Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

So cute! Great Job!

Gorgeous! Great Job!

Adorable! Great Job!

Adorable! Great job!

Thank you so much Francesca! 

Introducing Gumball . . .

Gumball is available now on Ebay until March 30, 2014.

www.crowncritters.com

Hi everyone,

I am just now getting around to posting pics from the last bear fair that I attended in Johanesburg back in August.  The show was a great success for personally as it was the very first time that I have ever sold absolutely everything I went with. It was a strange and wonderful feeling to leave with nothing other than money and appreciation for months of hard work and time.  I posted this here as almost all of my work has needle felting to some degree on it and a lot of my work is all needle felting. Lately I seem to make critters that are a hand senw body with needle felted features. This will be my last show in Africa as I am getting ready to move back to America on December 3rd.  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and year end.

Hi everyone. Just wanted to share my latest real fur bear.  Again, I know these are not for everyone and I do not ever source new material. I only make these as special requests for people who have their mothers, grandmothers or aunts old fur coat and are tired of it just taking up room in the closet.

This was my first time working with fox fur as I usually only ever use old mink stoles and coats.  I have to say that I dont think I will ever agree to take a fox coat again. It comes with far to many issues to work with and is extremely time consuming.

This is a 8 1/2 inch bear which is small for long fox fur but a lot of the stole was just not usable so this is the size I had to work with. I still think he turned out with a very sweet face and I love the chubby cheeks. :-) This is one of two bears that I wanted to have completed before I move from South Africa back to America on December 3rd. So, now I will be finishing a much larger bear out of an old golden mink coat.

Hi Everyone,

This is Peper. She is my latest creation to be added to the collection that I am currently taking to the Berario Bear Fair to be held in Johannesburg on August 3rd.

Pepper is made from very dense, frosted Tissavel faux fur and stands 40cm (16 inches) tall.  Pepper has 6 movable joints with a double jointed neck and has armature in her arms so that she is able to move and pose in almost any direction. Her face, nose ,hands and feet are needle felted using Merino Top wool and then her nose and paw pads are sealed and sanded many times, painting in between each layer to add depth. Her eyes are German, black glass eyes and she is heavily weighted to feel real when you pick her up yet is still extremely soft and huggable. She will be attending the Berario Bear Fair in Johannesburg on August 3rd and is currently for sale.

Hi Everyone,

This is Peper. She is my latest creation to be added to the collection that I am currently taking to the Berario Bear Fair to be held in Johannesburg on August 3rd.

Pepper is made from very dense, frosted Tissavel faux fur and stands 40cm (16 inches) tall.  Pepper has 6 movable joints with a double jointed neck and has armature in her arms so that she is able to move and pose in almost any direction. Her face, nose ,hands and feet are needle felted using Merino Top wool and then her nose and paw pads are sealed and sanded many times, painting in between each layer to add depth. Her eyes are German, black glass eyes and she is heavily weighted to feel real when you pick her up yet is still extremely soft and huggable. She will be attending the Berario Bear Fair in Johannesburg on August 3rd and is currently for sale.

Hi everyone  :)

This is my new pattern that I desinged and am very happy with how it turned out.  I made this bear for my mother-in-laws birthday.  It is mink from her mothers old mink jacket that had spent the last 20+ years just hanging in a closet. She does not wear fur, but did not want to just throw it out since it was her mothers. So, I decided to surprise her for her birthday this past weekend.

She has decided that the bear is a girl and has named her Marge after her mother which I thought was very sweet.

The bear is 40cm tall (16in) standing. She is fully lined, has German glass eyes, fully jointed with a double jointed neck, armature in the arms while the eye area, nose, hand pads and feet pads have all been needle felted and then sealed and painted/shaded. Her claws are molded from leather and inserted on wire frames built into the feet. I find that this helps with standing and posing.

I am busy doing this same pattern now in Tissavel faux fur and am interested to see how different it looks in various mediums. I hope to have several for sale for the show here in Johannesburg in August. Of course, needle felting into faux fur will be much easier since I do not have to cut felt inserts like you have to for real mink.

Thank you so much!! There are never dumb questions  :)

I am not sure if other needle felters do it this way, but this is how I do it:  I trim the fur almost down to the backing in the center of the face and then needle felt right into the material. The wool will adhere and felt with the wool and stuffing on the inside of the head, hands and feet.

Adorable!

Beautiful! 

Beautiful! 

Adorable! Great job! 

Amazing! 

Thank you so very much for everybody's kind words! 

This is Butterscotch. He is a modeled after a Kermode "Spirit" bear and is the first realistic bear I have made. He is quite large sitting more than 21 inches and standing more than 30 inches tall. His body is made from cream/white faux fur while his face, feet and paw pads are needle felted. His nose and feet pads are sealed and hand shaded and painted. He has German black glass eyes, hand-made leather claws and 6 joints with a double neck joint. I built this pattern from scratch and have some minor shape changes that I want to make but am very happy with how he turned out for the most part. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I know most of you have much more experience at bear making than I do, especially when it comes to original patterns.

This is Butterscotch. He is a modeled after a Kermode "Spirit" bear and is the first realistic bear I have made. He is quite large sitting more than 21 inches and standing more than 30 inches tall. His body is made from cream/white faux fur while his face, feet and paw pads are needle felted. His nose and feet pads are sealed and hand shaded and painted. He has German black glass eyes, hand-made leather claws and 6 joints with a double neck joint. I built this pattern from scratch and have some minor shape changes that I want to make but am very happy with how he turned out for the most part. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I know most of you have much more experience at bear making than I do, especially when it comes to original patterns.

What a gorgeous bear!!! Beautiful work

Thank you so much Sue Ann and Joanne!!

Joanne, I could not be more excited. It has been a very long and sometimes very rough 6 years. We are looking at being home, hopefully, around mid November of this year.  One of my goals is to meet you in person one day and give you the biggest hug for always being so generous, kind and helpful when I first started this journey into the world of bears and felting. It has changed my life for the better and I owe most of my inspiration to you. 

Hi Everyone,

It looks like I will be moving back home to Dallas later this year after being in South Africa for the past 6 years. I started bears and felting while I was here and am wondering if any Dallas folks can let me know the best local shops to buy supplies from?

thanks so much,
Anthony

For those who may be intereted, several of my critters are for sale on Ebay with very low starting prices and no reserve price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221177927338?ss … 1555.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221179497022?ss … 1555.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221180532425?ss … 1555.l2649

This is 1 of 4 Santa ornaments that I made for this holiday season.  He is currently on Ebay. They are each similar in look but their expressions vary slightly. The other 3 are available on my blog.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221138560373?ss … 1555.l2649