The Mists of Childhood

 

The original 'Ellie' wasn't made by me, it was in fact given to me by an uncle in 1963, the year of my birth. Back in those distant days, my little pink ellie had floppy ears and felt eyes, but as is the way of much loved childhood toys, they were worn away with many hugs, over the passage of time.

Ellie was one of a select group of soft toys gifted to me as a baby... Big Ted, my first Chiltern Hugmee teddy bear, given to me on my first birthday by my parents, Scotty, a handmade black dog made by my Nana's boarding house lodger, Sooty, a Chiltern mohair glove puppet given to me by an auntie, a knitted dolly wearing a striped skirt who came from a school jumble sale and my now earless ellie, who somehow managed to survive six long decades and although a little more careworn perhaps, is still much loved today. Which brings me to the other pink ellie in the photograph (left) created by me in 2007, in an attempt to replicate my childhood elephant toy.

I had the ideal piece of pink wool fabric which was tucked away in the bottom of my fabric box. Using memory to help me, I created new ears lined with beige velvet and rather than the felt eyes of my original elephant, I inserted tiny glass eyes, as this little elephant was to be given as a keepsake, rather than a child's toy and I preferred the look of the traditional glass eyes.

To achieve the simplistic style of the original design was a little more tricky than I initially anticipated - we live and learn don't we?! Despite my teddy bear design skills, it took several attempts to figure out the body gusset pattern so that my wee elephant could sit comfortably, maintaining the shape of the 1960's original and embodying all of its naive charm.

When I was a child, it wasn't unusual for special gifts to be handmade, so decades later, I was delighted to be able to continue this tradition for my sister and her new baby (who by the way, is now sixteen years of age!)

The next elephant I made was a funny little chap called 'Abe', created from vintage style mohair in 2008. I developed the original softie elephant pattern a tiny bit, to include a jointed head and a head gusset in what was a simple two piece head, to give the head more definition. I also took a little more artistic licence with his trunk shaping, but other than those minor adjustments, kept little 'Abe' ellie, pretty true to my original 1960's elephant.

After Abe, I wanted to tackle something a little more complex, so began work afresh in 2008, using one of my previous teddy bear designs as a starting point for a 16" jointed elephant, created in sparse vintage pink mohair. I was so thrilled with the result I sent a photograph of 'Delilah' to 'Australian Bear Creations' and they were kind enough to print it in their magazine.

I returned to my jointed elephant design in 2009, curious to see how it would work in alternative fabrics ... and in 2009, my white standing circus elephant 'Starlight', was also featured in 'Australian Bear Creations' magazine!  

2010 was a challenging year creatively speaking, as I spent the first two thirds of the year working hard to develop my 'Careworn Collection' of teddy bears and the remaining third of the year simply trying to find motivation to work at all, after saying a sad farewell to my Dad that Autumn. Sad to say, there were no elephants in 2010 ...

My Dad would never have wanted me to lose my creativity, he always enjoyed my work and was proud of me; so in 2011, I picked myself up and dusted myself down and set to work. I wanted to develop my elephants' personalities further, so this time, designed two lovely new elephants with cute low slung ears and close set eyes, giving the ellies more character than ever before. 'Ma Cherie' and 'Forget-me-not' elephant worked their magic and soon had me smiling, inspired again, just as Dad would have wanted.

In 2013, I decided to make a Summer themed collection and came up with 'The Picnic Gang', a five piece group of friends including two bears, one rabbit, a clown and ... an elephant. This smaller design bridged the sweet naivety of my very first vintage style ellie design and the more sophisticated styling and personality of my later jointed elephants. 'Butterfly' elephant had a fun downturned trunk and nostalgic look, thanks to the vintage cotton print lining her ears and paws I used, together with her straw hat. I thought she was lovely, so in 2013, decided to take the design and use it to create Bluebell Ellie-Bear, part of my pastel 'Springtime Pals' trio, along with pals Hyacinth Bunny and Buttercup Bear. I knitted this pretty trio of friends sweet little jackets to complement their colouring.

It was ten years before another elephant came to life in my workroom. Last year, I made 'Jellybean' in the style of Ma Cherie and Forget-me-not, with large flappy cheerful downward ears, shaped arms and long, upward pointing trunk. This time, I wanted to introduce a new 'clown' element, by combining both pink and yellow mohair, contrasted with a cheerful Liberty print cotton fabric to line the ears and feet, giving Jellybean a bright, bold and cheerful personality.

In the sixteen years since my Great Niece Erin was born, I have created nine elephants, the threads of which are woven through the mists of my childhood and hers, inspired by a small straw-filled pink elephant, with felt eyes and loved away ears.

The tale of Miguel the Magnificent

I began bear-making before the age of the internet and before it became the norm to own a computer in households throughout the UK.

British Teddy bear 'artists' were inspired by the amazing teddy bear makers in the US, who began a passion for handcrafted teddy bears which miraculously swept across the globe without the aid of the internet, eventually taking a strong foothold in the UK in the early 1990's, in a country well known for its own teddy bear heritage, since the early 1900's.

Creating teddy bears was a passion for me well before I was nudged into selling my work in the mid 1990's. In the 1980's I was a dedicated teddy bear collector of Chiltern Hugmee teddy bears, manufactured in the UK since the early 1920's. By the early 1990's, I had discovered the world of teddy bear artists and was in awe of makers such as Sandra Wickenden, Gregory Gyllenship, Janet Clark, Frank Webster and Sue Quinn, to name but a few! By the mid 1990's, I was inspired to create  my own bears and the rest, as they say, is my teddy bear history!

The years have since crept by and it recently it occurred to me that my earlier, pre-World Wide Web teddy bears, are probably little remembered nowadays because in the days when they were created, I didn't have a website or social media to share my work, so I took photographs of my creations on film cameras, walked into town to have them developed in a shop, then walked home again, to sort and post the photos to interested customers and specialist magazines (in the old fashioned way with an envelope and a stamp!) The spare photographs were dumped into bags, stored in my loft and generally forgotten about as the years ticked by. Many bags of printed teddy bear photographs made their way to the local tip when I moved house seventeen years ago, so will sadly never be seen again. In those days, I simply stored a few favourite teddy bear photographs in traditional photo albums on a shelf. I have promised myself to scan them into my computer and make a proper photo album soon, as it seems such a shame to have lost so much of my earlier teddy bear making history. The older I become, the more I appreciate a need to save images of my work and play my part in preserving the history of the British Artist Bear to share with future generations...

And with that in mind, I will start the process this very moment with one of the very first images scanned into my first computer, many years ago... I think it was taken in 1999, or maybe 1998 - definitely in the days before bear-making took a toll on my eyesight! I was perched on the steps of the house I had lived since 1983. Sat with me was 'Miguel the Magnificent', a huge teddy bear created in alpaca. I was very proud of him and we were having our photograph quickly taken in the garden, before I settled him into a large box and sent him aross the world to America, to meet his new owner...

Shortly before Miguel was made, I won my first 'British Bear Artist Award' in 1998 for a similar bear named 'Himself'. After the awards ceremony, 'Himself' was featured in the 'Teddy Bear Times' magazine and then somehow seen by a lovely collector named Sylvia, who lived in Chicago, in the United States. I wouldn't normally share a collector's name publically, but Sylvia was a huge support to my teddy bear making career, for which I will always be grateful and she was a very kindly lady. Sadly she is no longer with us, but she was an absolute gem within our teddy bear world and as I mentioned, a very kind lady...

One day, Sylvia contacted me and asked if I could make a huge teddy bear for a little friend of hers, a young boy who had been involved in a terrible accident. When she visited him in hospital, she was so sad to see how damaged and frightened he was, so asked how she could help him feel more safe... between them they decided a huge teddy bear would do just that and so she contacted me to make a bear similar to my award winner, 'Himself'. 'Miguel the Magnificent' flew out to his new owner, but sadly, too late. The little boy, too broken to stay, slipped quietly away, before Miguel the Magnificent arrived in the US and so my huge bear was given to his mother to help her through her grief instead. Later his mother donated the bear in her son's memory to a charity where she felt he could continue to help... and a kind donor presented the charity with a significent sum of money, in return for one great big teddy bear, who, before flying out from the UK, had with one fuzzy photograph taken with his maker, perched on her garden steps...

So that was the tale of Miguel the Magnificent. I don't know where he is now but I will never forget his story in my teddy bear history and the memory of a kind hearted lady named Sylvia.  

Raggedy Magic

In 2009, I attempted to make my very first rag doll. Unbeknown to me at the time, the pattern I used had been inspired by a very special doll named 'Raggedy Ann', created by US author and illustrator Johnny Gruelle, over a hundred years ago.

I have always loved dolls and at the time I made my first rag doll, was particularly fascinated by 'homespun' dolls created from scraps of fabric in the home, stitched together by mothers and grandmothers, with love. These dolls, now known as 'prim' dolls, are an art form in their own right... but once they were just simple cloth dolls, cheaply made from old clothing and bed sheets, some with embroidered faces, others with no facial features at all... and given to young children to play with and learn from.

Raggedy Ann, a cloth doll with shoebutton eyes, was born from the sadness of daughter lost and inspired by one such early cloth doll, long forgotten in an attic, then rediscovered. She became the inspiration behind a delightful, happy-faced character doll, who featured in a series of stories written and illustrated by political cartoonist, illustrator and businessman of the era, Mr. Johnny Gruelle.

'Raggedy Ann' was patented On June 17th in 1915, when Gruelle applied for a trademark logo for the 'Raggedy Ann' name. The PF Volland Company then published Gruelle's Raggedy Ann Stories in 1918, the first in a series of books about Gruelle's Raggedy Ann rag doll character and her friends. Gruelle established a merchandising agreement with PF Volland Company, to begin manufacturing, selling and promoting a mass-produced version of his doll and the Raggedy Ann books and dolls became a huge success. At the time of Johnny Gruelle's death in 1938, his first Raggedy Ann book had sold more than three million copies. Subsequently, his iconic Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls and related memorabilia, have become sought after collectors' items... not to mention the inspiration behind many thousands of handmade, smiling red-haired, primitive style, cloth dolls!

I stumbled across a wonderful pattern for a knitted doll named 'Merrily Ann' whilst scrolling online recently. It is the the first knitting pattern I have seen that is designed in true tribute to the original Raggedy Ann doll. Naturally, I couldn't resist ordering a copy! I have spent several weeks knitting and sewing and enjoying the process of making this special doll. The pattern captures the essence of the Raggedy Ann character perfectly and I think knitting her adds a lovely fresh dimension to Johnny Gruelle's original cloth doll.

My Raggedy Ann style dolly, complete with antique shoebutton eyes, is to be a special birthday gift for my Granddaughter's sixth birthday in May. I will gift a copy of Johnny Gruelle's original stories to her too, as I love the notion of passing childhood magic from one generation to another!

If you would like to knit your own 'Merrily Ann' tribute doll, you can find Wendy's lovely pattern on the link below:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/80001832/merrily-ann-raggedy-ann-18-45cm-doll?ga_order=most_relevant... 

© 2011 Wendy Phillips copyrighted design.

Do not reproduce or distribute this pattern. 

Camellia-Rose

 

It is several years since I last used my dye pot to create a teddy bear but last week, I remembered just how much fun it was...

I had a beautiful piece of ivory mohair in my box but it wasn't quite hitting the high notes for me to want to start making a teddy bear, so I decided to use some beautiful silk dyes to mix up a little teddy bear magic! After mixing my dye, I hung the mohair to dry in my garden near the camellia plant my dad gave me for my birthday, about thirty years ago. The plant, originally in a heavy ceramic pot, was eventually transported to our new home and transplanted to the garden about seventeen years ago. It settled into the flowerbed perfectly and has since grown huge over the years, bearing the most stunning pink blooms in April. The colour of my mohair was the colour of the Dad's camellia blooms, which made me smile and inspired me to create my Camellia-Rose teddy bear last week.

Happily, Camellia-Rose was adopted shortly after I popped her onto my website and she will be flying out to America to meet her new owner this week.

I am feeling inspired to create my own palette of pretty teddy bears over the coming summer months, so have ordered a lovely selection of dyes and am looking forward to sharing the results on my website!

Teddy Bear Gold

 

After a pretty Spring full of pastel teddy bears, Treacle teddy bear's mohair has been calling my inner traditional teddy bear maker...

For me, there is always something very special about finding the perfect gold mohair, so when I spotted just such a fabric on one of my supplier's websites recently, I couldn't resist ordering half a metre to see if might live up to my expectations for a perfect teddy bear fur ... and luckily, it did! 

It may seem strange to non-teddy bear people, to learn that the discovery of a particular mohair can be an exciting moment for someone, but I am certain all teddy bear creators have their own special preferences and mine has always been luxurious, richly coloured and traditionally gold. I have created many types of teddy bear over the years and have always enjoyed exploring alternative design, fabric and colour but my heart remains true to the traditional teddy bear and I never lose the desire to recreate him in my own sweet way, with the perfect mohair..

Collectors the world over have loved the classic proportions and natural shades of traditional teddy bears for over a century and continue to do so today. Treacle was adopted as soon as he made his appearance on my website yesterday and happily, he will be heading off to meet his new owner this week. 

The Spring Ball

 

THE SPRING BALL

After the wettest and muddiest of winters, Spring has at last arrived in the South East of England...

... and it is such a joy to watch gardens and the local countryside, waking to a swathe of pretty pastel blossoms dancing in the breeze... from the palest, to the most bold and flirtatious. Mother Nature at her most feminine!

There are also daffodils in heartfelt yellows and oranges, swaying gently in the borders, guaranteed to warm the chilliest of walkers, frilly hyacinths in pretty tutus of pink, blue and lilac, the shy purple crocus (almost at an end now) and sturdy camellia shrubs adorned in the most fabulous pinks and reds, demanding the eye of any passerby.

This week, the most spectacular sign that winter has now passed, has to be the breathtakingly beautiful magnolia trees, their branches dramatic with glamorous pink and white blooms, inviting us all to enjoy the show as they reach for the sky. Definitely the Belles of our Spring Ball, for a few more days at least, until wind and rain sweep back in to claim them... but never mind, it will soon be the turn of our magical Bluebells, currently waiting patiently in the wings to take centre stage!

It is such a lovely time of year and for this teddy bear maker, the 'Spring Ball' is always an inspiration!

Steadfast and true

Henry 16"

When I was first introduced to the world of artist bears way back in the 1990's, the bears that always captured my heart were soulful, traditional gold teddy bears. I loved them then and love now.

Steadfast and true.

In my eyes, they embody childhood and will never grow old.

This is my latest traditional bear, a lovely 16" fellow called Henry.

I hope he makes you smile.

www.allbearbypaula.com

Update: Henry has been adopted.

“ONE DAY, YOU WILL BE OLD ENOUGH TO START READING FAIRYTALES AGAIN.”

 

“ONE DAY, YOU WILL BE OLD ENOUGH TO START READING FAIRYTALES AGAIN.”

“This is the land of Narnia,' said the Faun, 'where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern sea.”

― C.S. Lewis 'The Chronicles of Narnia

After a hectic family Christmas holiday, I was ready for a change of scenery and a breath of fresh air but little did I know I was about to be transported through 'The wardrobe', into the snowy landscape of Narnia with my mum, on New Year's Day!

As we pushed through hanging fur coats, Mum and I spilled out into a snowy landscape, where we had the pleasure of meeting Mr Tumnus next to the legendary glowing lampost. He gave us a whispered warning not to linger long should we stumble across the White Witch. Intrigued, we thanked him, said our goodbyes and continued on our journey around a wintery corner... and there she sat, every bit as imperious as her fabled character! The White Witch's icy voice invited us closer as she declared her evil plan to destroy the wardrobe and claim the kingdom of Narnia as her own. After a quick pose for photos (!) we were summarily dismissed and directed passed statues frozen in time... then onwards towards Cair Paravel. We were eager to see Aslan the Great Lion, so followed his fearsome roar in the distance, enjoying the most beautifully decorated Christmas trees and wintery scenery, until we spied him gleaming gold ahead. Through one heavy wooden portal, we met Father Christmas warming his toes by the most beautiful fireplace and despite our advancing years, felt the thrill of childhood envelop us once more. It really was magical to see how much fun my eighty one year old mum was having!

Leeds Castle is only a short drive from my house and the Narnia Experience was beautifully crafted for castle visitors to celebrate Christmas 2023. Mum and I hadn't expected to visit Narnia yesterday, instead we had planned a walk in the castle grounds... but our last minute decision to pop inside and indulge our curiosity, proved completely magical, the perfect start to the new year.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

And the wisdom of C.S. Lewis...

'There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind'.



If ever you are in Kent, you won't be disappointed with a visit to Leeds Castle and although tickets are a little on the pricey side, 
once purchased you can visit as many times during the year as you like!

https://leeds-castle.com/ 

A festive hiccup

 

A FESTIVE HICCUP

I had planned several more festive teddy bears before Christmas arrives, but unfortunately was zapped with the 'head cold from hell' about a week ago, which proved far from conducive to creativity. I hope to finish one or two new bears over the next week, including a rather handsome Tweedy Ted, so all is not quite lost, although overseas shipping may prove a little late for the Big Day.

I have been creating my 2023 portfolio of teddy bear designs as they come to life and really wanted to include one more Tweedy Ted, after finding some glorious deep red and green Harris Tweed to work with, perfect for a Christmas Tweedy. 2023 has been a busy bear-making bear for me, with each new teddy quickly finding a lovely new owner... thank you all so much for wanting to share my bear-making world with me, I am so grateful to you.

Thankfully I feel better today, so am looking forward to a quiet afternoon with my sewing machine. As the song goes, 'The weather outside is frightful' (heavy rain laden skies as I write) so once my dog walk is done and the inevitable mud hosed away, I will pull up the drawbridge and settle to work. With luck, I may finish a sweet mohair teddy bear in time for Christmas too ... fingers crossed.  The other beautiful pieces of mohair I had planned to work on, including a very pretty rose pink fabric, perfect for a larger girly bear, will inspire me to begin my bear-making again in the New Year...

2024 we are heading your way!

 

• 13 DECEMBER 2023

The Norwich Gang

 

THE NORWICH GANG

Another collection of teddy bears soon be wending their merry way to The Bear Shop in Norwich. Donald 12", Duffy 18", Dooley 16", Dougie 18" and Dermot 14", have been keeping me very busy over the past few weeks!

I have two of their pals still in pieces on my worktable and they will be joining the Norwich gang in a few days' time ... after that, I promise faithfully to make a lovely new teddy bear to share here on my website!

Visit The Bear Shop on this link: https://www.bearshops.co.uk/

The Laughing Bears

 

THE LAUGHING BEARS

I was recently reminded of some of my more unusual teddy bear designs by a regular collector, who was thrilled to have located a teddy bear I made over twenty years ago and wrote to tell me about her find... a laughing bear with hugging arms, created from a beautiful animal print fur fabric.

The 'Laughing Bears' were a change of design direction for me at the start of the new millenium. By then I had become well known for creating large traditional mohair teddy bears but never one to rest on my laurels, wanted to expand my teddy bear designs with a range of more contemporary bears. I stumbled across a wonderful faux fur fabric produced by 'Tissavel' in France, a high end synthetic fur fabric used in clothing manufacture. This luxurious fabric was manufactured in a wonderful range of 'state of the art' faux fur, with an all-important stable woven backing... to my mind, perfect for creating showpiece teddy bears!

At the time, I knew there would be collectors loyal to my traditional teddy bears, who would perhaps frown upon this flamboyant change of design direction for 'All Bear', but to my mind, creative itches must be scratched, so I decided to be brave and forge ahead with my idea anyway. Beautiful 'Bisto', the teddy in the photo above, was one of my first Laughing Bear designs and still holds a very special place in my heart. Then one laughing bear led to another ... and another ... and another! Choosing names that reflected their personalities was fun ... Laughalot, Wotalot, VaVaVoom, Crazy for you, Happy-go-lucky, Tiger Feet, Beano, Bisto, Hullabulloo, Rumpus, Serendipity...  and so they went on... 

The Laughing Bears were a more complicated, time consuming design. I wanted them to retain the appeal of traditional teddy bears but also to stand proudly in their own right. I felt it was important to create an open-mouthed design which really brought the bear to life, lending him a truly happy personna, I didn't want a mouth that flopped, or worse still, grimaced!  After quite a bit of trial and error, I came up with a smiling mouth design that made me smile back... and when I added hand painted, twinkly glass eyes, it quickly became clear these new bears were going to be super fun characters! I also designed a new arm shape for my Laughing Bears, giving them arms to hug with and once I was happy with the overall design proportions, hey presto! I had created a blueprint to explore to my heart's content ... I couldn't resist creating Laughing Bears from leopard, cheetah, lynx, rabbit and bear furs ... the possibilities seemed endless. Sometimes I worked mohair, or alpaca muzzles and paws into my design with the faux fur and each design tweak brought a new character to life. 

Despite the teddy bear traditionalists among collectors, my 'Laughing Bears' quickly found their niche and were adopted around the globe, with many heading to the United States . I continued to create my much loved traditional teddy bears too and still do so today.

I made Laughing Bears for a good number of years, some in faux fur, others in mohair, or alpaca and some which incorporated a contrast of fabrics. Most Laughing Bears were around 19"/20" in height but there were also a few 25"/26" Laughing Bears... as you can imagine, those had especially huge personalities! 

Eventually, Tissavel faux fur became much harder to source (I was told the company went out of business) and once again, I began to feel a creative urge to take my designs into a new area, so I quietly retired my friendly Laughing Bears and headed off on my next teddy bear tangent.

Remembering the Laughing Bears this week has been fun, so who knows, perhaps I will think about creating one or two in the future, if I ever locate that glorious Tissavel faux fur again, for old time's sake!

A bundle of cuddles

 

A BUNDLE OF CUDDLES

Meet little Alfie, our newest family member!

We collected this bundle of cuddles a few days ago and brought him home to fill the kitty-cat sized hole that our old girl Puddle left behind. I wasn't sure I wanted to adopt another kitten after so many years with Puddle, but I missed my little black shadow and so did Stan, our black and white cat... so after three weeks, I found myself scouring local kitten advertisements and late one night, spied a brand new kitten ad...

A day later, my daughter and I drove a few miles to view this tiny ginger scrap, who was very content to rest in my daughter's arm's and have his tummy stroked while we had a chat with the owner, a lovely lady, who told us that her cat had been engaged in an illicit affair with the neighbour's tomcat (!) producing a litter of five kittens and the rest, as they say is history...

Little Alfie is almost eleven weeks old and has settled into our furry family beautifully. He is a very sweet natured kitten, gentle, playful and affectionate... just perfect. After slow, careful introductions with the dogs, Alfie has been fully accepted as one of the furry family and I have a suspicion Cooper and Alfie are already becoming good friends, so it will be lovely to watch them grow up together.

Polly and Betty are old hands at kitten introductions and are very gentle with Alfie; Betty, the most gentle dog I have ever known, is just mildly curious, while ten year old Polly is happy to let Alfie do his kitten 'thing' around her, while she snoozes. As for Stan, he will take a little longer to warm up to his new baby brother, as is the way with cats. He is currently playing things cool to retain 'top cat' status in the house ... perching on the back of 'his' sofa and quietly watching kitten proceedings unfold from a close distance. Secretly I can see he is itching to play with all the new toys, so I have no doubt at all, that within the next couple of days, our Stanley will be racing around with little Alfie, just like a kitten himself! 

The sound of silence

 

After a much needed change of scenery, I was able to add a lovely new traditional teddy bear to my website yesterday, aptly named 'Devon'...

My husband and I headed to Devon recently with our three dogs in the car, on the rainiest of August days. It was hard to believe it was mid Summer as the rain hammered heaven's hardest on our windscreen but fortunately, when we did eventually arrive at our holiday cottage about six soggy doggy hours later, the sun finally shone and my son and his family had already safely arrived and started unpacking. The scenery overlooking Dartmoor was absolutely beautiful, so we were eager to unpack the car, take the dogs and Grandchildren to the large meadow across the road for a good run ... and launch ourselves into full holiday mode, at last!

We spent a wonderful week exploring Dartmoor and Cornwall as a family. It was hard work but much fun. The dogs swam in the sea at Padstow and the children paddled and rock-pooled in Boscastle Harbour, traversing the scarily high bridge strung between the clifftops of Tintagel, in search of a statue of King Arthur at the castle ruins.

We walked miles with our dogs, meeting wild ponies, long horned cattle and sheep on Dartmoor, then listening to the sound of absolute silence far out on the moors. One evening we supped mugs of hot chocolate and ate marshmallows in the darkness by Harford Bridge while bats swooped around us and another day, we drove along barely used farm tracks lined with gorse and deep dark forest, to find the most beautiful hidden reservoir at the end of our white-knuckle ride ... and we all ate more pasties and ice-creams than were probably good for any self-respecting waistline!

It was a lovely week, full of laughter and family fun with my son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren but also full of happy summer holiday memories of my own children excitedly exploring Boscastle and Tintagel when we were still a young family just starting out in life, many years ago. It was very special to revisit some of the special places we had always enjoyed, with my Grandchildren this summer.

Many waters have since flowed beneath the harbour bridge you see in the photograph above... but over more than thirty years later, I can still picture my children posing there for photos snapped on my little Olympus point 'n shoot camera, hoping to be bought an ice-cream and taken to visit the gift shops further along the path, after scrambling over rocky cliff paths. They were such happy times. It is lovely to see my son now cementing his own special childhood memories by sharing them with his wife and children. Life it seems, always comes full circle. 

• 25 AUGUST 2023

A plum perfect farewell to Puddlecat

 

A PLUM PERFECT FAREWELL

I love the way children deal with loss. They are able to accept gentle honesty, don't need fairytales and usually process emotion in a practical, heartfelt way...

After Puddle-cat sadly left us on the 2nd of August, my Grandchildren asked if they could create a memory tree for all the cats who had been part of our household over the years. We chatted about each of their life stories, then said a fond farewell to Puddle, Rodney, Daisy, Leo, Socksie, Toffee, Poppy and Sally, with a decorated heart each, carefully tied with ribbon to the branches of our little plum tree... and with plenty of smiles. 

My ever practical five year old Granddaughter made me chuckle when she offered to make a heart for Stanley too... 'for when he needs one Nana'. Hopefully that won't be for many years to come, as thankfully he is currently prowling around quite contentedly!

xxXxx

Puddle came to live with us on the 28th August 2007, sixteen years ago. You can read more of her story here: https://allbear.blogspot.com/search/label/Puddle

Rainy Day Puddle

 

RAINY DAY PUDDLE

Yesterday was a rainy day... and a sad one. We said goodbye to our dear ol' Puddlecat, aged 16 years. Always the most gentle of girls, she left us peacefully and as was her way, without fuss.

Puddle came to us as a tiny scrappy kitten who had managed to tug at my daughter's heartstrings. She didn't have the best start to kitty life and Fay was keen to rescue her, so we brought her home and after a shaky start with her health, she soon blossomed into a beautiful glossy black cat with the sweetest nature and a penchant for playing with my knitting. She loved nothing more than to keep me company during the day, teasing me as I worked on my bears, or whenever I picked up my knitting needles.

As she grew older poor Puddle developed hyperthyroidism and gradually became very skinny and fussy about eating, although she never lost her love of cheese and I did manage to feed her a few tiny pieces yesterday. Her gentle nature never changed despite her health and she was always happiest to be close to us, especially in the evenings, when she liked to perch on the back of the sofa while we watched tv. Despite being quite a shy girl, she loved the children and always enjoyed a special fuss from my Grandson, who was very fond of her. She wasn't too keen on our other cats and dogs over the years, or so she would have us believe, preferring to remain aloof and distant with them. The only real exception was Daisy, a previous member of our long-standing cat family but yesterday morning, she allowed Cooper to approach and give her a very gentle kiss while she sat on my lap for a goodbye cuddle and despite her clear disapproval of young Stanley cat when he first joined us, I found them resting comfortably together in the sunshine on our conservatory sofa for one last time, yesterday afternoon.

So, yes a rainy day and of course a very sad day, but also a day to remember our gentle black Puddle-cat and to thank her for remaining faithfully by my side for so many long years.

Sleep tight sweet dear Puds. We will miss you. xxx

To read more about my cat family, please pop over to my full blog on this link: https://allbear.blogspot.com/search/label/cats

A tale of nine cats
https://allbear.blogspot.com/2010/04/tale-of-six-cats-and-new-kitten.html 

Serendipity

The older I become, the more I see that life is often about coincidence, each seemingly isolated incident, a piece of jigsaw linking to a greater story as years pass...

In my mid twenties as a young mum, I worked as a teaching assistant in a local school. The school was close to town and on lunchbreaks, I often enjoyed a short walk to the local bookshop to browse. One day I spied Pauline Cockrill's 'The Ultimate Teddy Bear Book' on a shelf and couldn't resist opening it... by some mysterious chance, it fell open to an image of my childhood bear 'Big Ted', a wonderful Chiltern Hugmee teddy bear gifted to me on my first birthday by my parents and still with me to this day, sixty years later. The coincidence made me smile and for some reason, I couldn't put the book back on the shelf and instead bought it, then read it from cover to cover that evening. From that day on, I was utterly entranced by the history of the teddy bear and I would say that particular book was the reason I began collecting teddy bears and ultimately, my inspiration for creating them too...

I began making teddy bears as a hobby. After a while, friends and family requested my bears and word soon spread beyond school that I was not only a teaching assistant but also a secret teddy bear maker! In the mid 1990's, before I had even heard of the internet, I came to realise that to keep up with what had quickly evolved into an ever growing demand for my teddy bears, I would need to set up a little homespun business to sell them.

In those days, my sister Fiona had also started to make teddy bears and one day, she took several of our bears to show the owners of 'The Rochester Teddy Bear Shop', a rather magical local teddy bear emporium. She returned home full of excitement because not only had the shop asked to stock our work, they had also invited us to exhibit our teddy bears at 'The Rochester Teddy Bear Show' held twice yearly in the Corn Exchange. I could hardly believe my ears and instantly forgave my sister for borrowing my bears!

And so 'Auntie Bears' was born, the prelude to 'Absolutely Bear by Fiona Smith' and my subsequent label, 'All Bear by Paula Carter' (now 'All Bear by Paula') which launched at the start of the new millenium. It was also the start of many more teddy bear show adventures throughout the country and the inception of our venture into selling to other teddy bear outlets, both in the UK and overseas. Wonderful shops such as 'Bears and Bunnies', 'The Rochester Teddy Bear Shop', 'Theodore's Bear Emporium', 'Growlies', 'Edwina's Friends', 'Sue Pearson's Dolls and Teddy Bears', 'Silly Bears' and 'The House of Bruin' among others, have sadly long ceased trading and are much missed by collectors and bearmakers alike. Over the years we made many long standing friends in the teddy bear world and will always be grateful to the shops who supported us during our early days as newly aspiring teddy bear makers. Other teddy bear shops thankfully survived the recent pandemic and are still selling artist bears to eager collectors. One such shop is 'The Bear Shop' in Norwich, trading since 1990 and as those of you who have followed my bears over the years will know, this shop still stocks my bears today (thank you so much Robert!) Oddly enough, it is 'The Bear Shop' which links neatly to my latest teddy bear book 'coincidence'...

As I mentioned earlier, in the 90's, before I had even considered making teddy bears myself, I had become somewhat of a teddy bear collector and eager reader of all things 'bear'. At the teddy bear fairs I visited, I would occasionally catch a reverent mention of a gentleman named 'Peter Bull', an English actor with a heart full of teddy bears. I learned that Mr Bull was the person responsible for bringing much-loved childhood teddy bears out of discreet and sometimes rather embarrassed hiding by sharing true life teddy bear stories in the wider world, with pride, gentle authority and a well-earned sense of place. He wrote and talked about teddy bears and their importance within our social history, with great fondness, humour and dedication, asking the world to understand that teddy bears were not only for children. In fact, many had provided a significant source of comfort to their grown-up owners during troubled times, including the war years and as such, earned their place in history, so we should be rightly proud of owning them in adulthood.

In my early days as a teddy bear collector, I don't mind admitting I didn't fully appreciate the impact Peter Bull made on the teddy bear collecting world. Born in 1912, he was of my Grandmother's generation, a generation that had lived through the horror of two World Wars. Originally a journalist, he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, achieving the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for service in the Mediterranean. Later he became an actor with films such as my Mum's old favourite 'The African Queen' and 'Dr. Strangelove' to his list of credits. He was also a Member of Parliament for Hammersmith for 29 years.

With a long and distinguished life established, Mr Bull subsequently became known as 'The father of teddy bear collecting' both in the UK and overseas, shining his bright light on the role of the teddy bear in the lives of men, women and children throughout the past century. He published his first book 'Bear with me' dedicated to sharing tales of real life teddy bears, in 1969. Mr Bull also appeared on television and became well known for championing the cause of teddy bear collecting as an acceptable adult hobby. 

Peter Bull passed away in 1984 aged 72, several years prior to the publication of Pauline Cockrill's 'The Ultimate Teddy Bear' in 1991 and just as excitement for teddy bear collecting and creating 'artist bears' was sweeping across the UK. On his passing, many of Mr Bull's own teddy bears were rehomed by the London Toy and Model Museum but 'Aloyssius', a famous actor teddy bear, best known for his role in the film 'Brideshead Revisited', was adopted by Ian Pout, owner of the famous Teddy Bears of Witney shop, first established in 1985 and still selling wonderful teddy bears to this day.   

My own little coincidence occurred recently, when I happened to be selling a teddy bear making book I no longer needed. I popped it on a well known auction site in the hope it might inspire another new maker and as I listed it, happened to notice another book for sale entitled 'The Teddy Bear Book', written by Peter Bull. It was offered by a charity for the deaf, so I put in a bid of a few £'s and promptly forgot all about it, until I received notification that I had in fact won the auction! I received this fabulous tome yesterday, first published in 1970 when I was only seven years old. It arrived in the original hard case and was in immaculate condition, clearly much cherished by the original owner. That alone was enough to delight this bearmaker, but to open the cover and discover this was one of the original 10,000 first printed and signed by the author's own hand, put a huge smile on my face. I began to read and was immediately drawn by the author's expressive style, then the joy of flicking through the pages as I supped my mug of coffee, only to find little treasures carefully placed within the pages by the original owner... a polite hand signed note of sale from the retailer, a bookmark detailing Peter Bull's biography with little annotations scribed in a neat hand, a list of teddy bears and books made available from 'The House of Nisbit', an address for a teddy bear restorer handwritten and noted 'a lovely lady'... and further on, a little round cardboard tag printed by 'The Bear Shop' and saved like a carefully pressed flower... the very same bear shop which has welcomed my teddy bears since my early days as a teddy bear maker!

Receiving this very special teddy bear book out of the ether yesterday, felt as though an invisible force somewhere had witnessed my teddy bear making journey over the past thirty years and brought the perfect gift to my door. I couldn't have been more touched, surprised and delighted... and for that I believe I may have Serendipity to thank!

To read a little more about Peter Bull please visit: https://letstalkteddybears.com/peter-bull-collector/ 

Huxley Bear

Huxley Bear

I made this 14" alpaca teddy bear last week and when he was finished, knitted him a smart vest top to wear. Then I spotted a pair of teddy bear spectacles in my box of accessories so thought I would add them, just for fun, fully intending to remove them after a moment or two but 'Huxley Bear' liked his new specs so much he asked to keep them on. He says he can now see clearly and even better, share storybooks just as soon as he finds his special person to read with...

I wonder what they will read together? Maybe Paddington, Winnie-the-Pooh or Rupert Bear? Or perhaps, Huxley Bear will prove to be an adventuring kind of bear... so maybe Treasure Island, The Famous Five, or my old favourite, Peter Pan? 

Whatever they choose to read, I do hope Huxley Bear and his new owner will share many special stories together.

Hitting the right note

 

Summertime and the living is easy here in the UK!

I have been enjoying a lovely Summer full of sunshine, roses, walks with my dogs and a spot of live music (and touristing!) in London and at Rochester Castle with my daughter.

We recently visited the magnificent Royal Albert Hall to hear the soul melting velvet and honey baritone of the wonderful Mr Gregory Porter live on stage, together with his gifted musicians. His voice was so powerful it swept us all up to the tip of that beautiful domed roof, then floated us gently back to our seats as it broke our hearts then healed them, again and again. Just fabulous.

Last weekend, we headed to our local castle (yes we have one!) to sit in the sunshine among a large relaxed crowd, enjoying the mellow sound of Tunde from The Lighthouse Family, followed by a lively dance return to the 80's with Grammy winning group Soul to Soul, then forward to the late 90's and into the start of the millenium, with fiesty female hitmakers The Sugarbabes... and despite being one of the 'more mature' audience members (there were quite a few of us there!) I stayed awake til the end and was up on my feet with the best of them! 

The UK is alive with music this Summer, there are festivals and local gigs happening all across the country... hardworking musicians touring to share their passion for music over many years. It is so much fun to hear the songs you love played live, so good for the soul and it makes the years just fall away! If you get the chance, why not grab a ticket and head out somewhere to join in the fun... 

101 Bears to make, a book by Nancy Tillberg

 

101 BEARS TO MAKE, A BOOK BY NANCY TILLBERG

After almost thirty years in the teddy bear making industry, I find I have some great bear-making books, written by talented artists, gathering dust on my shelf. I collected them many years ago and as I am a nostalgic type of person, kept them because they held memories of my early days as a struggling teddy bear maker...

Back in those days, I was still finding my bearmaking direction and was eager to learn as much as possible about the art of teddy bear making from as many different sources as I could find. I loved reading bear-making books and was so grateful to authors such as Nancy, for taking the time and trouble to share methods and thoughts about this fascinating craft, with beginners such as myself. However, as I became more confident to find my own teddy bear making techniques, these books
gradually became redundant and now I find it is a long time since I last opened their pages...

Since the pandemic, I have heard of several well established teddy bear artists either retiring from our wonderful craft, or choosing to move into a new direction, so now seems to me, a good time to pass on some of the books which first inspired me in the early days, the days before teddy bears became my business... in the hope they will perhaps inspire fresh teddy bear making talent, into the future.

I have already passed on some of the books, but held '101 Bears to make' back because I wasn't quite ready to part with it. It was written by Nancy Tillberg, a lovely American teddy bear artist and member of 'The Guild of Master Bearcrafters', famed for her creative approach to teddy bear making, 'back in the day'.

This rare collectible book, first published in 2003, shares many inspiring ideas for developing your own unique style of teddy bear and is a fabulous resource for any budding bearmaker. I hope that by passing it on, a whole new generation of teddy bears may emerge into our wonderful artist bear world!

If you are interested in purchasing '101 Bears to make' by Nancy Tillberg from me, please visit my Ebay auction this week. Good luck!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325705579145

Update: SOLD.