Valentine’s Day

Quickly approaching is the most romantic holiday of the year. This year for Valentine's Day the newest pieces are OOAKs (One Of A Kinds). They are listed on the Toy Shoppe's web site.

Fist there is Cupid, 9" curly matted mohair Bear. He comes will detachable 15" wings and a custom-made glitter heart necklace.

Click here to view on Toy Shoppe's web site.

Second is Cutie Kitty, 7" two-tone mohair cat. He has a fabric bow adorned with a hand painted gold resin heart.

Click here to view on Toy Shoppe's web site.

Lastly, there is Heart, 10" light grey mohair bear. He is also the only open edition piece. He comes with a black & white fabric bow, minus of course the packing materials. He also has a hand painted resin heart.

Click here to view on Toy Shoppe's web site.

Please take a moment to view these pieces on their web site and be sure to get something special for your sweetheart before the 14^th. Remember, this year it falls on a Sunday.

While you are there please also check out the newest bears from mom, C. Riffenberg Bear Co. and the newest dolls from my sister, Jessie Ross, PrimRoss Designs.

Hoppy Hare and Bear Hugs,
Jared

April OOAK

I made a new little bear named April and listed her late Sunday night on eBay. The next morning I got up and checked to see if I could find her in the listings on eBay. I was doing a slow burn as I was not able to find her out there and I checked every page. I understand that it can take a few hours for a listing to show up but this was pushing it a bit for me. Understand that I had shut my computer off and had not checked my e-mail. I was using mom's computer on my way out the door on my way to work.

Finally I logged into my eBay account to find the listing. Upon doing so I discovered that I sold April. I was a bit shocked that someone snapped her up so quickly, but I am glad that she did. April is on her way to live in Ohio.

Below are just a few pictures of April for your enjoyment.

April is a 7" orginial design mohair big head Teddy Bear. She has been carefully created from Schulte mohair hand dyed a creamy white. She is fully jointed and secured by the use of lock nuts, bolts, and discs. Paw and foots pads have been created from a hand dyed merino wool. April is filled with excelsior, fiberfill, and pellets for a nice weight. She can stand alone with a little help. Her sew-in tag is dated and has my signature.

Her flower is a hand made pale pink tissue chrysanthemum. Wrapped around the stem is a "Think Spring!" banner.

Her paper mache' box is hand decorated and painted, featuring a copy of early 1900's postcard art. It is oval, measuring 3 1/4" in length and 3" tall. It comes filled with pink & yellow crinkled paper shreds.

Click here to view the listing.

Hoppy Hare & Bear Hugs,

Jared

Posey Panda - Mom's Newet Ebay Listing

Mom has been keeping busy as of late.

Posey Panda

16" Center-Seamed Bear

Posey Panda is an original design 16" center seam Teddy Bear made from soft Schulte mohair that has been hand dyed two different shades. Her arm, legs and ears are a pale blue with a creamy white body and face. She is fully jointed and secured by the use of lock nuts, bolts and discs. I have used a wobble joint technique to her head, arms and legs which gives her the feel and movement of an old bear. Paw and foot pads are from hand dyed merino wool. Posey Panda is filled with excelsior, fiberfill and pellets for a nice weight. She has been softly stuffed to give her a vintage look and feel, just ever so slightly slouchey. Her sew-in tag has my signature and date.

Please take a moment and stop by to see Posey Panda.

Thank you,

Jared

New Items On Etsy

You all know that I have listed Waldon on Etsy. But what you may not know is that mom has opened an Etsy shoppe as well. She has listed several St. Patrick's Days ornaments and Vintage decorated Easter Eggs. She has also listed a special St. Patrick's Day bear, Patty. Please take a moment to check them out. Thank you.

Click on the pictures below to be taken to the listings on Etsy.

Waldon 20” Mohair Teddy Bear

This is what you all have been waiting for…

Waldon is an original design crafted from two tone mohair. He stands 20" tall and is fully jointed. He has been stuffed with a mix of excelsior, polyfil, and copper BBs. His black glass eyes are backed by felt patches.

Waldon has been highlighted with air brushed accents. His neck is adorned with a bow created from fabric and wired ribbon and a floral accent.

Waldon has been signed and dated.

He is looking for a home and would love to come live with you.

$435.00 USD plus shipping.

You can view him in my etsy shop by clicking here.

Thanks for stopping by and check back soon.

Jared

Theodore Society Bears

I am so excited mom & I were asked to design the Theodore Society Bears for this year. Below is the information about the bears.

“Gemma” and “Goldie”2008/2009 Theodore Society Bears

Commissioned EXCLUSIVELY FOR YOU! The Theodore Society celebrates its fifth anniversary with member bears designed by Jane Monroe of C. Riffenberg Bear Co. and Jared Monroe of Jare Hares and Bears! For the first time in Theodore Society history, each limited-edition bear will be handmade, hand-signed and numbered by the artists.

Club Bear

The club member bear, fully jointed 12-inch “Genna” by Jane Monroe, features hand-dyed mohair in cream, burgundy and mauve, air-brushed accents, hand-dyed wool felt paw and foot pads, hand-painted amber glass eyes with felt patches, a custom Theodore Society anniversary ribbon and a striped cloth bow. Genna is priced at $155.

Gold-Member Bonus!

In addition to the club bear, Gold-level members are entitled to purchase the gold member bear. Jared Monroe’s fully jointed 9-inch “Goldie” sports hand-dyed mohair in shades of gold, air-brushed accents, hand-dyed wool felt paw and foot pads, black glass eyes with felt patches and a custom-made “Celebrate” wooden bead necklace with a Theodore Society pendant and gold bells. Goldie is priced at $145.

Call (800) 331-0038, ext. 129, to order (be sure to have your membership number handy), or download the order form here and mail it to Theodore Society, P.O. Box 5000, Iola, WI 54945-5000. Order early to ensure you receive a low edition number!

Expo: Creating New Pieces

My life is filled with deadlines. Weekly deadlines to complete school work, deadlines to get orders to shoppes and customers, and deadlines to get ready for shows. The later is what I shall be blogging about this time. (And yes I prefer shoppes to shops).

It seems that I am always just around the corner from my next show. I never get everything ready for the show that I want. And in the next couple of weeks is the biggest show of the fall season for me. "A show in August?" you ask, "That really is a fall show?" Yes, indeed it is. Even though school hasn't started and the leaves are still green on the trees. In my world fall has arrived. The Doll and Teddy Bear Expo in Washington, DC gives me enough business to remain busy for the rest of the year. In fact, if it weren't for Expo, I don't think that I would have ever traveled to our nation's capital.

One of the biggest things in getting ready for a show is creating new designs. This can be hard after nearly 20 years. But somehow I manage to create new items for each show. It can be even more difficult to create a new pattern. My latest creation is my Bubbleheads. They came to life this week. There are now 5 of them ready to go to Expo and find new homes.

It all started with some google eyes that I found on eBay a few months back. I thought that they were different and that I sure could do something with them. So I purchased them and they have been sitting on my work table ever since. My mother asked me what was I going to do with them. I told her that I wasn't just sure, but I knew I could do something. My original thought was to use them on my existing big head pattern… but they were just too small for that. Finally, I decided that I needed to create a new pattern for them. In fact the idea for the head just flowed into my li'l ole brain. And a bubble shape came to mind. Designing the head and body were easy, but the arms and legs were another matter. But that is how creativity works. It comes and goes; ebbs and flows. There is no controlling that creative energy. Many times I will have dreams of what to create. Other times I can sit and draw the pattern while dissecting the piece in my head. Gwen Stefani did a commercial for Hp awhile back and she said basically the same thing. You can't control creative energy. Believe me I have tried.

Now back to the Bubbleheads. So, I figured out the easy parts first. And for about 24 hours I struggled with the arms and legs. They really can make a difference in how a piece is understood. I could have created long lanky limbs, short stubby limbs, or something in between. Many times that energy will hit and I know what to do. No matter what it was not coming around this time. Mom finally looked at me and said. "Well just make a little blob shape for the arms and legs. After all you can use the same for both." I drew a basic arm and mulled it overnight and came back the next day. I modified the arms a few times, each time asking my mom what she thought. After about 30 minutes I had something that I was happy with. (Ok, I know that I shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition, but sometimes that just happens.) I redrew that same shape and created the legs. Not really how I was hoping to get there, but I got there and that was what was important. In 3 weeks I have a show to do.

So in the last 3 days I have made 5 of these little guys. The last 2 I finished with help from mom, otherwise they wouldn't be finished. We needed them to have something new to show on the cards we were sending out for the show. I made them out of scraps of mohair in several different colours. I even went so far as making one in Christmas colours. So here they are:

Now I just need to come up with about 15 other new designs all before the 7^th of August. Any ideas?

If you are interested in purchasing one, two, three or more you can contact me @: jarehares@frontiernet.net

Introduction

Hello everyone,

I have written several introductions over the past few years for online class rooms and discussion groups. And with time it doesn't get any easier to introduce myself or explain what it is that I do. First, I have returned to school online to complete my Bachelors degree in International Business. Second, I work part time as a pharmacy tech. Third and most important, I am a teddy bear artist.

I made the decision to return to school several years ago, because I realized that while I was content with my life, I would never be able to retire. So, I figured that completing my degree would help me accomplish this goal. I don't need to be a millionaire, but it might help. I just want to be able to live comfortably when I am in my 60s and beyond without having to worry how I will pay next month's bills. I think that is something that anyone can understand.

I have been with my employer for over 10 years now, my how time flies. I work for a large retailer... take a guess. I have worked in just about every department that they have. Just over a year ago I moved into the pharmacy. This has been a dream job for me. I am only working 2 to 3 days a week, which allows me to complete the other numerous tasks that I need to complete every week.

"What is a teddy bear artist," you ask? A teddy bear artist is someone who creates art that specializes in creating teddy bears. I work with mohair plush mainly, but teddy bear artist work in mediums as varied as the number of teddy bear artists, from mohair plush to domestic and foreign faux fur, from goat and rabbit skins to recycled mink coats. One of the newest mediums is needle felting. This medium has allowed some of the newest designs to stand out among teddy bears. I did a Google search for artist teddy bear and here is what was returned to me:

Results 1 - 10 of about 590,000 for artist teddy bear. (0.17 seconds).

So how did I become a teddy bear artist? I learned the art of the teddy bear from my mother. I started out by helping her cut, sewing, turn, and stuff, join, and decorate. You might think that it is easy to make teddy bears, but let me assure you, it isn’t. On average it takes approximately 8 hours, depending on the size, to make one bear. That does not include the time it takes to dress/decorate the bear. It took me about 5 years to finally feel comfortable enough to start making my owe pieces without tons of help from my mother. I still have one of the first bears that I made and mom thinks that I did most of the work, but really she forgets how much she did help. When I started my own line of bears, it wasn’t bears that I was creating, it was rabbits. For several years people had been requesting that mom make rabbits and the demand for rabbits was increasing, especially during the spring. So after badgering my mother for several months she finally got tired of me asking and turned to me one day saying, “If you want rabbits, then make them yourself”. So I did and Jare Hares was born in 1990. I started like many artists before and after me by using commercial patterns. Soon after I discovered that I could not get the look that I wanted without making my own patterns. So I started designing my own patterns.

Designing patterns can be scary. That was when I was grateful for all of the art classes that I ever took. Understanding proportions, sizes, all of the different elements that go into design really help you to understand what you need to do in the designing process, so that when you get into the actual process of making the teddy bear you don’t waste time re-cutting and re-sewing pieces. When I first started there were many parts in designing that I would have to go back and redo. Even now nearly 20 years later there are times when I get so far in the design process and realize that I need to go back and redo something before I have a finished product.

For years I spend tons of efforts getting the right design for teddy bears and rabbits. Then in the early 2000s a style came over from Japan called anime or big head. These bear designs threw all of the traditional rules of design out the window. I saw so many new styles of bears that it was a bit overwhelming. I decided that I would make my own. I studied the bears from several different artists at the next several shows. I didn’t want to copy what was already available; I wanted to create my own look. So I created a pattern that could easily be turned into a rabbit, bear, cat, dog, lion, and even a mouse. It turned out to be a big success. Eight years later and I am still making that same pattern in different styles. From that one pattern I have made Veggie Rabbits, Panda Bears, and Patriotic dogs.

Photo courtesy dollmasters.com

Well for my first blog entry I have rambled on long enough. I will post some more in the next few days.
Thanks for reading,
Jared