Teddy Bear Maker

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25 Main Road - Tirau, Waikato

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Recycled fur teddy bears Photo - Teddy Bear Maker, Waikato, New Zealand

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The Teddy Bear Maker

by Slaney

Sheffield, United Kingdom

January 14, 2007

Best of IgoUgo Tirau is a small town known for its antique shops and very popular with tourists and New Zealanders alike. Here you can meander through the many antique outlets agonising over items with a price tag NZ$2000+ - identical items of “old fashioned” ...Read more Tirau is a small town known for its antique shops and very popular with tourists and New Zealanders alike. Here you can meander through the many antique outlets agonising over items with a price tag NZ$2000+ - identical items of “old fashioned” furniture which you couldn’t sell at home and have taken to the dump as a last resort!

There is an Information Centre in the shape of a large dog and the Wool Centre housed in the shape of a sheep, as well as craft shops, shops with beautiful housewares, in fact shops to suit every taste. Cafes are also plentiful for that welcome sandwich and coffee and a pleasant day can be spent here.

On this visit the Teddy Bear Maker - home of Heatherbelle Bears - owned by Heather Germann was my destination. Heather has all sizes, brands, styles and prices of teddies – toys and collectibles – along with kits for home sewing for sale and on my last visit I had learned that she made teddies from old fur coats (or as Heather states "Heirlooms made from recycled fur"). The prices vary a lot with a 6” teddy made from mink on sale at NZ$350. However, for a teddy made from a fur supplied by the purchaser the prices are very reasonable at NZ$50 and determined to make use of two coney fur jackets I had from the 60s I had mailed them to my friend.

Unfortunately, they had not arrived by the time of our visit, and thinking they had been lost on route I purchased a teddy made from Musquash for NZ$70. I was very tempted by one made from white (bleached) Possum fur at a price of NZ$450, but I resisted!

On our last day, however, my coats arrived so it was a mad rush to get them to Heather which meant that I had to leave them with her to be made up and mailed back to me in the UK. Heather explained that as it would be very humid and too hot to work with fur she would not begin making them until March.

It was a long wait, but in June my two bears were delivered and I am really pleased with them. Heather advises the size of bear she can get from each fur and then you can pick the style. I had the traditional style with the hump on the back. The Musquash bear I had purchased had a (purposely) wobbly head, but the others don’t. All limbs and heads swivel and although made to the same pattern all three bears look different. Close

From journal A Kiwi Christmas and New Year

Teddy Bear Maker

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The Teddy Bear Maker