Cassie: a Commission

Cassie, a photo by Je Suis Lugly! on Flickr.

I really like accepting commission work when I can as it means I'm definitely fulfilling a dream when everything works out. Cassie is a bear recently commissioned by a friend and collector names Felicity, who already has a sad little sloth of mine in her collection. We first met at my very first Hugglets and have been in touch pretty much since then.

For Cassie I was asked to make a purple bear similar to my recent collection for the Teddies Worldwide show. The colour was quite specific and hard to achieve on alpaca as alpaca is slightly shiny so it doesn't look as dark as it is (does that make sense?) It took two or three goes in the dye bath with a mix of blue and purple dyes, but I think (hope!) we got there in the end.

Cassie also has sweet black glass eyes, a hand stitched and waxed nose, purple felt paw pads and hand stitched claw marks. Wish her luck for her journey to her new home!

Chloe and the Lugly's xx

PS I haven't forgotten about the giveaway: more news on Sunday I think!

A few of my favourite things...

Guess who just got a big delivery of new furs?!

Aahh, it makes me so happy! I had a great day today at school (I was told I have 'it' when it comes to teaching, yey!) and then I came home to find two big boxes waiting for me. I'm now the proud owner of:

1 yd. white + 1/4 yd. blonde and ginger kid mohair like Bombardier's fur (this stuff is AMAZING: a really soft kid mohair).

1 yd. white scruffy mohair (I think I will save it for hares maybe?)

1/2 yd. short white alpaca like Gem's fur.

A lot of white, right? That's because I'm planning on borrowing a series of big pans and dying the heck out of this order :D I am thinking pink, duck egg blue, beige and lavender for the little bears, and maybe blue for a big Bombardier bear? The blonde and ginger kid mohairs will become little Bombs I think... sooo excited! I have a half term break in a few weeks and will be sewing like a maniac then.

I also managed to get my copy of Teddy Bear Times this week: it features the British Bear Artist Award winners and so has two of my creations in it. It also has some really nice shop features and some good artist profiles too so I'm glad to have it to relax to this week as school is hectic right now.

Still no idea what I'm doing for the tea party theme for my main bear: I know what I can do for the little ones but ideally I want the preview bear to be like Bombardier? I'm finding it hard to think of manly tea party ideas, other than Alice in Wonderland which I expect will be done to death... any ideas?

Anyhoo, back to lesson planning! (Not one of my favourite things...)

Chloe and the Luglys xxx