A Bear is Born….. Part 1

Hey Guys!
We've been asked to put together a 'step by step guide' for the creation and conception of a BTB figurine... The full 'product development' guide will be added into the website over the next coming weeks, but until then we thought we would put it up section by section onto the blog...

Conception
When a man and a woman love each other very much…..Maybe not – that is a whole other kind of conception.

The Bad Taste Bears are the brain child of Peter Underhill. Where the concept comes from nobody really knows – well we do but if we told you we would have to kill you.

Whilst Peter tends to have a free reign when it comes to the subject matter, occasionally he has to design to a certain theme – for example: The new Music Range had to have musicians as bears.

Peter sends his ideas through to the gang at Odd Co in the form of sketches. The best ideas are then shortlisted and any amendments made before the sketch goes to our master sculptor Sir Wayne of Taylor.

1^st Trimester – Sculpting & Componants

Before giving a sculptor one of Pete’s sketches to work from, it is sometimes necessary to make some components in “hard”, where it would be too difficult or unsuitable to sculpt in wax. Some good examples are bears like Mike (the microwave,) Fabio (Egg,) and Kongo (Building.) These parts are made using a variety of materials including modelling board, plastics and resin. We use workshop machinery such as a milling machine and lathe to do this

Wayne Taylor is the chief sculptor for the Bad Taste Bears. The sculpting process begins with a lump of wax, a bit of wood and a metal prong (who’d have thought it?). It is at this point that Wayne sculpting skills transform Peters 2d sketch in a 3d wax model.