Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Love it Judi! I so wish I had taken a picture when my then 3 year old son finger painted my then 6 month old son black and blue!
lol
Sonya

Last for me too

Here is a photo of the card Gladys sent me. I LOVE it. Sorry for the not so great photo. I just don't feel well enough to retake them.
Hugs
Sonya

Gladys made me a surprrise card with my and her bear on it. One she got from me in San Diego. It is gorgeous Gladys. Thanks so much. Sorry I haven't said anything yet. I got it early last week. I have been so busy tearing down a fence at my rental house (it was all broken to pieces in a wind storm). Then today I spent all day in the emergency room. Diagnosis:   atypical bacterial pnuemonia.
***sigh*** gotta get better in time for the Nevada City show
Sonya

Aww Shelli, I don't know whether to laugh or cry! That looks like it hurts, but I sure did get the funniest visual from your description of how it happened. I was laughing with tears running down my cheeks. Just heal up and get better and I really do hope you make it.
Hugs
Sonya

I read your post

You can't cancel!! I have been looking forward to meeting you there. As a matter of fact, I have been advertising for you . I have had some of my customers who actually live out of state (as well as some local) who have asked about the show. I cheered them on into trying to make it by saying that you would be there! lol. Now you KNOW, that you cannot disappoint your fans! ( of whom I happen to be one) Please tell me you will just work day and night so that you can make it (ducking)  :crackup:  :crackup:
Sonya

I love it Edie! Since she is out of town you could send it to me. I just retired.
Sonya

I usually use locline armatures in the legs if I want a big one to stand. It helps because you can then bend it at the knees slightly to help it balance.
Also if it is falling forward, you need to move the lags a bit to the rear and if it is falling backwards, you need to move them forward. And last, but not least, SHOES REALLY HELP!
Sonya

Elle
Yes, I sculpt heavily before setting the eyes. It helps so I don't have top worry about a dimple. I also make sure that my threads come out really close to the disk then before I pull them, I insert the needle back in the same hole and come out closer to the center of the disk, then do my pulling. It transfers the stress to INSIDE the head.
Sonya

I always put my bears eyes in AFTER the head is completely stuffed and the seams closed for that very reason. If you push the eyes in with your thumbs at the same time as you are pulling the threads tight, they won't get a dimple. The head must be stuffed extra firm also to prevent the dimple.
Sonya

Along with tightening up your tension, be sure and shorten the length of your stitch. They should be fairly close together. Also, I would not touch the bobbin tension if you can avoid it. It isn't recommended for the reasons stated already.
Sonya

I made this sweet 17" bunny out of mint green mohair with a dark backing. I will have him available at the Nevada City show complete with his basket and goodies.

Sonya

Here is a picture of one I recently got on ebay. It is a 1936 Ideal and is in remarkable shape. The eyes were replaced and the nose and mouth stitching as well, but I think it is beautiful anyway.

Sonya

Aw Kim, How beautiful! I can't wait to see the new little one as well.
Hugs
Sonya

Denise.. I use photoshop.. I keep my pictures at 300 dpi and resize to 185 x 270. It LOOKS really tiny until it is uploaded here.
Sonya

Thanks Kassie.. You mean my BIG gold bear? That is Tequila who won th URSA prime award for 2006.

Thank you all so much for your kind words . I am so excited.. this is the first profile done so it means a lot to me.
Hugs
Sonya

I just retired from my fulltime day job with the govt. And now I work fulltime from about 10-5 on bears. (most days) BUT that being said, I DON'T depend on the bears to make a living. If my retirement and savings would not have been enough to live on, I could never have retired so early.
Sonya

Dilu.. For you! Here are scaled down pictures of the pdf version they have online. Hope they are readable.

Sonya

wow! Thanks.. I haven't received mine yet. come to think about it, I haven't received one since January when I renewed my subscription. Can't wait to see it.
Hugs
Sonya

Try this page. It is not the book, but it is a pattern
http://www.clothdollpatterns.com/patterns3/id42.htm
Sonya

I make lots of bears 18". The joints I use are usually 2 or 2 1/2", sometimes 3" depending on the proportions of your bear. You can always go to http://planet-teddybear.com and look thru the e-magazines for a pattern which you can print out to give you a start on getting the correct proportions. Once you see from the printouts what sizes the printed out pattern peices are, you can have a better idea on designing yours.
Sonya

Wendy
I agree that it would be easiest to use the program above to do the conversion to 300 dpi.
In the meantime I will try to explain how it works on your camera (or most cameras). Your camera itself is not taking a picture at 72 dpi or 300 dpi for that matter. It is taking a picture at a set number of pixels as apposed to pixels per inch or dots per inch. An example would be ... on my old Sony camera, .. it was a 3.2 megapixel camera at it's highest resolution. At that resolution, the picture measured (in pixels) 1536x 2048. Now when I open that picture in say photoshop, before doing anything else, I could go into "resize". When I look at what it shows about the picture before resizing, it would say my picture was 1536 pixels wide and 2048 pixels height and the resolution would say 72 dpi. If I looked at that picture at 100% it would be HUGE. REALLY HUGE! So if I wanted to change it to 300 dpi, I would type the 300 in the box where the 72 was. If I leave the width and heighth at 1536 and 2048, then go back and look at the picture, it would be much smaller. But the thing to note, is the picture is STILL 1536 wide and 2048 high. I don't know what program you are opening your pictures in. If it is Microsoft Photo Editor (usually the default on a Windows computer) you will never be able to change it to 300 dpi. It automatically saves your picture at 72 dpi. It also saves it in a really lossy format.

The point being that your camera is taking the picture at whatever resolution you set. You can't really tell your camera to take a picture at 72 or 300 dpi. You can tell it to take a picture at a lower resolution (email mode) or F or Fiune which is a higher resolution.  If you set it at F or fine.. it will take the highest resolution it is possible to take. It is the program you are opening it with that is limiting you from being able to set it at 300 dpi.  A picture that is 1536 pixels x 2048 pixels is 21.33 inches by 28.444 inches at 100% if it is 72 dpi. The same picture (1536 x2048) is 5.120 inches by 6.827 inches at 100% if it is 300 dpi. BOTH pictures are exactly the same except in size.  They both have the same number of pixels total, just that looking at them at 300 dpi squeezes the pixels closer together so the picture looks smaller
Boy, I think I probably conmfused you even more.
Sonya

If it already has bids I would say no, it should stay as is. But if the watchers haven't bid, I think it is perfectly okay. I have anywhewre from 15-40 watchers on an auction and rarely does one finally bid
Sonya

Isn't that great Shane? I love that software. Inputting the measurements assures you can print out a pattern for whatever size bear you want and not have to buy several different patterns
Sonya

Dallas looks wonderful as a Stieff! Congratulations Sue Ann
Sonya