About my bears,and About Us

|
My bears are a combination
of all the things I have done as an artist. From graphic design,
stained glass, glass engraving, painting and
weaving.
Where the inspiration came from, I am
not sure, but I do like to walk around the city (Bath) and along the
river Avon with it's narrowboats and tour boats.
It may sound silly but it's almost as if the bears really do live here
amongst the Bath stone Regency buildings. Is it a coincidence that so
many of the colours of the stone and sky appear in my bears?
I use many bear making
techniques as I love to explore all the possibilities.
|

Bath inspires me everyday perhaps
through the diversity of its archectecture culture and influences. Just
about every nationality has help to mould modern Bath.
|

|

|
Cinnamon (above)
close to completion. A mohair bear with trapunto paws, polyester
filled, fully jointed, German glass bead eyes, weighted and of course a
natural diamond in the paw.
I weave my own fabrics and wollens for
use in my bears, again only the best materials are used.
best wishes CarolB
|

Above: 'Blueberry ' Finalist in the
British Bear Artists Award Dec.2007
|
Teddy Bears of Bath or
Bears of Bath,
if you prefer, is our joint venture.
Carol’s background as a Graphic Designer and Textile artist and mine as
a Fine
Artist just made the whole thing inevitable.
Since both graduating in 1993 (where we first met) we have combined our
talents in the pursuit of something unusual.
Ironically Carol has come to the creation of teddy bears quite recently
(2005) which is surprising as her mother and aunties have been creating
soft toys on a big scale for over 40 years. Perhaps not so ironic, is
it in the blood?
The bears have slowly started to take over the house, which I am
reliably informed is quite normal, and being constantly in their gaze
has had a very strange effect on my impressionable mind?
|
What we are striving to
achieve is a fantastic fictional world where the bears do their own
thing, and we just watch, a sort of ‘teddy bear soap’ the ‘World of Comfortable Place’.
Hopefully others will enjoy the stories, illustrations and the
endearing qualities of the bears themselves. They may be just fabric
and thread but sometimes something about them seems to take on a life
of it’s own.
|
|
Carol and Paul
We are fortunate, as many
others are, to have a quality adviser, ours is our son, Matthew. He’s 8
years old, and the bottom line is if he approves we know we have got it
right.
|

Matthew
|
|
|