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Bear makers and teddy artists are always welcome to contact us for a portrait. We're looking forward
to hearing from you.
Deutsches Porträt Pauline Wood
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Pauline, please describe your bears with your own words.
My bears are quite traditional in style and sometimes I use aging processes to make them look well loved. Having said this I do like to experiment with the lovely fabrics around and have
developed some more modern designs too. Recently I have been experimenting with needle felting giving them needle felted faces and other detailing. My bears range from 3 inches up to
around 16 inches. My favourite size is the 4-5 inch sizes. I spend a long time on the bears' face, they must appear cute and have a soulful look, I hate my bears to look arrogant and
bad tempered. I also like them to feel substantial and give them quite a bit of weight. I sometimes dress them in knitted or crocheted outfits which are always made from natural yarns
such as pure wool or silk.
When did you start making them and what was the occasion?
I have been making bears for 3 years now, I have always loved sewing and other crafts and after looking at a teddy
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bear magazine one day, I bought a kit to try and reproduce my old childhood teddy bear that was given away by my parents, with a lot of my other toys to a poor family who had a lot of children. I never forgot this bear and was always looking out for a similar one - of course the kit bear didn't turn out anything like my old bear and had baggy joints and uneven eyes. However, I became hooked immediately after and soon I was making bears for presents for family and friends and finally to selling them.
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How do you get ideas or inspiration for new creations?
I take my inspiration from everything around me, seasons can also inspire me, as can animal faces or pieces of beautiful mohair fur. A lot of time, a nice piece of fabric or yarn may inspire me to make an outfit first and then a bear to fit the outfit.
What do you like most when making bears?
I love every stage of bear making, I work on a few different bears at one time as I am sometimes in cutting out mood, another day I may be in finishing faces mood and sometimes if I am watching TV I just like to do some stuffing. I may have a finished bear for a few
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weeks before making it available for adoption whilst I find just the right accessory for it.
Do you have a great dream as an artist?
My dream is to move house, to a smaller quieter village further into the Yorkshire Dales and have a pretty studio to make my bears in and which will have a nice view over the countryside.
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Please tell us something about your place of birth and your home.
I was born in Yorkshire in a little village called Queensbury (one of the highest above sea level in England) and still live here. The village is home to the historic and world famous Black Dyke Mills Band, which some people may know from the Beatles film "Yellow Submarine" and BBC's "Ground Force" theme tune. I was born and grew up in the house next door to the band's practice rooms and quickly got to know all the tunes. Now my house is half a mile from there and I can hear them practising sometimes if I have the windows open in the summer.
Besides being famous for the Black Dyke Mills band (who formed in 1816 and are now one of the leading brass bands in the world) Queensbury is one of the highest villages in England at 1100 feet above sea level. It is recorded that the Parish Church has the highest peal of bells in the British Isles. The views from Queensbury are outstanding and it is possible to see several counties from various points around the locality.
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In less than an hour we can reach the beautiful Yorkshire Dales which we visit whenever we can for walks in the countryside or a relaxing walk around the villages and sometimes I take part in the local craft shows there with my bears. There are links on my website (the About Us page) to read more about the band and Queensbury village.
Finally please tell us something about English teddy fairs.
I attend mostly Northern fairs here in England at the moment and a good variety of local craft fairs in the Yorkshire Dales. There are of course some brilliant bear fairs in London and the Midlands and I do want to make an effort next year to try and attend some of these too.
See Pauline and her bears at: www.valewoodbears.co.uk
Copyright: Pauline Wood
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