1.

Polar Bear Cub

Artist's comments: This polar bear cub is just a few steps

away from his mom, searching for food, fun, or whatever

he can find.  Stretched up on his tippy-toes, he measures

about 17" tall.  Created from wonderfully soft alpaca, double

jointed neck, little cub-sized tail, hand painted sparkling

glass eyes set into satin cord eyelids, armatures in all four

limbs for posing, embroidered ultrasuede paw pads.  Face

enhanced with Prismacolor shading and needle-sculpting.

HannaBears
Karen Cwayna

2.

Coon Cat Love

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

because no 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 ultra suede

foot pads, ear liners and nose.  Head and arms jointed; arms

are armaturedm polyfil and steel pellet stuffing

KJ Lyons Design
Karen Lyons

3.

Igloo

Artist's comments: I rarely makes realistic bears yet I greatly

admire them.  Polar bears, particularly, are one of her favorites. 

In order to achieve as much realism as possible, I added

poseability through flexible armature in his legs as well as

full disk and bolt jointed with double-jointed neck.  Igloo is

14” long from his nose to tail and 9”  tall from his paws to his

head.  Made from pure white, hand shaded specialty fur that

feels like rabbit yet has a woven backing.  Paw pads are aged

wool felt with sculpted trapunto stuffed and shaded toes and

paw pads with fur between the pads, black German glass eyes,

perle cotton nose, mouth, and claws. Stuffed with polyfil and

glass beads.

Sunnie Bears
Sonya Shaw

4.

Grizzted 

Savouring a very tasty salmon, Grizzted is made from beautiful brown

Schulte mohair with black tips, fully nut-and-bolt jointed with an extra

neck joint, shiny black German glass eyes, hand stitched leather nose,

34 cm from nose to the tip of cute little tail, 17 cm across the shoulders

and 15 cm high when on all fours.  Although technically only a bearcub,

he thinks he is a scary, frightening force and tries to fight any other

animal who ventures near, while he is eating his fish.

Bickerton Bears
Beryle Tidey

5.

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

6.

Nanova's Smile

19" tall, imported Belgian plush, needle sculpted, hand

colored features, glass eyes, sculpted leather nose and

foot pads, jointed head, armatured arms, jointed legs,

ultra suede mouth, free tongue.

KJ Lyons Design
Karen Lyons

7.

Sherwood

Artist's comments: I set out to make a prototype for a wild

bear and the result was 23" tall Sherwood, my new, extremely

detailed, realistic design.  He is created from hand-dyed

German mohair with alpaca mohair "ruff" around his neck. 

I detailed him with wool needle felted paws (each with five

finger and toe pads), with extensively detailed pads.  His

muzzle and eye areas are also needle felted.  He sees through

taxidermy glass bear eyes and sniffs at the all the world's

glorious smells, through his leather sculpted , hand painted

nose.  I cast his claws from resin which is a multi-step.

laborious process.  This was my first attempt to create such

a complicated bear.  His claws are also hand painted for even

more realism.  Sherwood has armatured arms to increase his

posing abilities.  A myriad of details are airbruhsed into infinite,

multi-layered colors. I believe Sherwood is my masterpiece,

the bear I always dreamed I would create!

Luxembears

8.

Widget, Penguin Chick

Artist's Comments: Like Serena, the inpiration for Widget,

also came from the movie, March of the Penguins inspired

me to design something so dramatically different than a bear.

Tiny 6” baby penguin, has become separated from his Mum

and the world is a scary place for this little guy.  Made from

soft fuzzy, long grey mohair fabric accented with short pile

black and white for his head.  Sports black ultra suede beak

and feet, which are machine stitched to represent toes.  Black

glass eyes set into his head, cotter pin jointed neck and wings.

You will have to excuse him as he shuffles off in search of his

Mum! The March of the Penguins inspired the artist to design

something so different from a bear.

Binkibears
Aina Ferris

9.

North American Grizzly

Ready to rumble, very firmly needle felted,  4" long x 2.5" high

at shoulder hump, composition nose, handcrafted metal claws

in artist's signature style, onyx eyes,

Creative Design Studio
Bobbie Kasnick Ripperger

10.

Trixie

Artist's comment: Trixie was a personal challenge to see if I could

make a tiny monkey from mink. I really did have to think outside

of the box for this one, but she was so much fun to make! Beautifully

handsewn from luxurious sheared mink, designed to sit 3-1/2" tall,

5" total length, onyx eyes, 6-way jointed with cotter pins including

jointed tail, arms, legs and wired tail. Trixie's face, hands, feet, and

ears are thead sculpted ultra suede.

Vintage Mink Bears
Kathy Myers

12.

Little Wolong

Artist's comments: I created Little Wolong as a personal challenge

to see how small I could make a fully jointed miniature bear from

mink.  The results are delightful! 2" high and 3" long, sheared mink,

onyx eyes, 6-way cotter pin jointed with double-jointed neck, ultra

suede paw pads, embroidered and waxed nose. 

Vintage Mink Bears
Kathy Myers

13.

Penguin Chick

Artists's comments: After viewing The March of the Penguins, 

a penguin chick was an easy choice for my next critter design.  

A scant 4.5" tall, this Penguin Chick stays very close to his 

parents' built-in shelter, but is very curious about the world

outside.  His body, flappers and head back are mohair on

a dark cotton backing, and the head sides and front are black

and white short-pile rayon.  He has black glass eyes and beak

of molded wax over glass.  Feet/claws are of chenille-wrapped

wire with black toenails, "flappers" can be positioned up or

down. stainless steel BB's in his bottom for stability. 

HannaBears
Karen Cwayna

15.

Kashmir, Bichon Frise 

Artist's comments: The Bichon Frise is a small, sturdy, white

powder puff of a dog whose merry temperament is evidenced

by his plumed tail carried jauntily over his back and dark-eyed

inquisitive expression.  The exact origins of this vivacious and

affectionate breed are unknown, but I have always found them

quite capivating.  By the 14th Century, sailors had introduced

the Bichon Frise to the island of Tenerife in the Mediterranean

region, and by the 15th Century, it was a royal favorite.  The

ultimate companion dog, this breed is also used to herd sheep

in Norway.  My tribute to this wonderful little dog is personified

in my little Kashmir.  Kashmir is 10" tall sitting on her haunches. 

Coat is dense Schulte mohair brushed and feathered to resemble

the coat of the real Bichon Frise.  Black German glass eyes

with hand painted halos around the eyes which gives her an

inquiring, dark-eyed, alert expression so typical of this breed. 

Kashmir wears faux choke chain collar and engraved name tag. 

Bear Necessities Originals

Luralee Wheatley

16.

Panda

This happy Panda is all ready for his midnight snack, a nice,

tender stalk of young bamboo (made of Cernit with heavy silk

fabric leaves)! Who can resist that joyous smile and laughing,

black onyx eyes.  He measures 3.75 " (9.5 cm) long by 2.25 "

(6 cm) tall and is very solidly needle felted from dark, dark

brown & creamy white Romney fiber.  Panda's 20 tiny toenails,

artist's signature style, are also of Cernit, a doll-makers' baked

polymer clay.  Nails' sculpting and individual insertions take

one extra day of work, alone, and is the final step after five

full days spent ever so carefully, shaping Panda, one tiny bit

of wool needled on after another.
Creative Design Studio
Bobbie Kasnick Ripperger

17.

Rockie

4"high and 6" long, recycled from a squirrel pelt cape,

ultra suede pads, 6 joints with cotter pins including double

jointed neck, glass eyes, embroidered and waxed nose.

This bear is unusual for the artist because she specializes

in mink bears and normally does not use different pelts

and only rarely does she create bears on all fours.

Vintage Mink Bears
Kathy Myers

18.

Tyger Roonie

Artist's comments: 20" tall cinnamon Black Bear cub, Tyger

Roonie was a walk down memory lane for me as I revisited

a ten year old bear cub pattern.  He is very unique and very

much one of a kind since I will not be using this pattern again.

It was fun to see his little personality evolve as I unraveled

the secrets to my old pattern. Like a real cub, he is often

quizzical, always innocent, sometimes pitiful, but always playful. 

Made of gorgeous, dense cinnamon mohair with black tips,

airbrushed all over.  Instead of traditional joints, he has

a Loc-line skeleton with a "pop bead-like" movement, every

inch.  Old distinctive black urethane sculpted rubber nose,

dark brown leather paw pads, open mouth.  Bushy eyebrows

complete with little errant eyebrow whiskers poking out.  Paw

pads needle-sculpted to create toes and creases on his little

leather feet.  Olive green glass eyes are set into dark brown

leather eyelids with auburn human eyelashes, large rounded

ears are set to the side, just like a real bear cub's.  Tyger

Roonie's little body has a tiny tail, proud chest, and very

rounded haunches which allow him plenty of leg movement,

can stand on "all fours," sit teddy bear style, lay down, or

stand (with some support), and most importantly cuddle. 

Feet and bottom weighted with plastic and soft pellets.