Why You Don't Let Little Bears Watch Scary Movies Late At Night

Mozzie's New Friend

Mozzie got a new friend yesterday and he was so, SO excited that he wanted me to tell you about it.  He has decided for himself that since the deer is so small he must be one of the "eight tiny reindeer" of infamy.  In fact he thinks it's Comet.  I think he may have overheard me talking about cleaning the powder room yesterday and using Comet, and got confused.  At this point I just don't have the heart to tell him his new pal is from Williams-Sonoma and not the North Pole.  As for the little fawn...he doesn't seem to mind Mozzie's enthusiasm or being called Comet!  In fact he just smiles and doesn't say anything...hmm...

Treats For You, Tricks For Me

Hi Mozzie here!  I had this great idea, since this is my first Halloween I wanted to pass out treats, but I was told I was too small to give out candy.  *Sad face*  But then I thought we should have a sale so that some of my buddies could find good homes.  Can you think if a better treat!?  If you want to adopt one of my pals, just e-mail Kelly using the link at the right, and she will send you a paypal invoice with the adjusted price. 

What I didn't know is that I was going to get tricked into wearing this silly pumpkin hat!!!  BOO for me!  I really wanted a fancy mask!  *Frowny Face*

Happy Halloween & bear hugs, Mozzie

Independence Day And Other Things

First of all, Mozzie and I would like to wish you a cracker jack 4th Of July if you live in the US!  We hope your fireworks are the sparkliest!

Speaking of Mozzie...I told you several months ago that he was named after the enigmatic and mysterious character of Mozzie on White Collar.  In last Tuesday's new episode we learned that Mozzie was an orphan and is so named after his teddy bear "Mozart" but he couldn't pronounce it so he called the bear "Mozzie."  How cool is that!  I guess I picked a bear name for my Mozzie afterall!

Now I have a little bit of bad news.  It's been 90 degrees and over here quite a bit lately.  If I turn on the air conditioning I get sick.  If I don't, it's too hot to work.  So unfortunately the website update I had scheduled for Wednesday isn't going to happen.  I will however post the one bear I do have made.  I want to apologize to those of you who were patiently waiting.  I have several bears in the works, but until this crazy heat spell we are having breaks I don't foresee a whole lot of work getting done.  In Colorado we just aren't used to extended periods of extreme heat.

I will keep you updated!  Enjoy your holiday, or if you're across the ocean...enjoy your day!  I am off to eat BBQ chicken, corn on the cob and strawberries...yum!

Ready For The Wedding

For some reason that I am not exactly clear about, Mozzie is feeling extremely excited for the royal wedding.  He even got dressed for it.  I guess these sorts of things can seem like a fairytale to one small bear.  After explaining several times that we weren't invited to it, I had to promise that we will watch it on TV.  He seemed a little disappointed we weren't going, but he recovered quicky and said that Prince William would have probably been jealous of his fancy crown anyway!   o.O

Hyacinth

               I bought some lovely Hyacinth plants at the store, and they bloomed so I thought I would take a couple pics of them!  Aren't they pretty!

Wait a second...what's that?

Aww it's just Mozzie!  He likes the pretty flowers too!



Mozzie

Even though the human brain doesn't finish it's development until we are in our mid twenties, we reach our peak of physical attractiveness much sooner.  Usually in our mid to late teen years.  Our skin is at it's smoothest, our hair it's fullest, our eyes their brightest and our teeth their whitest.

As we traverse on through life we start picking up battle scars and barnacles of age that show we have actually lived our lives.  Now most of us attempt to combat the aging process in one way or another.  We want to retain the flawlessness of youth as long as we can.  But what we don't stop to consider is that these things we gather on our journey give us character.

The life of a childhood stuffed companion is similar.  They start out with shiny fur, even noses, bright eyes and crisp bows.  But as they are drug along on the journey of the child who loves them they too pick up battle scars and barnacles of age.  But we look at them differently than we do ourselves and we can appreciate the character they have gained.

Now as an artist who is a perfectionist at the core, but does her best to recreate that well lived and loved look right from the onset...I fight a never ending battle with myself.  It's normal for the human brain to like balance and symmetry.  If we didn't, the golden ratio wouldn't be considered golden.  Our hearts on the other hand, respond to things that are unique, a little flawed and have a story to tell.  In the end my heart usually wins.

But when toys are well loved, they lose that balance.  Noses are pushed off to one side from being hugged close to the body, a limb might sag, stains appear randomly, and stuffing moves around.  When I distress a piece I have to override that natural instinct to make it balanced.  Believe me it's hard to do.  I have to walk a fine line in order to appease my own sense of aesthetics and get the look I want.

When I make a prototype for a new bear, I usually feel pretty confident in the pattern.  After all I have been doing this for thirty years, so I am familiar with proportion and how this or that will make the final piece look.  Despite that, things don't turn out exactly the way I want them to on the first try every single time, and sometimes it needs a little bit of tweaking.  One of three things will happen to that prototype.  Either it will be good and I will sell it, or if it's not a bear, but a new animal I may keep it for reference.  All the rest that I am not comfortable with selling for some reason end up going to the "Land Of Lost Toys."  That is another person's house where I know they will be loved despite their imperfections.

At the end of my steamer trunk that I use as a coffee table/work table sits a little chair that I made years ago.  Quite frequently a bear will be sitting in it to keep me company while I work.  It might be one from my collection who wanted to come out of the work room for a bit, or it might be one that I made.

After I made the prototype for the new 7 inch bear I set him in the chair.  (Yes it's a boy despite his pink bow.  Bears don't worry about such things as gender specific colors.)  I couldn't quite bring myself to sell him.  For some reason he had some serious issues.  You might not notice them so much if I didn't tell you.  But his chin seam was much too long and it was crooked.  I don't know why it was crooked, it shouldn't have been...my hand sewing is pretty meticulous.  His nose was done in embroidery thread because I didn't have any #8 pearl cotton  yet since I hadn't been making bears that small.  I didn't even have any black embroidery thread so I used charcoal grey.

I couldn't look at him because I felt disappointed.  Especially after the tweaking caused the subsequent bears to turn out so well.  He was slated to go off to the "Land Of Lost Toys."  But he sat there for many days looking a bit forlorn and hopeful while I worked on the rest.  They were that perfect mix that rode the fine line and I was happy with them.  After about a week a funny thing happened...he started to grow on me.  A lot.  In fact I developed a real fondness for him, and I felt he deserved a name.  I named him Mozzie after the character in the show "White Collar."  I love that show, and that character. 

He is going to stay here, he may not be perfect...but he has real character!  Hopefully someday I will look in the mirror and appreciate my own imperfections I have picked up along the way the same way I have come to appreciate his.