Hi! My name is Alexis Young, I am 32 years old, full time mother to two busy little boys, and live in Wellington, New Zealand. I began making miniature bears while in my final year at Design School. I came across some World of Miniature Bears in a store,and was fascinated by them. Being a poor student at the time, I couldnt afford to buy one, and instead set myself the challenge to make one myself. My first bear was an unfortunate little soul. I used the wrong sort of material, and I hadn’t heard of fray stop – he came apart at the seams in several places, and I had to stitch him up from the outside. Still, he was 4 inches of bear, and I had made him. I was very proud! I have made many more bears since then, at first from published patterns, and now from my own designs. I am totally addicted! I love taking a small piece of material, and transforming it into a tiny little character with a big soul. If only I had more time in which to make them…!

These days I split my spare time between my bears and my new obsession, Ball Jointed Dolls. I discovered BJDs about a year ago now, (in 2010) through a dear friend of mine. My first BJD was a very generous gift from my friend, and from the moment I held her in my hands I was hooked! I currently have a little hoard of tiny BJDs, mostly Fairyland Pukipuki and Pukifee, with a couple of Latidoll White Sp, and have a growing wishlist of different sizes.

I find creating cute little clothes items for my dolls highly satisfying, and have taught myself to knit in order to make clothes for them. If you like what you see, I sell my tiny knits through my etsy store here.

About my Bears…

My bears range in size from about 1 to 3 inches small and are five way disk jointed, apart from the 1 inch bears which are string jointed. I use a variety of quality materials, including mohair, vintage rayon, vintage longpile, and viscose, and most of my bears have ultrasuede paw pads, and onyx bead eyes. I take my time creating each and every one of my bears, handstitching them with care, scissor and needle sculpting their faces, and carefully shading to bring out their personality. Each bear takes at least 8 hours to complete, and are one of a kind creations.

Enjoy browsing around my site, and if you have any questions or comments, or you would like to adopt one of my available bears, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks so much for visiting,

Alexis