Lunch with Jena and his mum

Two days ago, we had two very special guests coming all the way from England to Singapore! Jena, who is one of the biggest antique bear collector in UK, came to Singapore for the very first time with his mum!

Jena owns many bears mostly in Mint condition and because of his love & passion in collecting Teddy Bears, he has been featured on several publications as well as television programmes.

Wayne specially arranged to bring Jena and his mum to the Mint Museum of Toys, a place where Wayne had previously worked at. In the museum, there are plenty of vintage Teddy Bears and toys on display which Wayne thinks they would be interested in. Wayne also arranged to have his friend Richard Tan, the curator of the Toy Museum, to give them a guided tour.

Richard, curator of the Mint Museum of Tour giving a guided tour

Richard brought them around through the several floors of vintage toys and teddy bears, providing interesting snippets of historic information which people may not know about. We could see Jena's interest in toys as he took out his mobile phone and started to take pictures right away!

After the museum guided tour, we brought Jena and his mum to Sin Swee Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant to try local Hainanese Chicken rice and other local dishes. Jena's mum told us her last visit to Singapore was 35 years ago! She love Singapore as it is very clean and safe.

Jena shared with us his knowledge in collecting and maintaining bears during lunch. It was very interesting to learn the various techniques to maintain and preserve antique bears. Most of them suffer from "wear and tear" due to humidity and rough handling. Jena also shared ways to minimise damage to bears when cleaning them.

Jena shared some of his bears he had brought along with him. Wayne and Philip quickly "bearnap" his three polar bears made by Svetlana Khabarova to take a picture with them!

Back Row L-R: Wayne, Irene and Philip
Front Row L-R: Esther, Jena's Mum, Jena and Richard

We had a wonderful lunch with them and gained fruitful knowledge about Antique Teddy Bears as well. We hope to meet them soon again next time in London! We would like to specially thank Richard for giving us an educational guided tour of the Toy Museum, and Philip, Esther and Irene for joining us!

Hugs,

Wayne

Valentine Day Workshop at MINT

We are pleased to inform that Wayneston Bears have been engaged to conduct Bear Making classes at MINT.

For more information, do drop by their Facebook Page.

Thank you and have a great week ahead!


Hugs, Wayne

Introduction to Bear Making @ MINT Museum of Toys, 13 December 2015

We are pleased and honoured to be invited by the MINT Museum of Toys to give an Introductory Talk to Teddy Bear Making last Sunday.

Although excited, Wayne was also nervous as it was his first time giving a talk in public. In total, 8 people turned up for the event despite the heavy rain. 

Wayne first gave an introduction of himself, followed by explaining the basic tools and materials required for making a Teddy Bear. After the introduction, Wayne handed out the bear's body parts to each participants to sew. Philip assisted Wayne as an art facilitator on that day.

After all the bear's body and limbs were sewn, Wayne gave a demonstration of the various techniques to set the eyes as well as embroidering of the Teddy Bear's nose and mouth.

The participants looked on intently as Wayne stuffed and closed the seams of the Teddy Bear.

One of the participant asked Wayne - "How much do you think this bear cost?". Wayne smiled and answered - "It's priceless! Because he is born with everyone's effort!".

As soon as Wayne completed the Teddy Bear with his finishing touches, the participants gleefully took pictures with the Teddy Bear with their cameras. In that moment, Wayne's heart was filled with warmth as it encapsulated what he had hoped to achieve; bringing joy to people through Teddy Bears. 

The Teddy Bear will be displayed at the MINT Museum of Toys for public to view and a certificate of participation were given to the participants to commemorate this event.

We want to take this opportunity to thank the participants and friends for attending this event.

Not forgetting, a very special thanks to MINT for their well organised event.

P.S - We will be collaborating with MINT to conduct some Teddy Bear Making workshops in the near future.

Stay tuned for more info.

Hugs, Wayne

Introduction to Bear Making @ MINT Museum of Toys (Open to Public)

UPCOMING EVENT!

Wayneston Bears is pleased to be invited as one of the special guests for the TOY MAKERS event hosted by MINT Museum of Toys! We will be conducting a complimentary 4 hour session of Introduction to Bear Making.

Spaces are limited to first 10 registered participants!
See you there!

Don't miss out, register now: http://goo.gl/forms/vrEUXOQBuo

Date: Sunday, 13 December 2015
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Basement, MINT Museum of Toys


We've got THREE spots left! Others who wish to observe the session are more than welcome to join us in the basement.