New bears available to adopt!

The All Bear stand

With four large halls full of visitors and exhibitors at the Winter Bearfest show in London on Sunday, it was a good day for teddy bears, thanks to the Hugglets team.  People were immersed in the serious subject of bears everywhere, eager to chat, inspect and adopt.

Unfortunately my day didn't start well after spending the first couple of hours at the show trying to connect a new card reader to my mobile phone to take payments, but then being unable to establish a wifi connection ... so much for modern technology!  Maybe I should have stayed with my old paper voucher/swipe machine system after all?!  By lunchtime I'd given up all hope of making the wretched thing work and abandoned it before it spoiled my day entirely. The bears behaved impeccably despite the card reader hiccup.  They sat smartly on the stand, welcoming visitors and lapping up compliments, while I fussed and flapped ... I don't think there's a bear maker in the business who would be able to honestly say show days are never stressful!

Happily as the day wore on, five of my bears found lovely new owners.  The bears below came home with me after the show, despite being much admired; sometimes that's just the way shows go.  I am now free to offer these fine teddy bears for purchase online ...

Beau

Handsome Beau is a 20" mohair bear, created in traditional clown/jester style.
I have used a lovely dense wavy gold mohair for his head/paws and beautiful silky plum and sky blue for his body.Beau has black glass eyes, a professionally embroidered black nose and wool felt paw pads, which I have shaded. He wears a cotton lace collar tied with hand dyed ribbon and has vintage buttons stitched to his front. Inside this lovely bear's tummy is a growler.

Beau is priced at £325 plus shipping.Update: Beau has now been adopted.

Crumpet

Cutie-pie Crumpet is an 18" mohair bear, created from the same lovely dense wavy gold mohair I used for Beau. He has vintage black boot button eyes, a professionally embroidered black nose and wool felt paw pads, which I have shaded.  Crumpet wears an old fashioned key tied with hand dyed ribbon, around his neck.

Crumpet is priced at £250 plus shipping.

Rhett

Dear Rhett is a wonderfully chunky 20" teddy bear, created in a soft, mid-brown mohair. He has black glass eyes, a professionally embroidered black nose and wool felt paw pads, which I have shaded. Rhett wears a cheerful multi-coloured, hand knit waistcoat and like his companions, has a growler in his tummy.

Rhett is priced at £295 plus shipping.

Do any of these bears tug at your heartstrings?  If so, I would be delighted to hear from you and to help facilitate your investment in my special statement teddy bears, I am able to offer a layway instalment opportunity spread over three monthly instalments, if required. 

To arrange a purchase, simply email me at: allbearbypaula@aol.com 

Thank you!

Cutting it fine!

Talk about cutting it fine!  I am ploughing on with show preparations and there is still so much do, so please forgive me for keeping this post brief!

Introducing my 'New Romantics' show collection

18" Romeo

20" Beau

18" Lancelot'

20" Rhett

18" Crumpet

8" Patootie

This collection of teddy bears has been created especially for 'The Winter Bearfest' show in London and will be making their official debut in Hall 2 of Kensington Town Hall tomorrow. I will also be bringing along 'Gentle Star', a beautiful white bear I created at the end of 2013.

15" Gentle Star

I hope you will be able to come along and share in the fun.  I am looking forward to introducing my latest one-of-a-kind bears to you in person!

www.hugglets.co.uk

Countdown to The Winter Bearfest!

Only a few more days until my trip up to the 'Big Smoke' with my first bears of 2014 ... the days are flying past.

Show-bear-in-progress

 

For this show, I have created a select collection of beautiful traditional bears (sizes 8" to 20") from classic shades of gold/cinnamon, wearing scarves or knitted waistcoats.  I will also be bringing along a gorgeous plum/pale blue traditional clown bear, wearing a cotton lace collar tied with hand dyed ribbon.

Show-bear-in-progress

There is plenty more to do before I load my little car with stand paraphernalia at the weekend, not least of which will be to set up my studio and take formal photographs of each of the new bears ... but before I do that, I really must get my skates on and finish my final two big bears!

I will post studio pics of my completed show bears later this week for those who aren't able to visit the show, but if you are coming to Kensington Town Hall on Sunday, please pop over to stand 75 in Hall 2 to say hello and see the bears in the fur ... we bearmakers love to escape from our workrooms to share our bears with you in person on show days!

For details of 'The Winter Bearfest' including a full list of all the famous bear makers from both the UK and overseas who will be exhibiting, please visit the promoter's website: 

http://www.hugglets.co.uk/festivalindex.php

Bon voyage!

I have called this young cub 'Sebastien' ... he will be travelling to meet his new owner in France later today.

Bon voyage Sebastien!

If you would like to see how I made Sebastien, you are welcome to visit me on Twitter to see my impromptu photos:

https://twitter.com/allbearbypaula

I will be adding further 'from my workshop' updates to my Twitter feed from time to time, so please keep in touch and pop in to join me for a tweet now and again!

Follow @allbearbypaula

A pathway to design

I was just thinking about my previous post and realised I hadn't concluded it properly ... there should have been photographs!  So, for those who would like to wander briefly through my long teddy bear design journey, here we go ...

1996ish The early years
 Traditional centre seam large head, short body, drumstick legs, long arms,

Mischief'

2003 My crazy contemporary phase

Shaped arms, sculpted feet, free standing, inset muzzle, additional poseable neck joint, open mouth, coloured nose, wild prints! 

'The Lynx Effect' 

2007 Developing my 'Modern Classics'

Chunky limbs and tummies, largish heads, hand painted glass eyes, subtle shading, 

luxury fabrics

'Gorgeous George'

2010 My so-very vintage phase

Hand dyed sparse mohair, distressing, vintage boot button eyes, saggy stuffing, wobble heads, patching, staining, waxed nose, slender straight limbs

'Kingsley'

2011 Doing the Shabby Chic thing

Incorporating dainty prints and pastel colour with vintage appeal

'Lavendar-Lou, Merryweather and Pippin'

2011 Continuing with contemporary

Poseable limbs, hand painted twinkly eyes, eyelashes, sculpted feet, inset muzzle, 

open mouth

'Felicity and her bunny'

2012 Heading back to traditional

Slim limbs, upright posture, smaller heads, long snouts, slim bodies, waxed noses, boot button eyes, felt paws

'Jake and Mavis'

2013 Traditional Luxury

Dense curly golden mohair, black glass eyes, waxed nose, velvet paws

'Chester'

... and for 2014?  

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, I started this year true to my traditional roots, so will see where they lead me.  I look forward to sharing my continuing bear design journey with you!

No shakin' 'em off!

It's funny how twenty years of bear-making works ... I started out mastering traditional teddy bears, then discovered new techniques so slipped towards creating contemporary bears for a good long while, when eventually the urge to try out a new take on a vintage twist grabbed me and my 'shabby chic' bears evolved ... but finally I'm facing facts, me and traditional bears are destined to stay together; this bearmaker is happy to tell you, there is just no shaking 'em off !

I am currently working towards the Hugglets' show in Kensington Town Hall in London, which takes place on the 23rd February.  I will be bringing along my latest traditional teddies to sit loud and proud on my stand, so I hope you will be able to come along to this very special show and meet us in person!

For full details of 'The Winter Bearfest Show' please visit the organiser's website:

www.hugglets.co.uk

A significant birthday

With a full half century officially under my belt as of yesterday and a new decade ahead, I have come to recognise that my approach to life thus far, has usually been far more fatalistic than forward planned.  Like many of us of similar age, I have had to roll with a few heavy punches over the years, but all in all, I don't feel much different than I did twenty, or even thirty years ago ... a little more battered and bruised by life perhaps, but still standing, still smiling and of course, still caring.  

Yes, fifty one is a significant number, too old to be passed over lightly, yet too young to hold the true wisdom of age.  Five decades teaches much about life, love and family, but also leaves a few important questions unanswered.  Maybe the life lesson to-date, is to accept that some questions quite simply have no answer?  Only time will tell.

That said, I have drawn a rather philosophical conclusion on this, my significant birthday ...

Unconditional love, trust, loyalty, kindness and friendship, are all we truly need in life.  They are the key elements to understanding.

Sending the best of my love to those who have always tried to understand me and who freely share their lives with me.  

I probably don't say this often enough ...

Thank you all,

from the bottom of my heart 

xxx