Home             About the Bearsmith            Galleries             Links/Friends

Links2

Hi, I love to meet beary folks, please send me an email to say hello !

Little Nell 2011

15th January 2011.

Hello and welcome Beary friends !,

These days I still love to create special teds, but mostly just for family and friends, I now have quite a few commitments with work, family, and other interests, that have squeezed my creative time a bit. I have every intention of visiting Hugglets every year, as usual, with the girls from the bear club (Bear Makers of South Wales), to see if I can find a little piece of fabric for my next project or any lovely teds that would like to join my hug. I'm such a sucker for a cute face, what about you  ?

I'm still exploring other crafting areas when I get the chance. As you may know already, I have quite a passion for jewellery making and polymer clay crafts. Ray Skene provided me with an exceptional lampwork (glass bead making) course, he is an incredibly talented lampworker, such a natural teacher - of you enjoy glass beads, do take up the opportunity to join one of Ray's classes at the Model House in Llantrisant.

 I would also really like to spend more time working with the beautiful fabrics, threads and beads available around the world.

My little Piccolino with his dear Humble Crumble friend Lloyd

 - they travelled to be with Richard Van Aalst in 2009

Over the Past Few Years :

2007

In 2007 the Bear Makers of South Wales decided to do something a little different to raise money for our chosen charity that year - the Wales Air Ambulance Service. We set up a bearmaking tutorial day in a church hall in Cardiff. Ruth Dickinson (Wellwood Bears) provided a pattern and some very hard labour in preparation for the day and the other Bear Makers prepared the fabric for the course. 14 enthusiastic new bear makers joined us for the day, and were plied with a constant supply of coffee/tea and homemade shortbread. Christie Bears took to the hall stage at lunch time with bearmaking supplies and fabrics, and they had a super response. They provided us with a generous donation, which, when combined with the fees for the course, gave the Bear Makers an overall profit of over £500, which went straight to Wales Air Ambulance with our best wishes.

I'm sure that there is a photo of all of the day's participants holding their completed bears somewhere, I'll search it out ! The completed teds were all gorgeous, and everyone said how they had appreciated the warmth and patience of the teachers on the day. We had also decorated the hall with every kind of bear - big ones, enormous ones and lots of beautiful artist's creations, for inspiration. There was also enough room in the church hall for the artists to set up 5 stands of bears and bear related articles for sale. We had bears coming out of our ears, and we all drank out of bear mugs and cups ! It was FAB !!!

Well done and thanks to everyone involved for their hard work, particularly Ruth for her tremendous efforts, the results were well worth it.

2006

In 2006 the Bear Makers of Wales were set a challenge to make a bear to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Welsh national anthem. 

Click on this link to see the bears made by the Bear Makers of South Wales for the Charity Challenge in 2005.

The Great Bear 2006  I was lucky enough to visit 'The Great Bear', the new bear fair in the South of France, in April 2006. It was a simply fabulous experience in a beautiful part of the world, and I would encourage any collector or artist to make the journey in the coming years. Follow this link for Eric Petit's site and his record of 'The Great Bear'.

Ally Pally 2006  I attended the last London Alexandra Palace Bear Fair in October 2006. So sad to see these great British bear fairs disappear. Here are some of the teds who came with me:

The 'Little Angels' are 4 and a half inches small, from left to right - Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

The 'Small Packages' (a bunch of cuties, all nearly 6" tall), from left to right - Nipper, Jot, Whit and Titch.

I sadly parted with Whit, but couldn't 'bear' to part with the other lads, so they are living with my hug.

(I'll never make it as a business woman, will I ?)

All made from that fabulous smokey long pile fabric from Sassy, with different fabric on each foot.

(Can you see that I have been inspired by excellent artist Richard van Aalst and his beautiful teds ?

I hope to goodness I've done him proud !)

A last minute 'Small Package' rabbit called Ritz.

My darlings Ruffle and Sunny (Sunshine) seem to think that winter is here to stay !

Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace) was such a lovely fair, it was always so good to see everyone, so sad to see it go !

2005

Click on this link to see the bears made by the Bear Makers of South Wales for the Charity Challenge in 2005.

I finally had the Carpal Tunnel tendon release operation, after waiting over 4 years. Thankfully my right hand started to work again !, but it left me with a few complications, so I'm still the slowest bear maker in the Northern hemisphere ! (I wonder if they'll ever get that last blue stitch out of my hand, good old NHS !!!).

Back to the present:

I am continuing to use the website as a showcase for the bears. Please do contact me if you like the bears or the site, I'll be happy to reply to any emails that end up at Prospect House ! Many thanks to those lovely people who have sent emails so far, the comments have made it all worthwhile.

Beary best wishes and Bear Hugs,

Jane  :o)        15th January, 2011.

email Jane at : orphan64@hotmail.com