You will need

• Old teddy bear
• Cardboard (Fleur used A3 size, but the size you will need will depend on the size of your bear)
• Resene testpot in your choice of colour; Fleur used Resene Cararra
• Small foam roller
• Roller paint tray

Instructions

Step 1:  Pour all the paint from the Resene testpot into the roller tray.

Step 2:  Using the roller, get lots of paint on to the roller. Don’t roll or squeeze the paint out of the roller on the tray. The bear is very absorbent, so you need a lot of paint on your roller to get any coverage.

Working quickly, roll the paint all over the bear’s front, paying attention that you cover all the surfaces that will be pressed on to the cardboard.

Step 3:  Flip the bear over and carefully lay the bear on to the cardboard. Press the bear’s body down, making sure you press down all over. Be careful not to move the bear on the cardboard.

Step 4:  Gently take the bear off the cardboard, being careful not to smudge the print.

Step 5:  Straight away, put the bear by itself in the washing machine on a normal cycle.

Project tips

Choose a bear that has a short snout and a soft nose so that it is easier to get a good print of the bear’s forehead and face. If the snout is too long and firm, it makes it difficult to make contact with the cardboard and could cause the bear to slip, therefore smudging your print.

Before painting the bear, do a ‘dry-run’ and practice how you are going to press the bear on to the cardboard.

You need to get enough paint on the bear so that a successful print will be made, but not so much paint that the bear’s fur becomes sodden with paint.

If you wash the bear straight after finishing the print and before the paint dries, the bear should come out just as before. The beauty of water based paint!

This is a good project for preserving the memory of a child’s special, well-loved bear or soft toy.

Styling and images by Fleur Thorpe, 2017.