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.