Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hi, I have just had an e-mail from a customer that has quite upset me . I would really appreciate some advice/support, and just generally need to get this off my chest!

I made a little bear called Bluebell (she's in the showcase section) for a lovely lady, at half my normal commission cost because I'm daft like that and this lady has bought a number of my bears....but the whole episode has been nothing but trouble :rolleyes:.

Firstly, I asked my customer to choose a fabric and sent various photos. Instead, she insisted on the colour of one of them but in a different fabric (she wanted mohair, not synthetic). So I tried to oblige (my first mistake!) and went on the hunt...found a lovely intercal kid mohair in navy blue which looked to be the same colour on my monitor...confirmed with her that it was ok, and ordered it. When it arrived it was darker than I expected. I told her this, and she again confirmed this would be ok. Made Bluebell, sent her off yesterday, and today got an e-mail expressing how disappointed she is....the colour's too dark....that navy blue is not at all like the first colour she saw, she thought the bear would be 'bright blue'.

The thing is, on my monitor this was the closest I could find to the bright blue fur she originally chose the colour of, and I did warn her that the actual fur was darker before I made the bear. So what do I do? She's also implying that my photos of Bluebell have misrepresented the colour, yet to me Bluebell looks navy in the photographs.

I'm upset for several reasons - the difficulties of making a custom bear to such tight specifications, the negativity of a lady who previously has been nothing but positively encouraging about my bears, and the fact that she obtained this bear cheaply yet has the nerve to complain about it! Aaargh. I'm so upset I feel like crying.... 

Like others on here, I rate sassybears highly and just love her fabric - I've tried some of the longer (half inch) piles too, and have a bunch of medium pile fabrics just waiting to be used....but nothing beats the smokey long pile for me!

Thanks Clare - you're too kind :redface: (the money's in the post!  )

Hollis is wonderful Sue Ann - she has SO much expression in her face! What fantastic eyes she has!

LOL Kim, that has really made me chuckle :lol:. I guess it could be an alternative career should the 'bottom' fall out of the 'bear' market...hohoho!

'High-end' teddy bears sounds good. I'll remember that next time someone asks me what I do!

Discarding the pattern seems pretty extreme to me! I wish I had the confidence to know I could draw another successful design from scratch :lol:. My patterns 'evolve' over time, are made bigger or smaller, have darts added or taken away.... I have two or three patterns I'm working with right now, and they are constantly changing. I couldn't dream of binning any though - I might need them for reference at some stage even if I don't use them again :).

Just a thought: am I interpreting the word 'discard' too literally?!

Hi Clare, I also tell people I 'make' bears....have you ever had that funny look that I get sometimes?! I'm sure most people have no idea what I mean, but they soon find out!!!

As for eBay, I list in $ to make my auctions open to as many people as possible. I don't know for certain it's the right strategy, but it seems to be working for me at the moment. I have worried from time to time that it might put UK buyers off - but it doesn't seem to be the case in general. Trying different ways of listing is a good idea. I might try listing one or two on eBay UK again, and see what happens.

I'm not yet brave enough to list in the featured items section! I'm sure it must give more exposure though (perhaps others could give an opinion on this?).

Have you tried the word mohair in your title? That would bring more hits, providing your bear is mohair of course! I include the words mini and miniature for the little ones, which helps :).

Thankyou Kim! I confess I was a little confused about the word 'artist' in relation to bears when I first started out. But it makes much more sense to me now. Perhaps it's my British reserve that has made me hesistant to use the word.....but, as you say, it's a common search term on eBay and that's where I sell my bears. So I'll add it in!

Actually, on this subject (and hopefully not fuelling any debate!), my sense of appreciation for artist made bears has definitely grown since I started bear-making. How could it fail to with so many wonderful creations around! I now look at them in the same way I might look at a painting, and can wile away a lot of time enjoying the photos of them here and on the web, marvelling at the skill of the creator and the beauty of the object. It's like I opened the door into another world....boy, am I glad I found it!

Reading this thread has made me think I should include the word 'artist' in the title of my auctions. I've always been shy of describing myself as that, but if people are searching for the word then perhaps I'm not doing myself any favours? Some useful info here, thanks everyone!

Youch! Careful Dilu! Actually, I can't talk....I have a habit of putting my sewing needle in the knee of my jeans, using my clothes like a pin cushion. I can't tell how many red marks i have on my legs through doing that....

Hey, thanks for the tip Clare....that's another eatery to add to my (long) list....;)

Ooh, the Lake district is one of my very favourite places, Catherine! Be sure to visit Ambleside...the Apple Pie cafe next to the main car park sells delicious cakes, yum yum! And on the subject of food, I can also recommend the Rowan Tree cafe in Grasmere. Grasmere is a must, and a day wandering through the twisty lanes, browsing through the book shops, visiting the teeny toyshop that is like a tardis inside and filled to the brim with the largest collection of jigsaws you've ever seen...well, it's heavenly! Oh, and then there's the view of course! Grasmere's a lovely place for a stroll round the lake.

I have seen a bear shop in Cumbria too...it was in Keswick (where, by the way, you can get delicious savoury pies. Does anyone think I eat my way round these places???!). I don't remember the name of the shop but it was on the way to the lake, just on the outskirts of the centre. A very pleasant lady greeted me when I went in to browse the artist bears there. Have fun!

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you like them - Bluebell is being adopted by a lovely lady who specifically asked for that colour and name. And I'm glad she did, because I usually choose teddy/muted colours for my bears. It's so nice to do something different!

OK, I'm going to run the names Lemondrop and Buttercup past my daughter and see what she thinks...

What a wonderful pair!

Aww, William will be a huge hit with his new family, that's for sure - he's very appealing and looks extremely cuddly!

Funny how the bears themselves determine whether they'll be boy or girl isn't it?!

Hi Sarah - what a pretty bear! I love the touches of glitter and she has a very cute expression.

As for the lightness of the photos, I'm not the best person to give advise as I have my own camera problems :lol:. I've never used a light tent either....hmm, but do you have manual settings you can adjust on your camera to lessen the brightness? Hopefully someone more technical than me can help you out!

Has anybody asked the babies if they mind being cooed at?!

Honestly, the world's gone mad.....:o

Hi, I'd like to introduce Bluebell and her little friend (as yet unnamed!).

Bluebell stands just over 6 inches and was made with intercal's Kid mohair (Kid2/H) in navy blue. I found her pretty tricky to photograph, as you can see - my photos often come out too dark *sigh*. Her little friend is just 3 inches tall, made from mohair, and has been adopted by my 5 yr old daughter (it's the first time she has said 'I want that one mummy' so how could I resist?!).

Thanks for looking!

Nasturtium looks like he's having lots of fun in the flowers! He's very cute...a little guy with a big personality

Oh, she's lovely! I didn't realised her muzzle was needle-felted until I read your text - it looks great, and I especially love her nose! How clever you are!!!

I'm just lauging SO much here!!!! The thought of a needle-felted leg hair bear.... it has quite a 'ring' to it, actually!

I'm another one who hates that feeling of stubble after a few days growth.  Wish I'd never started shaving - it just made me feel grown up at the time, I suppose. Sigh!

Thanks Sarah :D. Phew - I don't want to upset anyone, and I know Danni must be feeling mad/awful about what's happened. I've found eBay OK so far, but some of their policies...well, it would be nice if they could tread more gently sometimes, because the mistakes are often innocent as you say. (Have you seen the help section? It would take all day to read it!).

Ohhhh....that's a shame....but as Terrie says, he needs a home and a cuddle :). And it'll just add to the character of your bear, I'm sure! (Sometimes these things are not as bad as we imagine!).

Can you use some shading to 'disguise' it? Or go for the bald look, and pluck all the fur out (on the muzzle)?

Things like this are really frustrating....

Oh no! ---- I hope no-one thinks I've implied that someone did report Danni's auction. I really didn't mean that! Especially not someone from here! It's just that I've been around on eBay for long enough to realise these things do happen occasionally, for whatever reason, and it isn't necessarily malicious.

I have no idea how eBay would find that kind of wording in an auction. You are probably right Deb - they may do searches for key phrases or something :rolleyes:.

Gosh Jane, you haven't had it easy have you? I hope your health picks up from here on....thank goodness you got the ambulance quickly and they looked after you so well. I know how scary an embolism is - my mum had a serious one about a week after an operation (sounds similar to yours) but she did recover well from it, and was back to normal once it was under control. I wish you all the best, and hope you can soon start bear-making again (it's good for stress! But maybe you should wear a thimble on every finger?!).

Take care