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Welcome to Gemini Bears January 2004 Newsletter

This is the 7th of our online newsletters. If you wish to view the previous newsletter with it's tips etc then click the link.

Moss , Jacko & Ratty, Kris, and Pacifica have all been added to the site since the last Newsletter. We have also included 2 Clothing Patterns for Bears

Moss is a little bear made entirely from velour. His outsized feet and small head give him a comical look and his ruff is made from chiffon ribbon. Although Moss is small, 11cm (41/2") he is relatively easy to make.
Kris is a little bear 7" (17cm) tall and is made entirely from mohair. His tummy is a white inset of mohair and he has a fabric hat and velour vest. Designed as a Christmas bear, Kris can also be made to look like a clown if you give him a red nose!
Pacifica is a blue mohair bear designed to emulate the Pacific Ocean. He has blue fur and eyes and the same colour mohair paw pads. His "fish" necklace is made from felt offcuts.
The Jacket and Cap and Collar are designed for a 12"-15" (30-35cm) bear. You could reduce the patterns or enlarge to fit the bears you have.
Sparks Sparks has oversized feet with an embroidered star on one foot and velour ears. He is 35cm (14") tall but is best sitting down with his bent legs.

Click Here to see them all.

If you are a bear designer and teach bear making and by chance you are travelling to this end of the world, please contact us with a view to teaching a class out here. We can help with free accomodation and will also get together a class of pupils for you.

The other thing we are hoping to encourage is a penpal email group. Those of you who are interested in communicating with people of similar interests please advise us of your email address and various particulars and we will put your details onto our web site.

Bingley is the new Free Pattern

He is a Baby bear and has name beads around his neck

Tips from Chris

If you want to try a bear with eyes of a special colour then use clear glass eyes and paint the back with nail varnish in the colour that you want. Nail polish comes in every colour under the sun and is especially good to use at the back of glass eyes.
If you want your Ted to stand up unaided, then as well as adding crushed quartz into his legs up to his shins and then stuffing firmly, cut out some cardboard pieces the same size as his footpads and fit them in prior to stuffing.
To give your bear a country and western look, after plucking the fur around the muzzle, add a few freckles with a fabric pen. If you do not wish to pluck the fur out around his muzzle then embroider a few french knots to resemble freckles.
When putting in glass eyes, slightly colour around under the eye and to the side of the eye with a fabric pen the same colour as the eye. Just a little bit. This will give a smudgy look to the eyes. You could also do this around the nose.
When you have finished embroidering a nose and have done the mouth stitches very carefully colour in at the base of the inverted "V" a small triangle. This gives the appearance of an open mouth bear. Do this in the same colour that the nose and mouth are embroidered in.
To make a ruffle around a bear's neck use ribbon. About a metre will be enough for a ruffle around a 10cm (4") bear's neck.. Using a strong thread run a gathering thread right up the middle of the ribbon. Pull up tightly every ten stitches or so and you will see a ruffle appearing. When you have enough to fit around the bear's neck place ruffle around his neck and sew the two ends together. You can do the same sort of thing for a ruffle around the head as well.
If using material that tends to fray make a weak solution up of two parts water to one part PVA glue and "paint" around the edge before you cut the bear out. Do not use Biro or ballpoint pens as these tend to run on the fabric and it comes through the other side.
Make sure if you are selling your bears that you have a label which stresses that this is not a child's toy. If making for children then safety eyes and plastic joints are fine. Stuffing should not be quartz or plastic pellets.

I hope these tips are of value to you, but if you require further help please do not hesitate to contact me.
Email Chris to add any any bits of advice to the next newsletter of if you have a tricky problem you would like to discuss.

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