the Dancing Bear

Further progress last night, and again this morning:

I applied the waistcoat and headscarf, and a small 'rope' belt round the midriff. Then this morning, I sprayed the whole thing with grey primer. And here's the result, complete with rope for dangling a large bear in front of an audience:



As an 'alternative ending' here's the same shot with a length of 1mm chain:



So what's your preference Mikey? Ropes, or chains???

I should point out that there is still some work to do here, I need to Dremel away some of the unevenness that's been exposed by the spray primer. I also need to drill a hole in the right 'fist' for the rope/chain to go through. Oh, and paint it of course. Mikey, any thoughts on a colour scheme? I have it in mind that these people would have worn comparatively colourful clothing. But it's your shout.

Sorry late in replying clive (see egdrig thread!!) .Chain more realistic and as for clothing . all the colours of the rainbow (they still wear that these days!!!)
Mikey

Well, here is my interpretation of the picture at the very first post in this thread...



And from the back...



There's a few 'ragged' areas on the paintwork, which the camera has rather unkindly picked out for me. I shall attend to those - all we need now is a bear!

Mikey, when you get this figure you'll probably realise that there are a couple of options as to the pose:

As you see her now, with the staff tucked under her arm, and both hands holding the chain

-OR-

Break the staff in half, and have one half of it in her left hand whilst the right one holds the chain.

The staff itself might be a little too thick to look realistic, as I mentioned before a little bit of thin brass wire or similar will probably look better.

Another excellent figure Clive!! Obtaining the bear is turning into a Geewhiz saga at the moment. I particularly want the Preiser standing bear (although he looks a little vicious, mind you i would with gypsy rose Lee on the other end of my chain!)
I looked at several websites to find best price and ordered it on the 'net, Then a message comes back that 'we dont hold this item in stock it will be delivered to us with our next delivery from preiser, about three weeks'. So i order from another shop.... it seems that these days shops dont carry much stock, just order it in when they receive an order and payment, dont mind that but three weeks to wait? Monday morning i'm going to our local toy shop,perhaps he will have it in stock!!

rant over

Mikey

If you don't get lucky at the shop, and if you wish, I could have a go at sculpting one from scratch?

Have been spending a bit of today experimenting with Fimo with a view to sculpting a bear's head. Moderately successful I think, certainly enough to warrant having a go to see how the creature turns out. I then went on to make the armature from soft aluminium florist's wire and some Milliput.

A bit like this, in fact:



Obviously some bear-like ears would go down a storm, as would a bit more 'body' and something approximating to a furry texture. Still, I think I can do something with this... 'Til I return on Thursday night, then, gentlemen...

A bit more progress tonight. Just fixing the head, and the stance of the legs, some ears, and a bit of bulking up - the trouble with using Milliput on a wire armature like this, is it's so soft and squidgey you can't do too much bulking up in one go...

Clive, not that i ever doubted your abilities but that bear is taking shape rather well!

Mikey

Thanks, Mikey - it's been a lot of fun trying this, and though I says it meself it's turned out better than I had hoped. After leaving it for an hour or so, I thought to start bulking up to the finished article. I started with the lower body, and the feet (to give it a stable footing):



Next thing I knew it was 2am!!! So I left it overnight.

Then this morning, I set to bulking up elsewhere, 'til I ended up with this:



And if no-one objects, here is a picture of my bear behind on the internet!



Still a bit more to do of course - the 'hands' which I think I will do with GS, and I think the feet need to look a bit more 'furry'. Perhaps some areas of the face, too. I need to come up with some kind of muzzle arrangement that the chain could attach to. For some reason, I envisage this poor hapless creature wearing some kind of comedy headgear, e.g. a fez? Would a fez been seen anywhere in 1910 France? I am open to suggestions on that matter, including "don't bother!"

And Mikey, here's the hard-sell pic:



Go on, you know you want to!

Wow Clive! A bit more fur on the face perhaps and yes a fezz would be great. Must admit it looks more the part than the preiser i was buying !! Love the texture you've achieved,

Mikey

OK, as you wish...



Not a very good pic as light is poor. I still need to cover the backs of the hands with Milliput, then I think a bit of primer will be called for, to see how 'Fred' is looking.

Having added some Milliput to the hands this morning, I managed to take some pics outside. The 'tree-hugger' in me felt this pic was appropriate in some strange way:



But here he is, complete with fez, earning a living (for his owner, at any rate) outside Scampington Station...



I then spray-painted him with grey primer, in the time-honoured fashion:



It might seem odd, at first sight, to spray prime the figure when it already looked 'bear-coloured'... well true, but the colouration I had in mind was of a Sloth Bear - these are black mostly, but with a white muzzle and a greyish white 'stripe' around the chest. They originate in the Indian sub-continent, which of course is where to this day there is still a lot of this kind of 'entertainment' on offer for anyone with money. However, for the purposes of this exercise, it is not beyond the bounds of my own fevered imagination that such an animal could have been caught, sold on and sold on again etc to someone who by their own nomadic lifestyle eventually find themselves somewhere in France. Incidentally, something I have just noticed in the original photograph, is that in the bottom right corner appears to be the adult bear's 'understudy' a young bear...

Three pages and no-one has mentioned Simon Smith yet .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8zI5xjwKYw&feature=related

Alan Price, founder member of the Animals!

Edit: Photobucket appears to be back online now, so have relocated the photos there.

First off, our bear, Fred, is off to the woods for attendance to some urgent matter or other...



Finally, here are our two intrepid entertainers, waiting at Scampington Station for the 'off' to the small market town of Demiel in the Dordogne:



The 'muzzle' such as it is, is made from a strip of thin styrene sheet, and is removable. As is the fez of course.

Edit again: I've taken the liberty of reproducing the link to Mikey's original postcard, for comparison (Mikey, if you object then please feel free to remove):

'grrr,,, just like that,,' In the words of the immortal tommy Cooper. Brilliant Clive just what was wanted!!

Mikey

MzB wrote:

Three pages and no-one has mentioned Simon Smith yet .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8zI5xjwKYw&feature=related

First thing I thought, but then, I was thinking of this "cover":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWFAQnT4T1o

Joke aside nice work, both the bear and its handler.

Glad you like them Mikey - I have to admit it's been a huge amount of fun making this pair.

I will hopefully get them packed up this weekend, and I will try and get them sent off to you in the week. I presume the address is as per the previous 'order'?

Bloody marvellous and I look forward to seeing these in the flesh (so to speak) in July.
We could have quite a reunion of characters.

You might not be there in person Clive but you will be well represented.

mikeyh wrote:

'grrr,,, just like that,,' In the words of the immortal tommy Cooper. Brilliant Clive just what was wanted!!

Mikey

My favourite Tommy Cooper 'quote':
"I went on a whiskey diet last week.... I lost 2 days"

By way of a postscript to this thread, I have managed to create a Photobucket Slideshow for each figure:

The Bear Lady.....

... and the bear...

Bare lady? Where?......

Mikey

Went to the market in Demiel today to buy some of that lovely local cheese. I noticed a lot of commotion at the side of the market and on investigating saw this sight!



I got a little closer,being careful that this dangerous bear didnt get a whiff of my cheese



somebody said that both the bear and the well endowed woman came from Clive Tucker. Is that another eastern european country?

Mikey

Well done Clive they fitted straight in

Mikey

That's really nice.