Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hehehehe Penny! It's irritating isn't it? Yes, the best defence is probably to deflect the question back...and watch them squirm!

What can motivate people to police these auctions and turn them into eBay??? (And they probably know that eBay favours the heavy-handed approach of action first and questions later).

It's probably many things - jealousy, small-mindedness, ignorance (not appreciating/understanding the art), maybe even boredom and a need to 'stir things up'. It's good to know that the doll community is fighting back... 

I haven't really got past the hurdle of explaining exactly what an artist bear is....    :P

But yes, I agree it's rude to ask about your salary. Maybe people don't think of it as a 'proper job'? I have the suspicion that they think (when I tell them what I do) that it's a hobby and nothing more.

Beautiful, Anne! The bride and groom will be totally delighted!!! They look fantastic in their display box (are those real flowers?!).  :clap: :clap:

No Kim, it just sounds like you've always had a rich imagination and can draw from that experience! And little Mason is truly an 'alive' bear if ever there was one!!! He's just adorable and I'll look forward to see more pics when you put him up for auction (?). 

Hi Pipa, great to see you again! I hope you sister will be ok, and that it's not infected. Good idea to get it checked out by the doc though.

As for not sewing bears - just think of all that creativity you'll be storing up! It'll all come pouring out when you can get to your needles...and we'll look forward to seeing the results!

Take care 

Hey, I just noticed this thread - thankyou!  :lol:

Danni, I love the article about you and your bears in the newsletter, and it's hard to believe you've only been making them for a year!!! Are you sure about that?! They look so accomplished. Well done, it's exciting to have a little publicity like this.

Yay! It's exciting isn't it? Well done..they are both beautiful bears! 

I guess I have all this to look forward to -  my daughter is 5 yrs old and being subjected to all kinds of pressures already. What must it be like for teenagers these days, surrounded by fashions, drink&drugs (here at least), exams coming out of their ears....I'm sure it wasn't so bad when I was that age (I'm 41). I blame mobile phones, LOL  :D

Seriously, when I was growing up my mother was (in my eyes) quite a controlling person. She liked things her way and that meant we had to go home for holidays....or risk her wrath for the next few months. Don't get me wrong, she was a great mum in many ways and I loved her, but she needed us to be around, a kind of emotional dependance I guess. Being the dutiful daughter I never did pluck up the courage to go away for the holidays, something I would have loved to do, but spent them in the family home instead. And I still in some ways resent that. Which isn't a nice feeling! It's so hard for kids to get the balance right, to find their feet, have fun while their young (within limits!!!) and yet still do the 'right' thing. I am really hoping that when my daughter gains her independance I'll see it as an achievement, something we as parents enabled her to do. We're preparing them for life, but they'll still make mistakes. This is all coming out a bit garbled, and every situation's different....but hang in there Deb, it'll change. As I got older I got to know my mum better, understood her more as a person and it helped our relationship. I guess I matured! So I'm sure that with a little patience the same will happen for you.

Take care!

Wow! That's all I can say about your toad...he's just WOW!

Shelli, Fae is just beautiful. Really, all this wonderful work makes me want to do better. You are all an inspiration!

He's sooo cute, with so much character! Definitely shades of Beatrix Potter, with adorable eyes....I love the way his belly seems to touch the floor!!!  :clap: :clap: :clap:

I've done this! And it's very annoying when you come to sew them up.... Do you have any spare fur you can cut the extra pieces from.

I once lost an ear too, months ago. Then when I was rifling through my stash the other day it fell out onto the floor. Goodness knows how it stayed hidden for so long!

Oh my! What a lovely, thoughtful thing for your hubby to do!!!  It's this sort of thing that really matters in life!

I use mercury, which is similar to radium but the highlighted text is orange instead. I prefer the dark backgrounds 

You can really tell this is best quality fur though Paula - expensive but worth it! And Osborne is a gorgeous bear...makes me want to give him a huge hug 

What a little cutie, Sabine!!! I've only made one crocheted bear, and it drove me nuts!!!! So I'm full of admiration that a) you can crochet something this small and b) make him so cute 

My pet peeve? People who drive too close behind you, especially when you are already over the speed limit  :whistle:.

And people who try to direct the traffic to allow you to get out of your drive-way onto the main road...this has happened to me twice recently  :twisted:. The helpful souls doing the 'directing' have blocked my view of the road, and then wondered why I've refused to take them up on their kind offer....  :|.

Oooh, nothing like a good whine is there?!

Have a fantastic time Jane, sell loads and above all enjoy it! (And if you get any difficult customers you can always run 'em over in your wheelchair!  ).

Your bears and gollies are lovely...wish I was going, to see them in the fur...

LOL Clare, your error made me laugh out loud and that's no mean feat this morning, so thanks! (I'm full of grumpy hormones... :D).

Melissa, your bears are just adorable and whatever eBay does or whatever anyone says you have to remember that! Tastes and trends on eBay are something I can never fathom. I was going to suggest BearPile but you're already doing that...hmm....why not try for bear/artist of the month on the TBCI site? (http://www.planet-teddybear.com/) They also have a 'contact us' page where you could e-mail and ask about magazine submissions? Hope this helps!

Shoe polish...sounds like a great idea! I haven't waxed a nose yet, but I think I could handle this...thanks Penny!  :dance: :hug:

Yay! Good one Kim! 

The more I'm reading about MissionFish, the more suspicious I'm becoming. I think I would rather donate money directly to the charity itself.

Apparently, MissionFish holds the money for up to 75 days before paying it over. So not only do they take a fee, but they presumably accrue interest too...! I also read that MissionFish aims to be 30% profitable by January 2006. Not bad for a non-profit organisation  :P.

Just found this on the MissionFish site (http://www.missionfish.org.uk):

To cover the costs of processing donations and fulfilling our guarantee, we keep a small deduction (4% or £2) from each gross donation.

So, eBay is forcing sellers who run charity auctions to use an agency that benefits financially from the auction....is this ethical, I wonder?!

Judi ~ sorry to hear about Artifact. How upsetting for you :(.

As for eBay....what can I say??? How on earth can they determine how the money from an auction is used? People have the right to donate to any charity they choose! OK, I realise a minority of unscrupulous people may use the 'charity' tag to encourage more bidding, but you would think that that sort of person would be a repeat offender and therefore identifiable. With eBay it feels like we are all guilty until proven innocent!  :mad:

(I ran a charity auction myself last year, and at the time I don't think there was any policy in place. It makes me wonder if eBay benefits financially from their association with MissionFish...hmm....).

Oooh, I just thought of another tip that might be useful.....I found I was taking lots of fuzzy photos in macro mode until I realized the trick was to focus on the face (by depressing the button halfway), then move the camera slightly to frame the bear and depress the button fully to take the photo. Will your cameras do that? Autofocus with the button only halfway depressed, and allow movement of the camera while holding the button this far down?

Kim, I also have some problems with colour balance - my previous camera would always turn out too red, ack. This new camera is better and allows manual & automatic colour balance, but I still get photos that are 'off'.