Little 806jr in the Nanny Tree from the Live Cams at explore.org in Katmai National Park July 2024.
Needle Felted Fat Bear Collection
OOAK Handmade wool sculptures. Black and brown bears.
All sculptures are 100% wool, sourced and made from sheep in the United States from U.S. farms.
All wool is bio-processed using bio-degradable eco-friendly processes, no harsh chemicals, and is not carbonized. This means the wool could contain small traces of vegetable matter.
Some of the wool has been hand-dyed by me using all natural historical dyestuffs. For more information on how I dye wool, check out my Fiber Blog at https://www.houseofpaidia.com/fiber-blog
Katmai Brown Bears
Needle Felted Sculpture of Bear 480 Otis from Katmai National Parks. Otis is one of the oldest (and fattest) bears currently fishing at Brooks River Falls. He is very zen and is probably one of the best (and calmest) anglers at the Falls. I love watching all of the bears there, and thought Otis would be a friendly addition to my home office. Otis resembles a much loved teddy bear with mismatched patches of fur, a distinct #7mark on his left shoulder, and a floppy right ear.
This Otis sculpture was needle felted using MC-1 Batting from Living Felt. I like to felt my sculpture very hard. He is quite a solid build and used a variety of neutral tones to recreate his patchy fur coat. He has glass eyes, a sewn in mouth, and no armature.
Bear 610 is a young subadult - blondish, fluffy coat, very fuzzy ears, and a darker colored face and paws. She is a very resilient bear. As a yearling, she was separated from her family but was able to survive despite the odds. She is very good at fishing in the Riffles area, and makes friends with other bears and cubs. She likes to play a lot when she isn’t fishing or swimming. By the end of the 2022 season, she had managed to secure a fishing spot at the main Brooks Falls area where there are more salmon. She has an earnest little face and I can’t wait to see more of her in the future!
The real bears can be viewed at Brook Falls - Katmai National Park, Alaska through the livecams at EXPLORE.org
URL Link: https://explore.org/livecams
Fat Bear Collection: Bears of Brooks Falls
Bear 128 Grazer’s spring cubs also use the Nanny Tree. Image taken from explore.org Live Cam, Katmai National Park July 2024
Bear 89 Backpack enjoying a nice fat salmon from the Live Cams at explore.org in Katmai National Park July 2024
Below are more samples from my Fat Bear Collection. Each bear sculpture is based on a real bear in the wild. Bear have their own personality and unique charm, so I pay extra attention to their facial expressions and body language when sculpting one.
Bear art commissions open periodically throughout the year. Those interested in commissioning a sculpture of their favorite bear(s) from Katmai National Park’s Brooks Falls or a commission of a particular American Black Bear, can email me contact@houseofpaidia.com or follow me on Instagram @house_of_paidia. Because the brown bears will have a change in coat color as the summer progresses into autumn, please specify the preferred coat color when placing an order.
Each bear can take 1 - 2 weeks to complete. Please be advised that larger orders can take more time depending on how many sculptures are being commissioned at once. Each bear sculpture is OOAK, and even sculptures of the same bear will have variations in size, color patterns, and poses as a result. All adult brown bears are approximately 3 inches tall and takes about 1 ounce of wool (some range in size and weight is to be expected). Subadults, COY, and Black Bear sculptures are slightly smaller.
