Date: Fri 11-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Illustration: C

Location: A11

Quick Words:

Pottinger-teddy-bears

Full Text:

(profile on teddy bear maker Bonnie Pottinger, 4/11/97)

Bonnie Pottinger's Talents Are Bearing Big Business

(with photos)

BY ANDREA ZIMMERMANN

Bear ly a day passes without some fur flying in Bonnie Pottinger's home.

Not to worry, though; it's just business as usual - the business of designing,

cutting, sewing and stuffing bears.

Four years ago Bonnie set aside her quilt making and established Huntington

Bears. Now, 300 bears later, her line of eight antique reproduction and "fun"

bears has attracted a following of "these crazy bear people" throughout the

Eastern Seaboard where she shows. Her work will be featured April 12, 13, and

19 at festivals and bear shows in Newtown and Danbury, culminating in a

bear-signing in Monroe on April 20.

"Unlike a quilt, each bear is just a little bit different - you're making a

personality," said Bonnie. "It's kind of like when you have a new baby. You

think, ~ `I made this thing and it's so cute.' Every bear I make I [test] on

my kids by holding it up for them to see. If I get this really funny face, I

know it means, `What is that ?'"

If she gets a look that says, "I have to hold that bear," Bonnie knows she has

gotten it right.

"Sometimes I just think about it and think about it. All of a sudden I get an

idea in my head," said Bonnie. And she runs with it. One bear had a

squinched-up nose, so she put a ladybug on it. "It looks like he's trying to

sneeze the ladybug off! I just love doing different things; I have a hard time

doing something over and over."

That bear, Sir Freewaye, 18 inches and made of black and white European plush,

is a limited edition created for The Gallery in Monroe.

Although Bonnie does use "good European plush" for some of her fun bears, she

prefers to work with imported mohair and uses that for all antique

reproductions. All bears have paws of German wool, stitched features of perle

cotton, and either shoe button or German glass eyes.

"You learn what collectors like and what original teddy bears were made of and

try to equal that look," she said.

Huntington Bears are stuffed with a mix of polyfill and pellets, so they are

"squishy and huggable" but also have some weight. Bonnie stuffs the bear parts

by hand, and uses a screwdriver and wrench to create joints where the head,

arms and legs are attached to the body.

"It can take half an hour for me to stitch a nose. Sometimes it takes two or

three tries to get the right expression on a mouth," said Bonnie. And where

you place the eyes and ears will determine whether you have an angry or

surprised bear, she said.

When she started her career as a teddy bear artist, Bonnie copied and combined

patterns. Now she said she can picture a bear and create a pattern for it. She

may also make modifications, such as spontaneously cutting down a nose, as she

is sewing a bear.

Some bears have names - Brewster (who just "looked like a Brewster"), Wendell

(a 26-inch, very distinguished gentlemen bear with a big long snout),

Butterball (a yellow bear made of long mohair) and Marshmallow (of fluffy

white mohair).

"I don't dress my bears. I don't have the patience, for one thing, and I kind

of like them naked," said Bonnie. "Once in a while I'll put a dress on my

larger bear."

Bears range in size from 7 to 32 inches and in cost from $35 to $285. Bonnie

will custom design a bear if someone has something special in mind.

"Every time someone buys these bears from me, I think, `You're kidding!'" said

Bonnie, laughing. "I feel really blessed. It's a gift I've been given and I'm

really thankful."

Bonnie, who now lives with her family in Augusta, Ga., grew up in Newtown.

Throughout her life, her hobbies and work had focused on horses and horseback

riding. She was coaching at Kent School when she met her husband, Jay, at

Newtown Health & Fitness. They moved to Georgia five years ago, and Bonnie had

to set her equestrian interests aside. To "keep from going crazy" with

inactivity, Bonnie began to quilt, and later, prompted by her mother's

enthusiasm, to create bears.

Bonnie and Jay have three daughters - Melissa, 7, Katie, 5, and Ashley, 3.

"I work 4 to 8 to 10 hours a day on the bears. Once in a while I might take a

Sunday off - I really try to balance it," said Bonnie. "It's nice because I'm

home with the girls; I can still make lunch and help with ABCs."

Bonnie relies on her mother, Jan Perkins of Newtown, to help market the bears.

"My mom is just a wonderful help to me - she travels to a lot of shows I can't

get to because my husband is in school, and because of the kids. She is just a

saint. She's gone to Virginia, throughout Connecticut, and Rhode Island," said

Bonnie.

Although Bonnie specializes in bears, a bunny hopped into the Huntington Bear

line last year when a friend issued a challenge ("I like your bears, but I

really love rabbits - will you make me one?")

"I guess there's a part of me that goes into them. There are all these little

things - body parts - all over my table. And I think, `Somebody's going to

fall in love with these,'" said the teddy bear artist. "It's the personality,

the little faces."

Bonnie Pottinger's bears will be featured Saturday and Sunday, April 12-13, at

A Spring Shopping Festival In The Country, 9 am to 4:30 pm each day at

Stoneledge Hollow Farm, 45 Huntingtown Road in Newtown.

Bonnie and her bears will also be at the Danbury Bear Show on April 19, from

9:30 am to 4 pm (admission is $4) at the O'Neill Center, located on University

Boulevard at Western Connecticut State University's westside campus.

On April 20, she will sign her bears at The Gallery, 264-A Main Street (Route

25), Monroe, from 1 to 3 pm. Coffee and homemade gourmet treats will be served

at the bear-signing.