A new Panda

Petrarch the Panda

A fellow bear artist recently asked me if I would make a bear for him, and he had a previous design in mind.  So with a certain trepidation because I don't really like going back to older designs, I waited while we found the appropriate picture on my website.   The preferred bear turned out to be a Panda, from quite a few years ago, and since I hadn't made one for a while, and the idea very much appealed to me,  I happily agreed.

This of course prompted me to think about making other Pandas before embarking on the requested one, which is quite large, and I wanted to make a new smaller one too, the commission bear will come in due course but I was keen to make a small one first.

When ever I think of making  Panda I create my own challenges.  It must still look like one of my bears yet have proportions which are more Panda-like.  And of course the obvious black & white pattern requires some decision about where the joins are, and, because I don't like straight line joins on them, a number of opposing curves to sew.  Then there are the eye patches, I really don't like resorting to fixing them on  top of the white cloth, marginally better than using a marker pen or airbrush but I feel that I must make them as a sewn in part of the of the pattern.  Fiddly to say the least but I have found a helpful technique which helps but it is still only practical down to a certain size.

So I set out to create a Panda under 12 inches, and I have just about managed it,  he is 12.5 inches to the top of his ears.   I think a smaller one would have to have applied patches for his eyes !   I am calling these Panda Teds, he is not supposed to be a realistic Panda, but a ted with leanings towards Panda shape and proportion. He isn't black and white either, I used black mohair alongside a pale wheat colour over a pale gold cloth, a personal preference to the plain white.

Designing him, making test pieces, all the hand sewing combined with my increasingly arthritic hands took 6 days, perhaps I make too much heavy weather of things but it is the only way I know, and at least I can be confident I have done my best.

So thanks to a commission I have completed a little project which I thoroughly enjoyed, he was listed for my mailing list and I had one of the biggest, most enthusiastic responses and he was sold immediately.  Lovely and very encouraging after all the worrying and fiddling designing and making him.

Needless to say I will be making more of them.

New bears are listed on my website at www.hugoshouse.com

To be added to my mailing list please email me at Gregory@hugoshouse.com

Peregrine the Panda

This bear has been a long time coming.  Over the years I have made a few Panda like Teds, I enjoyed using different colours but I thought it was time to visit the Panda again.

I wanted to slightly modify the face shape without losing touch with my own look and I wanted to just give my own little twist to the design and get away from the usual approach to the black chest band.

I was insistant that all the colour contrast was done just with different fabric, so his eye patches are sewn into the pattern ( other bear artists always ask ! ) 

He is made from two shades of dense short Alpaca, and my first departure from "real" was the decision to make his contrast colour the rather nice custard yellow. His proportions are not strictly realistic Panda, that was not my intention, but I have moved his face shape a little more in the Panda direction and altered the design of the nose embroidery a little.  His eyes are inset on small discs of black felt to bring them out against the black of his eye patches.

I very much enjoyed making him, but he took far longer than I expected, and as ever the work on the black fur proved very difficult, I had to do most of the hand finishing under a magnifying lamp to see what was gong on.

Pandas' shoulder colour is rarely regular and the idea of making it assymmetrical appealed but in the end I settled on breaking it at the back which involved sewing more circles into the pattern, tricky but very satisfying once finished.  He has a double neck joint and I didn't want the colour change to be in the same place as a neck joint which again created extra pieces to fit in.

For his feet I have kept to my preferred wool felt, the pattern has some of the shape built in which is then enhanced by sculpting, or pulling the toes.

His eyes are my preferred vintage boot buttons and his nose is embroidered over a base to give a more three dimensional shape then set and wax polished, the remaining facial feature scissor scuplted over the snout and around the mouth.

So all in all he is not a wild departure from my usual work but he has a few very small quirks which are there just to please me, I made him as a very personal special and I suspect he will be the only one for some time, I can't spend a whole week on one bear for a long while yet.

And finally there is his name, Peregrine, I didn't want to give him one of those pseudo chinese double barrel names and Peregrine Panda has a nice ring to it so that's his name.

Customers on my mailing list had a priority look at Peregrine so he already has a good home.