Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Rotraud is very technical but totally understandable. I wrote her to expect a flurry of requests for info!!!

Does Emu Oil have any odor? I'm definitely for less prescriptions if OTC works; I need to take a number of prescribed drugs + supplements daily. I tried Oz's Tea Tree Oil for ages and finally decided I just couldn't stomach it. I'm hypersensitive to smells.

Yes, even gentle stretching and exercising hurts a bit, but far less than the pain of not moving. A few years ago I would not have even taken the bet that those words will emit from my mouth or fingers, but having had 2 very expensive surgeries and seeing my *crippled* neighbor who had the same surgeries and who now sits at a computer plus reading all day, virtually stopped moving after his usual few months' of therapy end - and he cannot walk the length of our yeards w/o sitting down to rest his aching joints.

It scared me so much that I've slowly started taking off my 100 extra lbs (58 more to go!!) and MOVE every day! No wheelchairs @ 70 for me!

Neal - 38, our youngest, began fibro shortly after a horrendous auto accident a decade ago. He uses a Temperpedic mattress and it helps him. I have to sleep flat on my back for a neck problem but his bed it too firm for me. Their house is also too hot for us. I hadn't matched up the cooler temp thing; our house it quite a bit cooler and goes down even more at night. I like a warm little nest in a cold room.

We've had a Select Comfort for almost 20 years. DH has other spinal & shoulder problems (Ain't Life H--- ??!!) but it still wasn't quite form-fitting yet supporting enough so we've added two 3" Temperpedic mattress-toppers and it's as comfortable as we can get it. Unfortunately the room is only 10' sq so we cannot have even a queen bed in there and still be able to move around it! I didn't expect to still be in my starter home some 45 years later!!!

Play around with the Glucosamine or Gluc/Chon amounts. I need two 1000 mg tablets AM & PM to keep this level of (relative) comfort.

I've reached the age where I don't accept this any more. "The Good Doctor" is my paid employee and I won't be fobbed off with a lame excuse, for whatever reason he gave you this:

Time to find another more enlightened Dr. Read online about the many many types of juvenile arthritis; help is available no matter how old you are!

Re: Mom with Parkinson's; Don also has a familial problem: about 10  years ago he began to note an 'essential tremor' in the hand he uses - his left.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/essent … or/DS00367
That doesn't make it any easier (for him) to deal with but you have my empathy!

And now my Oatmeal's done.
Speaking of Comfort, is a bowl of oatmeal one of your Comfort Foods? Or do you hate facing a gooey mass of sludge? I accidentally discovered a new was to cook rolled oats. I don't think it would work with steel-cut or Scots oats though; they have a different texture, more like barley. I use Quaker Oats' Old-Fashioned, in the familiar round box. Although I've also tried it with the same product from Cosco, the oat flakes are broken up a bit, more like their Minute Oats, and don't cook up as separately. Either they break up in the larger bulk container, or Quaker uses oats that are a bit more broken in processing but not as thin or broken as the Minute style. I just know that this doesn't work as well with them.

I do it in the microwave and it produces individually plumped up oats that remain separate and 'chewy'. No gumminess! I measure 3/4 to 1 cup of oats out with a pinch of salt. In a 2 quart (they really boil up) Pyrex measuring/cooking vessel, I pour 1  to 1.5 cup of water as hot as my tap can go. Microwave the water on High for about 3 min - it should be just about boiling. Pour in the salted oats carefully (Google - stirring or adding-to super-heated water. Sometimes it boils up)
Give the container a shake or stir to get all flakes wet/submerged.
Cook on High another 6 mins or so. Done to perfection!!!

Mine's cooled off in the microwaved while I typed this; 30 seconds of heating again and bring on the milk and a bit of brown sugar!

Bingo - First hit. Good ole Google!
Let's say it all together ~ "Google Is Your Friend."

I have an autographed copy after meeting her for a number of years running at Teddybar Total!
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Ro … gle+Search

http://www.rotraud-ilisch.de/

http://www.rotraud-ilisch.de/Pages/e_latest.htm
Tell her Bobbie sent you!

And I found the correct 'a' ~ on a Mac it's:
Hold down Option key, type u, release key and type an a:  ä

Osteoarthritis is why I'm the proud owner/operator of 2 new knees!

I take Ansaid (anti-inflamatory), Aleve works for minor headaches and such, but absolutely need Glucosamine! On one of our European trips I ran out and thought I was falling apart! I never took the time to find more as we travelled about different countries. After a few days home & back on it, the old/new aches disappeared.

DH is on Nexium & Glucosamine/Chondroitin, but the G/C combo gave me a continual headache.

My latest knee therapy brought-to-fore old Lumbar back problems: I have to say that unless you're committed to MOVING you're going to continue to hurt no matter what else you do or you take! Gently stretching for an extended period of time EVERY SINGLE DAY is the best and safest way to build and/or condition your inner musculature and supporting tissue.

Outside workers (passive movement), like chiropracters and many therapists that move your body parts for you don't accomplish the same level of comfort and better living than do building up your own muscle by conditioning. It doesn't take much but it must be a continuing committment; it's said that every day 'down' loses 3 - 4 days of prior conditioning.

When I was a kid, I visited the Museum of Science & Industry here in Chicago. They had a display of a typical 40s style farm. Inside the farm kitchen was a rocking chair: stenciled across the back was  "Rest 10 Minutes of Every Hour." The Amer Heart Assn promoted this.
It shows our current lifestyle when the more apropos slogan now is:
Move 10 Minutes of Every Hour. (You know the rear shape of those that sit too long & are overweight???)

Let's at least keep what we've still got!

I cannot speak for what had to go on behind-the-scenes, before, during and after, the KDIGS (Kelly Dean Invitational Gallery Show), I just know about the actual show day(s) for the 3 years it was held. It was a sumptuous (sp?) event with the creme de la creme of work executed and displayed magnificently.

I was in awe to be among bear artists I'd not met, even with all of the international travel we did. We all attended and mingled with the collectors that arrived, as the promotor had worked for days just to artfully display our bears for us.

Bear Paths shop, Kelly & Ollie projected a 5-year plan. I was thrilled and extremely honored to be invited to be one of the international artists; there were about 25 if I remember correctly. We contracted to bring at least 10 very special Gallery pieces. It was held for 3 years before it became too large a deficit to be continued. Mindy attended and boosted it continually.

One of their first stumbling blocks was the date. This month was Linda's show, that month was ABC, the other was KC Jubilee, and Clarion and TBAI..and...and...  It was very difficult finding a slot that didn't infringe on other (bear-related) dates, not counting other national holidays and festivities.

A huge amount of $$ is outlaid in advance to hold the show space & hotel rooms. Not being a promotor, I cannot even begin to know all of the expenses involved.

Shows like this are truly awe-inspiring to attend and/or participate in. I have no solutions (if I did I'd be in their part of our business!) I do know that many of the collectors have become artists in their own right - for better or worse - but it is true that all collectible markets are down. It may pick up or it may not. Who knows what will happen in the international financial markets.

For those of us who do not depend on sales for the roof over our heads, we'll keep creating even if they don't sell - because we love what we do.

While we all live in this 'instant moment' world, your information brings us up short and reminds us that some areas are still in their colonial days, Lynnette. We're really spoiled here and mostly fail to recognize our advantages.

It wasn't so very many years ago when my friends, the Chamberlains in Cape Town, used to need an invoice from me, to take to their bank, to prove their need for US currency, before their own funds would be released to them, to pay me for the fabric I sold them.
And that's not even Third World.....

Ah HA!! Funny, the ruts we get into!
And I just saw 'Jump To:' in the lower left of each page, which is where we end up before moving on anyway.
With that plus View recent posts I should be able to speed-read through the list!!!

Your reaction was so like mine!! Remember the big games and tournaments when Disney Land/World would get the cameras and mics right in the players' faces as they left the field or floor and they'd scream "We're going to Disney Land/World!!!"

With my first nomination, I was on the phone with Disneyworld reservations (the winners would be announced there) when DH came home after work. I yelled "We're going to Disneyworld!!"

The poor reservationist must've had a heart attack as it was about 30 very looong seconds before she talked to me again!

What Fun! Enjoy it, Gang!!

Girl's Head/Face (it's the eyes), Boy's Body. Not much help!

Is everyone here offering to link with all others or just with Shelli? I'd love to post all of you...Pretty Pls?

Roberta (Bobbie) Kasnick Ripperger
for
Creative Design Studio
http://www.BeyondBasicBears.com

You all know about my webbie blues; he's 'nearing' the end but hasn't finished nor turned over the controls over to me yet.
As soon as he's finished, I'll be adding you all into my site.
Thank You!

How cheap is cheap Shelli?

My bank, Chase, uses Paymentech, which costs $7.50 a month (used or not)  and a small percentage per invoice charge. It works out to be about the same as 1 or 2 PayPal auctions as a Business acct. (Fees collected for all incoming monies, none for outgoing) which I still consider cheap (eBay fees added in) over show entry fees and mag ads.

ABC was 10% when last used about 3 - 4 years ago.

My debit card is used only for $$ OUT OF the ATMs. Everything else is on the CC  (rewards card), because of those nice little $25 and $50 checks that are rebated every time that much accumulates. I attended an event recently where the Guest Speaked was (I'm blanking on his name...) Frank ________, the bad-turned-to-good FBI/Security specialist, whose life was profiled in the Catch Me If You Can movie.

He never uses a Debit card; neither do we. If not paid online, then always by CC: you use the bank's money free if you pay off every statement when due, and get rebates as well. They may be only 1% but it's still money coming in, while yours is sitting somewhere else earning interest as well. 

But I'm interested in the least amount of fees charged for CC purchases - Pls give company names and URLs!

Is there another shorter (short-cut) way to go between the main topics?

I'm prob asking for the moon, but I'd like to not have to scroll back to the beginning of each main topic (General, Minis, NFing, Tips, etc...) and click Index in the upper 4 left corner to bring up the main (Home) page and then click the next Topic/section.

E.g., anyone know a way of looking at General and going immediately into NFing?

Re: Tina's Post #10 —
From what I can see of the lovely pink-on-brown fabric, may I ask about you cutting on the grain?

From the weave in the plucked areas, it looks as if the head pieces were cut on the diagonal rather than straight grain.
Is this so?
Do you have any difficulty sewing the head/muzzle seams?
(i.e., the seamline stretching or puckering while matching and sewing?)

I would say that the first golli & bear are in a square or rectangular nylon 'light box' with a top opening - one light shining downward - and the photographer, in a great light blue shaded sweater is holding the camera up to their face.

The golli has a full lengthed dress on with litle black feet peeping out from under the hem, against the lt gold backdrop.

How close did I get????

Dilu - Love your 'stories'.

Has anyone else ever noticed that you can see a lot about a person's photo set-up by what's reflected in the eyes? (See Diane's first Golli pic)

We just have to keep in mind the famous teapot pix on eBay - I may have the details wrong, but the fellow's details were all reflected there.....

The PO supplies all sorts of outer box sizes free - does every one else order theirs online too? There are some that cost $$ but all of the sizes I get are free. And they deliver them to your door! How can you beat that!!??

The craft-paper-covered boxes weigh all of an ounce, if that. Even with additional braid and paint and charms/buttons/trims it's a negligible amount of weight in the box. As my work weighs about 1/2 ounce for the largest 4 - 5" size, and the tissue cushioning everything else, I'm well under 1 lb on most boxes.

That's one of the advantages of minis, which is offset by their disadvantage in show displays, when we need to travel with many more Props to fill the 6' and 8' tables!!!

I've got literally hundreds of patterns for fabric minis in storage, as I designed a couple of kit lines and made only minis for a dozen years. PM me your sketch. Do you have a digital camera? That's how to get the ideas sent around the quickest.

rkr4cds@comcast.net

Great subject!
All of my work gets a custom-themed box for shipping inside the packing box. I like to think that it makes a handy presentation box, storage or display base for the collectors. I don't put them in the photograph as it too is a sort of surprise. Although I did purchase some cloth-covered ones recently with an Asian look - BamBoo Panda is sitting on one.

I like the kraft pare covered tan/brown ones from Hobby Lobby, they come in many shapes and sizes for minis up to about 8". Sometimes I've turned them into rooms and books and closets, but usually just embellish the outside with paints, stains, ribbons, evergreen & pine cones - whatever keeps the theme; I decorate the outside so they match the mood and species of bear.

Being from the Illinois, 'Land of Lincoln', I also include a brand new shiny penny (for non-USAers or penny/cent has Lincoln on the front) and some 1.5" chocolate pennies - chocolate - wrapped in copper colored foil. It took me a year to find the manufacturer after seeing them being made on The Food Network' program 'UnWrapped'.
And a signed Thank you card with one of the auction images on the front.
Oh, and a miniature, 1.5" tall book on either bears, nursery stories or Christmas.

Oh, oh! This is right up my alley! One could almost think your post was a plant, Jennifer!

First, you've discovered that the more roughened up fiber needles together better. Not just swishing/'messing' them around in orientation to each other, but roughening up the texture of each strand.

Second - that's EXACTLY what happens to human hair. I got my 'Cosmetology' (beautician/hairdresser) license in 1960. The classes on Bleaching and Dyeing (and permanent waving) were my first introduction to Anatomy of Hair 101.
Picture fish scales or roof shingles overlapping each other, around and around, the length of the strands. The edges of the scales lay smoothly down against the layer below.

All of the the chemical (as well as heating) treatments get in under these scales/shingles and lift them away from the center of the strand as well as damage (break up) the formerly smooth edge.

Where your hair was shiny and smooth to your head, each strand laying nicely next to its neighbor, they've now become like a hair-on-end Halloween cat - or the Ruffled Feathers of a Wet Hen! They stand away from each other because the bristly scales are raised and taking up room.

Where you once had finer textured hair, you now have VOLUME! But it comes with a price tag; damaged hair that cannot 'heal itself' despite what the commercials for conditioners claim. Once broken or split or chemically/heat damaged, it's permanent. Removing is the only solution - after the interminable wait for growth. (Ever get a bad home permanent? That's right up to the scalp, the longest wait for growth - besides pregnancy - in a Girl's Life!)

So you can see why one of the reasons that the smoother fibers like Merino take longer to needle together: their finer 'scales' are smoothly laying down in place and aren't as likely to grab onto their equally smooth neighbor's scales. Go for the matte finish, fine-to-medium breeds. You'll feel like Champ!

I've settled on the least expensive option I could think of: Denim!

It's at least 60" wide, a yard is more than enough and the reverse side of the many colors of it are wonderful!

That being said, I find using my gradient photo sheets too bulky to use with 2" minis. I'm going to sell them: I have used the blue one a lot and have cut a narrower strip off one side/full length. I think they started about 30+"  x 48". I bought three:
a white to dark blue,
white to gray and
white to black.
LMK off list if anyone is interested.
I mail-ordered them through Belger (Camera) Supply in Texas.

Oh, that probably explains it. Thx Shane!

I haven't seen Norm posting since last Fall. Have I missed it or has he forgone bears and back to smoking. Say it isn't so!

Has anyone rec'd or placed Feedback on an eBay auction that went to a bidder designated #1, 2, 3, etc..? I'm curious if the names/IDs are revealed as well as the total bid amount by clicking on the Item # on the far right on the Feedback page.

If this info were revealed there, it would negate the anononymity of the original purpose of this new feature.

I'm about to write the text for my next auction and am torn between Private Bid listing (which will keep the amount and bidder out of the listing - just a rating/comment is posted w/no link to the actual item) or setting a Reserve and letting eBay proceed with the Bidder numbers.
Well, if it should go over $200 that will happen automatically, but I wanted to find out how the Feedback may be changed from what we've known in the past.

Martha Burch in Wisconsin who shows photos of aging her new mohair(s). On the roof, under the car wheels, buried in the compost pile, tied to a tree and beaten.. etc... Yes, they were all cleaned very well afterwards!
One must be selective of the fabrics according to the backing as well, as many of them aren't woven tightly enough to stand up to this pre-bear whole-cloth treatment.

Has anyone sealed a branch so that it remained looking natural (not shiny varnished) but didn't fall apart (bark separating) later or the twigs easily broken off? I have a cub perched in a tree but before I sell it I need to know that it will hold up in the long run.

The branches have been drying for 6 months so I know there won't be a problem of sealing in unwanted moisture.

TIA