Everything you ever wanted to know about teddy bears but were afraid to ask

Contemporary bear makers at the top of their game are true artisans, and spend many, many hours on the loving creation of each teddy bear they produce. Many -- myself included -- offer only one of a kind teddies to their collectors. For these OOAK teddies, design, pattern, and/or finishing will never be reproduced.

Pricing for these wonderfully huggable, soft-sculpted works of art is what you'd expect for ANY lovingly hand-made original art work that's been created from the heart and mind of a single artisan, with exquisite attention to the smallest detail.

Here are just a few of my favorite bear artisans, representing a wide variety of styles and sizes; something for every taste!

Some bear artisans enjoy entering their work into competitions. There are quite a few versions of the "teddy bear contest" available to teddy makers. In very broad strokes and generalizations, these competitions generally take the following forms.

PHOTO BASED contests

Big magazines such as TEDDY BEAR & FRIENDS and TEDDY BEAR REVIEW in the US sponsor annual competitions for bearmakers which they promote and feature in their magazines. Individual artists and huge bearmaking manufacturers can enter photos of their bears, for a fee, into a handful of categories (such as Large/Dressed, Miniature, Bear 'Friends', and so on.)

It would be physically and financially impossible to collect all these thousands of entry bears under one roof, and the job of judging them in person would be exhausting and time-consuming for the judging panel, so these contests judge entrants via photograph only.

Before being viewed by the judging panel, photos are stripped of identifying marks. Judges then narrow down the field of entrants to a short-list of nominees for each category.

Later, those nominees are presented to a larger audience -- often the general public, and often via publication in a magazine -- for voting. The overall "winner" for each category is then determined by popular vote.

HANDS-ON contests

In addition to magazine-sponsored contests, many bear shows and exhibitions offer competitive opportunities to their participants.

Those who have paid a table fee to exhibit at a show -- or who attend the show and pay an entry fee for the contest -- may enter their work into a given show's contest. In these hands-on contests, the actual bear must be presented for live, in-person judging.

Often bears are awarded a point total based on pre-set judging criteria, and artists are given written feedback on what was "good" and what was "not so good" about their entry piece(s).

Ribbons are commonly awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, and often the public attending the event joins in the vote for Best of Show.

HYBRID contests

Hybrid contest combine an initial photo screening process -- to narrow down the entry field to a short-list of nominees -- and a hands-on final judging process. In contests like these, those who are nominated via photograph must send in their nominated work for in-person evaluation before they can be considered for any final prize.

A few words of caution...

It's certainly true that it takes talent, time, and tenacity to win, place or show in a bear contest. And it's equally correct that, "you can't win it, if you're not IN it".

But -- having said that -- I urge you to please keep in mind that a wall of trophies and ribbons does NOT an "artist" make.

In other words, please remember that there are huge numbers of bearmakers who, for whatever reason, don't participate in contests at all. Or who participate, but never garner nominations or wins.

These amazingly talented folk create some of THE most achingly beautiful, high-quality, sure-to-stand-the-test-of-time bears I've ever seen.

Honors and awards are a wonderful validation of an artist's creativity, talent, and originality, and I'm giddy and humbled and supremely proud about the ones I've earned, myself. They really mean something to me.

But a person can be creative, talented, and original, and have no trophies at all.

Just some food for thought.

And now, onto just a small sampling of the contests!!!

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As the internet increasingly becomes the shopping destination of choice for busy people, the plethora of big bear shows that once existed, thins out.

This is truly unfortunate, because only at a bear show can you giddily fondle so many beautiful works of bruin art, every one of which is just an arm's reach away! Seeing and touching and sometimes, smelling! -- some bears contain sachets! -- a fuzzy work of teddy art in the flesh beats a crisp online photo of that same bear, any day.

I'm a bearmaker but also a wife and busy mom, so getting to shows can be difficult. But I'm committed to supporting the continuation of our wonderful teddy bear shows not just in word, but in deed... so I exhibit my bears once a year, myself, and try to attend more shows than that.

My bear show of choice is the Nevada City International Teddy Bear Convention, now in its 20-something-th year. It's a three day exhibition of some of the best bear art around, and is held early April each year.

A wonderful show, the NCITBC is almost exclusively artist bears, with a few vendors who sell accessories and accents FOR those bears, and several mohair suppliers represented.

Nevada City is a picturesque, historic gold rush town on the California/Nevada border, and has a wonderful downtown shopping district chock full of fine eateries, coffee houses, and boutiques.

If you're near the California/Nevada border some spring, please drop in to check out the bears and say hello. Your reasonable admission fee is good for ALL THREE DAYS, and Nevada City makes a romantic, charming weekend destination if you're looking to just "get away."