Thursday, May 28, 2015

Flying Colours

My very first attempt to dye some pieces of mohair was way back in 2012. (You may click here to read on the previous post: http://waynestonbears.blogspot.sg/search/label/hand%20dyeing)

This time, I wanted to create a very special and unique Bear to celebrate Singapore's birthday which will be held on 9 August 2015. Hence, I searched my drawers to see what colour dyes I have remaining in order to create a special red coloured fur.

I had a chat with my friend Joanne Livingston who is a very experienced Bear maker and she shared her hand dyeing experience which she had done previously.

L-R: Bake King Dye and Kool-Aid


On hand, I had some packets of colourful Kool-aid (flavoured drink mix) which is very popular in the US. In fact, I have not even tried one before!

However, I was also looking for other alternatives to dye my white fur.

Joanne brilliantly suggested that I try using the red dye which is used for festive occasions in Singapore. We use these food colourings for Easter and birthday eggs. As they are meant to be edible, they are generally safe and does not deteriorate the fur.

Dyeing white mohair
As I had some free time on Monday, I decided to experiment with the dyes I have; Kool-Aid (Cherry) and Bake King Dye (Cherry Red).

First, I boiled a pot of water and dissolved the dye, salt and vinegar with a few stirs. Then, I immersed a piece of mohair completely into the pot and continued stirring. I ensured that the surface of the mohair was completely soaked in the mixture, turning and stirring the piece of mohair until the coloured water turns pale which meant that the colour was absorbed completely.

Measuring amount of water

Adding in dye

Adding in salt

Adding in vinegar

Stirring while hot!

Flip the mohair while stirring to ensure all mohair are soaked in the dye

After 20 minutes, I removed the mohair from the pot and placed it into a washing tub. To remove the vinegar smell and soften the mohair, I washed it with shampoo followed by conditioner.

Washing with shampoo and conditioner to make the mohair soft!
On my 1st attempt, I experimented with the following mixure: One piece of 1/4m white mohair, 48Oz of water, 1 teaspoon of cherry red Bake King dye, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of white vinegar The outcome of the first piece of mohair appeared to be bright cherry red! It's really beautiful however, it wasn't the colour which I wanted.

On my 2nd attempt, I used the following formulation to achieve a darker tone of red:
One piece of 1/4m white mohair, 64Oz of water, 5 teaspoon of cherry red Bake King dye, 4 teaspoons of salt and 4 teaspoons of white vinegar.

The outcome was turned out really well! I got a piece of striking red mohair!

On my 3rd attempt, I tried using a packet of cherry kool aid in the mixture.
One piece of 1/8m white mohair, 32Oz of water, 1 packet of cherry kool aid, 5 teaspoons of salt and 5 teaspoons of white vinegar.

Turned out that I got myself a piece of warm orange-red mohair which wasn't too bad!

L-R: Cherry (Kool Aid), Darker Cherry Red and Pink Cherry (Bake King Dye)

I really enjoyed myself and I am very thankful to my dad for helping me as well! I am going do more experiments with other dyes in future.

Hope you like what we shared today. Do go ahead and try dyeing some fur yourself. It's really interesting and fun!

Cheers, Wayne

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Winners of Wayneston Bears 6th Anniversary Blog Give-away

Thanks for all your patience, we are going to announce today the Winners of our 6th Anniversary Blog Give-away!

This year, we invited my niece, Lavigne to be the Guest of Honor to perform the draw!
Without further ado, scroll down slowly to see if you are the LUCKY WINNER! :) Good Luck!



Announcing the 4TH PRIZE:
:
:
:
:


Bernadette Heffernan
Congratulations! You won yourself a PDF Wayneston Mouse Pattern!
Please send us an email to: waynestonbears@yahoo.com.sg
We will send the pattern to you via email.


Announcing the 3RD PRIZE:
:
:
:
:


Irina NarinaNäpertää 
Congratulations! You won yourself a PDF Wayneston Mouse Pattern!
Please send us an email to: waynestonbears@yahoo.com.sg
We will send the pattern to you via email.

Announcing the 2ND PRIZE:
:
:
:
:


(Kris) Tiina
Congratulations! You won yourself a Wayneston Bear, Melford!
Please send us an email to: waynestonbears@yahoo.com.sg
We need your name and postal address so we can send the bear to you!
All shipping cost will be fully paid by us.



Announcing the GRAND PRIZE:
:
:
:
:



Susan Douma
Congratulations! You won yourself a Wayneston Bear, Louis!
Please send us an email to: waynestonbears@yahoo.com.sg
We need your name and postal address so we can send the bear to you!
All shipping cost will be fully paid by us.

________________________________________________________

We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support and encouragement.
Wayneston Bears has come a long way. Till date, we have already created more than 200 Teddy Bears & Friends!

We look forward to celebrating more anniversaries in years to come and to hit the BIG "300" mark.
Last but not least, we want to thank our Mentor, Mr Emen Chen for his guidance in teaching me the art of bear making. Without him, we won't be able to realise our dream as a Toy Designer.
THANK YOU AND HUGS TO ALL!!!

~ CHEERS, WAYNE & WAYNESTON BEARS ~

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Meetup with a Singapore Doll Artist

The world is really small! Guess what? We have finally met a doll aartist friend whom we met last year in the Brisbane Winter Wonderland Bears and Dolls Show!


Doll Artist, Carmel Ooi resides in Singapore and we are surprised to meet each other in a foreign land. She immediately recognised my Singaporean accent when she first saw me!


Carmel was helping a friend who had a table display at the Brisbane Show. We exchanged contacts and agreed to meet up one day in Singapore.





After almost a year later, we finally managed to arrange a meetup. Last week, Carmel had very kindly invited me and a few of my friends from the Singapore Teddy Bear Lovers group to her house fora gathering. We were very excited when we entered her house as allthe dolls were laid out nicely on the table for us.





After we have all admired and taken photos, we sat down and talked more about Dolls and Teddy Bears. Carmel was really thoughtful as she bought some delicious cup cakes and shared with us.

More about Carmel Ooi:
Carmel has been making dolls for more than 4.5 years. Each of her dolls' face and limbs are individually hand sculpted with polymer clay without any molds therefore we could truly say they are OOAK. Most of her dolls have a soft cloth body and is hefty weighted with poly fiber and pellets. Her dolls and creations are available for adoption on her website here.


We were really pleased to meet another Doll Artist in Singapore and hope to meet up with her again real soon!

We look forward to learn doll making from her in the near future perhaps!

Hugs,
Wayne

Friday, May 15, 2015

Make a Mouse Workshop - 7 & 14 June 2015

Dear all,

We are pleased to share the details to the next Make a Mouse Workshop!

FULLY BOOKED!!!

For enquiries, please contact Wayne at: waynestonbears@yahoo.com.sg




Thursday, May 14, 2015

Counting Down to 6th Anniversary Blog Give-away!



Dear all, it's just 3 more days away to the closing date for our 6th Anniversary Blog Give-away!

There are 4 prizes to be won! The 2 Grand winners will win Wayneston Bears - Louis or Melford and the 3rd & 4th winners will win a PDF Wayneston Mouse Pattern.

Visit our blog post: http://waynestonbears.blogspot.sg/2015/04/wayneston-bears-6th-anniversary-blog.html to participant in this event! Good Luck!

Hugs,
Wayne


Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Leather Shoe Making Sharing Session

One of our very talented leather craftsman in the Singapore Teddy Bear Lovers group gave us a free leather shoe making session last weekend!
L-R: Wayne, Paula, Evelyn, Esther, Su Ling and Philip

Everyone was very excited as shoes is an accessory which can be added to enhance the overall appearance of our teddy bears and dolls!
Mr Chio is a self-taught leather craftsman and has been working with leather for more than 2 years! His passion has driven him to create a variety of leather products ranging from shoes, wallets, bags and even a sheath for a sword! Everyone in the group chipped in to pay for the materials that Chio bought, and we booked a room for the workshop.
Creating the Template

Tracing on leather and punching holes on the leather

Using a sharp pair of scissors to cut out the pattern
First, we had to cut out the template of the shoes and trace them onto the back of the leather. When we were done, we applied dot punching onto the leather using a mallet. It is very important to place a piece of cutting mat or thick layers of newspapers beneath to prevent any damage to the table surface. Once all the holes were punched and ready for stitching, we soaked the leather in water to soften and bend areas to help form the shape of the shoes before stitching.

Everyone looks so serious!

Mr Chio and his group of students
We used waxed thread for sewing and applied the ladder stitching technique, which is strong and durable. After the shoe was sewn, we cut out an additional base and heel to increase the leather thickness.
Leather stitching with waxed thread

Almost done! Where's the shoe laces?
It was a pity that most of us were unable to complete the shoes in 3 hours and we decided to bring the shoes home to complete them. 


We would like to take this opportunity to thank Chio for sharing his craft with us and Esther for booking the room. We absolutely enjoyed it and look forward to the next gathering.

Once the pair of shoes have been completed, we will share some pictures with everyone!

Wayne and Paula
We hope you enjoyed reading our gathering session. Till next time!
Hugs, Wayne

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Bear-Making Workshop at Singapore Island Country Club's Islander Magazine

We are pleased to have received a copy of Singapore Island Country Club's Islander Magazine, which featured our Make a Valentine Day Bear Workshop held earlier this year in the club.
Below is the scanned article for your viewing.
Stay tuned as we have more workshops coming your way very soon.
Wishing all a wonderful week ahead!

Cheers!
Wayne