipe it down with a wet baby wipe to remove dust. And add a spot of glue behind it to keep it in place.
Since the glue is out I add my eyelids. I have used strips of suede leather that are cut to length- just a bit longer that the eye is wide. I use the awl to make a hole just big enough to fit the leather through, at each point of the eye I want the eyelid bottom to sit at. I add a drop of glue to the hole and push the eyelid in- a pair of tweezers really helps. I let that dry. I now make another hole on the other side of the eye for the other end of the suede strip. I add glue to the hole and to the very top of the eye. I push the leather strip into the hole and when it is about the right length I carefully fold it up to touch the top of the eye. I use glass head pins to help hold it in place until the glue is dry. Make sure you do not get a pin in the glue as it will glue in place!

Eyelid in place, still using white wool discs as they are great eye whites

 Once the glue for the nose is dry we glaze the nose. Sometimes the sanded, rough looking nose is just perfect and I will leave it, but this guy needed a wet nose. A good paintbrush and Satin finish glaze is my preference here. You can get glossy finish or matt finish.

Satin glaze for polymer clay

Glaze on nose- it will dry Satin

I now walk away from the bear to make sure everything dries properly. If I am going to cut another bear I will move him away from the work area so no fur gets stuck to his wet nose. I decided to make him a school boy bear. He will have navy shorts and peak hat, a red tie and a white cotton shirt. I now draw up those patterns and get sewing...

Foot done with puffy toes. Still my favorite way to do feet.

The toes were done just before I glazed his nose. That can be done at any time really. Even before the leg is in place if that is easier to sew.














Making a Mohair Bear part -whatever is next

I think I said in the last post that this bear was shaping up to be a girl. I am not so sure anymore! As the bear progresses a life of its own is taking shape. He is starting to behave like a scruffy school boy!!

I have now turned all the parts and started to carefully stuff the bear. I am using a silky Polyfil Premium blend. Small bits at a time is the secret to a great and even stuffing. Large wads are hard to control and you could end up with a lumpy bear. Unless you want one of course...

Arm wood disc and cotter pin- the one that came out- read on....

As I fill the arm at some point I need to stop and place in a joint for the bear. I decided since I was using mohair which is kind of traditional for bears, that I would use hardwood discs, washers and split pin/cotter pins as they strike me as being kind of traditional too. I did not go so far as to stuff the bear with wood shavings though. I use my awl to make a small hole at the location I marked in the arm and cover that hole with a drop of fray check. I do not want it getting larger. First I place the split pin/cotter pin through the metal washer and then through the wood disc. I now insert that whole lot into the bears limb with the cotter pin poking out of the hole I made. I finish stuffing the limb to how I want it to feel. I went for a softer feel on this one. My next step is to then carefully sew the limb shut using ladder stitch.  Once I have all the arms and legs done, I stuff the head. I stuffed the head to a really firm finish. Again using small amounts of Polyfil and working from the nose to the back of the head. After the head is stuffed, I put in the joint system and sew the neck opening shut. When I joint the limbs and head to the body, I will put the ends of the cotter pin through a wood disc and metal washer on the inside of the body. I fold the ends of the cotter pin into a loop to keep the limb attached to the body.

I had an interesting challenge on the jointing the limbs to the body. I followed my usual order of assembly: Head, Legs and then the Arms. I was putting the final arm joint in place and as I went to fold the split pin over- the other arm fell off!!! I have never had that happen before and had to put the bear down and walk away for a bit. I was not sure if I wanted to laugh or cry. I had obviously over tightened the split pin/ cotter pin and the round head shape of the pin collapsed, allowing the whole cotter pin to pull through the washer and come put of the arm. The only remedy here is to find your seam that you hand stitched shut, open it and replace the cotter pin. Once the arm is ready we try to assemble it again. Maybe next time I will leave the seams open and only sew them shut after I have assembled the arms and legs to the body?

I finally have a head and limbs attached so now I can stuff the body...

Body finished and now to the face...

He is now stuffed and sewn shut. Once my bear is at this stage I start to get a feel for how I want it to look. Another challenge I have found that I am not used to is that I can see the seams. With my normal plushy faux fur- I am hunting for seams by feel. I think this makes sewing with mohair one fabric where you must sew totally accurately. I also used a small stitch length so that if I did a hard feeling stuffed body the stitches would not be obvious. Glad I did that.

Seams are visible under the mohair

I normally do the eyes totally finished and in place before I add ears, but this time I chose an eye placement and sewed on the ears. I use a soft chalk pastel, well ground up and applied with a make up brush to add a touch of color to the ultra suede. Then ladder stitch the base of the ear closed.

Ear ladder stitched shut and pastel color added

I pinned the ears in several places before deciding on where they would end up. I also used my test eyes to see the size and placement I wanted. 

Ears sewn in place and test eyes to show size and placement

I have the ears in place and eye size chosen. I am looking at a cheeky boy here now. Not a girl which I first thought. I want to use a colored glass eye- a pale yellow topaz so I am going to create a whites of the eyes look with leather eyelids. Well- that is the plan right now- he may disagree : )

More Mohair Adventures

I finally purchased some Mohair fabric and I am ready to make my first bear. I decided to use a pattern I love for making puffy cheeked bears. I know the pattern well and chose it so I would have one less guessing thing going on. I have never worked with mohair before and so far I am finding it to be a pleasure. I am using a Cream color ( I like cream and white bears) in a medium density with a curly S finish and about 1 1/2 inch pile. Medium density means that while there is a lot of fur the background fabric is still visible. I chose my background to be the same color as the fur. The finish of the fur is really curly in a "S" wave. Very pretty. This is going to be a girl bear...

The pile length is how long the fur is in length from top to bottom.

Mohair I chose to work with for my first bear in this fabric

 When I chose my pattern I remembered a tip from Nancy Tillberg of Kran-bearies. I made the extra pattern pieces for the head, legs, arms, ears ,body, etc. That way I lay out a pattern for everything I need to cut, so I can place them and rearrange them until I find the cutting layout that will minimize the amount of fabric I use. I ended up using about 17 x 24 inches for this bear who will be about 14" tall when done. I also marked an arrow to show the direction of the fur. Took me along time to figure that out : )

Pattern pieces laid out to minimize fabric lost during cutting

 Once the pattern is placed how I want, I trace around everything working slowly and carefully with permanent marker and a very thin line from it. I cut slowly ( I think I did not breathe the whole time I cut). Cutting the backing only and not the fur was easier than the polyester faux fur I normally use- that is really dense so you have to be super careful. Good Practice for here. I used a soft champagne color of ultra suede for the paw pads and ears.

Pattern pieces traced and ready to cut.

Once the parts are all cut, I match and sew them together. This time I used a sewing machine with a 1/4 in seam allowance and a 1.5mm stitch. I made sure all openings for turning were edged with a Fray Stop adhesive just in case. Mohair frays like Tissavel fur, so this for me is necessary. I still hand stitched the head- especially the nose area to make sure I got symmetry.

The parts are very easy to turn. Here is the bear all sewn and turned.

 

My next step is to stuff and joint the bear. I am not sure of my finishing steps I want to use yet, but I know scissor and needle sculpting will be used to some degree. I always use them.



Making a cats head

I am testing a new pattern for a kitty. I do not often make cats so this is a new process for me. I decided to use a pattern where I tuck the gusset in to the side head pieces to sew it trapped between the side head, and to shorten the nose length of the gusset considerably.

cat head wrong side out

As you can see the "nose" is really short. I am also using really long fur which I plan to trim to help establish the cat cheek features.

 

Cat head turned right side out

The head looks like a fuzzy critter! But this is the head sewn and turned right side out.

Preferred polyfil for stuffing creations head only

I now stuff the head slowly, using small amounts at a time, and packing it from the nose back into the head. I will try get in as much stuffing in as I can. This does make the head very firm. I like to use this brand of fiberfil for the head as you really can get a lot more in than a silky type. I will always stuff the head of any creation first before I cut any fur to shape a face. That way I know what I am cutting rather than guessing. To make sure I do not loose any stuffing,  I now add in the neck joint. I use running stitch all around the opening and then put the joint in place. Pull the threads tight and backstitch all around the joint to make sure it really stays in place and does not pull out. You have to use really strong thread to be able to handle all that tugging, so I use upholstery thread made by Coates.

Placing joint in neck

Neck joint sewn in place

My next step is to trim the muzzle and a bit more up the nose section to help figure out where the eyes will go.

white nose tip trimmed and eyes in test eyes in place

side view of trimmed nose and test eye

The test eyes will help me figure out what size eyes to use and where I want to place them. They also help me to start the trimming of the face. I trim from the eye in a straight line down to the chin, I repeat that on the other side. I can now eyeball if I am even, or I will use a mirror to check. I hold the head up facing the mirror and I stand behind it. The mirror is great at showing if the eyes and trimming are symmetrical or not. I will now trim the one cheek and work at it until I know it is the shape I want. I go slowly and brush the fur often.

 



Left cheek done

One cheek cut facing front

 Time to cut the other cheek. I always make sure I have time to cut both cheeks at once. I will cut one and then straight away cut the other. I find that works better for me than putting it down and walking away for a bit.  Walking away seems to "disturb" my eye and I cannot cut the other cheek as well. I am in essence repeating on the other side what I have just done. I remember better- doing it right away.

Two puffy cheeks

Once I am happy with the face trimming I will sew the eyes in place. I love the look of glass eyes. I know the pupil is not truly cat shaped but the eye looks great when it is in place. I now purchase my eyes from Itercal Trading. The matching quality is better. I have had some interesting eyes show up from other suppliers that I will probably never be able to use.

Checking eyes quality- please note that these are not Intercal Trading supplied eyes

The first thing I do when I purchase a bag of eyes is pull them out and match them. When you are in the throws of creating you do not always want to stop that process to find a pair of eyes that match. As you can see from the one batch I got- the eye quality and pupil size is all over the place. They are handmade so we do allow for some discrepancy : ) Once I have my eyes picked I place them face down in a product called "sticky stuff". It is available in office supply places. It holds the eye still as I paint them.

Eyes facedown in sticky stuff

Depending on the detail and look of what I am wanting to achieve, it takes 3 layers of paint to get what I want. I will use nail polish to seal the eye when I am done.

Painting eyes

I let the eyes dry really well. There is nothing worse than setting an eye and it smudges the paint all over the fur because you did not wait long enough. I attach my eyes using sinew, waxed linen thread or sometimes on smaller eyes- dental floss.

Eye in place

My next step is to attach the ears. First though I will trim the ears to get the look I want.

Ear right side out

Ear trimmed showing back of ear

Ear trimmed showing front of ear



I sew the bottom of my ear shut before I attach it to the head. This way I know the ear will not shift and give me a strange shape as I am sewing it to the head. There is a lot of long fur I am working around and I like my ears to be symmetrically shaped.

Base of ear whip stitched shut
 

I use a long length of thread that once I have sewn the bottom of the ear shut the same length will attach the ear to the head. I attach the ear using ladder stitch. I do hold both ears up to the head to make sure I am happy with the placement and character they give before I sew them on.

Ladder stitch ear to head

I ladder stitch the front of the ear down and then the back. I make sure the corners are tucked and sewn on extra well to make sure the ear cannot be pulled off.

My cat head is not ready to be attached to the body.

 

I will finish the cat nose once the body is fully done. I will make a nose from polymer clay or needle felt one. That is a decision I make once the cat is almost done. Kind of the last thing I do besides feet/ paddy paws. Here are some other finished cat heads...