About my bears,and About Us


   Embroidery


    

My bears are a combination of all the things I have done as an artist. From graphic design, stained glass, embroidery, glass engraving, textiles, 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

 Handmade bears  

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

Fabrics

  
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

 
 


      About Us

    Biscuit


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?

 
Above: 'Blueberry ' Finalist in the British Bear Artists Award Dec.2007 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.

  
 

Matt

Matthew

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.

 

 

 

CarolPaul

  
  Carol & Paul (2010 )    

Examples of Paul's work online:


Collectableartuk About Us | The Quest | ©2010 Carol & Paul Birkeland-Green© 1995- 2010