Magazine Features for the Summer :)

Magazine 3: Teddy Bear Times, a photo by Gantaeno's epic journey has begun! on Flickr.

Hi everyone! I was wondering why I had a few extra people joining my mailing list this summer... I've worked it out: I'm in two magazines this month!

The first photo is a 'Creature Feature' from Teddy Bear Times Magazine which is in the UK :)



The second photo is from Teddy Bear Review, and it's an article about the design process. I'm currently working on a second hare from the same ideas book, so it's nice to see Jack's face in one magazine, let alone two!

I hope I get more lovely surprises like this in the future too :)

I'm still alive!

Hi everyone,

I'm a month into my stay here in America, staying with friends in Ohio right now :) I'm staying with the lovely Tami Eveslage and her talented hands (and her family too!). I've not had as much drive to work on creatures as I'd like to (Hey! I'm on holiday, right?) but I have started work on a new bear: I hope you like the preview above?

Basically, I'm trying to improve my bear pattern whilst simultaneously removing the needlefelting from my work. I've noticed from competitions I've entered and shows I want to do, that a LOT of emphasis is put on the preference for bears... I see why it happens when it's a 'Bear Competition' but lets be honest: there aren't any animal ones! On top of that, it seems like if I enter an animal with needlefelting on it, I'm not just pigeonholed into the animal category, I am put into the 'needlefelting' category instead... this seems odd to me, especially as there's no category for any other sculpting technique? Like a 'Trapunto' category, or a 'Needle sculpting' category? Anyhoo... to broaden my ability to do more online shows, competitions and the like, I'm trying to come up with a bear pattern that I like, that is individual to my style and my drawings and actually looks like my work, without being felted: it's a challenge!

Here's the head I sculpted as a base for the pattern:



I hope you can see the resemblance? Sadly making him up in fur has been less successful so far, although I think it's mostly down to the fur stretching... I'll keep you up to date as I progress... just wanted to let you know I'm alive and sculpting!

Chloe and the Lugly's xxx