UPDATE : Keegan has found a new home!

 

*** UPDATE : KEEGEN WILL BE MAKING HIS NEW HOME IN THE U.K.***

I’m pleased to introduce you to Keegan.     Keegan is currently available directly from me for $342.00 US.  If you are interested in purchasing Keegan, please click the Buy Now Pay Pal button just above.  Clicking the button allows you sign in securely to the Pay Pal system.  If you don’t have a Pay Pal account, Pay Pal can still securely process your payment using most debit or credit cards… after clicking the Buy Now button, just choose the “Don’t have a Pay Pal Account” option.   I do not charge for shipping… that’s my gift to YOU!

Keegan is made from two absolutely gorgeous fabrics sent to me by the lovely artist, Berta Hesen-Minten of  ThReAdTeDs  of  the Netherlands.  You can take a peek at her offerings by clicking on her name in the previous sentence.

 Keegan’s main body is made of a long pile fabric with a bit of shine to it.  It’s a wonderful blushed nutmeg color with longer guard hairs.  His chest and muzzle are made from another long pile fabric with guard hairs… it’s nearly ivory… it has just a touch of a blush undertone.

Keegan measures in at 4 and 1/2 inches standing.   He  has bent arms and straight legs with wire armature, so he can hold soft poses with his arms and legs.

The best way to imagine the proportions of my bears is to look at the photos of them in my hand.

Keegan has soft dove gray eyes with an undereye white accent and a sewn in upper eyelid.  He has subtle shading near his mouth and eyes.  His face has been deeply sculpted using invisible internal stitches.

His  front and rear paws have pads made of vintage upholstery velvet, and they all have  tiny little pulled toes.

Keegan’s collar is made of blue-gray silk organza.  I dyed the organza myself, micro pleated it, and gathered it into this cute little collar.  The collar is accented with a REALLY tiny button!  Collar  is not designed to be removable.

As always, I’ve paid very close attention to making sure that my miniatures have all the detail and intricacy of a much larger bear.  I am also a stickler for proportion.  I really like for them to pass for large bears until you see a  picture of one in my hand.

Keegan will arrive lovingly gift boxed and with his own photographic Certificate of Authenticity.

If you have any questions, please feel free to eMail me at:

wildthymeorig@aol.com

As always, thank you for your continued interest in what I do, and thanks for taking a peek at little Keegan!

If you are not yet a member of my mailing list, please eMail me to join.  You will receive a short eMail each and every time I have someone new available!

***UPDATE : no longer available*** Elysia from the Wild Thyme Originals Studio

***UPDATE:  ELYSIA HAS FOUND A NEW HOME IN CALIFORNIA!

I’m so happy to introduce you to Elysia.  Elysia  is currently available directly from me for $342.00 US.  If you are interested in purchasing Elysia, please click the Buy Now Pay Pal button just above.  Clicking the button allows you sign in securely to the Pay Pal system.  If you don’t have a Pay Pal account, Pay Pal can still securely process your payment using most debit or credit cards… after clicking the Buy Now button, just choose the “Don’t have a Pay Pal Account” option.   I do not charge for shipping… that’s my gift to YOU!

Elysia is made of a wonderful fabric from Sassy Bears & Fabrics.  It’s a gorgeous shade of teal with a darker backing.  These fabrics give such a lovely dimentional effect.  Her inset muzzle and chest are made of white Sassy “cashmere,” and her rear paw pads and inner ears are a pale aqua ultra suede.

Elysia  measures in at 4 inches standing.    She has bent arms and straight legs with wire armature.   The best way to imagine the proportions of my bears is to look at the photos of them in my hand.

Elysia  has sweet blue eyes with a touch of aqua in them.  She has a stitched in undereye white accent and a sewn in upper eyelid.  She is shaded with a bit of  black around her eyes and just a hint of deeper aqua in her ears and above her nose.  dove gray around her nose, mouth and ears.  Her face has been deeply sculpted using invisible internal stitches.  Nose is stitched in teal colored silk floss.

Both her arms and legs have an internal armature that allows Tris  to hold soft poses.  You can turn her  feet out and lightly bend her wrists and elbows. She looks like such a shy little thing in the picture above!

Elysia’s neck ruff is made from white tulle.

I couldn’t help but take a photo of little Elysia with the lilacs.  They are in full bloom right now.  I think she likes them as much as I do!

As always, I’ve paid very close attention to making sure that my miniatures have all the detail and intricacy of a much larger bear.  I am also a stickler for proportion.  I really like for them to pass for a full sized artist bear until you see a  picture of one in my hand.

Tris  will arrive lovingly gift boxed and with hers own photographic Certificate of Authenticity.  Elysia is a one of a kind.  I can not and will not duplicate her.

If you have any questions, please feel free to eMail me at:

wildthymeorig@aol.com

As always, thank you for your continued interest in what I do, and thanks for taking a peek at little Elysia!

UPDATE : FOSTER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. The Wild Thyme Originals Studio

FOSTER WILL BE MAKING HIS WAY TO CALIFORNIA VERY SHORTLY!

I’m so pleased for you to meet Foster.  A one of a kind artist teddy bear in miniature.     Foster is currently available directly from me for $342.00 US.  If you are interested in purchasing Foster, please click the Buy Now Pay Pal button just above.  Clicking the button allows you sign in securely to the Pay Pal system.  If you don’t have a Pay Pal account, Pay Pal can still securely process your payment using most debit or credit cards… after clicking the Buy Now button, just choose the “Don’t have a Pay Pal Account” option.   I do not charge for shipping… that’s my gift to YOU!

Foster is made from a gorgeous longer pile fabric that has a lovely sheen to it.  It’s a soft tan, with long guard hairs.  Foster has an inset muzzle and inner ears made from cream micro plush.

Foster measures in at 4 and 1/2 inches standing.  He has bent arms and straight legs with wire armature.   The best way to imagine the proportions of my bears is to look at the photos of them in my hand.

Foster has soft gray-blue eyes with an undereye white accent and a sewn in upper eyelid.  He is shaded with a bit of deep chocolate brown around his eyes, nose and inner ears.  His face has been deeply sculpted using invisible internal stitches.

Both her arms and legs have an internal armature that allows Foster  to hold soft poses.  You can turn his  feet out and lightly bend his wrists and elbows.  His rear paw pads have tiny toes that have been stitched and shaded.  Foster does not have front paw pads.

Foster’s neck ruff is constructed out of a pretty silk bias cut ribbon which I’ve gathered and ruched.  The ribbon is a lovely mix of cornflower blue, turquoise and teal.  His ruff is not designed to be removable.

As always, I’ve paid very close attention to making sure that my miniatures have all the detail and intricacy of a much larger bear.  I am also a stickler for proportion.  I really like for them to pass for large bears until you see a  picture of one in my hand.

Foster will arrive lovingly gift boxed and with his own photographic Certificate of Authenticity.

If you have any questions, please feel free to eMail me at:

wildthymeorig@aol.com

As always, thank you for your continued interest in what I do, and thanks for taking a peek at little Foster!

Pansy Pin Keep

A pretty place to park pins!  It’s been a long time since I’ve done any ribbon work in earnest… but a long time collector of mine commissioned a very tiny miniature bear with a pansy theme.  Once the little bear was finished, I decided to grab some scraps and do a life sized pansy… but what to do with it?  A pansy pin keep.  

Hand made French wired ribbon pansy and leaf.

100% wool felt pin cushion stuffed firmly with poly-fill.

embroidery floss

seed bead accents

glass “dew drop”

 

Sabelle is now available… UPDATE : SOLD

UPDATE:  Sabelle will be making her new home in North Carolina, USA!  

To purchase Sabelle using Pay Pal simply click the Buy Now Button above.

Includes shipping to anywhere in the world!  If you do not have a PayPal account, you may still securely sign in via Pay Pal and purchase using most major credit cards… just choose “Don’t have a PayPal account” on the first page.   

A brand new full-sized bear has just emerged from the Wild Thyme Originals Studio!  Please meet Sabelle, a one of kind teddy created from premium alpaca in a gorgeous muted pale pink.  If you have been following my recent blog posts, Sabelle is the bear that I have been working on.  I will be posting more in progress blog posts soon!  Initially, I intended for Sabelle to have much more muted accessories.  However, as this young lady progressed, she made it very clear to me that she desired something a bit more posh and sophisticated!  She has an inset muzzle made from curly kid mohair in a soft beige tone. Sabelle measures in at 11 inches in a seated position (measured from her tush to the top of her head).  If she were a standing bear she’d be 15-16 inches tall.  She has bent & armatured arms and legs, so she can strike all kinds of cute poses.  Her legs can not be unbent, but the armature allows you to be able to turn her ankles and wrists in an out… see accompanying photos for ideas!

I love to pose bent legged bears with one leg dangling off a stack of books or the edge of a shelf.

She has gray-blue glass eyes with reflective particles that catch and play with the light.  Her eye lids are suede and have been stitched in.  Sabelle’s mouth is deeply sculpted.  Her nose is stitched in a pink silk floss.  Dove gray shading accents her face and inner ears.

All four paw pads are made of beige ultra suede and have thread sculpted fingers/toes.

Her neck ruff is completely removable.  It’s made of pure silk organza, which I’ve dyed a sophisticated deep charcoal gray.  I’ve gathered and pleated the silk, and accented the piece with needle tatted cotton thread with pink and gray crystals.  The ruff may be displayed up or down, and ties with multiple silk ribbons – also accented with crystals.  The flower she sports near her ear is made of the same materials.  I’ve simply pinned it on so it can be removed and placed where you wish.

Sabelle is available for $660.00 US directly through this blog.  This price includes shipping to anywhere in the world.  She is a one of a kind, and will come with a signed certificate of authenticity.  You can purchase Sabelle using the Pay Pal button which appears at the top of the listing.  If the Pay Pal button does not exist, or no longer works… then Sabelle has already found a new home.

As always, please feel free to email me at :

wildthymeorig@aol.com  should you have any questions.  I thank you for your interest in my teddies!  I also maintain a mailing list to notify interested person when I have something new available.  If you’d like to join, just let me know.

Seam Picking

Now we come to one of my favorite parts of bear making… seam picking!  I don’t quite know why I find this step so obsessively satisfying, but I DO!  Okay, so we have a sewn body part…

Here you can see the seam allowance.  We need to open up the  seam allowance….

 

You can see the “stubble” of the fur that I already cut away near the edges of the fabric.  You can also see some of the fur that has become trapped and is now sticking its way through to the right side of the fabric.  If we don’t pick that outta there, that fur will be bunched up on along the seam of your finished bear.  I find that when this happens, the fur along the seams becomes extra dense and draws your eye to the seam.  While a sewn bear will never appear completely seamless, you don’t want to draw attention to the fact that the seams exist.  I strive to make my bears look “alive.”  In my mind, thing that are alive don’t have seams!  How’s that for justification!

I use an awl to pick all that trapped fur out.

Here’s what the unturned body piece looks like after I’ve done all my pickin’!

You can see that I picked the seams of the darted areas at the top and bottom as well.  I do this to each and every piece.

 

Pinning today…

It’s been a busy day here today on the kid front.  My daughter had a friend over and they decided to make cupcakes for the entire gymnastics team!  While they were knee-deep in frosting and sprinkles, I did a bit of pinning.  I just use regular old quilting pins.  I’ve tried various other methods, but I always seem to revert to using what I started with.  You must tuck all the mohair back into the piece as you go.  Because I hand sew, I have the luxury of being able to continue to tuck as I sew.  My pinning isn’t the neatest I’ve seen, but with the hand sewing, I still have flexibility to ease the pieces into proper alignment as I stitch.
As you can see, the area where the foot pad will be inserted remains open, as does a small area on what will be the top of the thigh.  The thigh opening will be used to turn the piece right side out after the footpad is sewn in.  Here’s a pick of what I am currently using as my pincushion…. an Amish puzzle ball!  These are so fun to make.  I made this one a few years ago out of some pretty scraps of cotton quilting fabric.  Here’s a link to some directions if you’d like to try one yourself..

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=102581.0#axzz2Olxr1TOf

The tutorial shows one being made from felt.  I hand sewed each of the “footballs” with the right sides facing together, leaving a small opening for turning and stuffing.  After stuffing each football with wool batting, I closed each one with a few stitches before sewing them together as directed in the tutorial.