[ MAUKA-MAKAI ]
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Making life more We know he can't hear, but we still tell him secrets. He has a great healing power even though he can neither speak nor touch. His ability to console young children is remarkable.
bear-able
There's a comfort in making teddy bears
By Nancy Arcayna
narcayna@starbulletin.comI'm not talking about a higher power -- I'm referring to the good old-fashioned teddy bear. It's difficult not to be captivated by his charm.
Linda Kai makes bears, collects bears and even takes them out for tea.
"Teaching people to make bears is wonderful," Kai said. "I've received more back than I've ever given. I realized how much the bears meant to me when I had breast cancer (almost 14 years ago). My students came to visit me in the hospital, and my room was filled with flowers. There were so many flowers, my mom had to bring some of them down the hall. It meant so much to me because I don't have family here."
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Kai started teaching classes 17 years ago and has been making bears for 20 years. Classes cover sewing, stuffing and putting on the finishing touches."One of the advantages of taking a bear class is that you don't need many supplies," she said. "And if you're a collector, you learn how to repair them."
Handcrafts are really stress busters, Kai explained. The hand sewing really slows you down.
"The best part is that when you are done, you have a friend. He will just sit there and smile at you," Kai said. "Manufactured bears just don't make my heart beat anymore."
Kai now has triplets on the way. Three little matching heads were lying in a plastic bag in her sewing basket. Kai's sewing room was filled with bear parts just waiting to be put together. Baskets with mohair fabric, button and glass eyes, and other accessories surrounded her sewing machine.
Learn to make a Needle Cap Bear: Teddy Bear Classes
Class time: 1 to 4 p.m., March 20 and 27; and April 13 and 27
Place: The Calico Cat, Kaimuki
Cost: $36.40, plus supply fee
Call: 239-7679
"My husband likes to sew them, but he doesn't like to put them together," Kai said.
She added, "Years of comfort and pleasure have evolved from my teddy bear making, and who would have thought it?"
She has seen the effect bears have on others. One woman made bears for all her mom's caretakers before her mom passed away. Another woman who comes to the classes buys orphan bears with no eyes and repairs them, Kai said.
Bonnie Prebula displays her bears at the Aina Haina Pharmacy and the Waikoloa Pharmacy.
"I started making bears about a year ago. It stirs my creativity," Prebula said. "It was something I'd never done before, but it's really fun to see them take shape and form. It's also fun to see others enjoying bears.
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"I usually make little Hawaiian bears and occasionally the furry ones."Kai said that anyone can learn the trade.
"Men who have never sewn before have taken my class and done well. Children have also attended," she said. "Because it can be made by hand-sewing, it makes it a portable project. I sew when I'm waiting for an appointment or in restaurants."
Various agencies also buy or make bears and give them to children in need. Emergency personnel such as police and firemen sometimes offer bears to children in times of crisis.
Castle Medical Center hosts a Teddy Bear Clinic for children ages 3 to 6 in the Windward area. Children bring their bears to the hospital for care.
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"It's a simulation of what happens in the emergency room," said Pauline Kalawai of Castle Medical Center. "We take their blood pressure, temperature, weight and height. The bears get some stitching and repair, and they also get a cast. We just want to get the children into the hospital. Some of them have never been here before. Once they have the experience, they aren't afraid anymore. They even get to take a picture with Nana Bear."Teddy bears are also brought into the emergency room for comfort, Kalawai said. "If Radar on 'M*A*S*H' can have one, why not?"
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