Merry Christmas - Frohe Weihnachten

I want to wish everybody Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Ich wünsche Euch allen frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches und gesundes neues Jahr

British Bear Artist Award

I'm extremely delighted to inform you that Baby Hope won the first place in the International Artist category of the British Bear Artist Award. I really didn't expect that when I saw the other nominated bears in Brighton, I was not even sure if I should really go into the room where they held the awards-ceremony as I thought it would be very unlikely that I would be among the top three. So, imagine my surprise when they finally announced the winner in category 9 and called my (business)name!!!!!

And this award is just so beautiful, you can even light it, just put in the cable and you've got an extremely beautiful lamp!!!

My next shows / Meine nächsten Ausstellungen

12.12.2010 British Bear Fair, Brighton Racecourse, Brighton, UK http://www.britishbearfair.co.uk/

27.02.2011 Hugglets Winterbearfest, Kensington Town Hall, London, UK http://www.hugglets.co.uk/

12. + 13.03.2010 Teddybärwelt, Wiesbaden, Germany, http://www.teddybaer-welt.de/

I'm looking forward to meeting you there.
Ich freue mich darauf, Euch dort zu treffen.

British Bear Artist Awards and British Bear Fair

This week, Baby Hope received her rosette for being a finalist in the British Bear Artist Awards.
It is a really beautiful ribbon, red and white, the colors of Bayern Munich, my favourite soccer team, I really like that.  Anyway, I'm really happy about my ribbon as it is  a big honor to be a finalist in such a great competition.
All the finalists can be seen in the fur on Dec 12th at the British Bear Fair at Brighton Race Course. There, the final judging will take place and at the end of the day the winners will be announced.
I have decided to accompany little Hope to Brighton and will be exhibiting there as well.
You'll find me at table no.26.
For more information about the British Bear Fair ans British Bear Artist Awards just go to http://www.britishbearfair.co.uk/
I'm looking forward to meeting you in Brighton!!

Euro-Teddy Award 2010

 I just had an amazing weekend in Essen at the Euro-Teddy.
Baby Hope, my little black bear, won 2nd place in the miniature undressed category. That's a great success for such a small bear, only 9cm/3.6inches, but that's not all:
Baby Hope also received a nomination for the British Bear Artist Award in the International Artist- category, and that is really a great success:
Like the Euro-Teddy, the BBAAs have several different categories, for small bears, large bears, dressed and undressed. Unfortunately, only British Artists can enter those categories. Everybody else, who is not British, has to enter the International Artist categoy, no matter what kind of bears they make. So, you can imagine what it means to be among the top six in that category, and I'm really, really proud on little Hope.
For the complete list of nominations just go to http://www.britishbearfair.co.uk/

And now: Here are the champions: "You are my sunshine", winners in the miniature dressed category.
Once again, they were inspired by George Clooney's wonderful film "Leatherheads".
Of course, educated fans will know that "You are my sunshine" is from a different film, so I guess I have to explain something: In spring 2008 I discovered an old crafts book from the 1930s on a little flea market. I bought it just out of couriosity to see what kind of crafts people were doing back then. Then, it turned out that the book was a collection of beautiful patterns for different crafts like knitting, stitching and crochet and I decided that I wanted to work with them by dressing my bears in the style of that time.

Then, a few weeks after  I bought that book, "Leatherheads" was in the cinema and it was the perfect inspiration for my bears.

I love to come back to both the film and book if I need some more inspiration, exspecially for competitons.

This time, I alsi had this beautiful silk fur. Originally, I ordered it for my cats, but when it finally arrived, it was just a little bit too yellow, so I decided to use it for my Leatherheads-bears instead. For their clothes, I naturally chose fabrics that match the fur and when thinking about a name for the competition, the first thing that came to my mind was "You are my sunshine" and I thought it was perfect and I could be sure that the judges would understand it without any further explanations and as you can see, it worked.
For me, these little bears are still my Leatherheads bears and who knows,  the director  might be pleased to hear that his film won one more award.
I would like to use this post to send a very, very special thank you to George Clooney for making such a beautiful and inspiring film and helping me to become the artist that I am now.

Ole, the little lynx, last one for Hugglets

I've made it!!!! I finished all the bears and cats that I wanted to bring to Hugglets. This here is the last one: Ole, the little lynx.
If you want to have a closer look, just visit me in hall 1, stand 48.

Peruano, my first ever spectacled bear

 Please meet Peruano, my first ever spectacled bear.
He measures 11cm/4.4inches from nose to tail.
He is made from  very soft and dense black alpaca.
Peruano has a wired spine running from head to tail and armatured legs for multiple posing. Also, he has an open mouth with modelled teeth and a fake leather tongue. His paw pads and nose are stitched , waxed and polished.
If you want to see Peruano in reality, just visit me at Hugglets: Hall 1, stand 48.

Taran, the little cheetah

Taran, the little cheetah, another baby cat ready for Hugglets. His fur is a mixture of sheeps' wool, mohair and alpaca, and he measures 50cm/20inches from his nose to the tipp of his tail.
Taran has  hand painted German glass-eyes, trapunto paw pads and an ultra-suedine nose.
He has armatured legs, a spine made of copper wire running from head to tail and wired ears for multiple posing.
And now he is looking forward to travelling to London and he keeps asking if cheetahs will finally be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games?

Thai-Shan, Golden Teddy Award and Australian Bear Creations Awards nominated design

I always like to keep my award-winning bears with me, so the original Thai-Shan, who received nominations for both the Golden Teddy Award and the Australian Bear Creations Awards is not for sale.
But as I received so many requests I've made another little panda, using the same pattern and fabrics as for the original Thai-Shan and this one will be travelling with me to Hugglets to look for a new home.

Snowflake

This is Snowflake, a little polar bear, looking forward to travelling to Hugglets ann meeting many new friends to play with.
She measures 10cm/4inches from nose to tail, her fur is made from a very soft and dense German faux fur, she has an open mouth with modelled teeth and armatured lesg and spine for multiple posing.

Syriana, the little Syrian brown bear

This is Syriana, the little Syrian brown bear, another bear for Hugglets.

She measures 10cm/4inches from nose to tail, with wired legs and a spine running from head to tail.

Her fur is made from alpace, she has black German glass eyes and an open mouth with modelled teeth.

Syriana's nose and paw pads are stitched, waxed and polished.

And if you should wonder about the name: Yes, it was inspired by his film.

Samburu, the little lion

This is Samburu, the little lion, another baby cat waiting to go to Hugglets.
He measures 45cm/18inches from nose to tail, with wired legs, ears and a spine made from wire running from head to tail for multiple posing.
Samburu's fur is a very dense, soft German faux fur, he has German glass-eyes, an ultra-suedine nose and trapunto-paws.

Just finished for Hugglets. Raya, the little tiger

 I just finished Raya, the little tiger. She measures 50cm/20inches from her nose to the tip of her tail.
Raya is made of a very dense and soft silk fur from Schulte, with hand painted German glass eyes, an ultra-suedine nose and trapunto paws.
For multiple posability she has wired legs, spine and ears.
The stripes on her fur are hand painted and now she is looking forward to many hugs at Hugglets.

Penny and Tess, already dressed for Hugglets

Penny and Tess are already dressed for Hugglets, their beautiful, soft silk fur is brushed and "styled" and they put on a wide smile with perfect teeth.
These girls measure 9,5cm/3.8 inches from head to paw, their dresses and hats are entirely hand crocheted, they have black German glass eyes with hand modelled eye lids and an open mouth with modelled teeth for a perfect smile.
They are stuffed with fibrefil and some steel shot to add more weight.
Now Penny (in yellow) and Tess are looking forward to finding new homes, with nice people and maybe some other nice bears to fall in love with.

More meerkats for Hugglets

Here is another bunch of meerkats for Hugglets.
For these, I used the same pattern like for the ones I showed you yesterday. They have the same features as well and I used the same long pile fabric, just in a different colour.

Three meerkats for Hugglets

They measure 8cm/3.2 inches and are made from light brown and white long pile fabric. They have Germany glass-eyes and  wired arms and tail fro multiple posability . They are stuffed with fibre fill and some steel shot in their bellies for additional weight. And now these three are looking forward to travelling to London  and exploring the city. 

Black bear Lily, also going to Hugglets

This is black bear Lily,  measuring 10cm/4inches from nose to tail. She is made from a very soft and dense black aplaca, with black German glass eyes and an open mouth with modelled teeth.
Her legs are both jointed and wired and she has an aluminium wire spine running from head to tail for multiple posability.
Lily's nose and paw pads are stitched, waxed and then polished.
And now Lily is looking forward to Hugglets, hoping to find a new home with lots of love and tasty honey.

Fung-lo, a little panda for Hugglets

For Fung-lo I enlarged the pattern of my GTA and ABC-Award nominated design Thai-Shan, so he measures 12cm, almost 5 inches from nose to tail. Just like his little brother Thai-Shan Fung-lo is made from a very soft and dense German faux fur, with black German glass-eyes and  an open mouth with modelled teeth. Fung-lo's nose and paw pads are stitched, waxed and polished. For multiple posability, his legs are both jointed and armatured and he has a wired spine running from head to tail. Fung-lo is stuffed with fibre-fill and   steel shot to add some weight. 

He is looking forward to finding a new home at Hugglets. 

Chui, the little leopard

Here comes the next cat for Hugglets: Chui, the little Leopard. She measures 45cm/18inches from nose to tail and is made of fine German faux fur. She has hand painted German glass-eyes, an ultra-suedine nose, trapunto paw pads and haind painted spot.

Chui's legs are both jointed and armatured for multiple posing, also she has a wired spine running from head to tail and wired ears.

Her face is both scissor and needle sculpted.

And now she's looking forward to finding a new home at Hugglets.

By the way: Chui is the Suaheli word for leopard.

Charikar, the little snow leopard

Another cat for Hugglets:
Charikar, the little snow leopard, 60cm/24 inches from his nose to the tip of the tail, made from German faux fur with hand painted features, with hand painted German glass-eyes, a  pink nose from unltra-suedine and trapunto paws.

Bruno, the brown bear

One more for Hugglets:
Bruno, 10cm/4 inches from nose to tail, made of faux fur, with wired legs and a wired spine running from head to tail for multiple posing and an open mouth with modelled teeth.

Akkarin, the little black panther

Next one who is going to Hugglets:
Akkarin, the little black panther is made from  black German faux fur, he measures 45cm/18 inches from his nose to the tip of his tail and has hand painted German glass-eyes.
For multiple posing his legs are both jointed and armatured, he has a wired spine running from head to tail and wired ears.
And if you should wonder about his name: Yes, I took it from the High Lord from Trudi Canavans Black Magicians Guild. Just couldn't resist ;)

Three African Ladies

Three African Ladies

These three African ladies are very, very talkative and they're looking forward to Hugglets, hoping to meet many, many people to talk.
Each lady measures 11cm/4.4inches from head to toe and is made of short sparse Schulte Mohair with black German glass-eyes and an open mouth with modelled teeth and dressed in a traditionell kanga.

Hugglets

My next show is the Hugglets Teddies Festival on September 12th in London, Kensington Town Hall.
You will find me in hall no.1, table 48.
For more information about the show and how to get there, just click the button on the right hand side.
I've already been working hard on some new designs and when the weather is fine this weekend I will take some pictures and start a little preview.
What can you expect? Bears, of course, but also cats and meerkats.
I'm looking forward to meeting everybody in London.

URSA Awards 2010

The voting for the 2010 URSA-Awards has already started.
Here are my entries for this year:
In category 1 Johnny, the little meerkat

In category 2 A tribute to the King

In category 8 "So in love with you"
These two have already received a nomination in the 2010 Australian Bear Creations Awards.

In category 12 Satu, the little tiger

To vote for them, just click on the button on the right hand side and you will be directed to the voting page.