The Bax Bears Series 1 had their official launch in Toronto last Friday on March 28. The event itself was held at the Keep Six Contemporary Gallery in downtown Toronto. The gallery featured 200+ custom-designed Bax Bears from all around the world but also included designs from local artists based on the DIY Bax Bear! Many of you may have seen the bears that were on display in Vancouver last year at El Kartel on November 10th. The showcase of the bears will be on display for two weeks until April 6th, so for those of you who live in Toronto, you have to take a look!

As for the showcase, the beginning of the gallery started off with beautifully designed Bax Bears from artists in Toronto. Artists such as Yukiko Otsu and Charlene Chua were one of the many locally designed Bax Bears that were up for show in the gallery.

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Artist Name: Mark Meyers (a.k.a. Kram)
Artist Website: www.markmeyersart.com
Artist location: Alamo, California
Toy Name: “A hunting we will go”
Toy Type: NedZed
Toy Story: Having a gun and someone else in your head is never a good combination.
Toy Available for sale: No
Artist available for custom toy commission? Not at the moment

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Artist Name: N.C. Winters
Artist Website: www.ncwinters.com
Artist location: Escondido, California (San Diego County)
Toy Name: Carnivore Manic
Toy Type: 10″ Gosho
Toy Story: Manic is the resident strongman as part of the Carnival Carnivore Circus.
Toy Available for sale: Yes through retailer until end of show, contact through www.ncwinters.com
Artist available for custom toy commission? YES, contact through www.ncwinters.com

Artist Name: Victor Huang
Artist Website: vickangaroo.etsy.com
Artist location: Chicago, USA
Toy Name: “I Like These Noodles”
Toy Type: Custom Plushie
Toy Story: This wonderful young lady is a big noodle fan! She loves to eat all sorts of noodles! From egg noodles to pasta noodles, and even ramen noodles!
Toy Available for sale: Yes
If yes where and how to buy: Available on artist website
Artist available for custom toy commission? Not at the moment.

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Artist Name: idle.
Artist Website: www.idleware.com
Artist location: Kassel, Germany
Toy Type: Creative Kokeshi
Toy Story: On my recent travels I came through the village of Arashiyama. Taking a hike in the deep forests and steep hills of said area I came upon an old abandoned house. I could not resist the temptation and dug through the decay in hope of finding something valuable. However not much was left that seemed of interest and the only thing that I managed to find was a little copper kokeshi. Not only was the material for this sculpture unusual but also the paint job was unlike anything I had ever seen. If it hadn’t been for the strangely compelling depiction of eyes and mouths I would have thrown this chunk of metal away long ago. However as my journey hasn’t ended yet and recently strange things have been happening I am sending you this as a greeting and souvenir from a vastly different culture which I have yet to understand…
Toy Available for sale: No
Artist available for custom toy commission? YES, Contact artist through website

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Artist Name: Riccardo Bucchioni
Artist Website: www.riccardobucchioni.com
Artist location: La Spezia, Italy
Toy Name: Voodoo Frankenstein
Toy Type: 8″ Series 3 Munny (white)
Toy Story: when Dr.Frankenstein meets Voodoo
Toy Available for sale: No
Artist available for custom toy commission? Yes, contact artist through website

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Some DIY goodies to buy at our store, UrbanRetro. The DIY MOD:1 Robot for £29.95 and DIY Wonderwall Mini GooNs for only £2.95.
Custom Toy Lab readers can get 10% OFF by using coupon code CUSTOMTOYLAB at the checkout. If anyone buys these toys and customises them please submit your toy to CTL.

Custom Toy Lab is in desperate need of a fix up. I want this to be more community based and so I have decided to make it a blog using the WordPress MU software. The only problem is I have never worked with that before. I also have other commitments so I am looking for 1 or 2 people for the following roles;

1) WordPress coder and graphic designer. Re design the site using WordPress MU and look after it from time to time to make sure it is running smoothly. The aim is to make a cool yet easy to use site. This could be a perfect opportunity to expand your portfolio.

2) Blog master. Someone who can look after the blog on a part time basis. Make sure there are no spam posts on the site. Make sure artists are not using the site in the wrong way. Post about custom events and exhibitions. Get involved in promoting the site. Look for new artists to join the site and get involved with Custom Toy lab.

The good news is that we can now afford to pay for these services. If you are interested in the 2 opportunities above please contact me on toys [at] customtoylab [dot] com to discuss this further.