My bearhouse nr. 2 serve tray

 Please scroll down to follow this project!


New challenge, new bearhouse! This time I "fell" for a dinner-tray. I still don't have a real bearhouse because I didn't draw one yet for my husband who will make it for me. Must start drawing one day but first I must find out what I want!

I started today with this bearhouse and after searching my cabinet I re-found decoration papers I bought last year. Hurray!

First I made wall-papers:

The bottom will probably be a room for mamma bear; top left will be a music room for pappa bear; top right hmm....don't know yet! the room left will be a baby-room

The size of the tray is appr. 12 inches x 15,5 inches  or 30 cm x 40 cm.


When I visited the DollsHouse show in April this year I bought this furniture. It is made of Balsa wood (we call it that way). It is very light weighted. I used fine sandpaper to make it more equal.






Somehow I don't feel like painting this wood. I think it will absorb very much and I don't want to work with paint on acryl basic for example. Not for my bearhouse. So, what I did was get a top-quality olive oil and I added it with a bigger brush. It dried very quick. It gives a smooth look to the furniture and it still has a light colour. I like that!




this picture shows the furniture with the olive-oil added. A slight difference!


I glued the furniture into the house, except the cradle. 

So far so good. 

Things I want to do: make a blanket and a pillow for the cradle. Make books. Get light (or make light); I need a music instrument and am thinking of a piano....hmmm....maybe (that's so me again); make painting(s) for the wall; make bears........

Make bears?!  Yes, make bears!  They will be a little bit bigger than the ones for my first bearhouse! I think I shall start with a bear!

This bearhouse project needs time, that's to say I need time! It will be my pleasure to keep you informed over the progress! I'm really looking forward to this project!

Thank you for your visit! Hugs, Pink!

*****

Tuesday June 3rd. 2014.


I added 2 candle-holders and am thinking about how to add candles; think I will make them from Fimo. Also I try to figure out if I want real lamps in the bear-house......or not!

Here I'm preparing a baby-room; added decoration

decorating the cradle; it has some viscose fabric inside and 2 bows and 2 heart-beads at the outside


from this little piece of quilting fabric I made a blanket
the cradle! with the blanket stuffed with polyester; ready to receive a baby!

there is a tiny bear in this closet! I bought it last year in the "worldshop" as we call it......a kind of fair trade
*****

Wednesday.

Mama bear is pregnant! Who would ever have thought that?! Now, I have to design a pregnant bear....
and she must fit into a chair.


What does a pregnant bear look like? I think a teddybear doesn't look very different from a pregnant woman - which doesn't mean ofcourse a pregnant woman looks like a teddybear : ))))) oh dear......!

I need the sizes of the chair to design a bear that fits into that chair and have "translated" these sizes into the drawing for mama.

at this moment it looks like this. I use a lovely alpaca and think it will look very nice and warm.....for a mama. There are darts to create volume. When everything works out fine I shall add the pattern for those of you who are interested.

Next thing to do is to design the head and the limbs. Must do this before I assemble the body because I need to know where the openings must be for the head and the limbs. The disc's must fit too. 

I won't be bored the coming hours!

Now, mama waiting so I must go!

*****

Friday.

Oh dear...! Mama was way too big! It had to do with the alpaca. Beautiful alpaca but not very good for a mini-bear in my opinion. I made the head, sculpted the face, added the eyes and did some scissor-sculpting....and found out it was far too big! I got the eyes out again....and threw it away....I'm not ashamed to share this with you! I learned from this!

Yesterday I designed a new bear and at this moment I'm making a proto-type to check if everything works for the bearhouse. I hope to have finished it tomorrow and show you pic's!

Some lovely people commented on my blog and told me they are very curious to see a baby for the cradle....oh dear again! Baby should be 4 x 2 cm I think  (1,5 inches I think) and I told the sweet people something like NO way! That small! Phew!!!!   BUT: sometimes I need some time to think everything over and so I did....and I decided at least I can TRY. No hurry, nobody is "waiting" for the bearhouse, just enjoy. Sometimes I try to be nice to myself :- )))))

There is one little thing tho: Mama bear is pregnant.......but why couldn't she have another baby?!!!!  OK, I'm gonna do my upper-best!

Hope to have news tomorrow!

Thanks for your visit! Hugs!

*****

Mama bear....she is very pregnant!

aww....like many pregnant women......a hand on the tummy...

leaning back......better!

hand not on the tummy.....

mama bear has a good balance!!!

Now let me tell you what I did so far! I used the mini-fabric and I'm pretty sure the bear will look completely different with a mohair fur. If you use a stretchy mohair the tummy will be more round.
Mama bear is a proto-type but now she is finished I can't resist her and she may stay ofcourse! Who could dump a mama bear???!

The ears are made from woolfelt and I added Fray-check to make them stiff. The collar is made from woolfelt too and has a little baby-bear bead.
The nose is a piece of brown felt glued to the snout and it gives a soft look to the bear.
The footpaws have been stitched on and are from woolfelt too.
There is a rose stitched to the head.
There has been mini steelshot added to the feet and bottom.
Mama bear is 5-way disc-jointed with cotterpins.

The hand on the tummy: I added magnets, 1 in the hand and 2 (double) in the tummy because there is thick fabric underneath it. Would you believe that stupid me did a lot of trouble getting the magnet into the hand to find out it came out again with the steel tweezers? Of course it did! : - )))))))     ok, I admit, twice! : - )))))))

You can change the position from the magnets with a needle.

The total length, stretched out, is appr. 11 cm / 4,4 inches. Much better for your fingers to stitch and add the disc's!

Time to think about a comfortable chair for the lady! I'll see!!!!

Thanks again for your visit; the free pattern will be added one of these days!

*****
Thursday, the first day of the WK 2014!

Mama-bear needs a more comfortable chair but this house is so small and mama a little bit big so I decided to make a "chair" from pillows. I have these lovely squares for patchwork and made 3 little pillow from the fabric. In the middle of each pillow is a button from wood, on the front and on the back.



I think mama still needs a little pillow under her feet! let me think........and I'm also thinking about a baby-bear for the cradle.....think I have an idea!

*****

Saturday.

Ahhh...it really takes a lot of patience to make a bearhouse! I have a lot of patience, almost always, but sometimes..... : )))))

What have I done yesterday and today? In my opinion the house was too neat. I mean, there live bears in there! I have started to do some more decorating.....still working on it! I prefer a "house which is lived in" as people say!  just like our home! The bears must be comfortable!

Mama needs something to put her feet on and I used these disc's and glued them together

I covered it with felt and gave it a little bow too; you can see the bow in another picture

a carpet!!!  soft blue viscose. Mama made a pant for her baby! She used felt. I added a clothes-peg for her!

sssst.....!  Mama is resting! She has her feet on the pouffe and there is a tiny cabinet on the wall now where she can put her stuff on.

Hi Mama! did I wake you up??? oh oh.....! Look, there is a little decoration on the wall...it is some pink lace (thank you Conni!) and a bead.....Oh??  it is family?  OK!

Mama is knitting a pullover for her baby....think I must hurry with the house now and complete it!

lovely pants!
 There still is a lot to do. I must design Papa-bear...and decide which fur I shall use....and a music-instrument...oh my...  : ))))
and....much much more!

Better start!  btw I have a lovely idea for a baby.......!

Later! 

*****
Sunday.

designing a baby.....for these sizes.....all my courage dropped down into my shoes : ))))

for the first time I tried this method: sewing 2 layers in once without cutting both parts before sewing, for tiny designs...works!

small......the head is disc-jointed with 6 mm disc's...it keeps falling out of my fingers!

there it is! the blanket I made was too small once baby was inside the cradle so I decided to use lace and my little girl (cousin Mondi, aged almost 11) suggested to do it this way.....very nice!

I think it looks lovely

mama with the cradle  AND the tummy...

baby wears swaddling-clothes, a little compromise I made with myself. It's just that I don't feel the small parts very well....it is almost not possible to keep it in my fingers! one of these things of getting older.......... : ))))) There is lace all over the body. Baby wears a needle-felted cap, just like most new-borns do. The eyes have been embroidered, I was out of the mini-eyes and I prefer embroidery above beads. There is a cute little golden bow (Mondi made it for me, it is SO small!)

Once again so far so good. Now I keep wondering what to do. Make another cradle? Will baby be someone else's baby? Or is mama getting her babies very quick after each-other? Must papa bear play a music instrument or make another cradle?  Questions!!!!   One moment I will get the inspiration, I'm sure!

Wishing you a lovely day!

*****

Friday June 20th.

How time flies! not that I was THAT busy but the time did fly! 

What did I do for the bearhouse....  made little books from note-books but....I don't think I'm happy with the result. I show a picture anyway. As always you may see the little things that go wrong too!
 : )))

It was so tough to cut the little books. Using my meat-knife was not a good idea! I think I'm going to try new books! Now it gives me an idea how it will look with the books and the size of the books, so, no problem! Just trying!

Also I added some "things" to the cabinet. Seems like I'm a bit sentimental these days because I defenitely wanted to put some things in the cabinet which are very dear to me.

here I go:
* the shoe stands for the little secret I share with my very dear friend all the way in Cyprus...
* the fancy-fair bead on top of the cabinet and the little crown were presents from my very dear friend Lotte in  Denmark....
* the pink lace on the wall above the "painting" and a little bead in the other -smaller - cabinet were presents from my very dear friend Conni from Germany.....
* and now I still must add something special for my very dear friend TC from Arizona....so I've put a "barbie" guitar in the top-room as an example for the guitar I want to make.....to honour her gorgeous bears and all the lovely accessoiries made by her husband Mike....and their friendship ofcourse.

In the second hand shop I found a nice copper (or is it messing?) vase . or so .  and I want to use it for papa-bear. It is in his room just in front of the plastic guitar.

So it be! 

mama-bear is very relaxed

the books don't look nice, there will be new ones!


In the meantime I've designed Papa-bear. Made him just a little bit bigger than Mama. The snout is more "powerfull" in my opinion. He is a VERY happy bear! No ears YET! The nose is from woolfelt again. The fabric is a beautiful white felted open sparse mohair.




If I look at Papa-bear I have to smile too! 

One leg done, body stitched, so a little bit more to do. Hope to find the time this weekend to go on!

I wish you all a very lovely weekend! Hugs! Pink

*****

Thursday.....26th June.

There has been a delay...I had a mri again last week and this week the result and it couldn't have been better! I won't bother you with details (except that I was SO scared......brrrrr.........) but the result has changed my life completely and I feel like I'm born again : ))))))  I hardly can believe it at this moment! But....it is true!

I'm grateful!            over-loaded with energy now it seems, so over-loaded that I get tired of myself I believe : )))))) 

Time to go on with Papa-bear!!!!  2 legs done.....now just 2 arms to stitch and then I can join everything together. Looking forward to it!

Thanks for your visit and extra lovely greetings! Pink.

 *****
Friday.....

I'm stuffing Papa-bear.......did you ever realize HOW MUCH stuffing goes into a mini-bear???!!!!! Amazing!


*****

Saturday.

a bit of chaos don't you agree?!  and I already DID trim the picture : )))))

yep! leg stuffed and stand alone! Hurray!



jointing a leg

and the last arm!

how exciting! still stand alone, no stuffing in the body yet! looks like Papa-bear is happy too : ))))

ahh......!

stuffing done! Papa AND I are very happy! now I must shape the stuffing a bit more. I always knead the stuffing when everything is done.....it works great for me!

relax........!

sorry Papa! you need footpaws!  Papa is laying there and not complaining! I can even see his smile! Looks like he is waving to you! 

Papa has ears already but they are drying. I made them from woolfelt and made them stronger with Fray-check. He has some embroidery too and has been shaded a little. He needs some accessories and it always takes some time before I can decide what to do!

When done, I will start with the guitar.......how exciting again!

Later!  Hugs!  Pink.

*****

still Saturday.....

Guitar is ready! I tried to imagine what I should make if I was a teddy-bear.......NO idea!  So, I used the materials in stock; also I decorated Papa-bear very simply but special with a crocheted scarf with a  glass-bead handmade by my very dear friend from www.slm-arts.com

a matchbox....I added some card-board and glued it into the box (more glue on my fingers than on the box I believe!)

hole for the guitar

card-board to cover the matchbox

piece of wood with threads

piece of a tree.....and I made one side flat

all jointed!  the decorations are to honour my dear friends in Arizona!


now...is he bringing Mama a serenade?????

yes, I really think so! how sweet!!!!




Papa's room is almost finished! 

There still is 1 room to decorate and also.....what about a pregnant Mom and a baby in a cradle already? Hmmm.........what shall I do???!!!!!   I'll see.......

Thanks for your visit!  I shall add Papa's free pattern one of these days! 

*****

Tuesday.

Bearhouse nr. 2 is ready! Could be, that one day, I will make another cradle for the "baby in the belly" but for now I'll leave it the way it is!
The last room I had to decorate is filled with little bells and a bigger heart and it shows how much I love making bears and that it has become my passion.


Thank you for following this project! xxx Pink

*****

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten

Thank you very much for your comment! Pink