1.

Murders in the Rue Morue

Artist's comments: This vignette was created for the Teddy

Bear Artist Invitational Gallery 2006.  It is my interpretation

of an Orangutang set against a Paris backdrop, the city where

the mystery of the Murders of Rue Morgue unfolds. The backdrop

is made of posterboard and is 23" tall x 20" wide x 9" deep.

The Orangutang is 18" tall, made of 3" long mohair, extensive

airbrushing, glass eyes, needle sculpted velveteen face, ears,

hands and feet.  Wired arms, toes and fingers.  Jointed wrists,

ankles, arms, legs and neck for even greater posing! Vignette

incudes a vintage copy of Murders in the Rue Morgue.

Chatham Village Bears, LLC

Art Rogers

2.

Nanova's Kitten Swing

It's Spring and Nanova and his kitten are very HAPPY! Nanova,

the Polar Bear, holds a swing with a wooden seat and ivy/vine ropes

on which his kitten can swing.  19" tall Nanova is made from Alpaca,

needle sculptured bear with hand colored features, black glass eyes

set in handmade eye sockets, leather paws and nose, jointed head

and legs.  Swinging 4-week old kitten is 8² tall, made from imported

Belgium plush, extensive needle sculpting, hand colored features.

Kitten's hand-painted eyes set in handmade eye sockets, mohair

ear liners, jointed head, armatured legs.

KJ Lyons Design
Karen Lyons

3.

Teddy Bears Picnic

Artist's comments: This whole vignette evolved around the

yellow plastic "wheelie bin".  I don't usually make sketches

or plan my bears, too much,  Instead, I just play around until

they seem right - these six are variations on a theme/pattern.

Six little bears who enjoy an impromptu picnic, although from

the empty bottle in the foreground, one may have over-indulged!

These impish bears measure from 8.5" to 10" talls and are made

from different shades of sparse, Schult mohair, with inset faces,

inner ears and cashmere paw pads.  Some have double neck

joints, ALL joints are cotter-pin type and all have wired arms

and fingers, black glass eyes, stitched and lacquered noses.

púca Bears

4.

Florian

A Marion Fraile original, one-of-a-kind creation designed without

a pattern, handsome Florian is 8" tall and crocheted from, mix

of different fibers which give him long, salt and peppery hued

"fur".  5-way jointed, black glass eyes, features stitched in

brown DMC thread, blue and green crocheted vest.  Keeps

his watering handy - right on a leather band around his neck. 

Comes with radio flyer wagon, wooden bucket, plant and bowl.

bearkidzTM
Marion Fraile

6.

Bearly Bear Ballroom

Artist's comments: Each bear is 5" tall and has wired arms.

They are all mohair just with each couple sporting their own

mohair color.  The ladies all have ribbon tutus and beaded

silk ribbon head pieces while the gentlemen have matching

colored vests and bow ties. The vignette rests on battery-

operated rotating mirrored base with a disco ball suspended

above the floor.  The fun part is they are all made with the

same pattern pieces but all assembled differently to create

individualstyling and posing options.

Just Another MJ Bear
Mary Jo Sichak

7.

Bear Hug, The

Artist's comments: This trio was inspired by Russian nesting

dolls.  In this case, a teddy holds her teddy who is holding his

teddy.  The term "bear hug" refers to both hugging bears and

a group of bears which is called a hug. This hug is multi-media. 

Trina is 14” tall, made from soft dense pink mohair, needle

sculpted face shows off her deep set black glass eyes, hand

shaded around nose and eyes, plucked foot pads are needle

sculpted and softly shaded, wears creamy bow for a touch

of glamour.  The little brown bear. Talbot, is 4” tall, crocheted

from variegated silk/mohair yarn with shading from dark brown

to cream.  Yarn has been brushed into fuzzy aura, cotterpin

jointed head, string jointed limbs.  Talbot clutches his tiny

1-½" tall, white anime bear named Trinket, is cotter pin and

string jointed. 

Binkibears
Aina Ferris

8.

INAMUIOTT

Artist's comments: As much as this bear's name appears

to be a "Native American" word, it really stands for the

title of the piece, It's Not A Meal Until It's On The Table.  The

title is a take-off on a famous Charles Russell work -It's Not

Meat Until It's On The Table... which sounded a mite too blood-

thirsty.  Very firmly needle felted, Rambouillet/Merino and

Cormo and Romney wools, composition noses, onyx eyes,

hand-crafted horsehair claws, polymer tusks. Polar Bear

is 2.75" long x 1.50" high.  Walrus is .75" long.

Creative Design Studio
Bobbie Kasnick Ripperger

9.

Jette, Jikke & Foxy

Adult Jette is 12" tall while cub, Jikke is 9" tall.  Both are

made of German short mohair, filled with sheeps wool and

steel pellets.  They are together on their wooden "bike"

with leather seats, Jikke sits in a hanging leather chair.

All the clothes and leather things are handmade by the

artist.  Foxy is an old doggie from Steiff.

Mick Bears

10.

Come with me to the Casbah!

10" tall, Bongo (left above) 5-way jointed, has striking

red mohair with the look of dusky, musky leather to give

her a very exotic flair! Who could ask for more panache

in a companion? 10" tall, 5-way jointed Vigga (left in the

top photo above and also shown on the left with his twin

sister, Viggo) is shy and reserved, despite his red hot

mohair! Vigga holds the key to a charming and enduring

companionship.  All bears sport the artist's attention

to fine detail such as embroidered noses of multi-colored

threads, hand shading/coloring, key or bell embellishments,

premium glass eyes, coordinated paw pads.

Fool's Gold Bears
Laure Weltsch

11.

Pied Piper of Hamelin

"Hamelin Town’s in Brunswick, by famous Hanover city;

The river Weser, deep and wide, washes its wall on the

southern side; A pleasanter spot you never spied. But,

when begins my ditty, almost five hundred years ago,

To see the townsfolk suffer so from vermin, was a pity.” 

- Robert Browning.

Artist's comments: My Pied Piper was inspired by Robert

Browning’s wonderful story.  What better adaptation than

that of a cat, whom lures rats and mice with his magical

flute?   Stands on his back feet - 12" tall to tips of his

ears, Piper is created from lush golden mohair, white

mohair throat inset.  The length of his magnificent tail

adds another 11 inches.  Handsome cloak, hat and

magic flute are designed using vintage brocade fabric

and fauxvintage adornments.  The twelve mice in Piper’s

entourage, are made of rabbit fur.    

Bear Necessities Originals

Luralee Wheatley

12.

Twiggins & Bugg

Artist's comments: I was inspired to create this piece in

three distinct ways.  First, for some time, I've been wanting

to create an unjointed bear pattern, to achieve a more bean-

baggy, weighty handful of teddy bear, in a smaller size than

my usual. Second, I've become intrigued by the warm, nubby

textures of felting.  Not needle felting, but the felting you

can achieve by tossing a 100% wool knit item (such as

an old sweater), into a hot washer with a ton of soap flakes,

followed by a spin in a very hot dryer, resulting in a felted

item you can cut and sew into clothing, hats, and purses,

with a uniquely primitive and textured result.  I purchased

several books on the subject of felting this way, but had yet

to try it, until I designed this piece. Third, I found the most

wonderful miniature twig chair at a salvage shop, which

immediately set my mind into motion about all things

"woodland fairy."  I'd made fairy bears before, but never

as part of a scene.  So, the idea of creating one really had

strong appeal and was directly linked to my "find" with this

twig chair.  Even the name of one of the bears in the piece,

Twiggins, derived from this salvage shop find. Twiggins &

Bugg features two woodland fairy bears and their detailed

forest throne and measures ten inches tall.  Each unjointed

bear wears a whimsical, OOAK hat, made from fabrics I felted

myself.  Wings custom made to enhance each bear's coloring

and coated in sparkle and glitter.  Twiggins was created from

a sparse natural mohair.  Bugg is from the same type of mohair,

which I hand-dyed in shades of deep carnation pink.  Both bears

feature hand-painted starburst eyes and top and bottom eyelids,

noses glossed with metallic paint strokes, hardened to a lasting

finish with a non-yellowing topcoat.

Potbelly Bears

13.

Goldfish Whisperer

Artist's comments: Goldfish Whisperer is a very whimsical 

addition to the current trend of "whisperer occupations".

The 9" tall goldfish is constructed from a gorgeous painted

vintage leather with eight individually and intricately sculpted,

,fully possible fins, handmade marbleized polymer clay eyes.

Whisperer, his companion sits about 3" small, minus his

painted ultra suede fin hat, is hand sewn of ultra suede,

onyx eyes.  Jointed and completely armatured limbs help

him maintain his pose.  Dressed in a lovely goldfish leather

scale jacket (not removable).  Whisperer  has a bedroll and

handmade megaphone, since the fish are usually underwater

and he is not sure where their ears are!

Bruinwerks

Cheryl Schmidt

14.

Easter Breakfast at Eggdale Farm

Artist's comments: This vignette evolved from a story I wrote

about a little bunny who is found hidden in a cabbage by rabbit,

Forest Eggseller, on Easter morning.  He names the baby bunny,

Petite Choux, since he found her in the cabbage patch.  Seriously

frustrated with his charge, who seems spoiled and likes to throw

temper tantrums, Forest takes the orphan to his Uncle Valentino,

who works at Eggdale Farm, painting Easter Eggs.  Uncle Valentino's

(shown above) valiantly tries to get the baby to eat breakfast.

He quickly discovers "Her Tinyness", (his new pet name for her),

isn't easy to please! When presented with a blue speckled egg

for breakfast, she says, "Yuck!", and spits it out! The story does

have a happy ending, however and "Her Tinyness" finally eats.
20" tall Uncle Valentino is a specially jointed Lop Rabbit made

of a range of auburn mohairs. Uncle Valentino is 5-way jointed with

double-jointed neck, curved arms and paws, for extensive posing. 

Needle and scissor sculpting bring out his sweet, plucky character

by defining his handsome features, big brown glass eyes have

slightly droopy suede eyelids with black eyeliner accent, large

rusty-gold leather nose and deeply sculpted mouth are shadowed

with airbrushing.  Velour, long lop ears are blushed with pink, long

black horsehair whiskers.   4" tall Petite Choux is a fully jointed bunny

with a wobbly head.  Made of mohair with white alpaca cheeks and

muzzle, filled with glass beads for a scrumptions, flexible feel.  She

is rbrushed with gold, rust, and gray on gold and white fur.  Extra

long, micro fleece ears are airbrushed and drape nicely.  Hand-

painted, sea greenglass eyes have ultra-suede eyelids and black

eyeliner.  Nose and mouth embroidered with pearl cotton, face and

feet carefully needle and scissor sculpted, white horsehair whiskers.

Mary's Secret Garden
Mary Wimberley

15.

Sweet Shop Visit

Artist's comments: Pink, Greenpeace and Sick Boy have

just come back from a Sweet Shop visit and are gloating

over their purchases.  Sick Boy will very likely live up

to his name by the end of the day because he has eaten

WAY more than his comfort zone of sweets!  He tends

to be over-indulgent when it comes to sweets, which is

how he got his name! These little bears have to be quite

careful when they visit the sweet shop, though because

the store owner nearly mistook them for some escaped

liquorice allsorts and almost put them into a jar! Each

bear made from hand-dyed Schulte mohair and is fully

jointed.  They all stand around 15cm tall, are hand-sewn

and heavily weighted with steel shot.  Each one sports

my uniquely embroidered nose design,  Pink also displays

a feminine touch with a bit of fringe of hair, while Sick Boy

and Greenpeace have leather eyelids.

Homebrewed Bears
Leith Macdonald

16.

Swallows and Amazons Forever

Artist's comments: As a teenager I read Swallows and Amazons,

a book by J Arthur Ransom whose adventureous story remained

with me throughout the years.  That story along with my love

for creating miniature scenes, inspired this vignette (overall

size is 9” high x 9.5" wide x 4.5" deep). Two, 3" tall bears, are

seated in a boat I purchased, painted, mounted, and dubbed -

Amazon! Amazon's detailing includesa miniature bucket (purchased),

jar of jam and jam sandwiches (modelled by me from air dry clay). 

Each bear is designed and hand sewn by me, from upholstery fabric,

and has onyx bead eyes, embroidered features, waxed noses, ultra

suede paw pads, filled with kapok and steel shot for weight.  Clothing

is also entirely designed and created by me – Bear 1 wears plywool,

hand knitted jumper and hat.   Bear 2 wears denims, bandeau and

leather waistcoat .  The vignette mounting is embellished with resin

water acrylic paint and local pebbles.

Anne Russell

Starlite Bears

17.

Emmet & his Golly Ezra
Artist's comments: Emmet is 14" tall, created from my own

design and hand sewn from sparse sage gray/green mohair

with dark green backing.  Soft gray ultra suede paw pads

and inner ears, fully jointed with wooden disks and lock nut

bolts, imported black glass eyes, embroidered nose and

paw pads.  Emmet is accompanied by his Golly friend, Ezra. 

5" tall rag doll, Ezra, is made from my own Mr. Big Head pattern.

He wears a yellow felt jacket and nifty black pants that match

Emmet's bow tie.  Ezra's hair is long fun fur and his mouth is

painted on underneath his sewn-on googlie eyes.

KimBerly Dobstaff-Sharrot

KimB Kreatures

18.

Ice Buddies

Artist's comments: This piece is based on the idea of friendship. 

We know that the polar bear and the penguin are an “odd couple”,

but we believe that a friend's love can conquer a lot of differences.

This also is a piece that is very much collaboration between my

husband and myself.  The pattern for the penguin is his design. 

The pattern for the polar bear is my design.  I did the sewing and

he created their “ice flow” base.  Polar bear is made of short dense

mohair, filled with steel shot and polyfil, has earmuffs of synthetic

fur over sterling silver wire frame, glass eyes.  Penguin of upholstery

fabric, filled with steel shot and polyfil, fiberboard and cotter key jointed

neck, hand knit cotton thread scarf.  The “ice flow” is paper mache

on a wood base, painted and dusted with glitter.

Esmerlda's Enterprises
Bev Haring

19.

Sou Mee

Artist's comments: What better wayfor a bear to socialize
than invite a friend for tea? This little Panda is a little "out

of the ordinary" for me.  His is a lot smaller than I usually

create, meauring in at just 3" standing,  Created from my

made from special center seam design in beautiful vintage

long pile upholstery, black and shiny copper penny, velvet.
5-way disc jointed, large glass eyes with white accents,

carefully shaded to enhance character and details, wired

arms for extensive posing, weighted for a very substantial

hug.   Comes with tiny, purchased Oriental-syle tea set.

Hibernation Station, The
Ellen Barnett