What are Eat Cake! bears?
Eat Cake! bears and other little ones are one-of-a-kind mohair artist bears. They are all designed and created from start to finish by me, Barbette Jensen. Each one has hundreds (and hundreds) of little stitchces. Eat Cake! bears have found their way into homes with bear lovers worldwide. I have regular collectors in the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Germany, Russia, France, and of course the USA who have adopted my bears. Thank you everyone who has an Eat Cake! bear (or elephant) in their home.
I use quality mohair that I age before I design the bears. Each one is then individually hand-dyed with my own mixtures from Cushings and Rit dyes. The brightly colored bears are dyed with my own mix of koolaid colors!
Each piece goes through a five-step process to give them that “old loved toy” look. Each 8" bear takes an average of 10 hours to complete. They go through many time-consuming steps to reach their wonderful aged look. They are entirely sewn by hand which I think gives them a little soul. Each is lovingly double-stitched and then the edges are protected with fray check. They are then aged again on the backside of the mohair before continuting onto the next step. After they are filled and jointed they are then aged once again with the finishing touches to give them the “just found in the attic” look.
They are jointed with five-way cotter pin, some of the bears have a two joint neck (they wobble more). I use vintage trim such as ribbon, pins, brooches, and Cracker Jack prizes. I also use vintage doll clothes for the dressed bears. The eyes are vintage shoe buttons, glass teddy eyes, MOP buttons, or hand-painted glass eyes.
Besides being filled with love and care, the little ones are filled with a variety of things. I use 100% cotton in the legs for the lumpy old feel, 100% wool in the arms for its softness, steel shot, fine gravel and excelsior fill their little bellies to mimic the weight and squishiness of old bears, and cluster fill for their heads. There is steel shot in the feet and paws also for weight and stability. Each comes with their own Eat Cake! hang tag.
Please take a look at the bears available here on my site, ebay, PFATT Marketplace and Glitter and Grunge! Oh, and don't forget my blog. I post messages there before I list the bears anywhere. Of course you can always request a custom bear! Just click Special Requests on the menu.
Eat Cake! little ones are adult collectibles and are not meant for children. There are entirely too many small parts that are a choking hazard.