Gallery: Showcase

Characters: Kenpachi & Yachiru (11th Division Captain & Lieutenant)
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Kenpachi: Handmade bear, about 20"; Yachiru: Premade bear, about 10"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2008 (Tsubasacon)
Notes: We didn't realize that Kenpachi had a squadron of fangirls until we heard the rabid squealing every time he appeared during a screening of Memories of Nobody. That led to this project, a pair of bears not quite in scale.

Character: Ryuk
Series: Death Note
Bear Type: Premade, about 16"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2007 (commission)
Notes: This commissioned Ryuk was a bit more high-octane than the first, with clay accessories replacing the foam and so on.

Notes: Another shot of Commissionned Ryuk (above), with a better view of his wings and other details.

Character: Rem
Series: Death Note
Bear Type: Premade, about 16"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2007 (Tsubasacon)
Notes: All hand sewn felt. How else do you make a teddy bear look like a skeleton?

Character: Balthier
Series: Final Fantasy XII
Bear Type: Premade, about 14"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2008 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Balthier and Fran finally topped the cool factor of Faris's "pirate princess" with "sky pirate". I mean, seriously. Though FFV did have dragons involved. Anyway, see below for more Balthier awesomeness.

Notes: His little pleather vest is hand-cut with an X-acto knife. It took days to do. I then gave it a rub with Rub-N-Buff to give it that great subtle gold sheen.

Notes: A detail view of the back of Balthier's vest. This is a better shot of the burnishing on the vinyl, also.

Character: Fran
Series: Final Fantasy XII
Bear Type: Handmade (rabbit/Viera), about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2008 (Tsubasacon)
Notes: Fran kicks off the triad of awesome Final Fantasy projects from Tsubasacon '08. More hand-painted vinyl armor. One of my favorites to make, very challenging. (Her black ear tips didn't show up too well in this photo.)

Notes: A rear view of Fran and her nifty bracers.

Character: Rydia (and Whyt)
Series: Final Fantasy IV
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2008 (Tsubasacon)
Notes: One of my other favorites. Based off the concept art, which gives us more leeway as far as color-matching and fabric choices. It was fun looking for lots of earthy green fabrics.

Notes: A closeup of some of Rydia (above)'s Summoner gear. Fun fact: Rydia set our personal record for sale speed, literally seconds after being unpacked.

Character: Cloud
Series: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2008 (commission)
Notes: Surprisingly simple, I expected him to be more difficult. I think his base bear fur is still my favorite.

See also: Kingdom Hearts Cloud

Notes: A closeup of Cloud (above)'s shoulder ornament and strapping.

Character: Alphonse
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Bear Type: Premade, about 14"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2006 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Al-bear was created with much debt to this tutorial on craft foam armor, plus more debt to Em's Dremeling skills.

Notes: A side view of Al (above).

Character: Ed
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Item: Fabric art / collage; frame is 8" x 10" (?)
Made by: Em
Date: 2006 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: This piece, and another made that year, were complex collages made of ink and fabric and framed.

Notes: A closeup of the Ed collage (above).

Character: Link
Series: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah / sword & shield painted by Em
Date: 2008 (commission)
Notes: Link and Midna (below) were part of a commission late in 2008, along with Advent Children Cloud, and they all turned out fabulously. Maybe it's something about being in the off-season. Also, we like commissions. It's nice to not have to guess what people like (everyone in Artists' Alley, can I get an amen?)

Notes: A detail view of (above) Twilight Princess Link's sword, shield, and scabbard.

Character: Midna (humanoid form)
Series: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2008 (commission)
Notes: Midna was one of our particularly custom-built bears, partly blue and partly black (her black left foot is covered in this shot), as well as painted with tattoos. Her elaborate outfit included Sculpey clay, vinyl, felt, satin, and brocade.

Notes: A detail view of the linework on Midna's veil/cloak.

Characters: (clockwise from top left) Wizzrobe, Ganon, Zola/Zora, Octorok, Zelda, Link, and Moblin (plus the Triforce, potions, heart containers, rupees, Magical Shield, Magical Sword, flute, fairies, and Hyrule crest)
Source: Legend of Zelda (original...definitely)
Item: Quilt, about 81" by 96"
Made by: Sarah
Date: 2010 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Far and away the LARGEST project in Able Sisters history, to date... this was made to fit at least a full-size bed, giving the buyer the option to use it as a display or as a comforter (it's batted and backed like any other quilt). This was our first project made specifically for an Art Auction, and it did sell, apparently to a Zelda collector (yay!). It also garnered two staff awards from Tekkoshocon: Staff Choice and Event Chair's Choice.

The project took about two months to complete, much of which was a fevered rush near the end; the beginning of the project was aided by "Stormageddon" 2010, which essentially trapped us inside for a month. To summarize the end result: the quilt features a set of characters and items from the original 8-bit Zelda, bordered with heart containers and blue rupees, with shields at the corners. (There is also a border at the top, which can't be seen in this shot.) It was machine-quilted with a few more Zelda icons, including two fairies (located to either side of the Triforce's top point) and the Hyrule crest (between Ganon and the Triforce). The quilting is all but impossible to see in this shot; see the Legend of Zelda page for more photos and details.

Character: Blue Shell
Series: Mario Kart
Item: Inflatable floor pillow
Made by: Sarah
Date: 2009 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Made out of fleece, plush, high-density foam, bias tape, and stuffing with an inflatable core, the Blue Shell was about two feet across and made a satisfying but non-lethal bonk when thunked off somebody's head. (Please use Blue Shells responsibly.)

Character: Weighted Companion Cube
Series: Portal
Item: Ottoman / prop
Made by: Sarah
Date: 2008 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: We stumbled across inflatable floor pillow / ottoman cores at Ikea, and this "life size" Cube was our first thought. The end result involved lots of plush, fleece, high-density foam, and a mild knee injury that was conducive to sitting around and hand-sewing for a while.

Character: Alucard
Source: Hellsing
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah, guns by Em
Date: 2010 (commission)
Notes: Alucard was commissioned after Tekkoshocon 2010, and as with any of our commissions, we took it to 11 with glasses and wooden guns (see below).

Notes: A closeup of Alucard's gun, Joshua (a.k.a. The Silver One). Em made the guns out of several layers of wood, with the fantastic paint job seen here.

Notes: ...and Jackal, a.k.a. The Black One. (Thanks, internet!)

Character: Sesshomaru
Series: Inu-Yasha
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18" (modeled after his demon-dog form)
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2009 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: My "uber project" that year. Lots and lots of hand painting to get the pattern on his clothes, probably 5 hours or more. But it was worth it, I think.

Notes: A side view, with a better angle on Sesshomaru's shoulder armor.

Notes: Sesshomaru back view. If I may take a bear-making aside for a moment (though that's by FAR not the most impressive thing about Sesshy here), it's a lot of fun to find characters who can make good use of different face shapes and experiments in the "bases," like Sesshomaru's dog base.

Character: Big Daddy & Little Sister
Source: BioShock
Bear Type: Big Daddy is a handmade 20" bear; Little Sister is a premade ~8" bear.
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2008 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Big Daddy & Little Sister were the most elaborate engineering feat in our studio's history to date. The Big Daddy (Bouncer style, as seen on the cover of the first BioShock) had a diving suit made mostly of buffed and painted vinyl of various types. Its kit includes a drill and fuel/oxygen tank (see the detail views below) and a caged helmet with transparent windows. The helmet also had a sound chip mounted in it that roared when pressed. Overall it took months of work and really represented an example of our work with all the stops pulled out. Little Sister completes the set, much less complicated, but no less necessary. More details on her are below.

Notes: A full view of the Little Sister (above). She had to be brushed with paint to get that "filthy urchin living in a sunken aquatic hell" look. A better shot of her needle gun is below.

Notes: A detail view of Little Sister's Adam-harvesting gun.

Notes: A closeup of Big Daddy's drill arm and other assorted armor pieces.

Notes: A closer shot of Big Daddy's tank and helmet.

Character: I-No
Source: Guilty Gear
Bear Type: Handmade, 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2010 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: I think this was one of my better executed as a whole, at least the outfit. Almost entirely hand stitched. Uses drapery hardware, felt, vinyl, foamie, foam core board, jewelry string and paint. Another favorite "wildly inappropriate characters to make into a teddy bear" moments.

Character: Cloud
Source: Kingdom Hearts
Bear Type: Premade, about 10"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2008 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Kingdom Hearts Cloud manages to look rather stoic for a fuzzy little dude. There are closeups of some of his details in the photos below.

Notes: A side view of Cloud's shoulder armor and cloak.

Notes: Sarah and Em's Dad made this wooden replica of Kingdom Hearts Cloud's sword, with painting and leather/angsty bandaging by Em.

Character: Moonkin
Source: World of Warcraft
Item: Plushie, about 12-14", not counting antlers
Made by: Sarah (construction) & Em (jewelry, painting, detailing)
Date: 2008 (commission)
Notes: This Moonkin commission was probably the most complicated plushie we'd ever made, but it was quite a fun project. The antlers in particular were difficult, defying gravity and all; once again, heavy-gauge floral wire came to the rescue. On the detail end, the medallions are primarily Sculpey and feathers.

Style: Brocade Butterflies
Item: Quilt (lap quilt size)
Made by: Em
Date: 2007 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: This was the first traditionally pieced quilt featured at our table, and was one of our biggest projects yet at the time. it featured a butterfly design in various colors and patterns of brocade against a blue background. It was about lap quilt size, or something along the order of 3 feet by 4 feet.

Style: Steampunk
Bear Type: Handmade, about 20"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2011 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Steampunk Bear was quite an undertaking, but one that we'd wanted to do for a while. This is one of the concepts that let us be creative, and Mr. Steampunk ended up with a top hat, fully lined brocade vest, and of course, a mustache and monocle.

Notes: A closeup of Steampunk Bear's vest (waistcoat!) and watch chain.

Notes: Sir Bearington of Steampunk's top hat decorations.