Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

What a cutie! I really love his patterned paw pads too!

Why did I start making bears:

I've always loved animals, all the way up until I started college I wanted to be a Veterinarian (but, here, they require you to do 60 hours of shadowing a Vet before you can start the program... and as I was doing those 60 hours I realized I just could never put an animal to sleep)
I've also always had an obsession with stuffed animals... my collection of Gunds is overwhelming (people always think I'm saying that I collect Guns...    )

I've also always been an avid crafter/creator... and get the most enjoyment from making things myself, and then giving them to other people and watching them enjoy them.

I'd been wanting to make my own stuffed animals for years, and one day, stumbled across jennylovesbenny on etsy... saw the patterns and noted they were patterns for 'beginners'... and bought one!

I made one bear from that pattern and KNEW I needed to make my own patterns and my own bears immediately!

This... was in June of this year XD So I really am quite the noob. I've been at it about 5 months, and if you look at my blog
(www.littlebearries.blogspot.com)
you can see my original patterns that I've been coming up with.

I only want to learn more techniques and get better!!! This bug has bitten hard!!!!!

What or Who influenced me?:

I really need to give some shout-outs here... First off, obviously, jennylovesbenny... but, from there, I tried to find supplies on  my own and came up with squat, so I did a web search and found Teddy Talk... and honestly, I don't know how far I would have gotten without this site. It is SO helpful.
Through this site I found the world of blogging... and have been very, very kindly helped by members of the bear world, who are just so giving and wonderful!

Right now, I look at so many bear makers with great love and affection for their style... that to list them all just seems silly. I think there's always something to learn from what other people are willing to try

I've seen your pictures, and they are by no means poor viewing quality for the web... you have nice, large web images that are clear.

The only reason that she'd need stuff like that is if a) she doesn't know how to use a photo editing program or b) for professional print or publication... because if I personally just wanted photo references of your work, a printout of your web images, enlarged slightly in a photo editing program,  would do just fine.

If you do feel the need to reply to her, it wouldn't be rude at all to let her know that you aren't comfortable with sending out print quality images, but that with a photo editing program, she can print out images that should be good enough for photo reference... and maybe suggest that she look into making a digital archive of bears she's interested in, since then she would have lovely looking pictures to view, and all in a lot less storage space.

I know in the doll world, there is a  lot of photo theft for publication, and some similar request emails were sent... and some people have inappropriately profited off others works... often times, nothing ends up being done about it, because getting a copyright enforced across international borders is evidently very hard to do. (at least in the doll folks experience).

I like to err on the side of caution, but still trust in the good of humanity and assume this is just some bear artist who doesn't realize what she's asking.

I wouldn't give her any images, but I'd let her know why, and offer up some alternatives (like the bit about enlarging them in a photo program... chances are, if she doesn't know how, she knows someone who does.)... but that would only be if you really felt the need to reply. Otherwise, I agree with the simply not responding.

Oh wow, those footpads are lovely! This bear is a cutie!

I have a weakness for pandas... I just want to snuggle them all!!!!

Oh wow... I want to work for THAT company!!!!

congrats... and congrats to every nominee!!!

Oh adorable!!!! Congrats!

Got mine, and I am SOOOOO excited!!!!

Thank you

So cute!!

Oh, I love it!!

I can't wait!!! Thank you for organizing this!

Thanks!

My patterns have minds of their own... or maybe the fur I use has a mind of its own? I have no idea... all I know is that this is the same pattern as the little grey bear I posted a few days earlier... and yet... it's half an inch shorter, and thanks to this being a sparse mohair, doesn't have the facial fur sculpting... so it's little face looks completely different! Amazing!

She stands 5.5 inches tall, is fully jointed, I stitched her nose sparsely on purpose because I thought the trimmed mohair gave her an antiquish look... and...

The leaf embellishment is completely removable, it's going to be part of my "Little Bearries" branding :)

Thanks for looking!

Thanks guys!!!

The mohair one actually looks... nothing like this guy 

That is just fantastic!!!

Do you shoot RAW files and edit in photoshop? (just curious)

Choose the manual setting, set your camera (I'm assuming you're using a tripod) to ISO 100, then set your f-stop to 16 or higher if you want a full depth of field (without too much thought about it) or st it to a smaller f-stop (5.6 or so) if you want a very limited depth of field... then take a meter reading and set the meter so that it is perfectly exposed according to your camera (there's that little scale in the viewfinder with a plus on the right side, a minus on the left side and a little tab in the center... set it to the center)... then click it so that it's about 4 clicks to the negative side of that scale (to the right) and take a picture... that should help with the hot spots, and then you can make adjustments in your photo editing program, if need be....

was this just confusing???

I'm excited too!

I can't wait XD

I've already started mine (or, at least a practice run if it doesn't turn out how I think it will!)

Here's a new little guy from a new pattern... he stands about 6 inches tall :)

This little guy was my practice to see if the pattern would work... I've got another cut out in mohair... which will be my first mohair bear ever... I'm a little scared!!!

So tiny looking!! What a cutie!

I love them both!! and OMG the needlefelting is so exquisite!

OMG look at those big doe eyes!!! Adorable!!

What a cutie! I love the idea of bears made from beloved old clothing

How fantastic is that? I love it!! I especially love her green color!

Love em! I especially love the white one with the darker color on his ears... there's just something about that look that I adore... but oh my, if forced to truly choose, it might be impossible as to which one would take home the cute cake.

It's amazing how different the same pattern can look when just using different materials!!!

Here is another from my Toffee pattern (see my avatar to see who Toffee is )

Sorry for the lame photos this time... I took the good ones BEFORE I put his nose on, go figure, lol.