I've been asked many times why I am such a huge Tigger fan, so I thought I'd finally share how my "obsession" with Tigger began, and how it has become what it is today, as well as share how my Tigger graphics collection got started.  So without further adieu...

If you've ever read the children's story The Velveteen Rabbit, you'll immediately understand how Tigger became my favorite Disney character.

As a child, I had a small stuffed tiger that I named Tigger.  This tiger was by no means impressive, and he really looked nothing like the Disney Tigger.  It was small, fit in my hand, but I took that stuffed animal everywhere.  I carried it with me, slept with it, played with it - that tiger was my Velveteen Rabbit.

Over the years that tiger - my Tigger - became worn and dirty.  One of his eyes fell off, but I still loved it.  Heck I even remember trying to "wash" him once in my grandmother's bathroom sink to get him clean.

As it happens with children's toys, Tigger disappeared.  I don't know if my mother took him and got rid of him, or if I accidentally threw him away, or if he really just became lost.  I can only take wild guesses as to whatever happened to him.

That tiger became my Velveteen Rabbit.  He became so real he left.  I'd give almost anything to have that tiger back.  It was one of my most prized childhood possessions  Alas, I doubt I'll ever see my first Tigger again, but I'll never forget what he looked liked and what he meant to me.

That tiger was the start of my Tigger fan-dom.  Tigger remained my favorite Disney character, but it wasn't until my late teens / early 20's that I really "re-discovered" my love of Tigger.  Disney Stores were just becoming popular in the early 90's, and I visited my first Disney Store in a Chicago suburb.  I bought a black Tigger t-shirt that started the Tigger collection I have today.

"In the beginning... there were four."

My Tigger graphics collection started in spring of 1994 when I was a cast member at the Disney Store.  Shortly after I started at Disney, I bought a set of Pooh stickers that included four different Tigger stickers.  Scanners were not standard equipment in those days, so I asked around to see if anyone had one so that I could have electronic versions of my stickers.  Fortunately, the husband of one of the managers had a color scanner, and she offered to take the stickers and scan them for me.  Eventually I received my stickers back and two floppies containing TIFF versions of my stickers.

I used those graphics on all sorts of things, and they would be the only Tigger graphics I had until 1997 when I finally worked somewhere that had a scanner.

And then the collection really began.  I scanned any pictures I could find, and cleaned them up as best I could.  At some point early in my website days, I decided to share the fruits of my labor.  After all, what good did it do for me to horde them?

As scanning and paint programs improved over the years, my ability to clean up and work with Tigger graphics also greatly improved.  Even my original four have been "improved" several times since their first scans years ago.

I've always resisted getting my Tigger graphics from other websites, mostly because I can't be sure of the scanning quality or format of the graphic, and well as many of the graphics out there are just repeats or are of poor quality.  There have been exceptions, but not many.  I have always wanted the graphics I offer here to be unique.

Pictured below are those four original graphics - bounce-01, dorky-01, honeypot-01, and openarms-01.

One of my favorite Tigger items is neckties.  My current collection of Tigger ties has 242 ties.  Since my collection is so large, it has become very difficult to find tie designs that I don't have, but I always have hope that I'll stumble upon something I haven't seen before.  Visit the Picture gallery to see all of the ties in my collection.

If you have a Tigger tie that does not appear in my collection and you are willing to part with it, please let me know by sending me an e-mail.  Please note, I'm looking for ties with ONLY Tigger.  He should be the only character to appear on the tie.  No Pooh, no Piglet, no Eeyore... nothing... just Tigger.

Also, a tie can have the same design as one that I already have, as long as it's a different color scheme (as you'll see, there are quite a few of my ties that are similar).  And none of these ties are for sale.  Sorry!

Pictured below are a few ties in my collection.  The tie on the left was my first Tigger tie.  I bought it at the Disney store many years ago, probably sometime in mid-1990's.  I had no idea back then my collection would grow to what it has today!  The two ties in the middle are favorites of mine, and the last tie on the right is my most recent tie, number 242.