Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Yay Danni!  What a great article.  Congratulations!  You've always been a star to me!

Hi Lousie, I have to tell you that people who have a bear made from thier Grandma's coat are so happy to have a bear to look at instead of the coat in a closet somewhere.
I would recommend doing a few first before tackling someones coat just so you have a good feel for how fur "behaves"...or "acts up" in some cases.

You could buy an inexpensive coat from ebay and give it a whirl.  It 's a challenge at first but very rewarding in the end.

Go for it girl!

Hi Margaret.  PINK!  That's my favorite color.  What a beautiful bear!

Bofore I started making bears I used to make cats.  Yes, I have to agree with you, they have a mind of thier own!

As stated above here, ebay is a great resource for Steiff bears.  Good luck.

notice all my "edits"..tee hee...I am SUCH a TYPO Queen!!!!!!! with a quick "submit post" finger!:o

Oh Sue Ann.  How infuriating! I am so sorry that happened to you.  It is  shame that people do that.

I had a customer, a very very very great customer do that to me.  She had won an ebay auction, and had me do a custom order for a red fox fur bear.  She owed me more than $1,100.00 for the pair.  I always sent her bears COD (CASH ON DELIVERY) .  In one year she spent almost $8,000 on bears from me.  She was always dependable .  She even got a special PO box for me to send bear to so her hubby would'nt find out (but that was her business)

Anyway this last payment by check was bad.  And to add insult to injurt , I had to pay a bank fee for her bounced checks!

This was over a year ago and I still don't have my money.  I was sick over it.  I looked her up onthe internet to find her home phone number.  I called her, sent her nice letters and got nothing.  I even hired a check recovery firm to collect my money...I still don't have it.

Beware of COD's infact I no longer will ship any bears COD.  By the way, I thought COD meant CASH on delivery, not "check".  hhhmmmm!

Oh Ladies I got goose bumps reading your stories.

Daphne how simply wonderful of your husband to buy one of your bears.  That speakes volumns.

Laure I agree wirth you about pictures.  They are a must.  I have photos around my house, of my bears, just as I do my children...even though my kiddies come first.;)

Shelli, I wish I had Baboo.  Maybe someday;)

I have only done two shows as I like to keep the cash flowing on a regular basis.  I find it difficult to build up stock.  WHen I did my first show I had a beautiful arctic fox fur bear that I had no intention of selling but still wanted to show.  SOOOOO, I priced her very high...and wouldn't you know it...she sold... I hugged this bear so tight before letting her go.....infact this buyer had the bear wave bye to me. I almost cried.

Then , my daughter cried when I sold a red curly lamb fur bear.  She wouldn't speak to me for hours.  I had not realized she really wanted that bear.

Isn't it funny how these bears are so real as if they are alive.  They are real to me.  They speak to me....and I talk back to them.:)

Ditto ditto ditto!  You are ALL wonderful and even better than a tonic or Paxil!

Hi Kim Bee!
I have been making real fur bear since 1999 and it is quite different than working with mohair.  As of recently I have been sticking with mohair  as I am finding it more fun at the moment.

The main differences between real fur and mohair is that real fur does need to be lined and working with it is quite messy and fiddley.  You also need to be aware of the direction or grain of the fur.  It often goes in different directions unlike mohair where the nap is always even.

Trimming the face takes great care and more time but the results can be really beautiful.  Just make sure you take your time and use really good scissors, like mustache ot hair cutting scissors as they have a serated  edge and "grab" the fur as you cut as it tends to slip otherwise.

Tandy Leather has some really good sewing needles designed to sew through leather.  They are very sharp and have a three bladed edge.  Definitely a must when sewing with real fur.

I have found that I often sew the entire bear by hand especially on the thicker furs like fox, coyote, beaver and a few others.  You will have much more control when sewing real fur by hand...it can be verey slippery.

I also use alligator clips instead of pins.  You never want to use pins on real fur and they leave a hole.

Nancy's book is also a very great resource!
Let us know how it goes for you.

Hi Kelly,
I have been making and shipping real fur bears for 6 years and have never heard of any problems with the heat form shipping.  I believe it takes a while for the insides of a box to really heat up.   Good quality fur is pretty durable.   Also, as mentioned above I would ship one of the faster routes, like priority mail....most buyers like to get thier bears faster anyway.:)

Hello friends.

I am wondering how many of you have sold a bear that you wish you would have kept.

I have for sure!

But what I also have are a few bears that have become so attached to me that they won't leave!  No really, I decided a while ago that I had to keep a few that I really like just in case, one day, I might be feeding a calf some calf pellets outside and a frieght train falls out of the sky on my head.....then my kids will have some of my bears to keep forever...and hand down to thier childred and so on and so forth.

It would be a shame to sell everything and have nothing special for my children someday, when I become an angel......at least I hope I will someday....a loooooong time from now.

So, have you ever let a bear go that you wish you kept?  I bet a lot of you can relate , but i have had people tell me, Oh, you can just make another one.......but I can't.  Even if I try, they still come out different...even if they are similar they are not quite alike.

How about you guys?

Thank you ladies!!

Louise, I think you need to share some photos of your delicious offspring.....inquiring eyes want to see.  :D:D:D

oh I do love photos!!!!

Congratulations Louise!  You are on your way with ebay!!! YAY!

Mountains are moved one stone at a time.

Shelli, What if you used the same original handle but reinforced the underside of the purse lid with wood.  You could cut the wood to be a close fit , securing it with E6000 glue.  Then you would be able to actually use the handles without the worry of breaking the lid.  HHHHHMMMMMM.....just another thought for the pot!

Boy, I sure am behind reading this thread!

Millie, that's awesome that you won a baking contest ....I would be happy just not to burn dinner!:lol:

Since you ladies were discussing marrying off your offspring I thought I would share a pic of my zaney trio!   My son will be ready for marriage in about 20 years.

Shelli send some pixie dust my way too!  I have two bears that live in Japan but I really just want to give Marie a hug in person;)

MEG!  Welcome from Wisconsin!  There are some really great ladies in here.  Glad you came in .:)

Thanks for sharing this Shelli.  It's really fun.  Now my daughters are going crazy for this site....the dolls that is.;)

  I hope this works...

Hey this was FUN!  I felt like I was shopping:D

I have always had a high opinion the lovely kind and caring ladies in here........ and now it is even higher than ever!

What a beautiful bear family we have here!

What a family we have here.  You are all a joy!!!

Oh how I know what you mean...

Before we put an addition on our house I worked in at our kitchen table......It was always covered with my stuff!  Now I have my own work room....allllllll for myself!   It's our old living room.   It has a bay window and a beautiful view which looks out onto one our our hay fields.  I even have my computer in here.  Things still have a tendency , though, to spill over into othere areas of the house and my work room gets pretty messy too.

My guess would be that if you have very limited space then you need to be very organized (which would be very hard for me).  There are lots of stackable organizer containers out there  at Office Max or a good craft store.  I also keep extra storage bins of fur and mohair in the basement until I need it.

Good luck and let us know how it all works out.

AMEN!!:):):)  Let's get back to the happy forum:):):)

Thank you so much.  You are all diamonds and it shows through your kindness and the beauty, not only in your words but, in your creations as artists...and just plain decent and SUPER human beings.

Bless you

Hi ladies.  I just wanted to post a separate thread to say "Thank You" to all of you who emailed me privately regarding the two recent unkind posts aimed at me in this forum.

I really enjoy visiting with you each and every day.  You have enriched my life in many ways.
I have been feeling just aweful at these unkind, mean attempts to discredit me and my love for my art.

Most bear artists are supportive of one another and there always room for forgiveness.  I harbor no hate as that is not part of my being.

Always be true to your self.  That is what my father says,  and that is how I live my life.

I am truely blessed to have such warm people here who care.  That's what teddy bears are all about.  They are symbols of love and caring and everything that is warm and fuzzy.  These traits will shine through all of your lovely creations....and you all know who you are.

Thank you for being my friends.
Very sincerely,
Judi

Oh Kirsten, you don't want to switch planes at O'Hare...unless you get to go through the mood tunnel... it's an underground termial connecting tunnel with long conveyor belts to ride on while watching neon lights changing colors and listening to space age music...neat.  I think it is supossed to be a stress reducer.

Jane, your bears are beautiful and what glorious costumes!  Your dream sounds likeit was great fun...glad I was there:D:D:D

Hi Marion!!!!

Bless you Laure ansd Kim-Bee.  I agree with you whole heartedly.

Isn't it a shame  that bear artist's cannot be more supportive of each other.
I was not the first to use whites in the eyes of bears.  I had seen this used a very long time ago in a magazine...far before Lydia's.  Many many many artist's add the whites to a bears eyes. 

Patscrafts post borders on Libel.  Libel is written defamation.  Defamation, sometimes called "defamation of character", is spoken or written words that negatively reflect on a living person's reputation.

If a person publicaly says or writes something about you that is understood to lower your reputation, or that is an attempt to keep people from associating with you, defamation has occured.

The above is exactly what this is..pure and simple.

  It is a shame how things get twisted and taken right out of context to deliberately hurt another person, and  it saddens me a great deal to see such ugliness on such a wonderful board.:(