The All Bears in 2018

The All Bears arrived at a steady pace throughout 2018, finding new homes around the world, with most settling in America, Australia, Germany and the UK. They made their débuts in a lovely array of colours, some traditional, others more flamboyant ... and they welcomed 'The Tweedy Teds' to their midst, a collection of colourful cloth bears, created from traditionally hand woven Harris Tweed.  It was also fun to reintroduce large panda bears after a long break and to squeeze in a rare mischievous black bear, just in time for Halloween!  

Sadly we lost dear Strudel bear in our first ever delivery disaster in twenty five years of international shipping, but thanks to my extremely kind spirited and patient collector, I was able to remedy this heartbreaking loss by creating a beautiful new Strudel teddy, now living happily in the US with her delighted new owner. All bar one teddy bear, found new homes this year and I am certain Douglas will soon join the list of happy 'All Bear' adoptées. In the meantime, I am enjoying the company of this handsome teddy very much! To bring my year of teddy bear making to a close, I introduced my final teddy of 2018 to my website today, a sweet fuchsia pink girl named Ivy.

After a busy year, it is now time for me to set down my stuffing stick, tidy up my workroom in readiness for 2019 and welcome in the spirit of Christmas, but first I would like to thank you all for sharing my blog and for your kind interest in my teddy bears throughout 2018, with extra special thanks to those of you who were kind enough to adopt one of my bears.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year,

With warmest hugs,

Paula ... and the bears xxx

Update: Ivy and Douglas were both adopted before Christmas!

A pencil 'n paint day

Another hot summer's day today and oh boy am I wilting! It has been a day to play, rather than a day to attempt sewing teddy bears with sweaty hands - shudder!

So, I set myself up with paints 'n pencils and had a lovely relaxing time, sketching and sploshing purple paint around.  By the time the heat of the day had eased slightly, a pretty lady had appeared on my paper and I felt sufficiently inspired to head up to my workroom to start work on a new teddy bear dancing in my head ... definitely a good day for creativity! 

(By the way, to give you a tiny hint, I think the pinks 'n purples of my paint palette may have inspired my inner teddy bear designer today!)

;-)

Blowing through the cobwebs in my mind

Goodness it's been hot! Way too hot 'n humid to work comfortably with mohair that's for sure! Rather than struggle on, I've been busy updating the Guild of Master Bearcrafters website, playing in the paddling pool with my grandson, reading arty type books, sketching and painting, eating ice-lollies and generally staying as cool as possible at home.

It has been fun to give myself a little time to mentally meander while it has been hot, but now the heatwave has broken with a lovely cooling thunderstorm this morning (horaay!) I find myself looking forward to making my way back into my workroom later today, to try to finish a pretty teddy bear I began work on before I began to overheat.

My poor dogs and cats struggled with the heat too, so we've been making the most of the beautiful evenings, by walking and playing in the garden just before the sun sets. It has been refreshing to be out and about at that time of the evening.

Rodney, now the grand old age of seventeen weeks, has had a great time exploring outdoors in the evening and learning how to climb Dad's plum tree.

And Polly and Betty have loved evening walkies through the orchard and across the field.

As for my elusive Puddlecat, she has been prowling through shady patches in the garden like a small black panther. She's always so hard to spot with a camera lens, but I did just about catch a black shadow lurking behind the lavendar bush yesterday evening.

I am dreaming of coastal holidays of course, but as much as I love a sea breeze on a hot Summer's day, unfortunately a holiday will have to wait until Rodney is a wee bit older. Until then, I plan to be outdoors as much as possible and who knows, I may even find time to write a few more blog posts! After all, everyone needs a Summer break to recharge their batteries ... even we teddy bear makers!

Happy Summer Everyone!

:-)

If at first you don't succeed ...

What with the arrival of Rodney the Kitten, my general dog, household and grandson duties, together with a couple of lovely visits to the theatre ... (one with my daughter to see Caro Emerald perform in Camden and the other with my sister to see the latest Matthew Bourne ballet 'The red shoes' ... both of which were superb performances and very fun nights out!) ... time for artistic endeavour has been rather limited.

However, somehow I managed to squeeze a little 'me' time on Bank Holiday Monday. Having only just mastered control of my pencil, I challenged myself by plunging head first into the unpredictability of watercolour paint - oh dear, whatever was I thinking?!  My first picture left much to be desired, in fact I probably made just about every mistake ever recorded in that single sloppy portrait. Never one to be defeated though, I set the wretched thing aside for a few days until I could see how to justify the time I had 'wasted' ... and this morning, the penny dropped!  I poured myself a mug of  strong coffee, reached for my pastel pencils and began to work over that original picture. I haven't quite finished fiddling, but at least I'm smiling now when I look at it, rather than grimacing, so I think by adding my favourite pastel pencils into my watery wanderings, I may have found a creative Creative comfort zone ... for now, at least!

:-)

A perfect teddy bear

After finding some old photographs, it occurred to me this week, I made my very first teddy bear 25 years ago!  My goodness, it is hard to believe that defining moment was a quarter of a century ago.  I can't lay claim to having created my first artist bear back then, nothing quite so historic (!) but that was definitely when the first stirrings of bear-making curiosity struck me enough to go and find a child's toy crafting kit in local toy shop. I recall my main interest was of practical concern, I wanted to find out how to make a teddy's arms and legs move - that mystery was solved when I pulled a set of white plastic safety joints from the bag. I hadn't a clue about hardboard discs and cotter pin joints to begin with, in fact I didn't learn about those until bear number two ...

1992, 'Ivor'

Bear number two, subsequently named 'Ivor', was also a kit bear. I forget who designed that early kit, but I do remember purchasing it from a lovely bear artist at the very first teddy bear show I ever visited.  The prospect of creating Ivor was daunting because this time the process would involve cutting mohair, which was far more costly and fabulous than the little orange synthetic toy shop kit. Even now, all these years down the bear-making trail, I remember the excitement of beginning work on Ivor and my absolute delight when, after much trial and tribulation, a traditional gold teddy with slightly lopsided, but fully jointed, arms and legs, presented himself.

Early 1990's, tentative first teddy bear designs

With two bonafide teddy bears now under my belt, my enthusiasm for bear number three was high and by then I felt ready to select a commercial teddy bear pattern to work with, along with another piece of the fabric I had fallen in love with ... mohair! Teddy bear patterns frustrated me though, nothing seemed to fit together quite perfectly enough and those that I had chosen were for small teddy bears, but I loved big teddy bears!  After my first couple of attempts at using them, I gave up on store bought patterns and instead invested in a teddy bear-making book, written by a well known teddy bear artist who had been generous enough to touch on the process of design. That was a real lightbulb moment for me and from then on, I became completely absorbed in creating my own teddy bear patterns and bringing to life the teddy bears waiting patiently in my head.

Mid to late 1990's, well into my teddy bear bear making stride!

So here I am, twenty five years later, still trying to create that elusive 'perfect' teddy bear. I wonder if any bear artist ever says they achieved a truly perfect teddy bear? Somehow I think not ...

Teddy bears from the past seven years ..

My belief is, we bearmakers are destined to strive for perfection indefinitely which is what keeps our bear-making joy alive and the teddy bear's future secure.

With that thought in mind, here's to my next quarter century!

:-)

A good week's work..

My teddy bear making mojo is in full swing at the moment, which is always a good start to a new year! I may have started slowly, but with two bears now under my bear-maker's belt and we're still only in January, I am excited about the prospect of more teddy bears to come ... and hopefully, maybe a few 'Prim Dolly Doodles' too ... fingers crossed.

My lovely red Rufus found a super new home last week and then I finished this pretty teddy girl, the lovely 'Lisette'.  A good week's work I'd say! I had been hunting through my fabric boxes and came across a wonderful piece of Schulte kid mohair tucked away and temporarily forgotten, so I decided to spoil myself by turning it into a good sized teddy (she is 20" tall). You just can't beat a beautiful dense German Schulte kid mohair when it comes to making big bears. It really is the most fabulous teddy bear fur and in my humble bearmaker's opinion, by far the best quality available (just wish it wasn't quite so pricey these days, but I guess that old saying is true, you do 'get what you pay for'. Unfortunately sourcing good quality teddy bear mohair for larger bears sure has become a costly process!)

Anyway, I thought you would like to meet 'Lisette', before she finds a new home and if by any chance you would like to adopt her yourself, she is currently available to purchase from my website and you are most welcome to visit:

www.allbearbypaula.com 

Have a lovely Sunday everyone!

:-)

Artistic Demons

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been attempting to teach myself to draw. It has not been an easy process as this skill is far from natural to me, but I think I am at last beginning to conquer a few of my artistic demons!

I am gradually building a scrapbook to record my progress ...

It is fun to try different mediums and I am slowly finding confidence to build on my new skills. Who knows, I may even try my hand at painting eventually!

I thought I'd share a few of my drawing projects here today. 

I was thinking about all the different skills I have taught myself over the years, from designing teddy bears, to photography, making cloth dolls, knitting, crocheting, computer skills, website building, dog obedience training, running my business, driving (that was a biggy!) ... the list goes on, so whenever I feel a bit as though a 'proper career' in the 'real world' has slipped through my fingers, I take a moment to remind myself of everything I have taught myself over the years.  

For those of us who work creatively, the nag of not being part of the 'serious working world' can bite now and again, but the skills we have developed while living a creative life are worth remembering and taking a little pride in now and again ... don't you agree?!

;-)

Drawing into a new half century

I was never confident in art lessons. Left handed and ill at ease with paintbrush and pencils, I was usually to be found lurking at the back of the art room, planning how best to skip future art lessons ... in fact, it was with a sense of great relief I dropped the subject from my school curriculum as soon as possible, at the tender age of thirteen.  It wasn't that I didn't enjoy drawing as a child in the privacy of my own home (I always loved using Dad's posh set of Caran D'ache art pencils when I was allowed and to watch him sketching his favourite subject - budgies) but as a shy child, submitting anything artistic to an unimpressed teacher at school, was enough to send my creative self shrinking into a dark corner.

My first eye

As I began to share crayon, paint, pencil and paper with my little Grandson this Summer, I was frustrated by my own lack of drawing ability. A tiny glimmer of determination began to dawn as we happily splashed and smeared colour onto sheets of paper in the sunshine and that glimmer brightened rapidly. Almost before I realised what was happening, a small collection of 'learn to draw' books, tins of graphite and coloured pencils, sketch pads in assorted sizes, a variety of erasers, a green ruler and a drawing board made their way into a big bag, tucked away in the corner of my living room ... within easy reach of my sofa.

Three eye sketches later ...

It was at that point I tentatively mentioned my new hobby to my sisters and discovered my youngest sister had recently started learning to draw and one of my middle sisters was also keen! Spurred on by our shared interest and limited drawing confidence, we launched a sisterly challenge to see if we could each sketch an eye ... one thing led to another and we now have a private family art group on Facebook, set up to encourage one another and anyone else in the family who fancies a dabble ... it turns out, nieces, daughters, daughter-in-laws, a brother-in-law and even a great niece have 'come out' to draw together!

Becoming bolder and starting to play with colour!

We've had loads of fun commenting in our private drawing group and have run several family challenges already, designed to stretch abilities into different directions. 

'Draw a favourite cartoon character'

For me, learning a 'new' skill and facing my drawing demons, is both absorbing and relaxing. I've a very long way to go as there is an immense amount to learn, but at least I am no longer daunted by the prospect ... and the ghost of my old art teacher is fading fast!

Witch in graphite pencil

In fact, last week I even plucked up confidence to try my hand at a couple of portraits based on photographs ... neither of which ended up looking like the people in the photos, but no matter, they are at least recognisable as faces!  Plenty more practice is of course required, but a couple of weeks ago I would never have believed I could even have begun to tackle these!

Portrait drawing in graphite pencil

So, now I've started, I suppose I ought to try drawing a teddy bear at some point eh?!

Challenge: Design and draw a toy

In the meantime, remember my cloth dollies? Well, using coloured pencils, I tried my hand at a little sketch of one of my 'Prim Dolly Doodles', trouble was I made a complete hash of her lower half (who knew sitting a dolly on a flower pot could be so hard to represent?!) so took the liberty of heartlessly cropping her wayward legs off ... until I can find time to try drawing them back on again.

Challenge: Cartoonize yourself!

Teaching myself to draw at this advanced age (let's just say I have edged well into my second half century) sure is proving heaps more fun than my art lessons at school, all those disillusioned decades ago!

:-)

Mellow Yellow

After my Buttercup post, I had yellow bears on the brain, so started hunting for photos of some of the yellow bears I have made in past years. Sadly, some were lost thanks to the failure of an old hard drive (am hopeless at backing stuff up) but I did find these and couldn't resist putting together a little 'Mellow Yellow' montage to share here with you today ...

Sunny Jim, featured in the central pic taken with me, is one of my all time favourite teddy bears ... I can't quite believe it has been ten years since I made him, where on earth did they all go?!  Looking at these bears, it seems I have used yellow mohair for Spring, Summer and Autumn teddies - I couldn't find a wintery yellow bear though; maybe yellow is just too cheery for a chilly winter teddy bear?  Or maybe there lies a challenge for me to rise to this coming winter ... create a wintery yellow bear ... hmmn, might give that further thought!

:-)

The colours of a rainbow

Keeping an almost-two-year-old entertained each week has proved to be less of a challenge than I at first imagined it might be. Little Toby has a wonderfully curious mind and a delightfully active spirit, so we are having heaps of fun together and as his Nana, being granted an opportunity to see the world through such fresh young eyes once more, is a privilege I truly treasure.

The weather has been glorious here in Kent this week, so I put up my parasol to provide some shade on the garden patio, smeared my Grandson in 'Factor 50', cut up one of my t-shirts to make him a painting smock, rolled out a leftover length of wallpaper, gathered large pebbles to weight it, squeezed out the colours of a rainbow ... and let him loose!

He had a whale of a time with the paint and was completely focused on making his picture with whatever came to hand, be it brushes, sponges, or feet and hands.  It was so much fun to watch him create his first masterpiece.  I sent the entire roll (several feet long!) home with Toby, to share with his mummy and daddy, but couldn't resist keeping a little picture he painted while we were waiting for the big one to dry in the sunshine.  I framed it and hung it on his bedroom wall at Nana's house, for him to enjoy whenever he visits ... and every time I look at it, I can't help but grin and think of my little artist at work!

:-)

That's not tennis!

My bear making has been limping along at a snail's pace lately because I had a flare-up of tennis elbow; twenty years of bear-making takes a toll on joints unfortunately.  I've had to start using a support which I wear below my elbow while working ... thankfully, that is helping.  So, the pink 'n white bear I mentioned in my previous post is waiting for knitted dungarees (knitting is particularly painful with this condition) and her ears still need stitching on (mustn't forget to do that!) ... but we are making progress, albeit slowly.

On the plus side, having to rest my arm has at least provided me with much needed time to tidy my workroom, which is now lovely and organised ... 

I'm relieved to say my arm is feeling a bit stronger now and I'm looking forward to making a lovely bear crafting mess in here again in a few days' time!

A heartfelt teddy bear

The traditional teddy bear will always be at the heart of my bear-making.  Those golden oldies of years long past embodied comfort and security, so as a modern day bearmaker, I think it's every bit as important today, to weave heart and soul into our bears, as we steer them safely through flashing, beeping, technological toys, into the hearts of future generations.

20" Malteser is now available to adopt from:

 www.allbearbypaula.com

In this computerised age, I make no apologies for my very traditional teddy bear.  Yes, he may be a simple chap, but please keep in mind, he is honest and true in his design.  He may not have beeps or sirens, flashing gizmos, nor triple AAA batteries, 

but ...

'Malteser' is a heartfelt teddy bear. 

Made by me, especially for you.

xxx

A new arrival!

The roses have been so beautiful this year ... a moment to enjoy these most radiant of flowers is perfume for the soul.  Sitting in my deckchair, with sun warming my skin as my dogs play tug together on the lawn, has been a joy since Polly's little sister Betty came to live with us just over a week ago. 

At nine weeks old, she is the prettiest and cheekiest of puppies, full of fun, mischief and love.  She and Polly have quickly become good friends, eating, sleeping and playing boisterously together.  As you can imagine, my bear crafting time has been considerably interrupted by this sweet new arrival, so for the time being, I will need to steal creative moments while she naps!

So, new teddy bears may be slow to appear in the weeks to come, but please bear with me ... I have succeeded in cutting out and pinning a big traditional boy bear from beautiful gold mohair this week, so progress is being made, albeit at a leisurely pace.  In fact, both my girls are fast asleep while I write, so I will sign off now and tiptoe up to my sewing machine ... 

Sssshhhhh!!!

Crafting a teddy bear ..

I often snap work in progress pics on my mobile phone and recently, after making my traditional 18" teddy bear Elliot, it dawned on me that the photographs might be put to better use if I could make a short video with them.  It took me a little while to figure out how to use 'You Tube', but eventually I arrived at a very simple and I hope charming video, of how I make a traditional teddy bear.  For anyone interested in traditional techniques, I think those I have used are pretty much standard in terms of traditional bear making.  This video could perhaps benefit from being a bit more detailed (a project for another day?!) but even so, does gives a genuine insight into how I bring my own hand crafted teddy bears to life ...

I would love to know if you enjoyed this bear making presentation ... has it inspired you to try your hand at making a teddy bear perhaps?  Please let me know by leaving a comment, thank you!

:-)

Heart and Soul

Recently, I happened to spot a Tweet about this lovely book written by Jennifer Laing, published way back in 1996, so never one to pass an opportunity to add to my bear making bookshelves, I decided to track down a copy ...

I began my own bear making career in the early 90's, so flicking through this book was a real trip along memory lane for me.  I didn't know all of the antipodean bear makers featured by Jennifer, but did recognise quite a few familiar faces, so it's good to know that although some may no longer be making, others are still busy creating teddy bears 'Down Under'.

'The complete book of teddy bear artists in Australia and New Zealand' sums up that era in bear-making perfectly and also reflects our UK teddy bear industry of the day; it was a passionate period for creating teddy bears!  Back then, the internet was still inaccessible to most teddy bear artists, so the craft of bear making was an isolated process, slowly gleaned and polished through trial and error.  New techniques were cautiously guarded and naturally less advanced than the 'bells and whistles' of today ... but believe me, those simple, heartfelt teddy bears excited collectors and were very quickly adopted.

Sometimes I feel we bear makers may be in danger of losing our way with the pressure to be innovative, not to mention competitive.  As much as I admire the breathtaking artistry of many modern teddy bear makers, I truly hope the soul and passion those early bear artists brought to our craft back in the 80's (US) and 90's (rest of us!) will always remain at the heart of artist designed teddy bears.

Finishing Touches

After spending two unsuccessful afternoons knitting in the vain hope a jacket, or cardigan, might suit this bear, yesterday I finally abandoned my knitting needles in a bit of a sulk!

I prefer my bears to be uncluttered, but this particular bear was an awkward sort, seemingly refusing to wear anything at all!  Then I remembered a cute little homespun bib collar I made a while ago and after hunting through the depths of my workroom cupboard, my problem was solved ...  I found the bib collar and it was the perfect finishing touch for 'Bailey' bear!

Happily Bailey was adopted in next-to-no time too!

 :-)

So this is George

I snapped a few Iphone pics from my desk as I worked last week ...

Stitched and ready to stuff.

Nose embroidered so now it's time to insert the glass eyes.

Painting melted wax onto this fellow's nose ...

Using a hairdryer to melt the wax deep into the embroidery thread.

Buffing the first layer with brown paper.

Another coat of wax, more melting and more buffing and this bear's nose is now complete.

End of day workroom pic - hey, hello bear!

And finally, a posh studio photograph session! 

So this is George. 

:-)