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About the Artist |
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I made my first bear in 1996
from a pattern in a magazine. Little did I realize at the
time that I would become totally addicted and still be
making bears some nine years later. A short time after
this first bear I decided I would have to design my own.
With this came my move from acrylic fabric to mohair. My
first design after a couple of prototypes I entered into
our 1996 National competition where he placed 2nd in the
novice section. His name is Billy and he holds a special
place in my heart (you will find him on my awards page). He gave me the courage to carry on
designing, start selling my work and produce patterns so
that other bear makers could share in the joy of bear
making too.
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| I
have received many other awards for my bear including the New Zealand
National title 3 times but I haven't been brave enough yet to enter any of the big
International competitions. |
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With
a move into
teaching bear making early in 1998 came my first
commercial pattern. I did
not want to teach some one
else's work and wanted my students to be able to take the
pattern home and make another if they desired and so
another big step was taken and a range of pattern bears,
a Rabbit and a Golly were born. These early patterns have now been
retired and a progressive move into miniature bears has been followed by
a small range of miniature bear patterns. |
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I
love to use a variety of fabrics but naturally anything suitable
for small and miniature bears are my favorites particularly vintage
fabrics. I am also very keen on hand dying fabrics. |
| All of my bears are
5 way jointed and have glass or onyx bead eyes. I love the feel that pellets
give to bears so I use these a lot in the larger bears which I still
occasionally create. I love to experiment with new
designs including open mouth bears with teeth and more
realistic designs and other animals such
as cats, rabbits and dogs. |
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Miniature
Bears are my passion now and more recently I
have been dressing them in little knitted outfits. Knitting was one of my hobbies prior to bear making so it
is a lot of fun to be able to combine the two. I do not stick to any one
particular style of bear as I do get bored easily and prefer to work on one-of-a- kinds
or very small limited
editions. |
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