What goes into a Peng Peng bear?

oh, sugar and spice, plus a few other things...

Each Peng Peng bear is made entirely by myself from my original patterns. Only the finest materials are used throughout. It begins with a "blank canvas": white (or very light color if white is not available) German Schulte 100% mohair.

I hand-dye the mohair to achieve unique colors and combinations. Believe it or not, I use only 3 dye colors: red, yellow, blue. By mixing those primary colors I can make any color in the rainbow, except true black. Once in a while I will use tipped mohair and dye that also. Methods such as overdying, tie dying and antiquing allow me to push color further. My background in painting comes in very handy for this. Color inspires me!

I stitch all seams twice for strength and to prevent fray. NO GLUE, everything is sewn (Glue is only used to tack something down before being sewn). NO oil paints on mohair.

My bears are stuffed with fine excelsior (wood shavings) and/ or high quality polyfil, which feels a lot like cotton. Steel BB's and/ or pellets are added sometimes for weight.

Joints are made the traditional way with hard fiberboard discs/ steel cotter pins/ brass or metal washers.

I use glass eyes ranging from 11mm down to teensy 4mm. I always hand paint them, sometimes "aged" for a crackled/ chipped paint effect like antique bears have, then sealed. Also I like to use antique shoe buttons.

Vintage fabrics are used for final touches.

voilà! an heirloom quality artist bear to bring you many many years of joy!