I first started making mini bears 23 years ago. At the time I made dollshouse dolls and I saw a stall of American mini bears at a fair and fell in love but couldn’t afford one. I set out to make one myself and while the first few were quite weird I did improve with practice.
Bear followed bear and they shared a table with my dollshouse dolls at fairs. The bears slowly took over more and more of the table and then after a major back operation I had to give up making dolls but still loved making bears.
My longest trip to a bear fair was to New Jersey USA. I loved doing fairs and meeting the bears new owners and I really miss that. I make bears almost anywhere and the only thing I seem to lose are ears, so I always make an extra ear, just in case. I love hand dying fabrics to get the perfect colour, always use my favourite pair of scissors and cotter key turners that my husband makes for me from small screw drivers. My bears seem to decide for themselves how they wish to turn out, lately they have decided that they want clothes.
I really admire bear makers who can make natural looking bears. To make a simple bear takes me just over a day, the more complicated the bear the longer they take.
