A Shaggy Bear and a Sooty Bear Make Friends

I really like these two bears, they just seem to go together.

Poor Sooty Bear had been decapitated with  a broken neck joint.  Apart from that and a good brushing, he was in good condition.
His friend, Shaggy Bear had lovely long golden mohair that was quite matted and covered his eyes.  He had lost his smile, and  his voice too.

Here they are getting to know each other as they waited for their repairs and cleaning.

-----and here are the happy pair having a cuddle after 'surgery'.  Just look at Shaggy Bears smile, he can see and growl now (not as loud as when he was young), and is fit and ready to go to a new, loving home.

 They will be available (as separate listings) in my Etsy shop later on today.
I love this job :) :)
 

Hermann Bears With a New Lease of Life

I have a group of Hermann bears in my Etsy shop at the moment. Three of them are from around the 1950's.
The first one though is a more modern example that I would not have recognised as a Hermann bear, but I am told on good authorisation that he is.  He is definitely a German bear.
This cute chap is really cuddly with a good covering of mohair. 

 



SOLD

 The next is this cheerful open mouthed bear with his black dog.  He is not jointed, but sits quite happily if leaning on something.
I had to remove his head (sorry if you are squeamish, I hated doing it) and stitch it back on again as it was in danger of falling off.
He has a squeaker that works when it feels like it!


This grumpy looking growling Hermann bear stands very straight (with a bit of help from me) and looks very proud of his little bell.  He is a serious soul, but very cuddly with his beautiful long pile mohair.  I had to do some extensive repairs to his paws, practically having to replace the left one as can be seen if you look carefully at the photo.  He is probably my favourite of this group of Hermanns.  As with other damaged paws I tried to leave as much of the original fabric in place and just slip the new underneath and stitch in place with tiny invisible (I hope) stitches.

This is the last of the German bears to date.  I am not sure if this one is actually a Hermann bear, but he is definitely from that area of Germany, as there are many similarities in his design.  He is not mohair, but a soft plush which has cleaned and brushed up very well.

All of the above bears are available for sale in my Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/PollysVintageBears

along with many other bears and vintage toys.

Going to a Fair with the Bears

Well, that's booked the Minstead fair in a couple of weeks time (28th October). Pop in and say hello if you are in the area.   It is a lovely fair, with artist bears, old bears, newborn dolls, bear making supplies and also mass produced bears such as Charlie Bears.
I went last year and enjoyed the experience.   Plus we managed a short break in the New Forest, so we are going to do the same again.  It is such a beautiful part of the country and we only saw a small part of it last year.
I have booked a B&B that has a couple of fishing lakes so Alan will be happy.  He is really loving his fishing now and goes to the local rivers and broads regularly.

Yesterday morning was spent trying out my table for the fair. 
This is what I have got so far. 




 

       My favourite - a Chiltern Hugmee I have
      named Chester SOLD

Last year when I got there and set up I realised that I had far too many old bears for the space, so I am not taking all of my stock this year. I have quite a mixture - Steiff cats, Chiltern bears and Panda, Pedigree bears, an Irish Republic bear, Deans bears and dog, Muffy Vanderbear, and a few others.

Beautiful Steiff 'Whiskas' Kitten

Irish Republic Bear





Muffy Vandabear 'Gibearny'SOLD


I think I will need some sort of shelving making up (thank goodness Alan is an ex carpenter) to give height to the back of the table and more area to display the bears.






I want to include the Pud Bears this year so they will need an area of the table to themselves, and there are more old bears/cats/dogs I want to add.  The table will be 12" longer than this one, but I still don't think it will be enough.

I was known at work for being able to find spaces for new ranges when the other staff couldn't find anywhere to put them.  I think this one will be a bit of a challenge!

Pedigree Patsy - The Restoration Process

I have tried to take a few photos as I was restoring this next bear.
She came to me in a sorry state.  I think she had been living in an attic for quite a few years and had got very dirty and dusty.  Her nose was gone completely, although there were stitches where it would have been.

What a sorry state to be in - poor girl!
(this is the photo I bought her from)



You can clearly see where the
original nose was

I have seen one or two of these 1950's Pedigree bears now, enough to recognise one, even in her poor condition.  It confirmed to me that she was indeed a Pedigree when I saw the stitches where her original felt nose would have been stitched.

She spent the first 48 hours in a carrier bag in my spare freezer, to kill of any bugs or beetles larvae that may be in her stuffing.  My grandsons are quite amused that Nanny keeps bears and such in her freezer.


The next job was to clean her, I could see that she was originally a pretty cinnamon colour as it was still bright in her ear seams.  She stayed in her dry bath for 24 hours to allow any smells to be drawn away into it.  I do not usually leave the bears in the 'bath' this long, but she was exceptionally grubby.

I then sat on the swing seat outside with a fine tooth comb and my trusty bristle hairbrush (it is quite old and I'm not sure where it came from, but it does the job well).  An hour or so later and the dry oats had been brushed and combed out of her mohair and she looked much cleaner and fluffier.

She had some sort of sound box inside her, and I investigated to see if it could be mended.  It was a huge growler and had just come apart.  A bit of cleaning and sticking back together and it worked again.  Not as good as it would have done, but hey, she gives a little growl when tipped!

Stitching up after a major operation, look away if you are squeamish

The next job was to mend her poorly arm and leg.  A few stitches did the trick on the leg, but the arm took a bit longer to fix.

Her arm was nearly off

This had been roughly stitched with black cotton

 

An ultrasuede black nose, a bit classier than her original felt one, but she deserved it after her ordeal. Then her mouth stitches back in place and she was ready to face the world in her pretty new dress.

Pedigree Patsy, available at www.etsy.com/shop/pollysvintagebears