1.

Landis

Artist's comments: I find lions to be very magnificent and

mysteriously majestic animals.  Landis is my interpretation

of these fine qualities and while he is not the first lion I have

ever created, he is indeed, the the first of my lions to be made

in this special smaller size. Landis seems to bear the weight

of the jungle and all of its inhabitants, directly on his own

shoulder.  This exceptional specimen is 14" from head to toe

with a 24" LONG tail! Made of supreme quality mohair, needle

sculpted velveteen muzzle nose and paw pads, cotton whiskers,

glass eyes, wired arms, airbrushed detailing, and the puff at the

end of his tail is stuffed with jingle bells. Landis wears his feelings

on his sleeve and is happy to share them with you.

Chatham Village Bears, LLC

2.

Coon Cat Love

Artist's comments: I find the Maine Coon Cat utterly intriguing

because nNo tame animal has lost less of its native dignity or

maintained more of its ancient reserve than the Maine Coon cat. 

Also, Maine Coon cats are real people lovers! Sitting height 14"

(size of real 12-pound cat) created from imported Belgium plush,

needle sculpted, hand colored features, hand colored eyes set

in handmade eye sockets; leather and ultrasuede footpads, ear

liners and nose; head and arms jointed; arms armatured, polyfil

and steel pellet stuffing

KJ Lyons Design
Karen Lyons

3.

kiXXi

Artist's comments: This was one I just had to try - the eye

patches were the only problem.  Inserting patches of black

Alpaca would have been well-nigh impossible at this scale

and fabric paints would not yield the sharp edges I needed,

on such dense, soft fur. This baby panda dreams of being

something different when he grows up - a rock star, maybe?

Made from black and white Alpaca, he measures 8" seated

and around 13" standing (not the easiest to measure!).

Special features include open mouth and long pink cashmere

tongue, dark grey mohair paw pads, double neck joint, wired

arms and fingers, black glass eyes, stitched and lacquered

nose.  His "eye make-up" is cut from faux suede, hematite

bead belly button. 

púca Bears

5.

Pyg Me, Pegasus Pygmy Goat

Artist's comments: My goal was to create an animal I always

thought was friendly and adorable, like the teddy bear, with

an added whimsy.  So, I created a Pegasus Pygmy Goat.  His

name is Pyg Me and he is exactly what I envisioned.  I have

a close friend, whose mother, raises pygmy goats so that is

where I went for inspiration! After visiting the baby goats,

I came home with pictures and used them to design my pattern.

I used sculpey for the clawed feet and made them with “knobs”

on the top so when they could be easily inserted in the ends

of the legs. They are tied in like a neck joint and also glued

so they will not come out.  I did the horns in the same way.

The REAL feather wings are attached by sewing them in place,

on the back, then covering them with an added strip of fur so

they appear to grow right out of the back.  PygMe was created

from dense gray faux fur with black undercoat.  His muzzle is

wool felt with stitched and needle felted detail. All four paws

and his horns, are baked, hand painted sculpey clay,  14” long

from nose to tail and 9” from paws to the top of his head.  He

has six hardboard disk and locknut joints including double

jointed neck, black German glass eyea, real feather wings

are non-removable, bell around his neck rests on a leather

cord, stuffed with polyfil and pellets in his tummy.

Sunnie Bears
Sonya Shaw

6.

It Must "Bee" Spring!
This big, bold guy, is 5.75" tall while sitting down and he

just woke up for a long winter nap and is all ready for Spring!

Whole body, flower and little bee are firmly needle felted. 

Fimo nose, onyx bead eyes. little bees are stick pins.

Just Another MJ Bear
Mary Jo Sichak

7.

Serena, Emperor Penguin

Artist's Comments: The movie, March of the Penguins inspired

me to design something so dramatically different than a bear.

Elegant 10.5” tall, penguin has wandered away from the herd

for a brief moment of solitude.  Created from short pile mohair

with traditional black and white evening look complete with

colourful red and yellow collar,  Black glass eyes, cotter pin

jointed neck and flippers, tail adds balance, ultra suede beak

is black with a gold inset, weighted with small bag of clean

gravel to give her better solidity on her black ultra suede feet.

Binkibears
Aina Ferris

8.

Ossie, the Ostrich

This ostrich is a curious bird but certainly not a bird any

cat would want to challenge! Except for cats, he loves

all animals but especially bears - teddy bears! His unique

design includes brown/black/white feather plush, glass

eyes, hand stitched nostrils and mouth, needle felted

face with needle felting on neck, bottoms of wings, legs,

and feet.  Stuffed with polyfil/steel and BB's for weight. 

Teds`n Such
Tyler Crain

9.

Pip

Artist's comments: My inspiration for this piece came from

a particular piece of mohair - a kid mohair with very dense

pile, an incredibly luxurious and soft "hand," in a lushly pale,

pastel beige color.  It just seemed to "beg" to be made into

a small baby cub, which meant designing  an entirely new

pattern based on the big-headed proportions of a baby cub,

entirely new direction for me.  To achieve this goal, I went

back to the drawing board and designed a particularly

short-muzzled, three-piece, big-headed pattern, complete

with extra big ears -- a common feature in baby animals --

AND a big-tummied, kinda slouchy, short-legged body,

with a swayback! Just like a toddler would have.  PIP is the

first bear created from this new "baby bear" pattern.  I knew

that huge, wide-set eyes, a sweet shy smile, and a tiny nose

would make this cub all that much more "babyish," so I gave

him those finishing details, as well as "baby blue" handpainted

eyes.  Since the mohair was so gorgeous and because I don't

usually associate babies with "well dressed," I finished this

piece nearly naked, with only a very simple handcreated

crocheted neck ruff for accent.  The ruff was made by a little

girl (about 12 years old) here in Chico, who sells them at our

local Farmer's Market on Saturdays! Wee (for me!), Pip is

11.5" tall, 5-way jointed, created from my brand-new, big-

headed, cup-eared, wide-eyed, "baby" pattern.  He's made

from soft, luxuriously silky, pastel kid mohair that just begs

to be touched and caressed!  Pip features huge, handpainted

baby-blue starburst eyes with pale matching lids; tiny button

nose embroidered in rosy brown tones; sweet, shy smile

created from six-strand embroidery floss; wool felt pawpads

in chocolatey brown, shaded at the edges deeper tones;

wears a fringey crocheted neck ruff. 

Potbelly Bears

Shelli Heinemann

11.

Angel

Artist's comments: Angel was designed as a collaboration

of my baby and fairy bears.  She is a little reminder of all

those babies who chose to live in our dreams rather than

be born on this earth.  Sh was very much, inspired by my

own dreams.  Angel is 10" high, made from long Schulte

ivory alpaca, ivory ultra suede sculpted paws. hand painted

violet eyes with a touch of sparkle, a tiny sprinkle of glittery

sparkly dust on her nose.  Her wings are made from violet,

mauve and white feathers. There is a small bag of steel

shot inside her tummy to add a hefty hug.  Best of all, she

sucks her thumb, just like a baby, (made possible through

the use of incorporated magnets.

Brotherwood Bears

Sue Brotherwood

16.

Bongo

Jingle jangle Bongo has striking red mohair with the look

of dusky, musky leather. 10" tall, 5-way jointed, artist's

specially embroidered signature style nose, hand shaded

detailing.  Who could ask for more panache in a companion?

Fool's Gold Bears
Laure Weltsch

17.

Pandie

Artist's comments: This 15" tall panda is a development

of the 'chubby cheek' pattern, which I continuously fine

tune and evolve into the most captivating, child-like cubs

imaginable! Pandie is made from dense faux fur in oatmeal

and chocolate and has hand painted glass eyes shaded

with browns and blue grey.  He has sculpted resin upper

lids and features ahaded using oil paints with a dry brush

technique.  Extensively scissor sculpted face is very

expressive.   White felt discs around his eyes add depth,

needle sculpted eye sockets and toes, paw pads made

from chestnut cashmere, nut and bolt joints, stuffed with

polyfibre/wood-wool blend, steel shot added to tummy

for nice, hefty weight.

Three 'O Clock Bears

18.

Kota

14" tall, made from German mohair, extensive needle felted

details on his paws, muzzle, and round his eyes.  Taxidermy

glass bear eyes, leather sculpted, hand painted nose, hand

sculpted and hand painted claws, Loc-Line armatured arms,

many airbrushed details. 

Judi Paul

19.

Chicken Lickin

7" tall, ivory string mohair chicken, gold wool felt, open mouth,

red ultra suede comb, pink ultra suede wire tongue, black glass

eyes with white ultra suede accents, white wool felt lids and

leather rims. Legs are molded wired wrapped in acrylic yarn,

w ire armatured wings, disc jointed neck, wings and legs,

stuffed with fibrefil and copper BB's for weight.

Bear All
Laura Unrau

20.

Dasiy

Handmade sewn bear is 8.5" tall, made from opulent mohair,

fully jointed, imported German glass eyes, embroidered claws

and nose which is also waxed.  Adorned with plaid ribbon and

hand sewn flowers.

TigerGod Ink
Letha Rodman Melchior