Welcome to White Bear Creations. This website is a longtime dream of mine to put my
talents to use. I first came up with the idea in May 2000 and it is a rather unusual
story of how it all came about.In 1970, my family moved to Tucson, Arizona. We did a lot of camping and travelling throughout the West, taking in the natural wonders, as well as the history of the Old West. I was drawn to anything American Indian and insisted that we stop at the Trading Posts along the way. On one of our trips I recall running ahead of my family at a park, wearing my feathered headdress, only to run into a group of Russian tourists. The tour guide proceeded to tell the tourists that I was "...an authentic American Indian girl...". This was followed by many pictures being taken of me. I have often wondered just how many pictures of me are wandering around Russia!
My father used to call me his "Little Pocahontas" when I was young, and my PopPop always called me
“Ishkabibble” or “Ishi” for short. My PopPop was part Native, although I am unsure of which tribe he was.
I can remember one time that we were camping, the skies were as clear as could be. He did a raindance and
shortly thereafter the skies opened up! As a child this was really amazing to me. Maybe he knew the
forecast ahead of time and wanted to impress me, but it has remained in my memory all of these years.
He was not my blood Grandfather, so there is no bloodline connection there.I have done some research to find Native bloodlines, but have not yet found concrete evidence. I am not registered with any tribe, however the evidence that I have found leads me to a Shawnee bloodline. I do not wish to step on any toes, nor go against any laws and therefore will not claim to be Native American for the sale of my creations. I do however wish to honor the beliefs, traditions and styles and will do my best to do so. All of my bags and materials are blessed by way of a smudging ceremony conducted by myself.
It all started while I was working as the manager of a local jewelry store that specialized in Sterling Silver jewelry coming from Navajo Artisans, Bali and Mexico, among other sources. My favorite pieces to work with and sell were those by the Navajo artists. Working in this wonderful store only re-ignited my intense, lifelong love of all things Native American.
In March of 2000, I decided that I wanted to stay at home with my daughter over the summer break and return to the store when she returned to school in the Fall. In April, my soulmate Michael and I married after being together for over two years. He is my inspiration plus my own personal Webmaster and I call him the “Web Guru”. With my having worked with such beautiful jewelry, Michael gained an interest in gemstones. One day while he was perusing auctions, he discovered that loose gemstones could be purchased at very reasonable prices online. His findings piqued my interest, so I signed up with Ebay and Yahoo and started browsing for myself. I was amazed at the diverse selection of gemstones, rocks and minerals that I, myself, could buy without having any special connections. I also relished the selection of stunning Navajo jewelry available to not only buy, but to look at, admire and learn about as well. This fulfilled my love for working with the jewelry.
During my "word searches" on the auctions for Native American jewelry and their respective stones,
I discovered Zuni and Navajo fetishes. This became a new passion for me and I proceeded to start my
collection. These fetishes have been very instrumental in my inspiration, my spiritual healing and
finding of my "true self". I have been an artist my entire life and have worked in many mediums.
In 1990, I attended Ringling School of Art & Design in Sarasota, Florida. My major in my first year was
Interior Design and in my second year I switched to Fine Arts. I have spent many years collecting items
from nature, such as rocks, feathers, leather, fur and wood, as well as "manmade" items from nature
such as natural fiber textiles, glass and metal. I knew that one day I would have a use for them
and that it would one day "click" for me. My family and friends thought that I was a crazy pack rat,
but they have finally seen what my ultimate plan was all of those years.Through the many hours that were spent on the Internet and auctions, I came up with my master plan to create my bags and sell them on my Ebay auctions. Everything fell right into place. Making them feels so natural to me that sometimes it is hard for me to believe that they come from MY hands and I have an intense belief that there are stronger powers assisting me in my creations. I have had no prior experience in making these and no formal training…only the few books that I have read to get the basics, but when I make a bag, it feels as if I have done this MANY times before.
I have a large selection of supplies available to me, including deer, buffalo, elk and cow leathers of many colors, an extensive choice of furs, feathers, beads, brass bells, tin cones, antler and shells. My bags are all hand cut and hand sewn with either hand cut leather strips or synthetic sinew. Eventually I may find a supplier for natural sinew, but until that time, the sinew is the only material that I will use that is NOT from nature. Each bag is signed, dated and tagged with a materials list. I also plan to create a line of bags in the future made from my large collection of textiles. These will be designed more as Renaissance and Rune bags than Native American. They will include vintage trims, buttons and beads. As time allows I may also create some pieces such as medicine wheels, dance sticks and talking sticks. I have made three personal stone fetishes to date and I will be creating more of them in the future as well.
My first bags sold quickly on Ebay and were all very well received. In fact, several of my customers immediately contacted me for more bags after receiving their first shipments! You may read my feedback there to see what my customers have had to say. I pay great attention to detail and have been called a perfectionist, however my bags are not "cookie cutter". Quite the contrary, no two bags are alike and I use the natural imperfections of the hides and pelts to enhance every bag. Each piece is purely from inspiration and from my heart. In fact if I have had a rough day and my mindset is not right, I will not create so as to avoid bringing a negative spirit to a bag. My previously made bags and fetishes are available for viewing on their respective archive pages. If you see a particular style that you like, you may contact me to see if I currently am able to make a "similar" bag, plus I do take custom orders from your own ideas.
To close, I would like to explain how I came up with the name of White Bear Creations. Simply enough, my married surname is "Le Blanc" which in French means "the white", my Nana’s maiden name was “Berlin”, which in German means "Guardian of the Bears" and I chose the word Creations because it felt right to me such as in "the Creator", whom I feel has great influence over my creativity. I would like to thank you for taking the time to visit my website and for reading this page. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or in regards to any special orders.
