1.

Anna Mae
Artist's comments: Anna Mae is from a series of mine that

is very limited due to the small supply of the special vintage

cashmere from which I make this series - a very unusual and

lavish, grayish white! She stands all of 2" tall! Arms and tail

are wired so she is poseable, ultra suede ears and foot pads,

black onyx bead eyes, tiny fimo clay nose.

Just Another MJ Bear
Mary Jo Sichak

2.

Hoo Hoo

Artist's comments: My inspiration for Hoo Hoo was to create

an anime style bear - a new, unknow style for me and to work

with the challenges of this totally foreign (no pun intended)

head shape.  I giggled more than a few times over the design

of her round head, as I stitched in the facial details. Of course,

it had to have a bit of whimsy, hence the tongue, which is wired,

as are her arms, for posing.  Created from sparse pale apricot

curly matted mohair with dark backing. 13" tall, most of which

involves her head. Aged wool felt paw pads, fully hard board

disc/block jointed with lock nuts, stitched perle cotton facial

features and claws, ultra suede tongue, wears sheer pink

collar and hot, pink neck and head bow.

Sunnie Bears
Sonya Shaw

3.

Mitzi

Artist's comments: Although I know the eyes are often placed

lower than the nose within this style, I find it difficult to do the

placement that way, but have managed to at least get them

even with this little kritter's nose!.  Sometimes change is very

difficult! This teeny little kitten is out to conquer the world. 

As with all cats, she considers that the world is there for her

own convenience.  Inquisitive, playful and bit of troublemaker,

she is crocheted from grey variegated mohair/silk yarn and

stands proudly at 2.75” tall with 1.5” long tail.  White muzzle

features pink nose and white whiskers.  White paw pads and

boots, pink belly button, needle sculpted face features her

large black glass eyes, cotter pin jointed head and string

jointed limbs.

Binkibears
Aina Ferris

4.

Violet

Artist's comments: Sweet and shy Violet - "In quietness

is her strength".  Pinkish mohairwith chocolate backing,

chocolate ears and eye surrounds, pink stripey waxed

nose.  Perfectly rumpled lilac bow with organdy posey,

hand painted lilac sparkles eyes and the daintiest ultra

suede paws and tootsies.

Fool's Gold Bears
Laure Weltsch

5.

Red Baron

Artist's comments: This piece should be entitled, " How

I pushed the envelope"! In designing this bear, I set

three challenges for myself.   The first was to create

something much smaller than I had ever attempted

previously.  The second was to see just how far I could

go with the "big head/small body" concept. The third

was to ensure that the tiny bear would have a big physical

presence!  The result is my Red Baron.  As it turned out,

he needed to be entirely thread-jointed, which also presented

a challenge for me as I had not done it before.  3.8"/9.5cm

tall, Schulte mohair hand-dyed in black cherry and then

overdyed in grey.  Glass eyes with ultra suede backing,            

ultra suede inner ears, 5-way thread jointed, body filled

entirely with steel shot, limbs/head with polyfil, felt scarf

with heart pin, shaded with Copic markers for slightly

aged look and vintage character.

Homebrewed Bears
Leith Macdonald

6.

Bonsai

Bonsai is a fiery little, 3" tall, Japanese Anime bear.  Firmly

needle felted from honey-colored mohair, Bonsai is shaded

to enhance her intense black eyes and predominant nose. 

5-way string jointed, detailed from head to toe.

Felted Bear, The
Alecia Edwards

7.

Sky

This precious little, 3" tall, Flutter Bug is needle felted from hand

dyed turqoise blue New Zealand Corriedale wool. She is thread

jointed, hand made paper wings, turqoise-colored realistic eyes,

wired antennae with beads, blue gem accents, thread and faceted

bead leggies. 

by Kaz
Kaz Wilson-Compt

8.

Kitty

Artist's comments: Kitty started life from a piece of cotton

transformed from my rough sketch of a five-piece head

pattern.  It was then cut out and stuffed very firmly.  I had

no idea of how she would look especially with a head shaped

like that! Let alone a Cat! Well, at least I hope she resembles

a cat enough to qualify as one! But, if she doesn't I'm sure

her name will help prove her place in the animal kingdom.

Kitty was needle felted in a lovely yellowish gold Corriedale

wool and highlighted with tangerine and black Corriedale.

She is fully thread jointed and stands at just over 4" tall . 

Sharon's Mystical Bears
Sharon Hawkes

9.

Suchi Kyuti

Artist's comments: 6-3/4" tall, Suchi Kyuti, is an outrageously

colorful little Japanese bear.  Crocheted of high quality Angora

mohair and fun, bright yarn with bits of colorful ribbon attached

all along the length of it.  All of which provides her with a melancholy

look that will pull at your heart strings! But, don't let her fool you --

it's just her way of getting attention.  She knows she's cute, just

like her name says!  Suchi has huge, hand painted yellow glass

eyes with handmade eyelids, embroidered and shaded features, 

cotter-pin and disk-jointed head, arms, and legs.  As an added

feature unusual in crocheted bears, she has ultra suede paw pads

and stuffed toes. 

Bluebeary Treasures
Sue Pendleton

10.

Hisa (means Long Lasting)

Artist's comments: My main inspiration for this Anime-style

design, came mostly from the body fabric - an upholstery

velvet in a shade of burgundy with tiny white dots, which

would look great contrated against a white upholstery

velvet.  I was also inspired by my little cousin's expression:

sweet as a bunny and always so well coordinated with fashion

clothes, purses, shoes that reminded me of those pretty Japanese

characters like Hello Kitty.  Hisa's collar and bag are crocheted

from ivory wool and rayon thread to a dd a sublte sheen that

matches her fur.  Her pretty face was gently shaded with pink

and she wears a red velvety flower with pearly beads on her ear

and on her bag.   Fashion-conscious Hisa is only 4.5 cm tall.

I Piccolini
Gaia Bordicchia

11.

Shiso

Artist's comments: My friend, an avid (obsessive?) embroiderer

introduced me to these beautiful hand-dyed silks and cottons

a couple of months ago.  I'm not sure why Shiso ended up a forest

creature resting on a mushroom... but it seems that she was meant

to do so.  Shiso stands about 5/8" tall but prefers to sit on her

enchanted mushroom. She is crocheted from hand-dyed cotton

in the colors of the sunset. Brilliant purple embroidered accents.

Eyes of black glass, five-way string jointed, stuffed with 100%

polyester. Mushroom cap is crocheted of nubby olive green wool

with cotton/ rayon/polyester (3 different threads) stem.

Twinklehooves Designs Bears
Andrea Berenbaum

12.

Petey

10" tall, made from a gold Schulte mohair, one of a kind,

designed and completely hand sewn by me, 5-way disc

jointed, embroidered nose, imported hand blown glass

eyes, plucked mohair paw pads, weighted & gently stuffed

with polyfil, shading applied to add depth and give him

soul, wears a red, silk ribbon bow treated to look aged.

Hucklebeary Patch
JoAnne Harnden

14.

Kaede

4" tall, artist's own original design, made from long pile

cashmere fabric, embroidered and glazed nose, weighted

with stainless shot,, glass eyes, red head bow with two

precious little flowers, scarf necklace with "pearl" pendant.

Chantal Bears
Chantal Emilia Giroux

15.

Fei-Chang (meaning unusal in Chinese)
Artist's comments: Fei-Chang is a big panda, 20" tall (not

including his WIRED ears).  Created from off white and black

short Schulte mohair, black wool felt paw pads, antique shoe

button eyes with white wool felt surrounds, appliqued mohair

eye patches, sculpted fimo nose. Facial features highlighted

with handpainted accents, fully jointed with hardboard discs

and locknuts, stuffed with combination of excelsior and glass

pellets for added weight.  His look is complete with clown hat

and matching ruff made from vintage fabric with yellow rick

rack trim, vintage green buttons on his belly, alpaca pom pom

at the tip of his hat.

Kim Endlich

16.

Buttercup

Artist's comments: Handmade sewn bear, 10" tall, seems

almost magical - the sort of creature you would imagine

dancing with the faeries and other wee folk, by the light

of the moon, ona midsummer's eve.  Made from vintage

100% wool coat, fully jointed, imported German glass

eyes, ultra suede paws, polyfibre stuffing, embroidered

body, claws and nose.  Adorned with plaid ribbon and

hand sewn ribbon flowers.

TigerGod Ink
Letha Rodman Melchior

18.

Shamsham 

3-1/4" tall standing and 3" sitting. Made from a tiny thread

of mohair of light ecru color for the top and fine multi-colour

cotton thread for the bottom.  Fully 5-way cotterpin/disk

jointed, padded with polyfill and wool, German black glass

eyes, features embroidered with garnet cotton thread, wears

tiny flower crocheted from silk, tied around the neck.

Mabawa Teddies
Nadine Murat Thevenot

19.

Haru (meaning Born in the Spring)

2-1/2 inches tall, made from long pile fabric, embroidered

silk ribbon on her head and body.  The face is shaded in pink,

brown and black.

20.

Nankinmame (Peanut in English)

Artist's comments: I decided to try making a Japanese style

bear and after some research on Japanese style bears, I took

one of my current patterns, enlarged the head pieces and then

reduced the nose area. Peanut's nickname is Half Shell! Although

tiny in stature - 9 inches tall - she is explosive in her expressions

and vocal ability.  She captivates audiences everywhere with her

comedy routine and at present is on tour playing comedy clubs

across the US.  Peanut is made from stone colored sparse mohair,

light gray suede paw pads, stuffed with polyfill, scissor-trimmed

and needle sculpted features, German glass eyes, needle-felted

nose with hand painted highlights on her face and body.  Adorned

with a beautiful black feather Boa.

Pinney Bears