Monday, December 24, 2012

Friday, December 21, 2012

Our Yearly Bear Friends Works Shop

Every week we come together with friends, to work on bears or other fun project. In between we chat .. hmm. or should I say.. in between chatting we make bears .
To close the year we organize a Christmas workshop. I mostly take care for the projects.. others take care for food and drinks.
This year we made ThReAdTeDs® Bear Paw pincushion.

  First the Paw Pad was sewn together,  stuffed and weighted.



Then with a template the felted details were added. The claw beads sewn on seperate.

 The fun thing from these projects, with the template we made, everybody can do it..and each one ended up with a nicely needle felted pincushion to take home, with memories of a nice and fun day spent together with Friends.  



Sunday, November 11, 2012

Teddie Word Wide Christmas Show Preview

I know, I know, I am late to announce the preview for the Teddie World Wide Christmas Show, but there is still 4 more days to cast your vote !!

This is my creation I made special as preview and challenge for Teddies World Wide Christmas Show. The theme was a Christmas Carol.
The little bear is driving home in a wet felted Elf shoe car I special felted for him. The shoe is wet felted, the wheels needle felted.
If you like him, he would love to receive your vote.





You can vote only once in each category, there is one category for miniature and one for bigger bears.

To see all the preview bears go to: http://www.teddiesworldwide.com
from there you can go directly to the preview page.
Voting is easy, click on the name below the picture, a pop up window shows and in there you confirm your vote. That`s all !! No need to enter name and/or email address.

Enjoy!!

.. and if you decide to vote for "Driving home for Christmas" I like to thank in
advance!!
Berta

Monday, October 29, 2012

Addi Quick turbo felting machine

We had a wonderful show last weekend. Many, many visitors, it was crowded all day on Saturday and Sunday. Bears and dolls found new homes. There were several kinds of work-shops were visitors could sit down and join the fun to learn something new.
My opinion; It was a good move from the Organizer to change the location for this big Doll and Bear show from  Ahoy to the Brabanthallen in Den Bosch.

I was totally exited about the new addi Quick needle felting tool, which I received in the mail a week before this show. As Jessica von der Fecht (the lady who invented the tool) is not familiar with bear/animal making, I asked her if it was ok to introduce and show the Addi Quick to the bear making people during the show.  I was so exited about the possibilities, the ease to work with the tool, and the time it would save...  I just had to share this wonderful tool with fellow artist and bear makers.

I prepared some little projects to work on and to demonstrate  the Addi Quick Turbo felting machine during the show. I also invited people to sit down and give it a try.. here some pictures made during the show from a few of the many people who tried the AddiQuick:












  Like me, they became exited and for many it came on top of their Christmas wishes list. If you want to learn more about Jessica von der Fecht, about her work and her invention visite her Blog at http://www.mobifilz.com/ 
To order the Addi Quick Turbo machine visite the shop at Filzspecht.de
or google to find a seller in your country or area. I enjoyed it very much to introduce Jessie`s felting machine. Thank you Jessie for sharing your wonderful invention with all of us felting enthusiasts!!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

What keeps me busy..

Preparing for the last 3 shows in 2012.

Upcoming weekend (Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 October )the show from Niesje Wolters in Den Bosch.. Yes..ATTENTION !! a new location!! For me this location is not bad as it is closer to my house so can drive home. 

Then the next week I will be in Wiesbaden. For the first time Kreativ Welt has an extra spot for Teddy Bear Artist, a Teddy Bear show within a very big happening..Kreativ Welt!! 

It is a 4 day happening so hopefully see many of you there. I don`t know what spot we will be, as these will be provided the day of set up.

Then at last on 18 November the Berlinale, Teddy Bear show in Berlin.

Besides bears I am preparing/dyeing lots of fabrics.. Special the the XX Long Pile mini fabric I like very much. It does sew easy, does not fray and the long hair makes it fun to scissor sculpt. It is easy to use for small bear as well as for bigger bears. I bring examples of bears made with this fabric, here is already one for you to see:



Another great thing, this fabric does hand- dye into lovely colors and shades.  Here some examples of the Tie Dye and Stripes I have done before with other mini fabrics:

And a new way of dyeing in shades from light to dark:

I call this SHADOW. I almost finished a bear with this new Shadow dyed fabric and hope to have him finished before the next shows for you to see.
Back to work.. and hopefully see you soon.




Saturday, August 11, 2012

HURRAY !! URSA competition .. I won...

Victoria and Panda Bunny are both winners but don`t know yet if it will be number 1, 2 or 3 !! This will be announced in the October web-zine of Bears & Buds. Thanks to ALL who voted for my entries!!


From all the finalists there is only one who can win the URSA Major - Best Overall Award. To make a chance I need to campaign again for votes and hope for YOUR vote for Victoria!!  Although I do love Panda Bunny, you can only give one vote and I would make a better chance if voting goes to only one of my finalists. Victoria is my favorite, hope she is your`s too !!


Click on the above banner and vote for your favorite!! 

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

NEW ThReAdTeDs® XX long Pile

The new ThReAdTeDs® XX Long Pile fabric is awesome!! The original color is white and does dye into beautiful colors.  The white and colors are available in my web-shop in normal size pieces 9"/9" and bigger pieces 18"/18" for white only. The long hair is great for scissor sculpting.
Bunny in picture is not finished yet, he is the prototype design for a new pattern/kit. He still needs some tweaks but he already can show the look of this wonderful ThReAdTeDs® XX Long Pile mini fabric.To give an idea..Bunny is 4" tall if standing.

I have done some experiments with RIT dye on XX long Pile. 
 It was messy but I like the result.
I probable used to much dye.. I had to rinse..and rinse..and rinse....
  
I have to figure out how to do this better so for now I have only 4 pieces 9"/9"
1 piece I am going to use for my next project..don`t know what it will be yet.. the above 3 pieces I offer for sale and are €10,- / $12,50 each.  First come first serve...

Monday, July 9, 2012

URSA Award Competition open for voting!!



Please vote now in the 7th Annual URSA Awards Competition !! Click on the above icon/link to see all the entries.  Please feel free to share the link and/or invite your friends to cast their vote too.

 The idea of the URSA is that all bears are seen and voted on. When you are going through all categories, you will come across my entries:

 In Category 1: Wee Little Bare Bear or Bud you find BonBon, a traditional teddy bear in a non traditional color.


 
In Category 10: Crocheted Bear or Bud, I entered Victoria, a N.O.S.T.© (New Old Style Ted), unique design for ThReAdTeDs®.



I enjoyed it so much to enter the All the same Category last year, so couldn`t resist to join again.  This year the pattern was given for a bunny. In Category 19 I entered my creation made from the All the same pattern: Panda Bunny. 


  Now I don`t keep you any longer, there are 17 categories and 109 entries to judge and vote for.  You can vote until 29 July in the first round. In name of all participants; Thank you so much !!  Here again the icon/link to bring you to all entries: 
 

Sunday, July 8, 2012

From one show..to the other...

Already a few weeks ago we were in Stratford Upon Avon for the Teddy Bear Artist event 2012.
A wonderful Show, it was great to see so many friends and customers again.
The challenge was great, so many wonderful entries. I was honored to receive a third place in the miniature category for Rainbow Bears.

A little time was left to visit the new MAD museum. It was small, but real fun to look at all the mechanical pieces of Art.
 Only one of the many great pieces you can find in the MAD museum.
I am preparing now for the show in Lindau which will take place on 21 and 22 July. It is in our holidays, so if weather will be nice, we might stay a few days longer.
I work on new pieces for the show and hope to show some of them here in my Blog in the next days....  Please check back or visit my website for a show preview.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Ladbergen 2012

We had a wonderful weekend in Ladbergen. This is a very special Teddy Bear show. All the town is Teddy Bears!! Shops are open and even in the windows are Teddy Bears displayed.
During the opening the local Mayor received the first Bear from a limited edition, special made for this year, from the show organizer.


All set up and ready to go.....................



Customers spent time chatting with Artist..

or searching for that special bear or supplies they were looking for.

During the show a felt workshop was teached. I followed the progress of one of the students during the  workshop.
Here she exited starts the project

Wool is needle-felted down ... 

.. the all over shape is done..

Extra details added ...

And finished!!

The Ladberger Teddy Bear Challenge was held in 2 categories, small bears and big(ger) bears, and the winners are chosen by the public.  This year the Theme was; Bear with Animal.

The winners in the first category..

and second category!!

A special thank you for Claudia, for all the help she gives to make the show successful!! Next year the 20th Teddy Bear Show in Ladbergen will be on 8 and 9 June 2013!!