pine needle bears!
I thought you might enjoy reading the notes below, and viewing the photos at this link:
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What do you do when you decide to be a poor country folk artist?
With little money (if any) you must be creative. Use your resources. This artist did just that.
What do you find in the mountains of Idaho ? [answer = PINE TREES…...LOTS of pine trees]
You’re thinking something made out of wood….Right?
Not even close. Check out these pictures. These bears are made from Pine Needles! Hundreds of thousands of them in one large bear. The pine needles were gathered off the ground, sorted, washed, trimmed and hand woven.
The artist spent over eight months to make one life-sized bear.
The photo with the bear on the river’s edge is the bear the artist named “Mountain Magic ~ A New Life”
“White Heart” is a life-sized Black Bear and “Little Bear Innocence” is the cub (baby bear)
To make a living the artist carves antlers and other materials. Moose, deer and elk antlers, horns from other animals, wood, ivory and more — whatever he can find and possibly make use of, he does! Nothing goes to waste.
Check out all of the moose antler carving; check them carefully.
The artist uses every little scrap of material, as seen with the motorcycle.
It’s under (less than) two and a half inches in length. He used 17 different materials to make it. Some of the materials are Walrus ivory, ironwood, Water buffalo horn, moose antler, silver, rhinestones, shell, metal, plastic, rubber and more. The wheels and handle bars turn, too!
Here’s the artist’s website: http://home.custertel.net/~mntmagic/index.html
