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Welcome to this months featured crafter. Each month you can read an article on a featured craft, presented to you by a YOUR-CRAFT-FAIRS exhibitor. This month it's the turn of Rachel of Bosworth Bears who will tell you all about her craft of bear making ...
"Many a heart learns to love from its first teddy bear." A.K Like many bear artists I started out as a collector, rather than a creator of bears. With a love of teddy bears it was only a matter of time before I tried my hand at creating one from a kit. After a few more attempts I then made a couple of bears as Christmas presents for my Mum and Mother-In-Law. Everything snowballed from there: my confidence grew from the positive comments from people who saw the bears; and a couple of people approached me wanting to know if I could make them a bear too! Soon I had a filling order book and had completed my first show, exhibiting my bears at a local School Fun Day, where I managed to sell ten on the day and take a further nine orders! ~~~
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"In this turbulent world, I believe everybody should have a constant companion, someone to hug, someone to love and someone to confide in - a teddy bear can be this one true friend." Rachel visit www.bosworthbears.co.uk email me at rachel@bosworthbears.co.uk ~~~ Many thanks to Rachel for providing the above article. Please do come along and meet her and view her work in Congleton Town Hall on the 26th November. Look out next month for another YOUR-CRAFT article! YOUR-CRAFT-FAIRS |
Following on from this I'm now arranging to exhibit at craft fairs; selling bears on Ebay; and have a website featuring my creations. (www.bosworthbears.co.uk) My biggest problem is finding enough time to create enough bears for each event, as each bear can take several hours to craft.
I use traditional methods first used in bear making over 100 years ago. The materials play such an important part in the final look of the bear that I only use the finest quality fabrics - mohair, alpaca and plush sourced from places such as Australia, America and Germany. The majority of bears are completely hand-stitched and the outfits and accessories are nearly all handmade too.
All of my bears are 'one of a kind creations' so you can be assured if you buy a Bosworth Bear that it is unique. To give each of my bears their own character I often like to airbrush their paw and foot pads, and also enjoy hand-painting accents on their faces for added depth of expression. In addition to this I enjoy hand sculpting their little noses from polymer clay which is then painted and varnished to give a bright 'wet-look' nose. As the saying goes 'the eyes are the windows to the soul' so bearing this in mind I use only premium quailty hand blown glass eyes which I sometimes add lids to to give that realistic look.
The bulk of my bears are designed and created with the collector in mind. They make wonderful presents for that special occasion and I can customise a bear to your specifications if required. If you want to see more, please visit my website where there are lots of examples of my bears, past and present. Alternatively, come and see me exhibiting at the craft fair in Congleton - I'll be delighted to see you and discuss any aspects of my work including any possible order requirements you may have.
