Challenged - Part 1
Union Jack flag
Typically, my first hiccup for this patriotic teddy bear challenge, was being unprepared. I had no white vinegar to set the dye, so after a quick dash to the supermarket to buy some straight after lunch today, I donned a large craft apron and some rubber gloves before mixing the dye for my challenge bear.
I gathered together my research notes, white mohair and dye ingredients ...
And began by washing my white mohair so it would accept the dye readily.
The came the fun part! The Jacquard Acid Dyes only require a small amount of powder to be mixed with water to achieve vibrant colour.
It's very easy to use these dyes. I kept my fingers crossed that the dye wouldn't ruin my favourite stockpots, threw caution to the wind and dropped my lovely white mohair straight into the red and blue pots ... there was no time for shilly-shallying around with sample pieces first, my schedule was too tight!
Half an hour of hubble bubble later, my mohair pieces were ready for washing. I don't think the blue is quite as dark as it should be (I bought 'brilliant blue' rather than 'navy' dye) but hey ho, it is a very nice blue and surely a bearmaker can be allowed a little artistic interpretation?!
Time to start work on my bear's white bits now ... I'll take pics as I work and share them with you when he's ready for submission. Wish me luck with the deadline - I'm going to need it!
As I was about to tell you yesterday, before I started work on my challenge bear's white bits I discovered I didn't have any suitable blue paw fabric; fortunately though, I did have a piece of white felt tucked away in a storage box, so before I could go any further with my project, I had to nip back down to the stove ....
And after a little more hubble bubble, my scrap of white felt soon became the perfect matching shade of blue!
My plan for this project was to tackle the advanced element of the Guild's 'A Teddy Bear World' challenge by creating a 1950's 'Chiltern Hugmee' style bear, in clown style. After scouring the internet for information about the Chiltern Hygenic Toy Company, I only managed to find a couple of photographs of their clown bears dating back to the 1930's, but that was enough to tell me Chiltern had once manufactured teddy bears in clown style!
Challenged - Part 2
1930's Chiltern clown/harlequin style bear
As my first childhood teddy was a 1950's Chiltern Hugmee and I have always had a fondness for this most English of bears, I decided to meet the Guild challenge criteria by attempting to create a 1950's Hugmee type bear in patriotic clown style ...
My mohair dye bath worked perfectly, giving me the vibrant red and blue colours of our national Union Jack flag.
And once sewn, I could begin to see my design taking shape!
As the Chiltern Toy Company used excelsior in their bears' heads, I decided I would give it a go too ... but it was such a messy job, I don't think it's something I'll be repeating in a hurry!
Chiltern Hugmee bears were stuffed with a natural fibre called kapok, so that's what I chose to use for my challenge bear. Boy did that stuff tickle my nose ... from now on, I will be forever grateful for my usual, non-tickly, polyester!
Something old, something new!
I have really enjoyed the opportunity this challenge has given me to step away from my usual style of work and do something completely different.
So here he is, introducing 'Jack' ...
I do hope you think he might have made an acceptable addition to the 1950's Chiltern Hugmee range of teddy bears!
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