Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Awww gorgeous   

That's really interesting ThomasAdam, I often tell my new customers this kind of thing in emails when they decide to adopt a bear but often the replies I get are short and curt so I often think I'm the only one who thinks it's interesting. For example I made my first fox bear after my "pet" real fox first turned up at my house etc. I like to tell people all about that kind of thing (I'm a real chatterbox lol) but often I don't feel it's appreciated from customers. It's good to know some collectors like to hear this kind of information from the artist.

They're so gorgeous! Best of luck with their auction they're absolutely beautiful I love your creations, but I think I've said that before!

He's a gorgeous bear, love all the realistic/traditional bears ~ they're very special. He's kind of between really realistic and really traditional, and of course very handsome! The look on his face reminds me of my German Shepherd, Caleb, a bit of a big dopey but very intelligent lump lol. In the nicest way! I call my Caleb a lump and a wombat all the time with the upmost love ROFL

I've added your website link to my site Kelly I love to visit your site it's such a happy place

I know this is amber's post so I won't say too much it's not about me lol, just a quick thanks to everyone and your words about Allie Thanks all you lovely people, I do miss her

The bad dreams will go away eventually Amber, most of my dogs are rescues ~ it's amazing how they can come out of horrible environments and heal so well both physically and mentally. Give her time and she will forget. Dogs live in the moment, soon she won't even remember her time as a puppy and the things she went through.

Thanks for getting back to me Joanne, that's fine I can understand why you don't do custom work (I think you'd be overwhelmed with orders if you did). I am already on your mailing list and eagerly awaiting the next bear you finish.

Awww she's gorgeous congrats on adopting her. Makes me teary to see her, my lab just died at 6:30pm last Sunday and I miss her so much.... her name was Allie. She was a gold lab however I'm looking into getting a black lab soon, a puppy. I miss my lab but with 5 other dogs there's hardly nothing to do lol.

It's so lovely you rescued her, she's gorgeous and looks very smart. Best of luck with her!

Sorry I also forgot to mention along with my hang-tag I also have a slightly larger square tag with a dot-point of list of materials and everything that makes up the bear. All my info fits on these but I do really try to make it all fit lol. It takes some thinking and re-organizing.

Joanne I love the look of your COAs they look great. While I am talking to you can I please ask you if you do custom orders? I don't mean custom as in the customer chooses all the details I mean if I asked for a baby black bear and you did everything your way but it would be reserved for your customer, do you do that? I'm interested to know because I'd love to adopt one of your bears but I have the feeling they're probably difficult to adopt in time before someone else adopts them lol.

Beautiful work well done, so much detail, I have cats and it's rare to find artist bears made to look like cats that really look like real cats. Your work is fantastic. Be proud of yourself your cats are simply WOW

I collect bears for their "cuteness" and also I adopt from artists who I admire and like as people too. The COAs are good to have but don't mean as much to me as the actual bear.

My bears all have hang-tags that are four sided like a little book. First side says GJOYful Bears etc, 2nd says the bear's name and who it was designed and made by plus which range or collection it comes from (I have collections and ranges of bears). 3rd states the other collections and ranges available and that the bear is not for children under the age of 14. And 4th side says in very small print a short thank you for adopting a GJOYful Bear, it also will state if the bear contains garnet and finally a short note about copyright before saying it is hand-made in Victoria, Australia. All my mohair bears also come home with a one-page info sheet I print out about mohair and how to care for it, and in the unlikely event of bugs etc chewing on your mohair bear it tells the customer how to fix the problem.

All of my custom ordered bears also come with "birth certificates" to state they are OOAK (not all my bears are - just some, and lots of customers like to know they're bear is an OOAK if it is so Birth certs are good) etc.

Probably sounds really confusing if you've never seen my tags lol. I would absolutely love to adopt one of your bears Joanne so one day I look forward to seeing the tags you use Although I make many comic contemporary bears my dream is to make realistic style bears, I just love real bears and one day hope to make them as realistic as possible.I'm actually just finishing my first ever realistic bear for a customer.... he's a polar bear - not sure how he'll turn out yet but he's looking great so far

Your bears are all OOAK aren't they Joanne? So COAs are probably a good idea to have.

welcome Diana.

About the hedgehog Caroline, you'll need to find some prickly or hedgehog-like fur or mohair. You'll also need some lighter fur or mohair for the face and tummy, and some matching light suede for the arms and feet. The tops of the arms and legs will need to be in the hedgehog fur or mohair and the suede will need to be the base of the arm (paw) and leg (feet). Not sure if you design your own patterns but hedgehogs are a very round shape, I usually use a wide head gusset that sometimes goes into the back too. Occasionally I will not use a head joint I will just use wire or locline from the head down the spine so I can get the most realistic round shape for a hedgehog. Hope this helps.

She's beautiful  Jo! I adore her nose how on earth did you get it so shiny and nearly wet looking? It's beautiful! Aurora is perfect and absolutely gorgeous

Awww how sweet!

That's the only drawback with internet isn't it? It takes away from the creating time.

your piggy is gorgeous I'm sure she'll sell Well done!

He's gorgeous, love his hat and the colourings in it Beautiful

I LOOOOVVVVEEE her! Well done Kim! Another gorgeous cub!

Makes you wonder what the earth is up to..... but that's a whole other subject to debate lol.

Gorgeous bear, love it! I'm currently in the process of adding about 30 new artist's sites links to my links page of my site, keep an eye out Rachael your's will be there soon I just love your bears.

My website is http://gjoyfulbears.com/main.html by the way. It's nearly finished except for any new bears that will be added and of course these pesky links lol. I have so many aritsts I want to list links to but I just don't have the space or time for listing them all. I love so many bears!

Awwwww gorgeous

That's gorgeous, love his face

That's so gorgeous. I do a lot of sketching myself which is how I came to designing patterns as I used to draw polar bears etc for people a lot, and this is just so well done it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy lol. How gorgeous. I wonder where I could display one in the studio...... Gorgeous!

I love your Charlie bears too! I collect charlie bears too, mostly the Isabelle Collection but I have a few plush ones too. Your's are gorgeous, I love Little Rascal he's a sweetie

Well here in Australia Winter has just ended and it is now Spring, however for Spring this year it's proving far more hot than usual. Today got to 33 degrees celsius which is ridiculous for Spring but we can't help it. I hate to think what Summer will be like.... last year got up to 45 degree days and higher, kids weren't even allowed to go to school.

As for shows I'm off to the Woodend Teddy Bear Show here in Victoria, Australia next weekend. Sadly as the waiting list is so long I won't be able to have a stall, but nothing will stop me visiting this show!

How sweet! Love him

I would also like more info on this. I did begin an account with Mailing Chimp a while back but got too confused by it so I don't use it as it was too difficult to set up lol.  I know others here use Mail Chimp, maybe they could help?

Any other programs I'd love to know about too. Looking forward to the replies to this post.