Saturday, July 31, 2021

The Great Paws

The Great Paws (Hope Embraces the Earth)

Tragedy, devastation, division, and isolation filled the headlines last summer and I found myself searching for stories of good news amidst the noise of the pandemic. What I found was gratitude for the dedication of the essential workers; from medical professionals, law enforcement and emergency services, to farmers, grocery store workers and delivery truck drivers. I was touched by stories of neighbors helping neighbors, virtual family gatherings, celebrating births, marriages, graduations – life’s milestones which can’t be cancelled or postponed. I was heartened by images of city centers free of smog and of people enjoying solo time outdoors in this beautiful world of ours. At home, I was blessed to have so much more time with my husband and sons. I clung to these things because they gave me hope. An article I read referred to this quarantine time as “The Great Pause”, and when I shared it with my husband, Sean, he said, “Great Paws sounds like a bear’s name”. An image appeared in my head fully formed: a Great Spirit Bear holding her paws protectively around our planet – and that is what inspired this gallery piece. 





Hope is the largest bear I have created – measuring 30” from ears to toes and sitting 20” high. She is a Kermode bear, also known a spirit bear, and is made from luxury creamy white Tissavel faux fur with light brown tips. 




She features a needle sculpted face, sculpted clay nose, glass eyes, extensive scissor sculpting on her face and paws, and five joints with armature in limbs and spine. Her paws feature my signature applique trapunto pads with air brush shading. 



The Earth, suspended between Hope’s paws, is made from wool, wet-felted over a Styrofoam sphere. 

This one of a kind piece will be available next weekend August 6-7 at the Teddy Bear Artist Invitational in Binghamton, NY.  More information www.tbai.org 


Friday, April 30, 2021

Doll and Teddy Bear Artist Online Show

 


In some ways it's difficult to believe it has been a whole year since my last post, and yet time seems to escape me faster each year that goes by!  This past year I have spent a lot of time working on home projects and other creative endeavors outside of bears, which I would, in the past have posted here too. In fact I still have some idea in my head that I will do so. But now is the time to show what I have made for the Doll and Teddy Bear Artist Online Show which is starting in  just under 3 hours!

Introducing first; two Steampunk Dandy Bears and a Glad Hatter. Each of these dapper fellows is about 19 inches tall and made from dense alpaca, featuring open mouths, air brush accents, and detailed paws. Their detailed hand sewn hats were a delight to create, turning me into a bit of a Mad Hatter myself! The top hats, made of upholstery brocade, suede cloth, or real leather, have a classic tapered silhouette, and are finished neatly inside and out.  The goggles are mixed media-- made from leather, heavy cardboard tubing, resin and various metal  bits.  For the Hatter's hat, I made two decorative hat pins and a ruched band. The hats were actually the beginnings of these gentlebears---I made the bears to go with the hats! 

Here they are:

Linwood






Hollister






and Abercrombie.










Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Quinlan Online Show


Every year the highlight of my year is attending the Quinlan show in Philadelphia the first weekend in May. It is a chance to enjoy the company of artists and collectors in person and to see some star quality dolls and Teddy Bears. Of course, like so many things this year it has been cancelled to help stop the spread of COVID 19. I will dearly miss seeing all my friends, but I do understand that many people have had to cancel or postpone life events such as weddings graduations and more.

Here's a bit of good news though. The show in Philadelphia is cancelled, but the Teddy Bear and doll artists who were planning to take part in the show will be joining an online show this weekend.
Here is the show information from the Quinlans:

Our annual Artist Doll & Teddy Bear Show in Philadelphia this week was cancelled, but the participating artists are holding an online show & sale in its place. The show will open on Friday, May 1st at noon (EST) and remain open until 8pm Sunday, May 3rd at this website: 
  
https://www.bearhugs4u.com/quinlan.html 
  
Shopping at the Show 
  
When the show opens on Friday, you will be able to navigate the show by clicking on the artist name or photo to view their sales page. When you are done viewing that artist's page, you should either click on the Convention banner or use your back button. You may have to "Refresh" your page to view the live show if you have viewed the page prior to the show opening. 
  
Voting for Award Winners 
  
In addition to shopping for dolls and bears, you are invited to cast your vote for three doll artists and three bear artists to be presented with the Helen Bullard Award for Excellence among the doll artists and Beverly Port Award for Excellence among the bear artists. 
  
Base your votes on the entire collection of creations on each artist’s website. Send the names of your six selected artists to terry@quinlanmuseum.com 
  
Hope you will join us. 
  
Cheers, 
  
Susan & Terry Quinlan 
Susan Quinlan Doll & Teddy Bear Museum 

I will have a few bears and a couple of dolls in the show and since the first minutes of the show move fast, I thought I would give a preview here. Here are some pictures and descriptions of what I will have. The show starts this Friday at noon and I still have much to do to get ready--lots of little details! 


Tiny Teddy Babies
 5 inches long (4 inches high seated)
These sweet little Teddy Bear and doll hybrids are tiny enough to be cradled in the palm of your hand. Each one is made with a fully hand sculpted polymer clay head (including sculpted hair), and a Teddy Bear style jointed body made of hand dyed viscose. Their faces are delicately painted with permanent heat set paints, their bodies are shaded and aged with pastels, and their little bear-eared hoods are removable. They wear vintage lace collars. Xanthe is the baby in yellow, and Jade is the baby in green.

Wilson
 16 inches tall (12 inches high seated)
Wilson is a happy bear made with soft, straight, tipped mohair with about one-inch fur length.  His sweet face features a needle and scissor sculpted snout with a hand painted open mouth. His premium black glass eyes and layer stitched pearl cotton nose are accented with air brush shading. Wilson has five joints as well as sturdy wire armature in his arms. Applique trapunto paw pads are featured on his front and rear paws. He is stuffed with a combination of Polyfil and plastic pellets for a nice weight and feel. Wilson is adorned simply with a pleated satin bow that complements the brown tips in his white fur.

Wendell
 20 inches tall (15 inches high seated)
Wendell is a bear made with uniquely textured wool fabric with about 5/8-inch nap length. It a has the feel of a wool rug—coarser than mohair or alpaca, and its density is perfect for the needle and scissor sculpting featured on his face. His premium black glass eyes and layer stitched pearl cotton nose are accented with air brush shading. Wendell has five joints as well as sturdy wire armature in his arms. Applique trapunto paw pads are featured on his front and rear paws. He is stuffed with a combination of Polyfil and plastic pellets for a nice weight and feel. Wendell wears a fine Steampunk top hat, with goggles, hand sewn from a combination of leather scraps and vinyl. (A lovely velveteen waistcoat and shirt collar will finish his look, ---if I can finish it!)




“I Love You More” (Aama and Kulu)
 24 inches tall (18 inches seated), 10 inches long (8 ½ inches seated)
Aama, the mother polar bear, is the largest natural style bear I have made yet. She is made from dense white alpaca fur with a one-inch long nap length. Her face is needle and scissor sculpted and accented with air brush shading. Leather eyelids surround her premium black glass eyes, and her realistic nose is hand sculpted and painted. Aama has five joints as well as sturdy wire armature in her arms, legs and spine. The spine armature in combination with her neck joint allows her head to tilt slightly side to side or up and down as well as to swivel like a traditional Teddy Bear joint. Applique trapunto paw pads are featured on her front and rear paws. She is stuffed with a combination of Polyfil and plastic pellets for a nice weight and feel.
Aama’s little cub Kulu is made from dense white alpaca with a 5/8th inch nap length. Kulu shares the same facial detailing as his mother and has applique trapunto paws as well. However, his unjointed body is something new I was inspired to design for this piece. The body has full wire armature, and the neck is jointed, so he has some posing ability, but he can easily be held in his mother’s arms.


Aloo-ki (no photo yet)

10 inches long (8 ½ inches seated)
Aloo-ki is a sweet playful polar bear cub made from dense white alpaca fur with a 5/8th inch long nap length. Her face is needle and scissor sculpted and accented with air brush shading. Leather eyelids surround her premium black glass eyes, and her realistic nose is hand sculpted and painted. Designed to look like a very young cub, she has a unique body style. Her unjointed body features sturdy wire armature throughout. The armature along with her neck joint allow her to take on playful poses.  Aloo-ki loves to play with her mohair ball.



Friday, November 16, 2018

The Christmas Treasures Online Show has begun!!

 The final Christmas Treasures show has begun and I am thrilled to have just received an email saying Bing was chosen Best in Show! Thank you to all who voted!






















You met the Natural Style polar bear Bing, my preview bear, in the previous post. Here are the rest of the bears which are available now at www.TeddiesWorldwide.com

First up Elf Babies!  Below them,  I have another Natural Style polar bear
Puddin, Sugar, and Biscuit

Sugar 9 inches

Sugar 9 inches

Sugar 9 inches

Sugar 9 inches

Biscuit 9 inches

Biscuit 9 inches

Biscuit 9 inches

Biscuit 9 inches

Puddin 9 inches

Puddin 9 inches

Puddin 9 inches

Puddin 9 inches

Alabaster 18 inches

Alabaster 18inches

Alabaster 18 inches

Alabaster 18 inches

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Teddies Worldwide , Final Show

Tomorrow I will be participating in the final Teddies Worldwide online show. I am very sad that it is the last one as I have participated in them from the start, but I am grateful that I have been a part of it and excited to share five new Christmas and winter themed pieces with you.



The show begins tomorrow November 16 at 12 PM eastern standard time at www.teddiesworldwide.com I can only show pictures of my preview bear Bing right now, but I know that the early part the show goes very fast so I wanted to share descriptions of my pieces below, so you will have some idea what I will have.

I have three Elf Babies called Sugar Puddin and Biscuit. Elf Babies are 9" cubs wearing removable velveteen collars and hats. Each has needle and scissor-sculpted face, premium glass eyes, and a multi-layered stitched pearl cotton nose. The five-way jointed cubs have curved arms and legs and paws which are needle-sculpted and air brush shaded. They are stuffed with polyfil and glass pellets. Sugar is made with from dense white alpaca and his accessories are dark green and deep red. Puddin is made with from dense golden alpaca and his accessories are  light green and red. Biscuit is made with from tan mohair with light brown tips and his accessories are deep red and gold. They cost $315 plus shipping each.


Next up is a big cuddly guy called Alabaster. Alabaster is an 18 inch Natural Style polar bear made from dense white alpaca. He features premium black glass eyes , a sculpted nose, and  a needle- sculpted and air brush shaded face.  He has a spine armature to allow his head to tilt. His arms and legs have a traditional joints as well as armature for additional playful posing. His paws feature my signature trapunto appliqué technique. He is also my first bear with a tail! His cost is $845 plus shipping. 

Finally here is my preview bear, Bing. Bing is a 16 inch Natural Style polar bear made from dense white alpaca. He features premium black glass eyes , a sculpted nose, and  a needle- sculpted  hand painted open mouth, and air brush shaded face.  He has a spine armature to allow his head to tilt. His arms and legs have a traditional joints as well as armature for additional playful posing. His paws feature my signature trapunto appliqué technique. His cost is $795 plus shipping. Hope to see you at the show! 





 I hope to see you at the show!!!


Friday, July 20, 2018

Travels with Bears: Salt Lake City, Utah; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; London, England; and-- The World!!

With so long between posts it's always difficult to know where to begin! It's been a good year for the bears and I, and the best is yet to come!

It has long been a goal of mine to participate in one of the largest Teddy Bear shows in the world--Hugglets Teddies Festival in London, England! This year I am going, and my husband will be joining me so we can make a vacation ---or should I say holiday---out of it!  We leave just six short weeks from now!  Please come and see us in Hall 1 Stand 32!!! See my "Schedule" page for more information.

















This year my bears also brought me the opportunity to visit Salt Lake City, Utah, another first. While there I had the chance to teach a  3 day class to more than 700 people from 14 countries! No, really! I did! It was filmed live by Curious Mondo, and streamed online for people all over the world to watch and participate. I felt honored that so many, including many bear artist peers of mine, as well as folks new to Teddy Bear artistry chose to tune in and spend those three days watching me create a Teddy Bear. I will be teaching another live class in January and the first class is still available to purchase at www.curiousmondo.com  The bear below--Curmon--is my class sample.

Curmon, CuriousMondo class bear 2018

























Curmon, CuriousMondo class bear 2018



















































April took us to the Quinlan Show in Philadelphia, which is my favorite show. I love to see the doll art as well as the bears and the gallery pieces are always jaw dropping.  I had a full table and nearly all of the bears found homes!

Before the Show

Sean and I





































Dodger, the Artful Dodger, my gallery piece won a Beverly Port Award. I also entered him and Dakota in the British Teddy Bear Artist Awards (Bristol Bear Awards) and they both won! These were awarded during the British Teddy Bear Festival at Woburn Abbey, which the bears and I were not able to attend this year, but that show is now on my wish list to attend someday!

Here are Dodger and Dakota to way goodbye for now. I will be posting some of the bears I have been working on for Hugglets in the next six weeks so stay tuned!
Dakota

Dakota

Dodger

Dodger