Bears-Direct - Teddy Bear Artist Spotlight

Artist Spotlight
Maureen Batt
Mawspaws

By Christine Charles

t is my pleasure to talk to and get to know Maureen & Keith Batt of Mawspaws, a delightful bear making team from Aylesbury in England. These two are a team in the real sense of the word as they work together on differing aspects of the bear business.

Keith, a hot air balloon fanatic, is in charge of the non-bear making side of the business. All the invoicing, the accounts, the web site & the day-to-day running of the business are Keith's domain, while Maureen designs and sews each of
the creations.

Mawspaws originated in 1998 but Maureen's love of bears precedes that date by quite a few years.

Her first recollection of bears was when she was taken to London at Christmas time as a young girl. This was an enormous treat to a little girl from the country and she can clearly remember seeing a teddy bear in the window of a store just begging her to take him home.

She begged and pleaded with her parents to no avail but, after throwing a tantrum on the street, her embarrassed parents relented and she became the proud owner of her very

and her family spent many hours searching for her bear with no success.

Many years later, whilst sorting out the loft, you guessed it...much to Maureen's delight, the teddy bear was found. He has since gone to live with a much loved niece in Germany where he has become a treasured playmate once again.

Maureen makes lots of differing styles of bears but the ones that really catch my eye are the old looking bears. Mind you, you should see her clown bears, but then again her whimsical bears are wonderful too. It's so hard to choose when you look at all these lovely bears.

But choose I must & this interview will concentrate on her old looking bears.

The name of their company – Mawspaws – originates from Keith's pet name for Maureen – Maw – and, well all bears have paws, so Mawspaws was chosen. It's a great choice of name, isn't it?

Although Maureen has always loved bears, her first creation was really by chance. She was ill in bed and Keith brought home a bear kit to keep her occupied until she could return to her full time job in retail. If only he could have envisioned where this kit would lead, I wonder if he may have bought her a book.

Bears have gradually taken over the lives and the home of Keith & Maureen, and furry faces peep out from everywhere you look.

The bears waiting to be adopted from the website sit proudly on shelves under the stairs, and the bears waiting to go to the London stores sit in front of Maureen's bearaphanalia. Nuts, bolts, joints and all the other bear necessities needed to create her collection are housed in every available nook, cranny and drawer throughout the house.

Maureen finds the faces the very best part of creating her bears and she feels that this is where the personality evolves. She often finds that the face takes as long to create as the rest of the bear as she painstakingly creates each feature and watches the bear come alive.

Maureen's love of classic bears is apparent when you look at the "take me home" expression on each and every face.

She loves working with matted and sparse mohairs as they tend towards the pre-loved look and each and every bear must be as realistic and as true to form as possible, so of course they MUST have a hump.

Maureen uses pellets and sometimes wood wool for stuffing as both these fillings give a very realistic pose when the bear is sitting down.

She also plucks the mohair rather than cutting to add authenticity and she uses Marvy pens for shading. By making the joints looser than normal she gives the impression of an aging bear.

Strangely enough, the old bear-collecting bug has not bitten Maureen yet but I will have to do something about that soon. Keith feels that she has her own real live antique in him, but I think I'd better leave that one alone don't you?

Maureen's preference is for the bears in the 5"–7" range, but she has also been known to make bears up to 16".

Although Maureen professes not to be influenced by any specific maker she attributes her creativity to her dearly loved Mum who used to sit for hours with her when she started selling from a barrow in a shopping centre. She would also make all the hand knitted clothes the old bears wore.

Sadly her Mum never lived to see the success she has achieved but Keith & Maureen believe she is sitting in heaven and is justifiably proud of them both.

Maureen professes the greatest of admiration to the makers of mini bears and she has a collection of Shoebutton Bears by Sue Wilkins.

Like many of us, the Internet has opened up a new world for both Maureen & Keith and they fascinate that, at the click of a button, we can talk to others halfway around the world. Who would have thought a few years ago that we would have had friends from all over the world or that the world would become such a small place.

This hobby turned business has become all consuming and their success was something neither had envisioned.

Please visit their site at www.mawspaws.co.uk and look at the beautiful bears and I'm sure Maureen will welcome any comments from our readers and will be happy to answer any questions.