Make a Bear Workshop 1 & 8 March

Dear all, we are proud to announce that the next Make a Bear Workshop is scheduled on 1 & 8 March!

Closing date is 21 February. Seats are limited, so register now!

For more information, email Wayne at: waynestonbears@yahoo.com.sg

Happy Lunar New Year 2014

Wishing all a galloping start to the New Year and prosperity in health and in spirit. 

With lots of love and hugs from,
Wayne & Waynestonbears

WIP- A panda for a special friend

I am in the midst of making a new panda for my special friend, Margaret Burke (Nikkel bears).

I have been a fan of Nikkel bears before Margaret and I even knew each other. I first encountered Nikkel bears in a Singapore shop a few years back. Her signature hand-painted eyes give souls to her bears which makes them extra lovely. I could still vividly recall an angel bear she made with wings on her back, I couldn't take my eyes off her. I never knew that we could be close friends later on, communicating most of the time via Facebook and through emails.

Margaret lives in Sydney and we met 2 times in Australia during bear shows - Melbourne in 2012 and Brisbane in 2013. I am very thankful to Margaret for giving us guidance when we are at the show. We have also requested to have our show tables placed next to each other! Dinner time for us is always special; we have wine with Chinese cuisine and spicy food as well! After dinner, we did some sight seeing as well.

A swap was agreed 3 years ago. However due to work commitment, it was delayed. Now the time has come........ we have finally confirmed a date to swap!

The swap will take place probably be in June when we meet in Brisbane this year. I am so excited to meet her and her bears again.

Below are the WIP pictures of her panda. Do come back again to have a better view of the completed panda!

Before stuffing

Waiting for claws

Almost done... late step is to sand and smoother his nose

We hope you like him!

Hugs, Wayne

Wayneston Bears is featured on 3rd Issue of Hushtag Teddy (UK) Web Magazine!

We are honoured to be invited by Ashdown Broadcasting to write an article about Wayneston Bears. This is the first time we are featured on an app magazine; this is something new and different.

Wayneston Bears is featured on the latest issue 3 of Hushtag Teddy (UK) Web magazine. To know and read more about us, do refer to the below mentioned link.

http://www.ashdown.co.uk/master_flip/Ashdown_apps/HashtagTeddy_3Again...

The magazine is a digital magazine available for download on iPhone and iPad from the App store. You can find the first two issues at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hashtag-teddy/id752242884?mt=8

We want to thank Ms Lauren Nielsen & Ashdown Broadcasting for giving us this wonderful opportunity and hope to work with them again soon.

Enjoy reading the article!

Hugs, Wayne

Introducing Fortune the Pony!

To mark the start of the new year 2014, I challenged myself to make something different. As it's the Year of the Horse, I was inspired to make a new pony design.

This pony is named Fortune and I wish Fortune will bring wealth, luck and good health to the person and family who adopts him.

Accompanying Fortune, is a little puppy named Wang which means "Prosperous" in Mandarin. Wang is very small and difficult to make, he is just 2.5 inches tall!

Fortune has wire armature on his limbs and tail, making him very flexible to pose. You can bend his arms to give Wang a hug! The body proportions are designed closely to resemble the horse with the hind legs bend. Extreme needle sculpting is made to his face to create depth and detail of the expression I desired and his feet has needle sculpted hove.

Fortune is now available for adoption on Bear Pile:

http://www.bearpile.com/item/78663

Or you may purchase him directly from my website:

www.waynestonbears.com

(Look under > Available Bears > Other Critters > Fortune)

We hope you like our new creation and here's wishing all a galloping lunar new year!

Hugs, Wayne

Brand New Creation for the New Year!

Guess what I am making now? Yes! A pony!

In 2012, I custom made a pony named Eric for my cousin. Although the pony was well received and had compliments from people, I did not continue the design. To date, that is the only pony I have ever created.

As you all know it's the Year of the Horse according to the Chinese Zodiac Calendar. Hence, I took this opportunity to create a new pony design to usher in the Year of the Horse. This time, I made some emphasis on the pony's facial expression with extra needle sculpting and drew a body proportion which more closely resembled the horse.

This new design is meant to be sitted  but i guess it's perfectly fine... have you ever seen a horse walking with 2 hind feet? LOL

Below is a picture of Eric made in 2012 and some pictures of my work-in-progress pony. He is almost ready and I will be listing him online for adoption later this weekend.

Eric, made in 2012

WIP Pony, before stuffing

After stuffing, waiting to be accessorised.

I hope you come back again later this week to take a peek at my new creation!

Hugs, Wayne

Discovering the Art of Porcelain Doll Making

I immersed myself into the art of porcelain doll making a week ago under the guidance from a doll teacher, Ms Paula Loh. It was a 3 full day workshop to make a 12 inch full porcelain body child doll.

Paula is a Singaporean doll artist certified by the Doll Artisan Guild (US). I met Paula at an exhibition few months ago and was impressed with her collection of doll exhibits. I spoke to her about my interest in doll making and was thrilled that she agreed to teach me. Making a doll has always been one of my dreams, and it has finally become a reality!

The process of doll making isn't as simple as it looked. There are numerous tools and equipments required to make a porcelain doll, and one most important is the Kiln, for firing.

Parts of a doll

The first stage after casting is called Soft Firing. This is where you need to sand away the parting mould lines, soaking them in water to trap fine dust while removing debris. This is also the time when you have to decide if you want painted or glass eyes for your doll.

Below are some pictures of eye cutting using a surgical blade. During this process you have to be extra careful not to cut yourself!.. and make sure that both eyes are shaped symmetrically.

After sanding, the parts are Bisque fired, requiring temperatures of about 1200 degree Celsius!

After this stage is where we can start China painting.

Cutting holes for the eyes

Firstly, I applied a wash of my preferred skin tone on all the doll parts. This step is optional but  you may choose to do so later, before assembling the parts. China firing is necessary for the  paints to adhere permanently. China Firing takes about 1.5 hours, and requires a further 1.5 hours for the kiln to cool down. Every doll requires several rounds of china firings, hence there are lots of waiting time! So during this period, Paula taught me how to make a doll's dress. It was my very first time making a dress! Even tried my hands at using an electric sewing machine for the first time too! To my relief, it has a speed control dial, so it wasn't as scary as I thought!

Seely china paint are used for china painting

Parts after washing

Kiln for firing doll parts

Making a Doll dress

Doll dress almost complete

For my 2nd lesson after the doll is fired, I applied a 2nd layer of paints around indented and convex areas, using shadow and blush colours. This is to highlight and enhance, giving 3 dimensional depth to the doll. Even the tiny nails are manicured!

Painting the lips and teeth

After that, the parts undergo the 3rd and 4th china firing, where the lash, eyebrows, eye area, lips and cheek are painted. Some areas are coloured repeatedly on the final leg of china firing. My doll, whom I've named Emily, has a sweet smiling face with teeth showing. Therefore I added pearly white paints for her teeth, which was fired in 3 layers.

Numerous China firings are done so that the colours are build up in layers, creating depth and gradient to the doll parts. The number of times you can china fire is somewhat unlimited. However care must be taken not to overfire, or the doll will most likely be ruined!

On my last lesson, Paula showed me how to paint eyelashes and eyebrows. Painting the lashes and especially the brows are the most difficult part. It is important to observe the size and shape of both sides to keep them looking symmetrical. These 2 features strongly determine the expression of the doll. After the last round of firing was done, it was time to assemble the doll.

Painting doll's eye lashes with a fine brush

The doll is jointed and strung using elastic bands. The bands are tightened with the use of forceps. Once tighten and knotted tightly, we gently remove the forceps and push the loose ends onto the body. We chose a pair of dark grey eyes to match her Auburn hair and overall look. The glass eyes are positioned with eye wax.

Choosing glass eye colours

Jointing the doll with elastic bands

The fun part of doll making is choosing the paint colours, eyes, wigs, shoes, accessories and costuming them. There are unlimited styles and colour combinations to mix and match! You can  transform the look of your doll by simply changing the outfit, wig and eye colour or reposition them to look sideways. Even changing it from a girl to a boy is easy!

 

Dolls made by teacher. Using the same doll mold with different hairstyle and painting changes the appearance and help to determine the gender of the doll.

I want to thank Paula for her patience and guidance in making my dream come true. I had an enjoyable time and am looking forward to make another doll from her soon!

Hugs, Wayne

An exciting year ahead & My achievements in 2013 :)

I am currently working on a few new pattern designs for next year 2014. I believe that it will be another exciting year for us as there will be new and more realistic looking animals coming up, new fur colours & combinations and of course, some new techniques that i have always wanted to try.

I will also be learning how to make dolls from a doll artist in December, opening the possibility of having another new toy design creation which might be added into Wayneston Bears' portfolio as well.

We have a total of 5 successful Bear a Bear workshops this year. We are happy to see new faces every time in all the workshops. There is also an increase in the number males signing up for bear workshops which is a very good sign! Making something for your love ones is definitely more valuable and meaningful then purchasing something off the shelf. The joy of teaching and sharing as a mentor is indescribable and the happy faces of every student upon completing their first bear is priceless.

This year, Wayneston Bears attended 2 shows, one in Brisbane and one in Singapore. The Winter Wonderland in Brisbane was a Doll and Bear Show with more than a 100 tables! It was an eye opening experience for my family and me. We are very pleased to have won the People Choice Award of Greenland at the Winter Wonderland Show. Our entry, Day Dreamer has done us proud. He is currently happily residing in US with his new mum who collects lots of Pandas! The Singapore Teddy Bear Show was a regular event for us to meet the local artists, friends and collectors. We have plans to visit somewhere further, however due to work commitment we hold back our plans of traveling to more places.

Will we do another overseas show in 2014? Definitely yes! The event, dates and venue will be announce later in 2014 once we have reserved our bookings with the various organisers.

Creations in 2013 are mostly mice! There was no particular reason for that; it was my intention to redesign a new mouse from the previous year. The new mouse design was a success, being one of the best selling item for the year. We just love making them as they have so much different expressions every time we create a new one! The open mouth design is good, I enjoy creating them especially with teeth embedded onto them after I complete the mouth. I am so pleased with my on "fours" design as well. Although it's time consuming taking up to a month to complete them, it's definitely worth my time to see the results.

We want to thank the following Newspapers and Magazines for featuring our creations in 2013. Thank you for the opportunity to have our works seen by the world.

- The Business Times, 26 January 2013 (Singapore)

- Teddy Bear  & Friends, August 2013 (US)

- New Zealand Teds, August/September 2013 (New Zealand)

- Australian Bear Creations Magazine, October 2013 (Australia)

We are approaching towards our 5th Anniversary soon in just 4 month's time! WOW! I still can't believe that I have been making bears for 5 years now :p

Thank you for your continuous support and making our dream towards becoming a world class soft sculpture toy designer a step closer.

We wish you a successful and prosperous 2014, may this year be the one in which all your wishes come true. The one in which your dreams may turn into reality. Happy new year!

Hugs, Wayne