Grizzly bears

I just did finished one “wheel” of Mother Grizzly bears. These 40 or so bears are more of the left-over castings that we packed away unpainted when we decided to retire first line of Windstone animals.

These bears were the last of the “old animal” line I sculpted, right when when we changed the name from “Mark Hines Creations” to Windstone Editions. I think that these bears were retired at the same time as the rest of the old animals, but I need to double check that factoid.

These bears are textured like the old line of animals. The fur texture was sculpted in water based clay and the “production master” was made from a mold cast directly off of the original sculpture. She had almost no work done on her after wards. This gives this bear a messier appearance, but the clay detailed fur has a nice freshness that I have difficulty duplicating with the careful carving that I do to pieces now.

I am painting these bears a light golden brown with darker legs and ears to make them look different from the original bears. The old original bears were usually painted a solid reddish brown ( as I recall) though the shade of brown probably varied from very dark reddish brown to lighter brown.

We have come a long way in casting quality! I remember that we were pretty proud of ourselves for successfully casting these big bears, but these castings would never pass quality inspection now! The bottoms are a mess. Oh well, this is what makes them authentic vintage Windstones. -Melody