I have made a lot of teddy bears over the years. My friend Bettina Groh actually keeps track of how many she has made (over 6,000), but I have no idea how many of mine are out there. Bettina has continued to make and sell bears while I have been back at the office, so I am sure she is way ahead of me! One thing most bear makers have in common is that we don’t keep many bears that we have designed and made.
Reconnecting with Bear Lovers
One of my favorite designs from my past is a 9-inch tall open mouthed bear designed with doll-like proportions so that I could easily dress him/her. My friend Marijke alerted me that one of these was up for sale on Bear Pile a while back. I had sold this teddy bear to Diana Helfand who had a shop, Nana’s Bears, in Hawaii years ago. I reconnected with Diana, and my bear, named Katie for my oldest child, was soon back home! It was great to reconnect with a fellow bear lover and get my little bear back.
Open Mouth Bears
I have always been fascinated by bears with open mouths. Many are not done well. It is not easy to pull off, especially on a small bear. When I joined the Iowa Teddy Bear Makers’ Guild, I met artist Nan Wright who specialized in bears with open mouths and leather tongues! Perhaps Nan influenced me to give it a try. I haven’t made many bears with tongues, notably one for my friend Janny depicting her son who always had his little tongue out while concentrating.
These teddy bears were all made as individuals using different fur and dressing them differently. I maybe made a dozen of them at most back then. There were a couple of witches, some in costumes I made, and some in vintage doll clothing. I made Katie’s dress. A testament to how well Diana kept her, Katie’s dress is just as crisply pressed as when I put her in the box to travel to Hawaii.
Dolls vs Bears
The whole reason why I changed from making dolls to making bears in the first place was highly influenced by the fact that bears didn’t need to be dressed. However, I enjoy finding vintage doll clothing that will fit the bears in my collection and dressing them for different occasions. I used to make cute clothes for my kids when they were little and still find fabric that I want to work with, so, lacking grandchildren, I sometimes must dress my bears.
Would I Keep Examples in the Future?
I haven’t been making many bears since the economy tanked and bear shows and bear shops started disappearing. I have a steady income, so selling bears is more a source of “play money” than necessity these days. Without that constant need to make bears for multiple shops and 10 – 12 bear shows a year, I haven’t had the need to make multiples of the same bear. This makes it more difficult to keep an example of each design for my own archives. Since I haven’t worked very hard at marketing what I make, there are unsold bears around the house. When I do have a sales opportunity, I confess there are some that I hold back. So, if I see a bear I made long ago come up on the secondary market, will I try to get it? Of course, I will!