Teddy bears and felted toys by MrBearFamily

One of a kind art toys are beautiful objects. Each art doll or Teddy bear is unique and has its own personality expresses through its eyes. They are of different colors, sizes and complexions yet they somehow all look very kind and cute. One can easily forget they are toys and not live beings. I was lucky to get a chance to talk to a very talented artist MrBearFamily who creates amazing Teddy bears and art toys.



Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Nina. I live in a small town not far from the capital of Latvia, Riga. I work in an art gallery that exhibits art dolls and toys. Every time I come to my work place I find myself surrounded by a beautiful world of fairy tales, princesses, angels and other mysterious creatures.



How did you start?
One day reading a woman’s housekeeping magazine I came across pictures of hand made Teddy bears. I completely fell in love with these toys and started reading more about Teddy bears' hand making. I found on-line master classes and forums and learned how to make them myself. I got completely addicted to the process of creating my soft toys. It’s been five years since I started and I still cannot stop designing and making my bears and other animals.

My very first toy was a white Teddy bear. It is still with me. The bear sits next to me on my bed-side table. Since then I’ve created more than 200 Teddy bears and other animals.

Some time ago I came across an art gallery while looking for a place to showcase my Teddy bears. That gallery is an amazing art space and that's the place where I work now.



What inspires you?
I suspect I’m still a child deep in my heart. I love making animals that look somewhat childish. They remind me of my childhood and a few soft toys I used to play with when I was a child. Each of my toys is unique and it has its own personality. They all have kind faces and somewhat unsettled look in their eyes.

I frequently go to different art dolls and toys’ shows and museum exhibitions. I create Teddy bears that are ballerinas, sailors, angels, different characters from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tails. On top of that I make all sorts of animals for the specialized shows.

What are your plans as far as art dolls are concerned?
I will continue experimenting and working with different fibers especially with wool. I plan to start making other animals like monkeys, elephants, lions. Nature is so diverse and beautiful and there are always ideas we can borrow from it.



Thank you, Nina!

Art dolls by MioPupazzo

Art dolls are one of a kind objects that bring back memories of our childhood. Art dolls made by MioPupazzo are tiny fairy creatures that belong to our favorite fairy tales books. I was curious to know more about MioPupazzo and her beautiful art.



Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
I was born and raised in a loving family in one of the most beautiful cities in the world - St. Petersburg, Russia. The city is famous for its tsars' palaces turned into world class museums and parks.

From an early age I often visited such places as the Hermitage museum or Peterhof known for their architecture and beauty. Almost every weekend my mom took me to a museum. My favorite one was a museum of decorative and applied arts.

As beautiful as St. Petersburg is, its climate is not that welcoming. In 2003 I moved to warm and sunny Israel on the Mediterranean coast, where there is no snow at all. My new country and a different climate somehow changed me. I became a much more open and outgoing person. In Israel I met a lot of wonderful people and found something I fell in love with - making art dolls.



How did you start?
I graduated from St. Petersburg (Russia) Technical University with a major in material science and engineering. After graduation I worked in a patent office and that's where I met an amazing and very creative person. This lady taught classes on papier-mâché and had her shows at different art galleries. Inspired my her I made a few toys and participated in a Christmas show in 2000 in St-Petersburg. That was how my interest in dolls and handmade craft got to a totally different level.

When I just started creating dolls I experimented a lot. I tried every possible doll-making material. These days I mostly work with paper clay. In the beginning I made all kinds of traditional clothes for my dolls. Later my love for patchwork and dolls merged and I evolved my own signature style of tiny crazy quilting dolls dresses. I love the fact that my work is so tiny. Typically, fabric art works are done on a large scale - big wall panel or a quilt. I create the same layered textured effect but in tiny dolls' dresses and soft sculptures.



What are you working on know and what are your plans for the future?
I've been working with an American publisher C&T Publishing for two years. Together we have created a wonderful book “Enchanting Art Dolls & Soft Sculptures”, which will be published this summer. It's actually already available for pre-order on Amazon. In my book I talk about the technique of embroidery “crazy quilting” and the creation of dolls. There are 8 unique projects including a beautiful mermaid, a fantasy fish, an elegant princess, and a sweet teddy bear with step by step photos.

Last year I switched to the creation of small brooches-dolls. They are very cute! Dolls could be used as brooches or decorations for a purse. One can turn my brooches into an ornament or a home decor item.

I've recently came up with an idea of creating crazy quilted letters. Letters are very unusual and elegant. I'm not sure I’ll be able to recreate all alphabet letters though. I've already made “L” ,“O”, “V” ,and “E”.



What inspires you?
I love collecting old photos, especially those with small children and their toys. Girls in aprons with their beautifully dressed dolls or boys on rocking horses offer a lot of ideas for my art dolls. Also I have a huge collection of small decorative keys that inspires me in my creative process.

Articulated Paper Dolls by Dubrovskaya

I came across these amazing paper dolls browsing the internet. They bring back memories of childhood and times when we played in our imaginary worlds days after days. These were wonderful times when we had no responsibilities, no obligations and no worries. Paper dolls by Dubrovskaya look so different and yet so familiar. I’m glad I had a chance to talk to the artists about her life and her art of making articulated paper dolls.



Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Maria. I grew up in a family of an artist and a teacher in a city in Siberia, Russia. My parents didn’t want me to become an artist and I myself was not much into teaching. Thus, I took a somewhat standard path graduating from a university with a degree in economics. I ended up working as a web designed and later as a photographer though. As a hobby I started drawing illustrations that would be published by local magazines.



To change my life I left Russia in 2007. The original plan was to go to Asia and travel there for a few months but I never actually came back to Russia. In today’s world Internet empowers people to work and live in places they find interesting and challenging. Living in Asia I was able to work for companies all over the world.

I currently live in Philippines. Together with my boyfriend we rent a nice spacious house and I can finally devote some time to my beloved hobby of creating unique paper dolls.



How did you start making paper dolls?

I started with cutting and assembling a few paper dolls for myself. They reminded me of my childhood. I loved the process so much that I kept making them in different shapes and colors. I never thought of selling them but somehow a word spread and people started buying my dolls.



What inspires you?

Other artists and craftsmen inspire me a lot. It’s amazing what ideas people come up with. The boundaries of one’s imagination and creativity are indeed limitless. Once again Internet helps us all to share our ideas with the whole world. When I see something really beautiful and unique I feel an urge of going to my studio and creating, creating and creating!

Thank you, Maria!