Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Yes, from me too.  And while you're camera-and-Chanel-grabbing, why not get some chocolates, too?

Actually, I saw a special on TV last week -- ayup, Animal Planet; I'm seven years old and that IS my idea of quality television programming -- and someone had trained a miniature horse to be a service animal for a nearly blind man.  Just about blew my mind.  I had no idea they were that intelligent; horses I mean.  Big OR small.

The world fascinates me.

Marie, I'm on the next plane over to visit you.  Get the guest bedroom ready.

Geez, but that's a gorgeous snow-capped mountain peak you've got happening there!  Thanks so much for sharing the photos...

I couldn't remember the name of your "store" and was rushing around when I wrote my RESOURCES post.  I tried to find your store by Googling your name and your bear company (justus) name.  I then quickly tried to find a recent thread in which you had posted, hoping that the name of your store was included in your signature (it obviously is!), but just didn't have the time to look thru enough posts to find you.  I did find your bearmaking website, justusbears, when I Googled you, but just FYI -- woman -- it doesn't have an easy reference -- that caught MY eye, anyway -- to your Bear Cupboard store.  Is it buried there somewhere, or did I just miss it? 

It suddenly occurs to me that I should have checked out the USER LIST feature here and then found your recent posts, or your personal information, that way.  Duh, Shel.  Hey; I never claimed to be a computer OR a forum expert!  I just said I know a teensy bit about making teddy bears!

Thanks anyway, for giving us the link!  I was just trying to be helpful, in any case, especially since I wasn't sure you'd mention it yourself.

Hey, Dilu!  I just SAW that diorama for -- can you believe it?!? -- the FIRST TIME EVER, when I went to Disney with hubby just a month or so ago.  That, and the dinosaurs.  Very cool that I can now claim to know the daughter of the artist!  Thanks for sharing about that...

Eileen, you're a total fox.  Love the dress; and your daughter and son-in-law are gorgeous in their happy beaming.  I love weddings.  Must be why I've had two of my own... !!! :P

On other notes...  Diana Krall is amazing.  I had the opportunity to hear her at the "New Orleans by the Bay" festival they used to have at Shoreline Park in Mtn. View, CA every year; she's so soulful and talented.  A true musician.  My parents still live in Mtn. View, so they get tickets for free (or did, until they stopped doing the festival.)  One year I saw Bonnie Raitt there, and another, Aaron Neville.  Talk about a voice (whew!)

Diana Krall is all the more amazing because she ended up married to the very odd and avant-garde rocker Elvis Costello.  I love his music but it's VERY unlike hers.

Last.... I'm afraid I can't get too behind Barry Manilow (although I still remember the lyrics to, "Looks Like We Made It" from my childhood,) but I grew up on Neil Diamond and can count Shilo, Sweet Caroline, Chelsea Morning, and that song that mentions cherries a lot (Cherry, Cherry?) as some of my favorite all time tunes.  Go Neil Diamond!

Dale is on the road about 99% of the time and more or less "lives" out of his vehicle(s) at times.  Plus, he has an incredibly sweet, and very beautiful, girlfriend with whom I'm sure he spends as much available time as possible.  It might boil down to explanation as simple as that.

If not, though... I certainly didn't mean to offend!  I figure that all gender bashing pretty much stems from the secret fear we all have that, in fact, the other gender IS really superior... and must therefore be put in his/her place!

My husband, Tim, who is a total love, is confident enough in his masculinity, power, and in the end, total inferiority, that he felt comfortable sharing this little .jpg he found online.

I thought you might enjoy this as well.

:P;):D

USE A TRIPOD!  I always use a tripod, or my pictures are shaky, too.  Even WITH a tripod, if I jiggle the slightest bit as I depress the "shoot" button, I can get a bit of blur.  You can get one that's very acceptable for under $20; some even work as "destop" models, with very short legs, if you have a place to shoot froml

I think it's a copyright nono too.

I actually had a collector post my original auction photos -- which I can only assume she must have downloaded and kept at the time of my original auction,  "just in case" she ever decided to resell that bear.

At first, recognizing the moral/ethical/copyright dilemma this presented, I felt a little bit miffed and cornered and anxious that a customer would so blatantly use MY photographs in HER auction, without even a note to me to let me know she was doing so... much less to inquire, "Is that okay, Shelli?"

In the end, though, I didn't do anything about it. 

Maybe I'm a little too into myself, but I ultimately figured, "Hey... If my bear is going to resold, I'd rather it resells for a price equal to, or higher than, the original price.  And what better way to have a tiny measure of control over that, than with the use of my own photos to display my work?"

The bear did sell for more than the original price (actually, significantly more, which made me feel very happy and proud indeed), and since I've spent a lot of time developoing my (still not nearly professional) photography skills, I have to believe that it was the photos, at least in some small measure, that had something to do with that appreciation.

This is the second of my bears to be resold on eBay (that I'm aware of, anyway.)  The first one also sold for a higher price than the original one, but the photos taken by the collector for her auction were... less than spectacular, let's put it that way. 

Why not just ask this person, "Why did you want photos of this bear? "...

... and then offer, "I ask because your purpose in requesting them will determine how I send them to you.  If you want photos for insurance purposes I can send hard copies with your bear; but if you have a digital record keeping system I can send small 72dpi jpg's.  If you want photos of this bear on hand in case you someday decide to resell, that's fine too... but I'd like to be credited for the photography.  Thanks!"

Just a thought...

Some of our recent threads have been inquiries about resource recommendations... so I thought I'd start a thread here in TIPS & TECHNIQUES which corralled all these suggestions into one space, for easy future reference.

Below, some suppliers people have already shared, with a few of my own added in.  Please contribute as you can with your own favorite resources/suppliers for that special, hard-to-find, or truly unique stuff that the "big shops" like Intercal just don't carry (they're busy enough carrying ten thousand varieties of all that wonderful mohair, eyes and noses, threads, and flosses!)

HAYLEY... I can't find the thread where you posted your store URL and I can't find your store on Google, either (MUST do something about that, woman!)  Please add your store info since I was too daft to do so for you, despite good intentions!

Very much looking forward to learning about all your "secret" suppliers!

RIBBON and LACE
www.mjtrim.com
www.americanribbon.com
www.lacis.com
www.beaucoupribbon.com
www.artisticribbon.com
www.schiffribbons.com

CRAFT SUPPLIES, GENERAL
www.crscrafts.com

VINTAGE REAL FUR GARMENTS FOR USE IN BEARMAKING
eBay Seller:  fazooks

ULTIMATE STUFFING TOOL
www.donnasduinbruins.com -- Donna Mettling, bear artist

CRAFT BOOKS
www.lacis.com -- HUGE selection of unusual crafting and textile books (incl ribbonwork, beadwork, patternmaking)

Eileen, you MUST post a photo so I can get my head around who you are; I think of you, at this point, as a sweet, snow-covered, grizzley bear... for obvious (avatar) reasons.  We should have coffee sometime, when I'm coincidentally in Toronto, or you find yourself in Chico... :P.  Your breadth of interests and knowledge consistently inspire my awe.  Othello???

PS  You're right about RENT being based on La Boheme; in fact there's a musical number in it which steals the melody straight from the original and then morphs it into an urban update of the same.  The piece is called, appropriately enough, "La Vie Boheme."

Yeah, I'm gonna have to climb right on board with the "cutiepatootie" comments on that bear.  He reminds me of one the first furs I ever used, a synthetic, with just THE softest hand, and a wonderful way of exposing darker underfur when trimmed.  Is your little sweetie synthetic, Kelly?  VERY cute!

Ah...  Oddly, we didn't see BROTHER BEAR.  Must remedy THAT problem really soon, obviously!  Thanks, Jane!:)

Sue Ann, have you seen RENT?  I keep wishing it will tour again near me.  I only got to see it once (as opposed to seeing The Lion King twice, which I will be paying for until I'm 99 years old, or seeing STOMP three times -- once with hubby, once with girlfriends, and this coming Sunday, with my sons!) and would dearly love to catch it again.  I think it's touring, but not anywhere near California.

I just think the lyrics impart some of the most beautiful and meaningful and IMPORTANT messages in our world.

Did you know that RENT's creator, Jonathan Larson, died just a few days (or weeks, can't recall precisely, but VERY SHORTLY is the point) before the show opened on Broadway?  What a legacy of tolerance and compassion he left behind.

We love you, too, Dilu; there's nothing to forgive.

Hayley, your rat is adorable.  I like rats a lot; they're terribly smart.  I've just not had a lot of personal success with them, as the last one we had just would NOT stop biting.

Daphne, I have a wonderful vision in my head of your rat eating Cheerios on the table while you read the paper and have a coffee.  Hysterical!

Yes, welcome, welcome, welcome back!  I love Disney and go regularly to the SoCal park even WITHOUT my kids; it was a favorite destination while in college at UCLA.

1)  Do share about the VISA thing if you get a chance, and
2)  Let us know some more about how eBay PHONED you.  What is the danger to your account, exactly, and how is it related to a VISA fraud problem exactly?  I'd be curious to know so I can be better protected myself.  Is it related to PayPal somehow?  Obviously, don't share if it puts you at risk!
3)  I feel like a dummy because I know and love Disney, and I totally and completely followed what you were saying when you mentioned Mickey, Minnie, Tigger, Pooh, Eyore, Piglet, Goofy, Timon... but who is KODA....? :)

Good luck settling back in now that you're home.  I'll bet the kids -- as  much as they undoubtedly loved Disney -- are happy to be back to the familiar.

Hey Judi, that IS a great idea!  It's one of those, "Now why didn't I think of that" ideas that this forum, and others like it, are so good for.  Thank you.

PS  Welcome back, hope your vacation was a blast!

Absolutely, Dilu!  And that's why, when I referred to dollmaking, I said "some" with intent... because people who do OOAK hand sculpts or work with cloth dolls have, I'd imagine, the same experience we bearmakers have, with just the slightest millimeter of difference really changing EVERYTHING, from expression and mood, to head position, posture, and attitude.

Your pictures are all terrific and your bears so cute and superb.  I love any topic that gets people to show off their bears!  I can't get enough of them.  Yes, I am a geek.  A bear geek.

Hayley, I've gotta ask... did you mark eye placement and nose placement points on your pattern, and points for the embroiderly floss to enter/exit for the mouth stitching, on your patterns?  You're right... the three bears DO look a lot alike, and the other one, less so.

Or did you just compare, compare, compare with the example you kept on hand?

For me, it's very like what Judi said; I do each bear on a lark from my heart as I'm inspired, so when people say, "Of course you could remake it!" I tell them, "Honestly, I really don't think I could, even if my life depended on it.  There's just no way to do it without precise guidelines."

Once in a while I toy with the idea of doing a very small (maybe 3 bears) edition and haven't even tried yet because I seriously don't think I could replicate my work.

Hey, I recognize the bottom one from your avatar!

That's exactly what I mean, Danni... the bear on top has a more rectangular nose and what appears to be charcoal shading, and the bottom one has a more shield-shaped nose with shades of brown on the muzzle.  He's also looking up a bit more, and has his chest (or tummy!) more proudly pooched out.  So very much the same... but very different indeed.

Do I sound like a blathering idiot?  I just think this is totally fascinating.

I agree... great subject.  I find I can't make bears happily without the CD player on.  I generally listen to, of all things, soundtracks to musicals I've seen.  I can just envision the entire production right there at my studio table, unfolding in my head all over again.  My favorite soundtracks are Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, and most of all, RENT, which -- without going too overboard on sentiment -- I have to say really, truly, changed my life.  If you don't know the story, let me just say that at the very deepest level, it's about meaning, and love, and how to best live a life one must, "... forget regret, or life is yours to miss."  The overlying story is funky and hip and urban and very left/liberal in politics -- which appeals to a Cali girl like me, with some time under her belt in residence in San Francisco -- but ultimately it's about so much more than that... about how, when all is said and done, the best measure of one's life is the measure of how much love and compassion was in it.  Very heavy, and also incredibly inspiring and uplifting, stuff.

I actually listened to RENT, quite contentedly, all afternoon long today!

I also take an occasional listen to the iPod library on my harddrive, but we jump from Howard Shore's LOTR soundtrack there, to Joni Mitchell, to my son Noah's favorite band du jour, Green Day, so it's a bit more jarring, to say the least!

I just finished a bear today... the third I've made from a large yardage of ivory mohair. 

When I finished and was editing SCUFFERS' photos, it occurred to me to look back at the photos of the two prior bears I made from this mohair.  When I did, it really struck me how the smallest of details -- like eye placement, ear placement, colors used to shade, colors used to finish/accessorize, eye color, nose color, pad type and color, and all of those little things that go into bearmaking -- can really make a difference in how a particular bear turns out.

These three bears were made from mostly different patterns, although the middle and right side one have the exact same three head pattern pieces.  But I don't think that's what really explains how different they are.

This isn't the first time I've thought about how unlike (some kinds of) doll making our bearmaking hobby really is, since in (some) dollmaking, molds can be used to more or less define the features of a series of dolls in a very concrete, unchangeable, similar way. 

I've often thought bearmaking was defined by the tiniest of little stitches here or there, the slightest difference in eye placement, the littlest change of shading, which -- if just a smidge "off" from where they were put down on the bear before -- can completely change the look of a bear.

Anyone else have photos of bears they've made in a series, or several bears made from one piece of mohair, that they'd like to share, that might illustrate how these guys we love to create inevitably turn out so completely different from one another... even when in many ways, they are the same?  I'd surely love to see.

Doncha just love making teddy bears?  It's this very stuff that makes it the best kind of creative, rewarding, exciting (even), fun!

These bruins of mine are:  PRECIOUS, SCRUFFERS, and FAE

Ditto what Sue Ann said.  I really need to wrap my head around the fact that the seasons are entirely different right now on the other side of the world.  It's been 105 and above for weeks now.

Hey, I was kidding.  PE-TA... BEE-TA.  Get it?  I mean, you of all people Dilu, with that PETA princess thang in your life and all...

Quit laughing so hard and pay attention to the tongue-in-cheek, subtle stuff, too, woman! ;)

I shall now set the record straight.

Nancy, you are a bee-utiful person, and are clearly in possession of a swarm of ingenuity.  The global hive in which we all reside is all abuzz about what a creative queen bee you clearly and truly are.   I am stung by the sheer, heretofore unknown, originality of your take on "environmental recycling" and from here on out, consider myself a mere worker or drone, buzzing about in life only insofar as it allows me to somehow protect and feed the wiggly offspring of your oh-so-fertile-and-productive mind.  May there never be an anti-venom for what now ails me.

:lol::lol:

You're right, Penny, it definitely sounds like a case for some kind of animal protection agency, or animal rights activist group.

How about BEE-TA?

:|:D:lol: