Ursus Maritimus

Some weeks ago, it was established that my great friend's 9 year old boy was not too old for stuffed toy animals. Great news! I asked her to ask him what kind of animal he might like and he said a polar bear....for which there seem to be no nice patterns. SO, for the last few days i have been attempting to design my own. I had no idea how complicated pattern making is. Hats off to anyone who has made a good pattern.

   Third body shape lucky, two head gussets along and knee-deep in leg templates, here is the first stuffed attempt:

His legs and arms are too long. I think this is the most obvious problem. Standing for long periods isn't an option.

However, i am quite pleased with the head. But i must make a cleft in the forehead.

Very long necks.

I found this lovely thing: it was an ice-sculpture and instalation of a Polar Bear for the WWF which traveled the world a couple of years ago. When it first appeared in Copenhagen, nobody knew that when the ice melted it would reveal an inner bronze sculpture of a Polar bear skeleton.

And here is Knut, the Polar Bear celebrity of Berlin Zoo. He became famous, beloved and caused controversy as he was rejected by his mother, Tosca (an ex-circus performer) along with his brother, and was hand-reared mostly by a devoted keeper Thomas Dorflein. Tosca left the cubs on a rock. Knut's brother died 4 days later and sadly Knut only made it to the age of 5 years. One has to wonder whether Tosca knew somehow that her offspring were physically weak.
  Knut was a star, by all accounts and hopefully encouraged a love of bears in all who saw him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knut_(polar_bear)

   I must now tweak the pattern and start on the faux-Polar-fur master copy for young Seamus who is not too old for bears. (As if anybody ever is!)