Little Posy is my latest fluffy pink bear and was made especially for a special bear collector who wanted a pink bear with roses. I think that Posy ticks both of those boxes.
Posy is created from a very soft fluffy faux fur, fleece and felt. I got the chance to experiment with Posy and she is the first bear that I have created who has decorated paws, I drew a little rose pattern on her paw pads and on her ears too. I think it gives her a little more uniqueness and character, hopefully her forever family will agree.
Once I had created Posy I then made her some roses but she told me that she liked a bit of bling so I added a little sparkle on her nose and on the rose at the top of her head. Posy is much happier now that she has some sparkle.
I loved painting Posy because watercolour loose florals are one of the things that I paint when I want to relax and have a good time. I think that Posy would love to walk through a rose garden. The daffodils are in full bloom right now and hopefully it wont be too long before the roses bloom too.
Pink bears are always some of the most fun to make, sometimes they come out as very gentle characters and sometimes they come out a little sassy, I think that Posy falls somewhere in the middle, she is as delicate as a rose but I get the sense that she could have a few thorns if not handled properly.
I am delighted with how Posy came out, she is a darling and I think she will be very happy in her forever home, I am excited to hear about what she gets up to! If you would like to adopt one of my bears you can see which ones are available now by popping over to my Folksy shop.
In January I had an advert pop up on my Facebook feed for a ten week long puppetry course at The Theatre Royal Plymouth hosted by People’s Company. I was very hesitant because I suffer with Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety but I also loved the idea of spending ten weeks learning more about puppets. Fearing that I may have made a giant mistake I pressed submit on the form and less than a week later I was walking into my first ever puppetry class.
Me with my tea towel puppet Tegan.
I felt very unsure what to expect and walking in on the first day was nothing short of terrifying but I managed it, the group of 20ish people was much bigger than I anticipated and the ‘getting to know you’ games and warm ups are like something out of my nightmares, however as we did each exercise, as I completed each task asked of me I started to feel more capable and less anxious. I was learning slowly that nothing bad would happen if I joined in and that equally nothing bad would happen if I chose to sit out and observe. Hannah and Danny who ran the ten week course could not of been more accepting of my physical and mental challenges, never pushing me further out of my comfort zone than I was happy to push myself. The rest of my classmates for the most part seemed equally anxious that first day and there was almost an immediate sense that we weren’t in this alone.
My tiny rod puppet Roxy Cleo.
It didn’t get any easier or less scary as the ten weeks went on, sadly GAD just doesn’t work like that and at least for me exposure therapy is not effective. Despite that fear remaining though I found that as the weeks went on I was enjoying the classes more and more, joining in a little more and pushing that fear to one side, acknowledging how I felt but allowing myself to do the things I wanted to do anyway without the fear paralysing me. I felt like I achieved a little success each and every time that I allowed myself to push the fear to one side. From sticks to tea towels, paper people and sticky tape puppets, it has been quite an adventure.
In the ten week long course we learnt about a lot of different puppetry styles and although I feel like I have just barely scrapped the surface of what there is to learn it was a fantastic starting point. I have created three puppets in the ten weeks, two were started there and finished at home and the third was made entirely at home. I want to try and make more, I think I knew going into the course that actually creating the puppets would be my favourite part.
Tiny Clara made from paper tape and fabric scraps.
I really feel like a new world is opening up for me, I have loved puppets for as long as I can remember and now I get a chance to meet people who are as enthusiastic about them as I am and who are actively encouraging people to get more involved in making and performing with puppets too. I have to give a special mention here to Broken Puppet Theatre Company who I have met through the course and who have nudged me in the right direction throughout!
Me and Clara in rehearsals.
Yesterday on World Puppet Day of all days we held the end of course showcase. I was delighted that my bear Barnacle (pictured below) was asked to open the show and bless him he did an amazing job with a little comedy routine. It was magical seeing everyone’s puppets come to life in their hands, each and every one was different and had a personality of their very own. The talent and skills on display was mesmerising from fishermen to devils, bunnies, dragons and everything in between. Working in a group of puppeteers on a short segment of a story I worked with a tiny puppet that I had created and named Clara (pictured above), she got to ride a bear, meet a crone, make a deal with a giant troll queen and save her prince! It was amazing to work alongside the puppeteers that I had got to know over the ten week course.
I am so sad that the course has ended, I can only hope that I get an email someday from The Theatre Royal bringing us all back together, I feel like Hannah and Danny had so much more to teach us and we all felt like we were becoming a little company of our own. Ten weeks just isn’t long enough!!!
Barnacle Bear opened the show!
Happy belated World Puppet Day to you all, there will definitely be more puppets in Moby and Puddle’s future and I hope that you are looking forward to it as much as I am. I don’t want to stop now and I think I might actually want to be a puppeteer when I grow up!
Thank you for reading my blog,
Samantha Webb.
This is me straight after the showcase, on a high from a great performance but sad about saying goodbye.
I am very pleased to introduce you to baby dragon Kaida, the name Kaida originated in Japan and feels perfect for this really little dragon who is only 11cm tall with a teeny wingspan of approximately 7cm. She really is just a teeny wee dragon, I created a new pattern for her and the whole thing was diddy.
Pattern pieces for baby dragon.
Her tiny features just made her even more difficult to sew but I think it was worth the effort of turning tiny fabric pieces inside out to create such a cutie. Her wings have a very thin wire inside to give them a bit of stability which Kaida will definitely need whilst flying to her new home.
She has pointy ears and excellent hearing, her eyes sparkle and of course like all of my bears she has a tiny silver heart sewn to her fur with an S stamped on it, this shows that she is a collectors piece but also that I will never make the same one again, Kaida really is one of a kind.
Kaida is weighted and is so nice to hold, you may be a little shocked at how much a baby dragon actually weighs when you hold one but be careful if you do, they are ticklish!
Kaida is such a darling little dragon, I am really happy with the way the pattern came out and I hope to make more baby dragons (and maybe some bigger ones) in the future. I can imagine a whole hoard of dragons would be rather cute if not chaotic. I painted Kaida just like my bears and she enjoyed sitting for her portrait but was insitent that I use all of the colours because they are all her favourite!
Kaida is a lucky dragon and has already been adopted by a very lovely family who have experience caring for dragons, she is very excited to meet them. Keep an eye on my social media pages though because now that I know my pattern works well I will be creating more in the future so you may be able to adopt your own baby dragon someday too.
Firecracker is a really wonderful bear, as soon as I saw this fluff I had to make a bear with it and ahhhh it was a dream to sew with! I am in love with Firecracker and how he came out. He has a bow and some little bells so that he can dance and jingle everywhere he goes. The black of his main fluff truly is the best background for his fantastic pops and bangs of colour.
Firecracker has colours from his feet to his ears, he is a big burst of fun! He is made of faux fur and fleece, he has glass eyes and an embroidered nose! Even his eyes sparkle. With his cotter pin joints he can stand or sit, move his arms, legs and neck, he can basically dance!
I have never painted a firework but this was a pretty good little attempt I think. Firecracker really loves fireworks night when the skies are lit up with all of the colours of the rainbow! All of my bears come with a portrait that I have painted, I just love painting bears.
Firecracker is just chilling out and waiting for his forever home, it needs to be with a family who loves colour because he is sure to stand out!
Find him in my Folksy store while he waits but as always he is one of kind and will not be replicated.
Oleander looks like she is made from candy floss, her faux fur is the longest, fluffiest fur that I have ever sewn with and it was not easy but I am so happy that I persevered because look at that little face!
Oleander has sparkly green eyes, a pastel rainbow over sized bow and gorgeous little toes that have been needle sculpted from fleece. Oleander is named after a beautiful pink and purple flower, I call her Andie for short after Andie from the movie Pretty In Pink which I have always loved. She can sit or stand, move her arms and her neck, she likes to shimmy her fluffy fur!
I had such a lot of fun painting this bear, how on earth does she manage to be so bright and also so pastel all at the same time? She is a mystery to me and I could not love her more!
Oleander is chilling out waiting for a forever home, she doesn’t mind waiting, its almost spring and she will wait in the sunshine! If you would like to adopt her please pop over to my Folksy shop and see if she is still available, she is one of a kind and will not be repeated.
A very happy Valentine’s Day to each and every one of you from me, the bears and Muddle. Today is a day to celebrate love!
I hope that wherever you are today and whatever you are doing that you manage to tell someone that you love them and hear it in return. It shouldn’t take a special day to remind us but now that it is here it is a perfect chance to say it. I will be spending valentine’s day with my lovely big bear, Jangy and our Webblings but I am hoping to sneak in a little sewing too!
All of these bears are waiting to give a great big hug to someone that they love, a forever family. You can adopt them now from my Folksy shop. Each and every one is genuinely made with love, care and attention to detail. They all have a little silver heart on too that has been stamped with an S just like the one Muddle is holding in the illustration above.
From me, my family, all of the bears and Muddle … HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
Oooh do you think I should make a little cupid bear soon? That would be adorable.
I promise I am working on some new bears, two of which will be available to purchase later this month. But this weekend our family visited Harry Potter Studio Tours in London to celebrate my mums 60th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! It was well worth the 7 hour drive it took to get there and I would recommend any fan visit if they can.
Me and Lilly Webbling with the birthday girl!
We had a truly magical time, seeing how all of the sets, creatures and characters were bought to life by artists and craftspeople setting a literal stage for the actors to feel like the magic was real. It was awe inspiring on every level. Moby and Puddle has seen my try my hands at many crafts before settling firmly on teddy bears but seeing the work of such incredible artists and imagining just a fraction of the time it must of taken to create such intricate details is quite honestly mind blowing. In fact even if you aren’t a big potter fan but just a fan of crafts in general then I think you would get a lot out of it.
I have come back from the experience feeling motivated to create even more intricate bears and to dedicate just as much of my time to making them perfect. I want my creations to be of a level that makes people say ‘woah, they were made by hand?’ and to know that I have created something that will be loved for a long long time. I feel inspired and cannot wait to get to my sewing!!!
I would also like to try and make a little bear version of a mandrake because how cute would that be? They really were adorable!
As we were walking around I did find myself thinking … ‘but where are the bears?’ There are no teddies taken to Hogwarts, you can’t tell me that none of the students have a teddy to take with them when they are going to be away from home all that time? Everyone needs a hug sometimes and often only a teddy will do! Those poor students!
Besides teddies though Hogwarts is placed in the highlands of Scotland, okay I admit that wild bears went extinct around 450AD in Scotland however I can’t help but feel that the laws of nature don’t really apply to The Forbidden Forest so unless otherwise proven different I from now on will believe that there must be bears hiding deep in the depths of the forest. Would it really of hurt them to stick a bear in? for old time’s sake?
Maybe I am clutching at straws but really, they could of given one of the characters a bear patronus, that would of been so magical!! Or have a bear animagus, that would give you quite the advantage in the battle of Hogwarts? So many wasted opportunities!
I am only joking (sort of), I have had a wonderful weekend, we all did. I am facing work this weekend fired up and ready to put as much pride into my work as the people who worked tirelessly to create the artefacts and niknaks that would be seen on the screens for mere moments. Look out for some new bears very soon!!!
Let me know what your Hogwarts house is, mine is Hufflepuff, maybe I should make a badger!
I have recently enrolled on a puppetry course with The Theatre Royal Plymouth and People’s Company. I absolutley love puppets, having grown up with Labyrinth, The Storyteller and Fraggle Rock, puppets have always been fascinating to me. I have tried to make puppets a few times through the years with varying levels of success but this is the first ever rod puppet.
My puppet Teagan.
I enrolled on the course because I suffer from anxiety disorder which is affecting my life negatively especially when it comes to sharing my children’s stories, I am really proud of them and want to share them with more children without it causing issues to my health, mentally and physically. Pushing my comfort zone to it’s limits seems like a good way to do that for me. So far I have to say it is brilliant, I am ready and at a point where I want to become more self confident. I have completed three of the ten sessions and even though it is terrifying I am loving every one. I do not think I would of been ready to push myself socially this time last year, it has come up at the perfect time for me. It will not be a cure for my anxiety but might just remind myself that life and people aren’t always so scary in fact the group I am in has been amazing and accommodating of my limitations. If you are even slightly interested in trying one of The People’s Company courses (they do a range of them) I would highly recommend them.
However it has made me want to play with different kinds of puppets, the photos of tiny rod puppets (puppets controlled by rods) was so inspirational that I had to try and make one. I have lots of work to do but when inspiration strikes you have to go for it.
So I sat down with my needle felting supplies, I haven’t needle felted since I have recovered from repetitive strain in my shoulder. I am not sure where Roxy Cleo came from, one minute she was a ball of wool and the next moment her little face emerged, fibre arts really do work like magic! The shoulder pain was so worth it to see her little smile.
I created the teeth and claws with polymer clay, they are so tiny I was worried about loosing them in the oven! It was so fiddly to glue them on and they are quite sharp but they finish her little features off so well.
Her body is sewn from scraps of fabric and if you look too close (don’t) one leg is a lot longer than the other. I had no plan of what she was going to look like and no pattern so I just made it up as I was going along, using what felt right. I cannot put into words how proud I am of those tiny shoes, they are made of felt and have little twine laces that are laced up! It was so fiddly and now I am wondering if I could make them even smaller some day!
For her rods I have used floristry wires which I had available, they aren’t really strong enough especially on her head, if they were stronger then she would have more motion but that is trial and error. I would plan more in the future and source some more suitable hardware.
I really love how she came out, Lilly Webbling suggested the name Roxy and Harry Webbling suggested Cleopatra, I couldn’t decide between them so she is now called Roxy Cleo. I used a little chalk to weather her shoes and give her a little blush and then she had her photo shoot. (You can see a video on my Instagram page too.)
I would love to make more puppets, it is amazing to see something I have created come to life with a little personality. I am excited to learn more on my puppetry course and hopefully be able to breathe even more life into little Roxy Cleo. I hope you love her as much as I do.
Thank you for reading my blog and meeting Roxy Cleo,
With so many bears on the market from very cheap to incredibly expensive collectible bears, my bears are the lower end of the collectible market and I am always so very grateful when someone chooses one of my bears from the wide arrange of the bears available. Adding a bear to your hug can be a hard choice to make.
My bears are not toys, they have not been CE tested and because of the weights, the joints and the fact that they are hand sewn means that they would not pass testing and testing is only financially viable for products you wish to mass produce which is the exact opposite of my bears which I want to be one of a kind.
While I am here I should probably address that fact that I also cannot and do not breach copyright with my bears, as much as I am grateful that people would like me to create them Winnie The Pooh or Paddington, I am afraid I have to stick to my own characters. The risks involved in ignoring copyright laws can be severe even for the smallest of businesses.
So what makes bears pieces of art over toys? To me it is the amount of love and dedication that I put into each one, they really are works of art! I write on all of my tags that they are 001 of 001 and they really are, it is sort of a joke since I own bears from big manufacturers that are 396 of 3000 for example. I never repeat a name and in all the years of creating bears they all seem to be happy with their names, don’t worry there are millions of names in the world so I won’t run out.
Every bear of mine has a tiny silver heart sewn to them that has been hand stamped with an ‘S’, tiny bears have the heart on the tag because my tiniest bears are not much bigger than the hearts sometimes. If they have this silver heart then you know they are made by me, Samantha Webb which is what the S stands for (They are too tiny for and SW).
When you receive one of my bears they also come with a tiny portrait which I paint with watercolours, I love to paint bears and it is a great excuse for me to practice painting with my watercolours on smaller images. I am predominantly a children’s illustrator and painting is my passion so it is fantastic to be able to merge my interests. I like to imagine that some of my collectors will have binders full of the trading card sized illustrations someday just like my Artist Trading Card binders that I love.
I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has ever adopted one of my bears, they really do mean a lot to me and every purchase helps me to keep my tiny business afloat and to support my family too. Purchasing from me or in fact any teddy bear artist is keeping an old craft alive, I hope to pass down my skills to someone someday but until then I will keep perfecting my bears, I do think that they continue to get better and better over time like any skill that requires practice.
If you have any name suggestions (I am currently working on two bears that are as yet unnamed) let me know!
The eagle eyed among you would of noticed a face in my 2022 round up that I hadn’t yet introduced you to, well the time has come …
This is Evangeline and Evangeline is incredibly difficult to photograph because she has the most beautiful, vibrant fur in a rainbow of colours all standing out against a bright white under layer and my camera absolutely hates it. It cannot focus on the colours without making the white unbearably bright. So please trust me when I say this bear is so much more beautiful in real life!
As I was creating Evangeline I was listening to a lot of Disney songs, it’s kind of a guilty pleasure only I don’t feel guilty about it. One of my favourite songs came on ‘Ma Belle Evangeline’ and it stuck in my head for days whilst I created this bear so it was only fitting at the end that she be named Evangeline. I think that it really suits her too because she is a star!
Evangeline is created from faux fur like all of my bears. Her needle sculpted toes and her ears are fleece and her eyes are glass. Evangeline has an embroidered nose and a lovely yellow ribbon. She is weighted so she is lovely to snuggle and she has 5 joints (neck, legs and arms) so she is posable although a doll stand is recommended if she is to be displayed stood up, she is more than happy to chill out sat down.
As her name Evangeline means ‘bearer of good news’ I am happy to announce that she is available for adoption from my folksy shop. She is of course one of a kind so she is only available until she has been adopted.
Like all of my bears she has a tiny silver heart that is stamped with an ‘S’ attached to her, just below the chin so you know she is created by me and will be a one of a kind bear.
I love to paint my bears and Evangeline was nice exception, I have painted her in watercolours and her painting will accompany her to her forever home. They are trading card size and are also one of a kind, I think that some of my amazing customers must have quite the collection of bear cards by now.
I have loved creating Evangeline, she is very unique and although she was my last bear of 2022 she has given me the boost in confidence to keep creating into 2023 and I have my next bear planned already!!
Moby and Puddle 