Christie Kotz

😄This is before the deer floss is tied off for each eye. After I sculpt the socket stuffing behind the eyes, I’ll tighten down the knots to sink the eyes a little more. Then sink the final knot & the thread tails back behind the eyes and pull them out through the bottom of the face to create cheeks

I didn’t catch my autocorrect error— I meant Deer FLOSS.

Upcoming bear (this is what the head looks like before any detail work). You can see the deer floor hanging from his eyes. I have to shape & sculpt the stuffing around his eyes to create sockets, then I’ll add shading accents.
This one will be ~12”, in two shades of Steiff alpaca.

♥ Adopted ♥

Teddy bear with sparse, soft mohair fur. Stitched nose sealed with beeswax then shaded with artist oil paints. She has glass eyes.

WEDNESDAY

🐾 11.5”
🐾 Steiff Mohair & Alpaca
🐾 Black glass eyes
🐾 Cotterpin joints & wobble neck. Joints left looser for floppy arms (she can’t stand unassisted)
🐾 Stitched nose, sealed with beeswax
🐾 Vachetta Leather paw pads
🐾 Shaded with oil paints
🐾 Same face as my little Nori

Alfie is adopted. ❤️

ALFIE
12” tall, made from Steiff- Schulte Synthetic rusty-brown fur, black glass eyes & cotterpin joints. His nose was embroidered with cotton floss, sealed with beeswax, then shaded in oil paints. The paw pads are UltraSuede and his stuffing is heavy polyester fiber.

**ADOPTED** Sleepyhead Ninnymuggins: 11” tall, made with Steiff Curly Kid Mohair, black glass eyes & cotterpin joints. Her nose was embroidered with cotton floss, sealed with beeswax, then shaded with oil paints. The paw pads are fuzzy velvety fabric & the stuffing is heavy polyester fiber.

This is the third bear, just waiting for his legs. He will be 11-12” tall. Tissavel synthetic fur, glass eyes. I’ll post updated photos after his legs are redone/attached.

Nuts! I forgot to mention that the pink multicolored bear is 7” tall made with hand-dyed pastel alpaca. She has the most perfect face… I’m very tempted to keep her.

The multicolor pastel bear is also finished. Tomorrow I’ll try to take a few photos of her outside in natural light before posting her and the little mint bear on my site.

A third bear may be added this weekend as well. No promises.

Coming this weekend:

CRICKET
Standing height of 5.5” (4.5” sitting), made in pale mint alpaca with ultra suede paw pads and black glass eyes.

When the light outside isn’t so intense, I’ll get some outdoor photos that show Cricket’s color a little more accurately.

Small teddy bear head with ball-head pins marking the center of the face & eye placement. The nose is colored shifting and shimmery.

I have 9 bears-in-progress on my desk. This is a small one with a purple/gold color-shifting nose.
The guide pins mark the center of the face and help me stitch the nose evenly. Each stitched nose takes three layers of cotton floss which are set with beeswax then shaded with paint & wax pencils.

Teddy bear head with stitched nose. Papertowel pinned to the outline of the nose. Beeswax heated up then applied by paintbrush onto the nose threads. Nose cooled then shaped.

Bear Nose Tutorial, Part 2: Applying beeswax to the bear’s nose.

The end result will look messy at this stage but the nose will be cleaned up and shaded further along in the bear-making process.

Teddy bear head shown in three stages: First with nose outlined in ultra fine Sharpie marker. Second with the first few lines of nose stitches. Last image shows the completed nose.

Since no one asked, I’ve put together a quick tutorial to demonstrate how I stitch a bear’s nose.

I use Aurifil cotton floss because it doesn’t shed and it stitches beautifully. Also I hoard the little wooden spools.

Don’t pre-treat the floss with anything, just seal it with beeswax at the end.

Dark chocolate brown with medium brown muzzle / patches. It’s super-thick alpaca, hopefully it won’t swallow his features.

Yeah, so I didn’t know where to find the replies to my post. My notifications mentioned some activity but when I checked BlueSky— nada.
JEN WAIT until you see the last bear head. He was supposed to be another 9” bear but the alpaca was too thick so he’ll be more like 12”.

Two teddy bear heads waiting in line for facial features to be added. One teddy bear head waiting for ears. One small complete green bear. Total of four bears being sewn at various stages of completion.

January bears-in-progress. One more head to go. [No open-mouths or non-bear creations in January.]

15th Anniversary teddies planned after the January round:

🐾 ±2 Mini Bears
🐾 2 open-mouthed bears
🐾 ±2 large bears (15-20”)
🐾 O’Philia O’Possum
🐾 Corgi?
🐾 Otter
🐾 Reindeer & Hippo near Christmas

Sprocket the mini bear. I’m working on a more proportional body for him now— I was super-focused on creating a rounder bear head for my minis, and forgot to compensate for the larger noggin. The body he’s borrowing will be used for a smaller bear in the same colors. I love him. 💕

2023 URSA competition results were officially announced! The Peach Peddler Bears received the following five URSA Awards:

⚙︎ 1st MOUSEFEATHERS Wee Little Bears and Buds
⚙︎ 1st CHUCKLES Large Bears and Buds)
⚙︎ 1st PEACHES It's Not A Bear
❁ 2nd PEONY Pretty in Pink
✹ 3rd BUTTERCUP Circus Comes To Town

MOUSEFEATHERS [RESERVED]
🐾 4.25” tall if ears count
🐾 Green & Cream synthetic Minibear Fabric from @teddy_supplies
🐾 Ultrasuede Paw Pads with pulled & shaded toes
🐾 Glass Eyes
🐾 Embroidered Cotton Floss nose sealed with Beeswax then shaded with oil paint
🐾 Stuffed with Polyfil & steel grit weighting

4-inch bear, MouseFeathers

BUTTERCUP (RESERVED)

🐾 HEIGHT: 8 inches

🐾 MATERIALS: Steiff-Schulte Mohair/Alpaca, Ultrasuede PawPads, Cotton Floss Nose, Glass Eyes, Polyester Stuffing, Cotterpin Joints for limbs, wobble-jointed neck. Pulled and shaded toes on all four limbs.

🐾 Shaded with oil paints & Prismacolor Pencils

Hobbes
February 23, 2015

Poppie the Hedgehog
December 8, 2022

Yuri
October 8, 2017

NORI
Medium sized (8 inches tall).
I love this one so much! I’ve had her finished for a couple of months and just can’t bring myself to put her in the bear relocation program.

Georgie
March 22, 2023

This is the latest round of bears that are in various stages of completion. Nori is 100% complete. The pastel rainbow guy needs toes. Two green minis need legs and shading. Hedgie needs a body, legs & shading. The big red bear needs a body and ears.

Peaches the Piglet
February 14, 2022