Twenty Years Making Bears

It sometimes seems only a short time ago that I made the break from my  life of management accounts and budgets in the City and became a full time bear maker.  It was actually 20 years ago and to say that the time has flown by is no exaggeration.
I marked the 10th Anniversary year with a limited edition of 10 bears and I thought that having reached 20 I should embark on a similar project.

However for 2012 I had already committed to make 2 other commemorative editions in the early part of the year, those of you who know me well will realise that was unusual enough in itself so I didn't really want to make another "edition" during the same year.

So I came up with the notion of a special 20th Anniversary Series.  The idea is that each bear will be a different one of a kind.  Some of these bears will be remakes of older favourites, they might be special because they represented a new venture for me or simply because they are bears which I particularly liked.  Some will be a realisation I have had on my wish list for a while.  The idea is that whatever the style of the bear they will be my own very personal choice.

The first of these bears is called Higgs.    He is inspired by a bear which I made as a Christmas present for a very special friend some 11 years ago. I still often see the original bear and I have tried to capture the same friendly intelligent expression and posture of the original and he is made from the same dense swirly fur but I have chosen the rather striking dusty coral colour.  So I suppose I would say he fits into the category of a re-make of an old friend but with a surprise in the colouring.  He is called Higgs because I happened to finish him on the day the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle was announced, I am not clever enough to understand exactly what that is all about but I think the bear probably does.

I am not setting any date deadlines for these bears, I will be making them from time to time over the remainder of the year and they will only be available from me direct, through my website or at shows.

I intend to make a blog post to describe each of the special bears and I am planning a special gallery for them on the website.
The last 20 years have brought me great pleasure and taken me on many journies, I have many exciting projects already lined up and plans for many new ideas so I am looking forward to many more years growing bears but I think it is a good idea to mark the achievement of the first 20 in this way.

Bear in a Sweater

I have had a small piece of old mohair for some time, I am not sure exactly what it was but there seems to have been a slight pattern to it and by the time it came to me it had some considerable wear.   Of course it suited a traditional bear and I worked out a pattern to use just about all of it, by the time it grew into a bear the pattern faded into part of the overall effect which is quite worn with some bald areas and variations in pile and shade.

I need to make a lighter bear to ease the strain of some larger firmly constructed bears I have had to work on recently so he was made alongside other work to give my hands a little break from the firmest stuffing requirements but remain productive.

I have filled him with traditional excelsior wood wool which I have left a little loose so he has a crunchy feel so characteristic of a vintage bear.  I have left his joints quite loose to avoid stressing the old fabric too much.

Now a dressed bear is something I have rarely attempted and I must at this point confess I didn't make the sweater but I had better explain why he is wearing it.

Having made this very worn looking bear I decided that he should wear some sort of clothing to help protect him in the same way that vintage bears are often given a sweater or waistcoat to cover bald patches and help prevent further wear.

My mum knitted the sweater some years ago;  I asked her for a jumper for one bear and she got rather carried away and I ended with a bag full of them, some of the colours were rather surprising; Mum's eyesight was failing but she had learned to knit without looking at the work and  many of the little sweaters still displayed her skill with cables, fancy stitches etc. When Mum passed away the bear sweaters joined various other treasures and were in danger of being hidden away  but I think it is more sensible to occasionally give one to a deserving bear, assuming I can find one to fit...  I am very sentimental about such things so it has taken a while to pluck up the courage to break into the remaining supply of jumpers.

So that is a rather long winded explanation of how the worn vintage looking bear came to be wearing a sweater, he is very much a one-off since the genuinely old and worn mohair cannot be repeated and the supply of mum's little sweaters now very limited.

I have tried to give him a dignified but friendly expression and so finally here is a picture to show that, even though he is quite soft and loosely jointed, he will stand without extra support: However, I suspect he would find this tiring for long periods unattended so prefers to sit :-)

He is available for purchase and you may e.mail me at gregory@hugoshouse.com or check my website www.hugoshouse.com for more information.

Washed and Brushed

Suzanne came to visit us on Saturday so the dogs had baths had their ears cleaned and were brushed and groomed.  The house and "garden" also had a thorough sort out so we would be ready to receive a guest and it seemed like a good idea to
record this brief moment of complete tidiness on film :-).

Suzanne is very good at getting dogs to pose for the camera and she persuaded Posh and Angus to sit relatively still in front of the nice spot in my yard so this is my excuse to share some of the pictures of my wonderful hairy friends.

Jubilee Bear - June 2012

I have rarely ever made any  commemorative bears but this year seems to have resulted in two being planned.  I have made a Bear to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen.   This is sneaky preview of the prototype, the bear will be available from Silly Bears with the first deliveries to coincide with the June holiday week-end.  He is 18 inches tall and designed to sit or free stand equally comfortably, made from 2 shades of straight mohair with pure white paw pads, blue glass eyes set on white felt and my signature set, shaded and polished nose embroidery.

I understand that the first bear will be in the shop to see from May 2nd and will be available from June 2nd, for more information and to register your interest please contact Silly Bears, email address:- 

 julieann@sillybears.co.uk

Classic Bears for Spring

I have been focused on re-working the smaller classic bears, I suppose each and every vintage bear was different and I find endless possibilities for small changes in proportion and shape.   Recently I have focused on the little signs of age, tufts of hair, crushed hair and light fading to capture some of the charms which I enjoy.  So the latest two bears Lewis (13 ") and William (15") have been made from the same piece of fabric which was organically hand dyed then faded and gently fatigued: My ideal was to make them look older without adding too much in the way of worn patches and staining... these are just supposed to look well loved but not worn.    Each is an individual bear.  Both bears are available now on my website www.hugoshouse.com - my webmail account provider has been a little unreliable but it seems to be working at the moment.

Winterbearfest

Some of you have pointed out that I have been rather quiet recently, I have been locked away in the bear room  making sure that I have some bears to bring to Hugglets show on Sunday.

I will be in my usual place Stand 7 in the large Hall ( Hall 1 ) and look forward to seeing you at the show.

Fresh Air and a Swim

It has been a while since I posted here, the end of the year seems to prompt so many to reflect on the year just passed and contemplate prospects for the future.  Well, 2011 was not without its issues, not all pleasant but through those difficulties I am so very glad I have special friends who have looked after me.

Nothing better to blow cobwebs away than a brisk walk on a chilly day with the doggies, as a post Christmas adventure we went to Virginia Water, quite a few people had the same idea so it was crowded with families with assorted dogs of all shapes and sizes but of course Angus and Posh were by far the most beautiful.

Posh has been showing some signs of her age recently so I was very pleased that she seemed to be able to keep up comfortably.  Posh is usually a model of good behaviour on walks but just once in a while she turns a deaf ear to instruction and did just that as she marched very purposefully towards the lake, stepped in and paddled about defiantly, I don't think she actually got around to swimming but seemed to enjoy walking along the bottom anyway.

So cobwebs well and truly blown away its back to work and with fresh ideas for some new bears for 2012.