The 'Normous Nineties!

Back in the 'Normous Nineties, a magnificent decade of significant statement bears, this bearmaker was truly excited by the possibility of creating bears big enough for proper hugs; so she worked hard designing 'Big 'Uns' - bears big enough to stand out in any crowd! 

27" 'Glisten' - 1995

27" 'Timeless' - 1996

27" 'Only' - 1997

32" 'Himself' - 1998

The nineties was definitely a bear-crafting decade for celebration!  Back then there were no cries of 'I don't have room for big bears', instead collectors relished their bold proportions and more often than not, bigger really was better!

26" Black Magic - 2006

I still absolutely adore big bears, but like so many other big bear makers, have had to gradually scale down sizes to accommodate collectors' needs over the years. In fact, from memory, I think the largest bear I made during the past decade, was 'Black Magic' and he was a mere 26"!

8" 'Titch' - 2011

And last week, something I never imagined could happen, did actually happen ... I found myself sewing a little 8" bear!

23" Nat - my largest bear so far in 2011

The magnificent big guys of the nineties will always be dear to my heart and there's no way I'll ever completely let them go - after all, once a big bear maker, always a big bear maker!  But it is fun to try new things and of course, unless you are lucky enough to own a mansion, collecting space in homes does fill up pretty fast, so I guess a few little 'uns, mixed in with slightly less enormous 'Big 'Uns', will hopefully be a positive step forward for this bearmaker in 2011!

Ad break

The November issue of 'Teddy Bear and Friends' magazine dropped onto my doormat yesterday and in the 'Artists' Showcase' section is my latest advertisement. I'm very pleased with the way it stands out on the page (thanks to Tina's lovely 'Victor' photograph!) and hope it will help to spread the 'All Bear' word throughout America and beyond.

Teddy Bear and Friends Nov/Dec 2008 issue, on sale now!

By the way, my last advertisement for this year will be published in 'Australian Bear Creations' Nov/Dec issue, on sale from Woodlands Publishing on the 8th November and I'm really looking forward to seeing it in print.

I have been hunting through some back issues of teddy bear magazines today and could kick myself because despite clambering up into the loft space to ferret through my trunks, I still can't find my copies of the bear mags which over the years published articles on both 'All Bear' and 'Auntie Bears' ... I am particularly upset at losing the early Auntie Bears articles as you can imagine. I think I must have accidentally sent the mags to the dump during the intense pressure of moving house the year before last and sadly, I haven't been able to locate copies of those issues on the internet yet. I am hoping I will at least manage to find the millenium (January 2000) issue of 'Teddy Bear Times' magazine, because that particular issue contained a lovely article I wrote about my Chiltern Bears and I remember being delighted when it was published in the very first issue of the new millenium! I'm also keeping my fingers crossed for the early 'Teddy Bear Club International' magazine (published mid/late 90's) containing our first 'Auntie Bears' article to turn up one day, but as neither magazine is in publication any longer, I realise it may take me a while to locate them. I'll let you know if I find them ...'Gently' my 1997 Teddy Bear Times cover star! (Issue 47) Shown here with two 'Teddy Bear Scene' issues (2004 & 2006) featuring my bears - top left insert pics.All was not quite lost in the house move though, I'm pleased to say I did succeed in finding my very first ever front cover for the 'Teddy Bear Times' magazine up in those dusty trunks! 'Gently' was a lovely big bear, about 26" from memory. I don't remember where he went to live, but I do remember being thrilled to bits when I saw he had been given the front cover of TBT in October 1997!

Teddy Bear Times magazine - issue 49 February 1998

Before I go back upstairs to work on my show bears, I thought you might like to see an early 'Auntie Bears' advertisement from 1998 ... I can't remember if this was our first attempt at magazine advertising, but I think it probably was. Back then my sister Fiona and I enjoyed being able to take larger ads, conveniently splitting the cost between us. Very handy!

Full Circle

There is only one, ever decreasing week until the 'Teddies 2008' show in London and am I ready? Am I 'eck as like. I'm feeling particularly disorganised this time and am approaching the show with a growing sense of resignation, because I would like to have been able to accomplish so much more than I have time for. Ah well, I guess that's life!

Paula's pre-show workroom

 

Show work in progress!

I had an unexpected visit in the week - my Dad rang to ask if he could pop in with his sister my Auntie Mona. As I can count the number of times I have met this aunt in the past thirty years on just two of my fingers, of course I said yes and we spent an enjoyable afternoon catching up, making me very aware of how fast and how craftily, time flies steals away our precious years. (In fact, it feels like no time at all since Fiona and I were naughty little girls, relishing the prospect of secretly tormenting our poor cousin Stephen, while Auntie Mona entertained our parents in her home!) After all these years, we had plenty to chat about and to my delight, Auntie Mona, now a fabulously fun and feisty eighty years old (I'm sure she won't mind me telling you) confessed (with a noticeable twinkle in her eye) that she has her very own teddy bear collection, which even her brother, my own father, has been unaware of, until now! In fact we share a keen interest in crafting and I discovered Auntie Mona is actively involved in judging craft competitions for the Town's Women's Guild. As she sat hugging one of my show bears that afternoon (while my Dad delighted in gently teasing his older sister - brothers it would appear, never do quite outgrow such antics, no matter how many years slip by!) she told me all about her long-standing passion for embroidery, knitting, jewellery making, sugar crafting and cake making and I found myself pondering - is it possible for a crafting gene to be mysteriously passed through the generations?

Angus with friends (left, standing) now safely in my workroom!

Before I go back to work on the four furry heads waiting for me on my worktable, I must quickly tell you Angus arrived safely! It was such a strange feeling, almost one of deja vu, to be opening a cardboard box containing one of my sister's earliest designs, a bear neither of us ever expected to see again! I had a big grin spread across my face as I spied Angus's ear poking up through the polysterene packaging. He is every bit as handsome as the day he was originally made available for sale all those years ago and is even still wearing his ribbon ... I can remember when we went shopping for that ribbon! The only thing he has lost along the way, is his original 'Auntie Bears' hangtag. Unfortunately another bear was sold at auction wearing Angus's hangtag, a case of mistaken identity. Never mind that though, let's keep it our little secret eh?! Angus is now safely ensconced in my workroom and when I emailed Fiona at work to tell her he was on his way to me, she wrote back to say ...

"I am very chuffed to think that Angus will be sitting watching you create the next generation of teddy bears!"

Hey guess what Sis? So am I!

Before I go, I must mention one last thing - my photographer sister Tina has now joined us in Blog Land! She says she's a bit unsure of what to write, so I'm sure she'd enjoy a few comments on her current entries from readers! Please spare a moment to find out what Tina gets up to in a day's work, by reading her 'Viewfinder' blog ... http://tinas-viewfinder.blogspot.com/

Auntie Bears, a click down Memory Lane

The 'Auntie Bears' stand

Did I ever mention that I first started work as a teddy bear maker with my sister Fiona? No? Well, perhaps I should have done! It's such an integral part of my life and work as a bear maker. Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I'll begin!

Unfortunately I can't remember this chap's name at the moment, but I do remember it was me who made him. Together with 'Frankie' below, he was a shop exclusive for 'House of Bruin' ... my very first pair of shop exclusive bears!

Way back in the early 90's, Fiona and I were having so much fun creating our first teddy bears together. We spent most of our time talking bears and of course, discussing the business of bears. Initially our goal was simply to make teddy bears for the sheer pleasure of knowing we could, selling didn't enter our thoughts, but as time and our confidence pressed on, we noticed many of our creations heading out the door in the eager grasp of family and friends, at which point the business of bears began to intrigue us.

'Tosh' by Fiona Smith of Auntie Bears

One daft day while I was out of the house, Fiona bear-napped a small selection of my bears, bundled them into her car and drove them to the 'Rochester Bear Shop' for evaluation. Those kind ladies (does anyone remember Carol and Michelle?) sang our bears' praises and invited the bears not only into their shop, but also into their very own teddy bear show, 'The Rochester Bear Fair', which in those days, exhibited a heady list of quality bear artists. Naturally I was utterly shocked when Fiona finally 'fessed up to her dastardly deed, but to her credit, she was responsible for making me recognise our apprenticeship had come to an end and the time had come for us to take up the mantle as fully fledged teddy bear artists.

That was then and of course, this is now. Times have changed beyond recognition over the past fifteen years or so, not only for the two of us, but also for the bear world in general. Regrettably for me, Fiona's career as a bear artist drew to a natural conclusion as life events took over, redirecting her focus some time ago. So I have since continued alone in my life as a creator of teddy bears, waving a wistful farewall to shared sewing days, lovely cake and coffee lunches and to the many bear related plans and projects in which we jointly invested our hearts and souls. Do I miss those days? Oh yes, of course I do. They were a whole heap of fun and who better to share them with than my own sister?!

Fo, what was this bear's name? My memory has let me down again!

'Aston Martin' by Auntie Bears, a great big growly bear created by me as a special order for an enthusiastic collector.

We created so many bears between us in the early days that I'd go so far as to say we were prolific! Show days were fast and furious, we accepted invitations to make personal appearances in teddy bear shops, our bears were regularly featured in magazines and our telephones didn't stop ringing. Auntie Bears travelled far and wide beyond the UK ... America, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, the list went on and on and ...

'Godfrey' by Fiona Smith of Auntie Bears

... but with the arrival of the internet in recent years, I have noticed how much quieter my telephone has become and somehow an inbox full of email just doesn't quite have the same pulsatingly urgent ring to it; in fact, I swear some days I don't even hear my own voice from morn 'til teatime!

'Frankie' (named after Frank Webster of Charnwood Bears, owner of 'The House of Bruin')by Paula Carter of Auntie Bears

An original, hand scribed 'Auntie Bears' hang tag

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not the type of person to be forever harking back to the past, far from it in fact, but late last week, I was stopped in my tracks and hauled back to our 'Auntie Bears' days, by a single listing on 'Google,' stumbled across whilst surfing the web. One thing clicked quickly through to another and in seconds there I was, walking right back down Memory Lane! As my research became more focused, these dear old Auntie Bears began to greet me like long lost friends. Tosh, Edwin, Godfrey, Frankie, Aston Martin, there they all were, rehomed and reassigned, (one or two wearing the wrong hangtags and claiming each other's identity, but hey, that's life in the bear world and I've learned my lesson, these days I stitch the hangtags to my bears!) Angus however, was still patiently waiting; waiting I am absolutely convinced, for destiny to reach out and claim him back ...

'Angus' by Fiona Smith of Auntie Bears

So, I'll let you know when he arrives later this week ... sentimental? Moi? As if.