Diverse Flag Bearer Adoption

Here are the adoption pictures.  What a fun afternoon it was!  Please read the post right below this to learn all about this bear and see pictures of him in progress.  I couldn’t fit all the pictures in one post, so here are the ones from the adoption this afternoon.  Enjoy!

Waiting for the big moment.

Nathaniel gets to unveil the bear.

Me and the representatives from the sponsor, BHS Home Appliance Corporation

The whole gang! BSH and Bear Town Bears all together!

My family with the bear. We get rather used to the big fellas being around the house!

Final picture. In place

In place, side view

In place, back view

In place, 2nd Side View

All finished and adopted...and enjoying his view of the brand new drawbridge into downtown New Bern I might add! The opened the bridge for the first time today. Just in time for the adoption!

Bear Number 2: The Diverse Flag Bearer

Well, I did it.  I agreed to complete a second bear.  Crazy I know, after In God We Trust.  But they said “No pennies!” and I said “OK!”  The sponsor for this bear was BSH Home Appliance Corporation and the bear is covered in the flags of the countries where BSH either has facilities or where part of their workforce originates.  This bear was painted and was challenging in it’s own way.  First, was figuring out a way to fit all the flags on the bear while keeping the same colors from touching each other as much as possible.  About 25 of the 30 flags had either red, blue or both on them so this was pretty tough!  Also, keeping the borders between the flags was another challenge.  I quickly discovered that I don’t have a very steady hand so I ended up using lots and LOTS of tape.  In fact, of all the time I spent on this bear, I would say more than 1/2 of it was spent taping off sections to paint.  In the end though it was all worth it and I really like how he turned out! 

The Diverse Flag Bearer’s adoption was held today.  He is located to the side of the convention center in downtown New Bern, between the convention center and the NEW bridge.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, one of the first real Spring days we’ve had.  Also, the adoption happened to coincide with the reopening of the new drawbridge into downtown New Bern.  We have been waiting a LONG time for this so, trust me, it is a BIG deal in New Bern!  Overall there was a great deal of excitement going on downtown and it was fun to get to talk to so many people who happened to just stroll by during and after the adoption.  The sponsors were very happy with the bear and several from the corporation even flew in from out of town to be there for the adoption.  There were a lot of German accents in the group!  Definitely a diverse bunch!  The sponsors were very appreciative and generous in their thanks to me and I really appreciate their support in allowing me to complete this project.  Of course, I also thank all of the Bear Town Bears folks for their support.  As always, they were awesome!

OK, OK, on with the pictures!  I was under a little bit of a time crunch with this bear, so I decided to not keep this blog as I went along since painting was already taking time away from other things.  I did take pictures along the way though so, now that he’s all finished, I can post them all!  Enjoy!  First I’ll post pictures from the bear in progress.  Then, in a separate blog post, I’ll post pictures of the adoption.

Into the process. Lots of blocks of color and chalk sketching!

Using tape to create thin black lines between the different flags.

 

Adoption!

More information to follow, but In God We Trust (aka “the penny bear” was officially adopted yesterday!  Here are a couple of pictures!

Ursa et fini

The title of this post was my husband’s Facebook status update at about 1:15am early Tuesday morning.  About 10 minutes before we had put the last bit of grout on the bear and we were officially declaring him “fini”!  He knew that his Latin was maybe a bit off, but at that point we really didn’t care!  LOL.  Who would have ever thought, after all the gluing and arranging flat pennies on a not-very-flat bear, the grouting would be the most difficult part of the process?!?!?!  I have to stop right now and say a HUGE thank you to my husband Travis and our neighbors Rachel and Josh for their help with this part of the project.  If it wasn’t for them I think I would still be grouting, wiping, rinsing, scrubbing, chipping….and covered up to my elbows in black grout while doing it!  The three of them were right there with me, through the many hours it took to get IGWT grouted.  At points we were all singing at the top of our lungs, applying grout “war paint” on our faces and cracking each other up with every bad joke we could think of…doing anything to keep each other going!  It was hard work and, at points, frustrating but we made some great memories during those hours that the 4 of us will share for a long time!  After some “rest time” IGWT was picked up today and was taken away to be clear coated.  Our sun room seems rather empty!  That won’t last for long though.  Bear #2 will be moving in soon.  That’s right, I’m doing another bear.  This one will be painted though (I made sure of that!) so it will be a completely different process.  More details on the new project in the next post!

The final tally on the number of pennies isn’t ready yet as I still have to go back and count the number of pennies I discarded out of the rolls I opened, but my guess is somewhere between 8750 and 9000 pennies.  The base the bear stands on is covered in nickles-about $55 dollars worth.   In the end, the bear has a few special “features”, most of which I’ve mentioned in previous posts:

• “Heads Up” pennies on the front
• “Tails Up” pennies on the back
• 1710 (The year of New Bern’s founding) in pennies on the back
• 300 (The number anniversary that New Bern is celebrating in 2010) on the front
• The oldest penny (1926) and the youngest penny (2009 with special Abraham Lincoln back) are side-by-side on the tip of the nose. 

So, here are the latest pictures.  The final pictures of this bear will be taken when he’s adopted and placed in his permanent home.  Look for those soon!  Thanks again for all your help and support during this project.  I really appreciate it!

Grouted and Finished, Whew!

All dressed up in his winter coat to leave our house...actually I was wrapping him up to make sure he made it to Bear Auto Body for clear coating with all of his pennies in tact!

Being wrapped in plastic to protect him from the rain...a very pampered bear!

Getting laoded into the truck.

Getting his seatbelt on.

Saying goodbye!

Almost there!

Hello everyone!  As you can see from the pictures below, IGWT is almost there!  He’s a little further along than these pictures show but he’s oh-so-close.  He only has his hands, feet and a little more on the back of his legs to go.  Oh, and the base he’s standing on has to be done too, although not in pennies.  In what you ask?  That will have to stay a surprise for now!

A few new details on IGWT to let you know about.  Remember the post I wrote about the differences in the back of the pennies and how the back changed in 1959?  Well, when you see IGWT, look at the very tip of his nose and you will see three pre-1959 “wheat ear” pennies.  These are the 3 oldest pennies I came across in the rolls and rolls of pennies I’ve opened. Yes, I did check the back of each penny to see which ones were from before 1959.  The penny on the very tip of his nose is from 1926 and the two beside it are both from 1936.  I glued them on IGWT with the “tails” side facing out so you could see the older design, which I realize does cover up the dates.   I guess only those who read this blog will know the truth about those 3 pennies!

In another post I talked about the new 2009 pennies that also have different backs.  I found two of those in rolls I opened and they are on his ears.

Enough writing.  On to the pictures!  Thank you so much for your support during this project!

Pennies from Heaven

Hello everyone!  I wanted to post some new pictures to show you the progress I’ve made.  He’s getting so close!  Of course, the parts that are left to complete are kind of tricky (I’ve decided that I have to be a master in yoga to get to the spaces between his legs!) but every little bit of progress really shows now.  I don’t have much in the way of new information to share with you so this post will mostly be just pictures.  I  have well over 5000 pennies on the bear now and continue to find different coins in the rolls of pennies-from different countries and a few dimes too!  I haven’t found any more special 2009 pennies but I’m looking for them!  Thanks for your support of this project and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Coming right along….

Here we are with the latest update to the Bear Blog-following the progress of the In God We Trust penny bear for the Bear Town Bears public art project!  I apologize for the delay in updating the blog.  We were having our computer upgraded!  Never fear, I”m back and will be back to posting every week.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve accomplished a fair amount on the bear.  When I last updated you, I had begun to work on the second leg, with just a few rows of pennies around the foot.  Well guess what?  The entire second leg, side and a lot of the second side of the back is finished!  Pretty soon it will be on to the head and the more difficult sections like his arms.  All in all, it’s going pretty well!

A couple of interesting things to note:

In the rolls of pennies I’ve used this week I have found 3 Canadian pennies and 1 penny from the Bahamas.  It’s the first non-US coins I’ve run across.  I also came across my first 2009 penny.  2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln penny.  To honor these the US mint is releasing 4 different pennies this year.  The front of the penny will remain the same but the back of the penny will feature one of four different scenes that represent different time periods of Lincoln’s life.  The penny I found shows the log cabin where Lincoln lived as a child.  I’m saving any of these 2009 pennies that I find and using them somewhere special on the bear (even though I know the bear really is to celebrate New Bern’s 300th anniversary!  LOL)

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks.  Enjoy!

 

This next picture shows the most recent progress.  It was taken at night so it’s not the best, but it will give you an idea of how IGWT is coming along.  It also doesn’t show the work I’ve done on the back.  I promise more, better pictures at the end of this week!

A penny for your thoughts?

Well, here we are, another week into the In God We Trust (IGWT) penny-bear project.  I’ve posted lots of pictures this week and I’ve also posted lots of links to New Bern Sun Journal articles about other bears that have been completed for the Bear Town Bears public art project.  I hope you’ll check them out and support the other artists involved in this great project!

Hopefully, you’ll be able to tell by comparing last week’s pictures (in the Making Progress post) to the pictures I’ve included below, I’ve gotten quite a lot accomplished this week.  Some parts of the bear, such as the broad open spaces on his chest or back, go pretty quickly once I get a base row set.  All the other pennies then “stack” on top of this base row and I don’t have to wait for each row to set before moving on the next.  Other parts of the bear, such as the arms, are much slower going because of their angle.  On these parts, I have to glue one row, column or even single penny and wait for it to completely set before being able to build upon it.  These differences usually mean that I’m working on more than one part of the bear at a time.  As you can see from the pictures below, I’ve completed most of one half of the bear (with the exception of his head, part of his arm, and the “creases” between his leg and body, between his toes etc.) and I’ve started on the other half.  I’ve used between 3500 and 4000 pennies at this point, so IGWT is carrying an extra 19-27 pounds of weight.  Why the range?  Well, for one reason, I’m only sharing the range of number of pennies I have put on him because, at the end, you’re going to have to guess how many pennies it took to complete him!  Another reason is because, up until 1982, pennies weighed 3.11 grams.  Since 1982, they have weighed 2.5 grams.  I have not been keeping a record of how many of the pennies I’ve used are from pre-1982 and how many are from 1982 or after. Sorry!

Some other interesting penny facts:

• Since 1982 pennies have been 97.6% zinc and 2.4% copper.  Before 1982, pennies were at least 95% copper but, by 1982, the price of copper was so high that it was costing more to make each penny than it was worth.  At points in it’s history, the penny has also included tin, steel and nickle.
• “In God We Trust” appeared for the first time on pennies before it was placed on any other coin.
• We just passed the 100th anniversary of the first Lincoln penny which was released to the public on August 2, 1909.
• There are more pennies produced than any other coin denomination.
• In 1943, the penny was temporarily made from steel and zinc so that copper could be used for the WWII war effort.  Enough copper was made available from this change to meet the combined manufacturing needs of 2 cruisers, 2 destroyers, 1,243 flying fortresses, 120 field guns and 120 howitzers, or enough for 1.25 million shells for our big field guns.
• The design of the penny changed again in 1959 to include the Lincoln Memorial on the back.  So far, IGWT only contains three pennies from before 1959.  These are easy to spot becasue they have ”One Cent” and a picture of  wheat ears on the back.  As I work, I’m looking for the oldest penny I find and it will be put in a special place on the bear.

(These and other interesting facts can be found on the US Department of The Treasury web site on the history of the Lincoln cent.  The page is listed in the “links” section of this blog.)

Thanks again for all your support during this project.  Enjoy the pictures below.  They show the progress over the past week.  Let me know what you think! I love your comments!

This shows the start of the progress for the week.

Another view of the bear belly

The bear chest isn't bare any longer!

I have made a "300" out of tails-up pennies on the chest of the bear for New Bern's 300th anniversary. The rest of the chest is heads up. Can you see it? On this picture I've drawn a red line over it. Don't worry. The red isn't really on the bear! There will be another "hidden" element like this on the bear when he's finished, but you'll have to wait until he's finished to see it.

The second batch of 2500 pennies, ready to be glued on!

A view of some work I completed on the back of the bear.

The side of the bear-mid week.

Side of the bear as of today-Friday 9/4/09. As you can see, I've also started on the other foot.

The front of the bear as of today-Friday 9/4/09. You can see the "300" on his chest pretty clearly in this picture.

The back of the bear as of today-Friday 9/4/09

Making Progress

I’m moving right along on gluing pennies to the In God We Trust (IGWT) bear.  I’ve added somewhere between 1750 and 2000 pennies already.  Wow! Here are some things I’ve learned so far:

1.  There is a fine line between not enough adhesive and too much adhesive.

2.  Eventually, if you work on gluing the pennies for a long enough time at one sitting, you get enough adhesive on your fingers that the pennies would rather stick to you than the bear.  Luckily, I have not glued myself to IGWT or permanently glued any pennies to myself.  Yet.

3.  The 5 minute set time on the adhesive that I’m using can be both too long and too short, depending on how the pennies are “behaving”!

4.  You have to go with the lines of the bear as your gluing and it’s not possible to simply glue straight rows or columns.  These bears actually have quite a lot of definition to their bodies, and you really have to work with these “lines” when adding the pennies.

To answer a couple of questions I’ve received so far:

Question: You can still see some of the white of the bear between the pennies.  In some places you can see more than in others.  What’s up with that?

Answer:  As I said above, adding the pennies to a large, three-dimensional object like the IGWT bear is NOTHING like adding pennies to a level, flat surface.  While I obviously try to get the pennies as close together as possible, there are places where, because of the curves on the bear, they “fit better” closer or further apart.  When all the pennies are added, IGWT will be grouted with a dark grout.  This grout will allow the pennies to still stand out while not having the brown of the pennies be in such contrast to the background color.  Plus, the grout will fill in the gaps between the pennies so they are more “permanent” as well as so the gaps won’t collect dirt, mold, people’s chewing gum…after all, once he’s done, IGWT will be living outdoors!  IGWT will also receive a clear coat finish once the pennies are added and he’s been grouted.

Question:  How long is this going to take you?

Answer:  That’s a little hard to answer.  Some days see a lot of pennies added, if the part of the bear I’m working on is “easy” and some days fewer are added.  I usually work on IGWT for about 2 hours every evening during the week and usually for a couple of 2 hour time slots each day on the weekend.  I’ve posted some pictures below to show you the progress I’ve made.  These pictures show a progression of the work I completed in two 2-hour sessions.  While they don’t show you the work I did on the back of the leg, they will still give you an idea of the kind of progress I make in about 2 hours.

One bit of IGWT Bear news:  The Bear Den in downtown New Bern has been moved again, and this will probably happen from time to time.  Due to the fact that IGWT is going to get heavier and heavier as more pennies are added to him (adding 10000 pennies-or just $100 worth- adds about 120 lbs to the bear) it was decided that I would move him to my house where he can stay until he’s completely finished.  IGWT is enjoying his new-albeit temporary-home.  He resides in our sunroom and enjoys his view of the Neuse River and our butterfly garden.  (He reported to me the other day that he saw 6 different kinds of butterflies and a hummingbird all at one time!)  While this means that you can’t really stop by and see him like you could if he was downtown, you can follow his progress here.  I plan on updating this blog every Friday.

Thanks for your interest in this project and what’s happening with the Bear Town Bears in general.  Please, let me know if you have questions and I’ll try to answer this as best as I can.  I appreciate your comments and questions.  Thanks and have a “beary” relaxing weekend!

Starting point

Two hours later

Two more hours later

And We’re Off…

Well, we have officially begun and there are pennies on the bear!  Of course, right after I started, our family went on vacation so the bear only as an open-toed boot of pennies right now.  That is about to change as the gluing of pennies kicks into high gear.  I will be sure to post pictures along the way, but here are a few to get you started!

The Bare Bear

A penny for your thoughts?

1000 pennies

The penny boot

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  Oh yes, and one other bit of bear news.  My sponsor, TAB Premium Built Homes, has picked a name for the bear.  He will be called “In God We Trust.”