the bear for the lunar new year celebration raffle is complete!
i pondered for awhile about his "nakedness", and where to give him some color. the insides of his ears seemed a good choice; then, in practicing my chinese and korean knotting techniques, i put a "ten-accord knot" (chinese), made out of i-cord, onto his belly. care bear-style, if you will. (not that i like care bears, i do not. does anybody remember teddy ruxpin? in high school i used to hang out in a friend's dorm where they had a teddy ruxpin with all the fabric and fur torn away from his head -- but his mechanical jaws and eyes still worked.)
i still felt the lunar new year bear needed color but didn't want to cover his very cute limb joints! they were so puffy anyway -- he's built like a teletubby -- and i didn't want them hidden, because i liked them. i consulted with friends, who suggested shoes or booties of some sort. so that's what i went with! and i think the colors are pretty unisex.
a close-up of the ten-accord knot. looks rather celtic, but it is chinese. learning these complex knots with i-cord actually makes it a little easier in my opinion.
this bear is so large, and full of such high loft stuffing, that handling (much less seaming) him is like trying to wrestle a big slippery drunk. now to find a box that he can fit inside of.