Gallery: Bleach

Character: Ichigo / Soul Reaper
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Premade, about 8"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2006 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: This was the first Bleach bear we made, after reading about one book into the series, if memory serves. It was based on Ichigo's getup, but without weapons or other identifying marks, it kind of turns into a random Soul Reaper.

Character: Ichigo
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Premade, about 8"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2007 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: A smaller version of early-Seireitei-arc Ichigo. And smaller means cuter. It's the law.

Notes: A back view of mini Ichigo (above).

Character: Rukia (school uniform version)
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Premade, about 12"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2007 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: 2007's batch for Tekkoshocon included a number of Bleach bears, including a Rukia and Orihime made from these cute tan bears. Both of them feature the school uniforms seen early in the series.

Character: Orihime
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Premade, about 12"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2007 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Orihime in the summer school uniform, with her (not yet momentous) flower hairclips.

Character: Chad
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Premade, about 20"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2007 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Some of the bears we had were taller than the rest, so that seemed like a natural fit for Chad. This version dates from late in the Earth arc, when he discovers the superpower required of Ichigo's Scooby Squad.

Notes: A closeup of Chad's tattoo applique.

Character: Urahara
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Premade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Em (sandals by Em & Sarah's Dad)
Date: 2007 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Bleach's laid-back shopkeeper to the Beyond features his soul-extracting cane, fan, and wood sandals. Thank you, Dad, for making the badass tiny geta!

Character: Ichigo
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Premade, about 12"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2007 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: A bigger version of Ichigo with the wrapped-up Zangetsu.

Character: Ichigo
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Premade, about 12"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2007 (Tsubasacon)
Notes: Another wrapped-Zangetsu Ichigo, made for our first outing at Tsubasacon.

Character: Shunsui (8th Division Captain)
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Em
Date: 2008 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Shunsui's layers made him the most complicated Bleach project to that point. Many of the details on his coat and hat can be seen better on the rear views (below).

Notes: A back view of Shunsui's kimono (with felt details) and bamboo hat, which was made out of a placemat cut into pie-shaped segments and glued back together. Another favorite!

Notes: A back view of Shunsui's coat.

Character: Hollow Ichigo
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2008 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: This was one of the first bears Sarah made, and it turned out kind of wonky around the face, so it sat around unused for years. Hollow Ichigo presented an opportunity to pull it off the shelf, re-sculpt its face, and cover the problem spot with a foam Hollow mask. Lemons, lemonade. (Because it was an early venture, this is also one of the only handmade bears of ours with a stitched mouth. Our usual style has no mouth.)

Characters: Kenpachi & Yachiru (11th Division Captain & Lieutenant)
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Kenpachi: Handmade bear, about 20"; Yachiru: Premade bear, about 10"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2008 (Tsubasacon)
Notes: We didn't realize that Kenpachi had a squadron of fangirls until we heard the rabid squealing every time he appeared during a screening of Memories of Nobody. That led to this project, a pair of bears not quite in scale.

Notes: Solo Kenpachi from the Kenpachi/Yachiru pair.

Notes: Detail of Kenpachi's coat.

Notes: Solo Yachiru from the Kenpachi/Yachiru pair.

Character: Yoruichi
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Handmade (cat), about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2008 (Tsubasacon)
Notes: Yoruichi was our first attempt at adapting the bears into other critters. Her human hair color of plum purple showed off her features better than black (her cat fur color) did, and besides, it looks stylin' with the ninja getup.

Character: Renji (6th Division Lieutenant)
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2009 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: Some of the most fun projects are evil characters, who look absurd in bear form, and gruff characters, who sometimes look offended at being in bear form - such seems to be the case with Renji. Especially with those tattoos.

Character: Hollow Ichigo
Series: Bleach
Bear Type: Handmade, about 18"
Clothes & Styling By: Sarah
Date: 2010 (Commission)
Notes: One of my online acquaintances (for something like ten years!) commissioned a Hollow/Bankai Ichigo, including his zanpakuto. Though props generally aren't my strong suit, I think it turned out quite well. Like Hollow Ichigo #1, he has a craft foam mask. Zangetsu is also made of foam, wrapped with seam binding (I happened to have it, rather than ribbon or something of that sort) and topped off with metal chain.

Notes: Proving that Hollow Ichigo #2 does, in fact, have a face.

Notes: A closeup of Zangetsu's hilt. It has a broken link at the end of the chain (glued in place, because they don't generally hover that way in real life), but it doesn't seem to show in this shot.

Character: Urahara
Series: Bleach
Item: Messenger bag, about 14" wide
Made by: Sarah
Date: 2007 (Tekkoshocon)
Notes: This green-and-white canvas bag was based on Urahara's coat design.

Characters: Ichigo and Rukia (prisoner version)
Series: Bleach
Item: Hand puppets
Made by: Sarah, designed by Jay
Date: 2007 (Tsubasacon)
Notes: This set of Angry Ichigo and Sad Rukia was actually split up when sold, on request. Only afterward did we realize that Rukia's hair was backwards. (Oops.)