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What Are Teddy Bears Made Of?
What are Teddy Bears made of? Sugar, spice and all things nice?
Today, when you look around at the Teddy Bear market you will discover Teddy Bears made from almost every kind of material and medium that you can think of (even used Champagne Corks) and certainly Teddy Bears look appealing however and whatever they are made from. Many Teddy Bear Artists experiment with very way-out materials which can at first be quite shocking to the Teddy Bear lover but then, after a while, after the initial shock, they can become very pleasing and appealing to the eye.
Manufacturers have also used many different kinds of materials to create their Teddy Bears and in Steiff's case, they have even used paper (a subject I will cover in a separate Article later on). However, since his birth, probably the best loved and most successful of materials used to make Teddy Bears simply has to be mohair.
So, where does mohair come from? How many Teddy Bear lovers know? Well, mohair actually comes from the fleece of the Angora Goat and the quality used for bear making comes from animals aged up to eight years old, after that age, the mohair becomes too coarse and rather brittle. Angora itself is in Turkey, but surprisingly, very little mohair comes from here now, some comes from South Africa, Kenya, Australia and even a little from Britain. However, these days most mohair comes from the United States.
The spinning of mohair, however, is quite involved and the process is much the same as the spinning of wool, involving combing, cleaning, teasing, scouring and at the end of all these processes, the twisting of the strands. These long strands are then wound on to cones which each weigh approximately two or three kilos. The next step then, of course, is the weaving.
Machines that weave mohair have changed little over the past fifty years or so. However, modern machinery is much quieter and certainly lots, lots faster.
The cones we have already mentioned, then have to be re-wound, this time on to huge rolls with the end of each cone taped at the top – you can now imagine the immense weight of these big cones can't you? The backing material of mohair is dealt with in much the same way, often being moved around the factories that produce mohair by a forklift truck.
These rolls are then threaded up on to a weaving machine. The weaving machine weaves two pieces of fabric at the same time – one at the top, the other at the bottom and joined by the strands of mohair that are woven and trapped into the cotton backing fabric. The mohair strands are then trimmed and you now have some mohair fabric just ready and waiting to be made into special Teddy Bears. Obviously, I have simplified this process greatly. The whole process relies on many highly trained and very skilled people. The cost of mohair production, as I am sure you will appreciate, is very high.
The fabric is then shipped to the dyers to be dyed in the colours for Teddy Bears we all love. It is then returned about three or four days later – dripping wet! If it is to be stranded straight pile mohair, it is put on various machines which actually brush the mohair keeping it soft. A PVC coating is spread across the underside of the fabric. This gives the mohair stability for sewing and it also helps to glue-in the mohair fibres.
After all these processes are complete, the mohair (which, by the way is still wet) is then stentered and baked. Stentering is the little pin-holed edges you see along the selvedges of the fabric. The fabric is then dispatched on frames, which protect the pile.
The mohair is then received by the Teddy Bear makers, where it is cut from patterns very carefully, so as not to waste any of the very precious material which, for reasons you can now understand, is very expensive. In the past, firm's such as Steiff often used to piece together mohair so making a centre seam down the very centre of the Teddy Bear (another subject I will talk about in a later Article). These Teddy Bears known as centre-seamed bears are obviously rare and much sought after.
Most famous soft toy manufacturers have or still do produce Teddy Bears from mohair, although a very expensive material, it is warm to the touch, soft, gives an excellent look to a Teddy Bear and is importantly extremely hard-wearing.
So, to end this article, remember, when you hug your Teddy Bear and kiss him goodnight, just how much work has gone into his creation and so far, we have only looked briefly at how and where his mohair came from. There are many other processes to go through including eyes, paw pads, etc. etc. before the Teddy Bear is anywhere near ready to be ready to be sold to you.
About the Author
I run a website specialising in supplying beautiful Old Teddy Bears whose emphasis is on their history. When I am not working I love racing Italian Cars, as I love anything Italian, especially Sophia Loren.
Please visit my website at www.ginosbears.co.uk
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