I am Katherine Hallam (45) married to John. I live in Sheffield with my 14 year old son Jordan, 2 cats, 1 poodle and 5 lizards!! How did you get drawn into the world of teddy bears? I was a collector first I have always been into art and craft and after discovering miniature bears in the late 80's I decided to have a go myself I bought a kit but that did not inspire me so I threw away the pattern and started designing my own. Why do you make bears? I've always done arts and crafts, but making bears give me a special "fuzzy" feeling . The creative process is the most important thing How long have you been making bears? I have been making bears for 19 years (wow I cant believe its my 20 year anniversary next year) How have you learnt the skills to make bears? I am Self taught, a lot of the skills have been trial and error (in the beginning lots of error!) Coming back to making bears in the last couple of years I have picked up new skills that have transformed my bears. I'm always looking for new ideas and techniques, I find I need the excitement of new ideas to inspire me. What were your first bears like? My first bears were very basic, but still unique to me, I've always tried to keep my bears special to me. Is bear making your full time occupation, No! where do I start! - I gave up a full time job as a company director over two years ago and started my own design and marketing company and have been a singer for 23 years which I do on the weekends and any time in between is for bears, I have often got a bears head in progress in the dressing room between shows ( I wish I could do this in my sleep!!) Do you design your own patterns? How? Pen and paper - recently I have gone up-market and the pattern pieces are drawn onto thin perspex, but I never get rid of a pattern and I still have my original pattern pieces (from 20 year ago) drawn on the back of birthday cards and old envelopes. How long does it take from initial design to completion? depends really, if I start from scratch with a new design and work on it to the end, it takes about 2 to 3 days depending on how intricate the design is. Do you work on one bear at a time or have several on the go at once? Well, generally I have several bears on the go at once. The heads and the feet are the most creative part of the process, so I tend to have a few of them around before I get round to making the bodies Where do you draw your inspiration from? Materials, which I get most of from the U.S. A piece of fabric will talk to me! I love craft shops and have a huge bead box that's been going for about 20 years, I get inspiration from them. Colours inspire me as well, I was watching kids tv with my 2 year old niece the other day and there were two colours that stood out for me and I thought a bear would be fantastic in those two colours. I make my own noses sometimes i will make a batch of noses in unusual colours and these inspire me. Generally though my bears evolve as they are going and sometimes end up with their noses being changed half way through and as the faces are needle felted the wool is a huge inspiration for me I go to a place that produces and dyes their own wool in big barns (Im like a kid in a sweet shop!! John used to come in with me but has now took to staying in the car with his ipod because it takes me so long they have hundreds of colours) What kind of editions do you work to? (OOAK, Limited Editions, Commissions.) mainly 00AK because I dont get to make many bears and because I get the most pleasure from the creative process once this is done and the bear is made I find it hard to put the same amount of enthusiasm into just recreating the bear again. I have in the past done limited editions and commissions, I was once commissioned to make a miniature bear chess set it took about 6 months to make and although I was (and so was the collector) over the moon with it. Creatively it burnt me out and I didnt make a bear for about 10 years. 2 years ago after major surgery I was bored and got out my bear making stuff which had been hidden in the garage I was hooked again . For me the most important thing for me is to enjoy the process of bear making not just making them for money. I also made 2 bears for the top of a wedding cake which was very exciting but very nerve racking. What do you think is special or unusual about your bears? My bears are made using traditional bear making techniques along with new techniques including needle felting,needle/scissor sculpting, fimo sculpting and hand painting generally although the basic body and part of the head is made using a pattern, the features are added using sculpting,needle-felting and paintings so no two are ever the same and because the faces dont come from a patterns they are born in my hand. I know when its time to stop when the face talks to me. All my bears noses are hand made by me and all have my signature diamante set into them Have your designs changed and developed over the years and where do you see them going in the future? Oh gosh yes!! When I got my bear making stuff out again after all those years I didnt want to just make the same bears over again. I dont think I will ever stop changing and developing but at the moment the bears I am making are (in my opinion) the best of my career - so far. Do you have a bear in mind that you still haven't made? (i.e.; have you always wanted to make a 4ft one, or a purple one etc?) I want to make a BIG Bear the problem is I dont like sewing machines I prefer to hand sew but I have some big bears in my head that I really would like to do I was thinking of maybe doing 1 large bear per show as a special thing Also I would like to make a really really Big bear Which part of bear making do you love the most and which do you dislike the most? The face is the part that gives me the most pleasure I also like to do feet because I love the needle sculpting and the painting I find bodies and arms a necessity. I recently discovered some eyes on pins which I use to get the right eye size and position (I love these!!) before these I would end up putting the eyes in and out about 1/2 a dozen times to get the expression right. my least favorite parts are stuffing and ears because you can change so much if the ears are not positioned right Are there any special techniques that you employ? (i.e.; needle sculpting, double jointing airbrush etc) needle felting, needle sculpting and hand painting Is there one you wish you had kept? I used to specialise in 1 inch bears I did a full set of winnie the pooh, tigger and piglet all three fitted into an empty pocket watch this went to a collector in Japan Do you specialise in any particular type of bear? (i.e.; minis traditional, wild, etc) I used to specialise in Minis but recently have discovered bigger bear making whic I am growing to Love What materials do you work with? Anything that inspires me Where are your bears made? Generally in front of the Tv but if I have a show coming up and I need to discipline my self I will set up on my dining table with music on and just work straight through What difference has the Internet made to your business? I think email has made a huge difference as you can send people pictures instantly Also Websites and sites such as Face book means my bears can be seen worldwide Do you have any anecdotes about your bear making that you would like to share with our readers? one of my bears was on the tv program "You Bet" I didnt know it was going to be on so it was very exciting, my mum got a phone call from one of her friends who was watching the program, a guy had load of bears that he had to identify just by their noses mine was the last bear on Do you collect bears? Not any more I used to have a huge collection but I sold them all to a collector about 8 years ago I kept a few bears that were given to me by my son and have 2 special bears that will always be with me, my 2 teddy bear TATOOS!! Where did you get your trading name? Simple really, my name is Katherine Rae, when I was little my dad used to call me Katie Rae! What's the last thing that you do to a bear before it goes off to its new home? Well, usually I make sure I photograph it for posterity, sometimes with their new family Do you feel that what you make is art? Yes, definitely Is there anyone you would really like to make a bear for? Ricky Gervais, he has a teddy bear character on his web site that is really cute, I would like to make a version of it and send it to him. Is there a skill that you would like to master, that you just haven’t got to grips with yet? Crocheting What motto of message sums up your bears best? "unique individuals guaranteed to make you smile" |
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