TBAAF - Purchase Directly From International Bear and Doll Artists

My name is Linda Benson, I've been making and selling bears since about 1983 when I was making very simple little teds for babies and small children. I sold them through a couple of craft galleries here in Tasmania.

I live with my husband Chris and sometimes my daughter in our mudbrick home deep in the Tasmanian bush. This is an ongoing project, we have been building for at least 23 years, as time and finances allow (though there was a 6 year hiatus when we lived in NSW for a while, so make that 17 years and still building!)

It's lovely being here, on the whole it's very quiet and I quite happily sit for hours with my sewing, though it can be a distraction too. With an energetic dog to walk and endless bush to do it in, and a lake thrown in for good measure!

Even so I try to get some bear making done each day, I'm not sure how many I make in a year, I've never been organised enough to count them up! These days my output is a smaller number, but that's basically because there is so much more involved in each bear I make. 

Creating bears is something I absolutely enjoy, when the joy goes that's when I'll quit; but right now I get a huge feeling of achievement from what I do, especially when a new design turns out the way I want.