jannebears.com Blog

Ernest and Merlin have been adopted. Thanks to everyone who visited my E-bay listing, and special thanks to the person who adopted them. I know they will have a good home.

I am hard at work on another duo. As you probably guessed by now, I love to play around with famous people’s names and design critters around their name and personalities. I am working on Scarlett and O’hare now. I am having a bit of design problems with O’hare. I usually sketch out my ideas in my sketch book and then develop the critter from these ideas, so O’hare is a rabbit (how did you guess), and I have definite ideas of how he should look, but am having a few problems bringing him to life. I will probably have them ready in a week or two.

I cannot believe it is the end of July already. Have a great weekend!

I am about to list these two cuties on E-bay.

They are a part of my Orphan Critters line, they will be the third in the series. All my Orphan Critters have a little story to go with them. The first was a mouse named Stanley. He sold on E-bay in 2003.

The second in the series was a dog named Casey. He sold on E-bay in 2003.

I want to thank all our brave men and women in the armed forces, who have protected us and our freedoms at the utmost cost, THANK YOU!!!

Have a safe and happy July 4th everyone!

I have listed Oliver and Wendell on e-Bay. I haven’t been selling on e-Bay for quite some time, but I have been working on my bears, dolls and critters. I hope to list a doll soon, but I am still in the experimenting stage at this point. My head is full of ideas and I wake each morning anxious to get started on some of the ideas.

Oliver is a return to my recycled denim teddies. I love using this material because it is soft and worn with a nice patina of age. It is also unforgiving of errors, so your patterns need to be right on, there is no fur to hide little oversights. My recycled denim comes from family and my own collection, it seems there are always plenty of jeans around. I don’t use the stretch denim, only the regular old denim.

Oliver

Oliver is also a bit bigger than I have been used to making, he is 21 inches tall and softly stuffed with poly and pellets. His arms and legs have lots of pellets to give him a more relaxed feel.

My designs usually follow a routine. I usually draw the idea in my sketch book first, then draw the pattern. I have usually decided what material I am going to use when I am drawing the sketch, so then I lay out the patterns, trace around them on the material, and cut them out. Next I sew the head, stuff it, place the eyes, stitch the nose, sew on the ears, then go on to the rest of the bear. If I am dissatisfied with the head, I make a new one, making the changes I feel it needs. I always hand sew the head. I hand sew the bodies of all my teddies under 15 inches. I use a back stitch and sew every seam twice for extra security. After I am finished sewing, stuffing, sculpting and tweaking, I start on the clothing and accessories.

I had Oliver sitting in my workroom for several months while deciding if he was finished or not, then I decided he needed claws and a companion. I had a idea for Wendell floating around in my head, and decided he would make a good teddy for Oliver. I had a bit of a time deciding which material to make him from, but finally the left over material from an old wool coat seemed just right. I knew I wanted him to be a simple design, so I used button joints and made his head stationary. I also thought button eyes suited him best.

Wendell

I love them together, they seem to belong to each other.

Oliver and Wendell

I am working on an orphan critter, these are a separate category, and I have only made two so far, this one wasn’t meant to be the third, but the idea for him came to me one night and I sketched him out in a few minutes and just had to make him. If you would like to see the other orphan critters, please visit them on my web site.