Amazing Artistry

I hadn't been back to bearpile for a few days. Just busy with behind the scenes things (getting ready for the bear show coming up in July) and living life with two small kids... But I did get back there today. And I was blown away by how much incredibly artistry there is going on in one place! 

These were just a few of the pieces that stood out to me. I think I'm appreciating 'friends of teddies' a lot at the moment due to the theme of the upcoming bear show being the same. It really is amazing to see how many animals can be turned into soft sculpture like this. Gets me out of my teddy bear rut! 

Prince of Giraffes by Sasha Pokrass

Conrad by Teddyana

Nuri by Nadiya-art

Melvin by Sylvie Touzard

Dick by Alisa Shangina

Betty by Alena Smirnova

Malte by Angelika Reiche

Bubblegum

He's done! 

Fluffy, and sweet and with the cutest little cheeky face!

I've made him in our 'Happy' Pattern, in two of our faux fur fabrics. So if YOU like the look of him, and would like to try making one yourself, you can! 

Or - if you like the look of him, but don't want the hassle of making him yourself, he's currently available for adoption. He is one of a kind as made by Emma's Bears (but will be available as kits... so there may be more like him out there made by others). 

Bear kits

Check out this little cutie!!!

This is a little creation made by Val from one of our 'choose your own fur' bear kits. I am just in LOVE with his big nose and upturned eyes!

We have a full range of kits and patterns on our new Fur Addiction website currently... with some NEW ones in the works! I'm so excited, I can't wait to be able to offer some more bizarre patterns to our range very shortly. This little guy above is a work in progress (which is why he only has one ear at the moment!) - he is made from our 'Bubblegum Blast' and 'Maltese Cream' faux fur fabrics, and made using our 'Happy' bear pattern. He should be quite snugly when he's all done too :)

Alivea

 I've managed to get 90% of my bear show creatures finished now! So in celebration I thought I'd make a bear, for something different! :P This was the 'eye sockets shaded' stage.

Next came the 'eyes set' stage. Oh, and nose embroidered. I think this is my favourite stage. The little face is staring back, but there's still so much more to come!

This was 'ears attached, head attached, waiting for stuffing' stage. So cute, and so floppy!

And this is the 'actually all finished now' stage! lol. We called her 'Alivea' (pronounced like Olivia, but with an 'aa' sound in place of the 'oo'). She's 20" of fluffy beary goodness, and is currently available in both our Fur Addiction webpage, etsy and bearpile! 

She has a pair of our hand painted eyes, a hand embroidered nose (that took many many layers!) and a trio of dusky pink faux silk flowers around her neck. I really couldn't go past the pink with the white/black tipped fur. It just looked perfect! She's made in our 'Arctic Wolf' faux fur - which is also available from our website.

One month till the Friends of Teddy Show!

 (Can't wait to show you the NEW designs Mark and I have whipped exclusively for this show!!! So excited!)

Fox Stoles

About this time last year my sister asked me to make a fox stole. Out of faux fur. I got to work designing a creation that would look as much like the real thing as possible, without being creepy, and without looking like you have a teddy slung over your shoulder. This was the end result. (and Laura won a fashion competition wearing her fox too! People were actually asking her if it was real.)

Recently I was asked again if I could make another one. So I did. Only this time I made three! Nothing like having a bit of choice for a customer! This guy is made in our new faux fur fabric' Golden Peacock'. I actually think this is my favourite. I just love the way the longer bits of fur fall as the fox is draped.

This guy is currently available in our etsy store too. 

This was the custom ordered one, and the one the customer ended up selecting. This isn't one of our fabrics, but one I ordered especially from the USA to complete my order. It always amazes me to think that this fur probably originated in China, then got shipped to America, then sold to me in Australia, and is now on it's way to the UK as a fox stole!

And this gorgeous, super fluffy fox is made from our 'Arctic Wolf' faux fur. I left his ears in full fur (the other two got trimmed ears). I think it gives his face a lot softer appeal, but the trimmed ears add an extra element of realism.

This guy is also available in our etsy store. You can also order a custom fox stole of your own if you would like one in a different colour/fur selection. We can make these guys in any of our new fabrics, and I think this design would look incredible made up in some of our more realistic animal furs! 

(all three fox stoles laid out. They kind of look like they've been run over! lol) 

What does 2 tonne of fur look like?

For the last few months Mark and I have been in the process of sourcing some good quality, minimal stretch, affordable, interesting and ultimately multi-purpose faux fur fabrics for our bear making purposes, and for re-sale within Australia and the rest of the world. This is a surprisingly long and complex process. Not at all like regular 'shopping'! But the feeling of achievement when we rocked up at the shipping yard, finally face to face with our fur order was amazing. 

Until we realised just how much 1800m of faux fur was... 

This is about 1/3 of the way through the process of unloading. And we'd almost filled out shelving units. We had to make some hasty decisions, and completely rearrange our set up to fit the 60+ massive rolls. (Some of them were so thick I couldn't even wrap my arms around them!)

After a full day's work, and countless loads, this was what we had left. It still took us another three days to completely empty! 

Then came the long process of finding each of the 17 different fabrics in the mountain of fur, bear-hugging them out to the cutting table, cutting off any factory-damaged outer lengths, measuring pile length, assessing backing strength and trying to get accurate photos of the colours/textures. 

This was one of our rolls in a gorgeous jet black long pile.  

We then held a competition on our "Fur Addiction" facebook page to help name the new fabrics. Everyone had such incredible ideas! We ended up with names that I would never have thought of on my own! All the winners have scored a free fat 1/4m piece of the fur of their choice and all the fabrics have now been listed in our Emma's Bears etsy store and our brand new Fur Addiction website. 

Chocolate Truffle

Creaming Soda:

Golden Peacock:

Vanilla Yeti:

Maltese Cream

Midnight Cabaret:

Arctic Wolf:

Fluffy Duckling:

Coconut Ice:

Bubblegum Blast:

Sasquatch:

Husky Pup:

Cherry Bomb:

Baby Owl:

Fluffy Cloud:

Ace of Spades:

and Toasted Marshmallow: