Tear bears are circles, ovals and similar shapes torn from paper material and assembled into the shape of a teddy bear before being glued together. Finishing touches such as colored-in faces are usually added.
Tear bears were probably first created by children in primary grade art classes.
Tear bears have become a popular embellishment for the scrapbooking hobby over the past decade. Scrapbooking is one of the top crafts in the United States at this time, and has held this position for more than 10 years. While not used by every scrapbooker, tear bears are popular enough to be recognized by almost all of them, and instructions and classes are offered at hundreds of local scrapbook stores.
Usually a handmade or mulberry paper is used to create the tear bear, giving the bear pieces a furry-edged look. "Painting" the outlines with water may make tearing easier. Edges may be further fuzzed using a toothbrush. Often these are chalked or inked to add depth and dimension. Bears (or other animals) are assembled in many different body positions, and embellished in a wide variety of ways. The faces are almost always embellished with punched pieces, ink, paint, chalk, glitter, dimensional "tears" etc. The bodies may be dressed, or simply chalked, have lines added for dimension, etc. It is common to see flowers, balloons, books, gifts, holiday items, etc. added for props. The complete freedom of the designer to make these very cute embellishments match any theme is one of the things that have boosted their popularity.