Before
Hi to all at Bear Essentials
I enclosed Teddy to be repaired. This teddy belongs to my son C. (we not use original name) age 9 and he has him since he was one year old. Previous to that he belonged to my sister and is more than 20 years old. C. brings him everywhere he goes and he is a very important part of our family. We believe he is something special to heal us when we are sick and everyone loves to cuddle him. But we realised he needs “healing” himself now and that is why we have chosen you to mend him. We know you will take extra special care of him and return him as quickly as possible. Many thanks – we will miss teddy.
We had teddy booked in for this week so he could go home within 2 days. Not only children find it hard to part with their longtime friend, adults do too. After all teddies are the holder of so many memories for us.
If you like to get in touch with us – look at our teddy bear hospital page on our website.
Some times bears need big repairs but sometimes a little bit of stitching, cleaning or stuffing will keep him “healthy” a few more years.
After
Before and after – let us know what YOU think!!!
This is Snaggy!
Dear Anke,
Just recieved “Snaggy” today. I would like to sincerely thank you and everyone at Bear Essentials for your fantastic work. We are delighted with the work you did. I know must have been a difficult task with the poor condition he was in, but he is looking fantastic again and we are amazed at what you could do for him.
Many Thanks,
Pádraig
We just like to start the new year to answer some of the questions our customers email us before they bring or send a teddy bear to us for restoration.
We get a lot of inquiries about “sad looking” or almost “beyond repair” teddy bears, animals or indeed baby comforters. The good new is that we never had to send a bear home without making him look better or preserve him in someway for future generations. We usually run one teddy bear clinic per week. The other days of the week we are busy designing teddies or baby items for our customers or run workshops here in the Silver Bear Centre.
First of all we cannot give any quotations via phone or email. Even if you send us an image we not see the condition of the teddy bear from all angles. You bring your bear personally to us or send him via mail (track & trace) to us at Bear Essentials Teddy Bear Hospital, Tirnawannagh, Bawnboy, Co,Cavan, Ireland. As soon as your precious bear arrives we will ring you to ensure that he arrived safely and to talk about what you like to get done. Than we can give you a quotation which is usually the final cost of restoration.
What does happen when a new patient arrives at Bear Essentials teddy bear hospital?
A box arrives via courier or post. Must say- we are always excited when a new patient arrives.We unpack him and listen to his story. Most bears come with a story or history written down by their owners. Some are heart braking reports of lost loved ones or about the cause of the bears state at the time of arrival. Would you believe that one of our most loved pets – our dog – is quite often the course of old teds destruction?
After we ring the owner and the bear is admitted into our hospital book, the bear goes into his own basket where he stays until he is ready to be send home again. Usually no teddy bear has to stay longer than one or two weeks. Just at busy times when we are fully booked or have to order special accessories it might be an extra week of waiting. Repairs on teddy bear can range from sewing seams, attaching new eyes or stitching new noses to stuffing them, replacing paws or re-designing a total new bear. If we get a teddy bear who belongs to a small child we like to replace missing fur with material the child already loves. This could be a piece of their own clothing or something mum has at home.
The bear you see here is actually a new bear James – one of the Charlie Bears – he got an outfit made of grannies old night dress.
In general we like to keep as much of Teddy’s old image & appeal as possible because that is quite often the reason why he is so loved in the first place.
I will write a bit more about our teddy bear clinic tomorrow. I hope you enjoy reading about it.
Teddy Bears come in all shapes and sizes. It doesn’t really count how they look like to me. What matters is how they appear to you or what they signify for you. It has something to do with feelings, either the situation you were in when you bought the bear (if you felt happy or sad) or the significance of the relationship to the person who gave the teddy to you (a boyfriend, child, parent, grandparent….).
Isn’t that why we love this special teddy bear so much?
From bears who visit our teddy bear hospital we know how much they mean to their owners. They have been part of their life for some time. They have been going on a journey with them through good and not so good times and some of them desperately need a bit of a facelift to carry on.
Some have been loved, some have been neglected some been insured by a dog but they all have a momentous relationship with their owner.
This is one of the reasons why so many people buy real mohair teddy bears nowadays. We have seen on shows like the Antique Road Show how much a famous old Steiff teddy bear could be worth. If we want to give a present to someone we usually like to make that present last a long time. Mohair teddy bears, made from the hair of the Angora goat are so durable they can last not just one generation but many.
I wish I still had a teddy bear from my mum or dad.
We like to encourage you to get out your favorite teddy bear and think what he means to you.
May be you like to share your story with us, we are looking forward to hear from you.
