Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Oh, you're so sweet.  Thank you.

Here is my newest picture of myself.  It's a "doll"... which are very big in digital scrapbooking.  Many digital scrappers use them as their avatars.  I found, just today, this great little site where you can make your own custom doll from about ten gajillion (there's that number again; and by the way, I was KIDDING before when I said it was actually a "real" number!) different hair/faceshape/earring/clothing/shoe/accessory options. 

Like we all have extra time.  But still... it's a nice escape.  I recommend a coffee by your side to sip while playing.

The site is:  http://elouai.com/doll-makers/candybar-doll-maker.php

And here's my "doll".  They didn't have the right color eyes (mine are green) for this shape (which sorta kinda mimics my own) but the clothing fits to a "t":

Thanks to the grace, kindness, complexity, and caretaking of the members of TEDDY TALK, I think we're already "there."

Bravo, ladies.

I use thick fishing line for antennae on my fairies.  It's impossible to break (I can barely cut it) and it has a nice rigidity that often has me thinking, "This stuff would make great whiskers!"

I think the program sounds great, and I'm glad you visited (did you see me in my flannel cow-jumping-over-the-moon pajamas?), but I've just got to ask how big that program is, if it took THREE HOURS to download... on broadband.  Yikes!

Laure, if you do, buy me a ticket and I'll reimburse.  I wanna go too. 

Man, I wish I had known about the TITA's before now; I don't have anything ready to enter that is ALSO still in my possession. 

Anyway...

I promised I'd return to this subject, so here goes.  I'm very new to these things, having entered both contests last year for the first time, so I'm by no means a seasoned expert.  But I can offer a few ideas up, for those interested parties who asked.

CONTEST PARTICULARS
I only have familiarity with the contests sponsored by the two big US magazines:  Teddy Bear Review (TBR) and Teddy Bear & Friends (TB&F.) 

TBR magazine sponsors the GOLDEN TEDDY competition.

TB&F magazine sponsors the TOBY (Teddy Bear of the Year) competition. 

CONTEST TYPES
As mentioned in other posts, the big US magazine contests are photo submission contests.  This is neither better, nor worse, than a physical entry competition (althought you might encounter people who will want to convince you otherwise!)  Photo submission contests are  just one "type" of competition. 

It works like this:

You send in photo submissions of your work according to category (size, dressed v. undressed, etc.);
a panel of experts selects nominees for each category from the photos received;
a winner is selected, by the magazine reading public, from the published photo list of the nominees. 

TIMELINE
TBR and TB&F run their competitions roughly in parallel.  Usually it looks like this:

Deadline for photo submission:  Dec/Jan
Announcement of nominees:  March/April (at a big show or event)
Publication of nominees/voting by public:  August
Announcement of winners:  October (at a big show or event)

RULES and GUIDELINES
These vary by magazine so consult either the relevant issue, the magazine website(s), or the publishers/editors for more information. 

TIPS & POINTERS
Follow the instructions for submission exactly; they can be lengthy and require a close read. 

Make sure your photos are excellent -- nothing less than that -- and of the right size and format (no digital printouts, for example, which reproduce poorly; I believe both contests specifically forbid them); make sure to label them on the back as instructed. 

Ensure that you fill out all appropriate forms completely, and be sure to send in your entry fees (and yes, there are entry fees, and they are not small.)

Don't compete against yourself; an artist can only be nominated once per category, so if you'd like to enter multiple bears, enter them in different categories (like "Large dressed" and "Tableaux.")

Work hard on creating a beseeching face, no matter what your critter!

Originality and creativity, plus quality and intricacy of workmanship, look to be some of the more important determinants for success, based on examination of the nominees.  It's not enough to have a cute bear, or a dressed bear.  There has to be a certain grabby something extra-special about that cute bear, with the charm and sweet winsomeness you'd want in a bear on top of that.

I've found that the editors of both the big magazines are more than willing to offer help and answer questions, or to very quickly forward your questions to someone who more quickly and completely can.  Don't be afraid to get clear on the concepts!  Answers are very available and the magazine folk want you to enter lots and enter often!

RESOURCES
Teddy Bear Review  http://www.teddybearreview.com/
Teddy Bear & Friends  http://www.teddybearandfriends.com/

Fan dance?!?  Hmmm...

Not sure how to do a fan dance, but I'm sure the type that's game to try.

Sounds like a great party; I'm very glad I was invited along!

Thanks for sharing...

Someone asked me to comment on the entry process and I don't have enough time to do that right now (running out the door soon to get my sons after an extended vacation with their dad, yay!!!)

But I did want to start up a new topic before it slipped my mind entirely.

Anyone who wants to, please contribute your know-how.  Anything and everything from timelines to tips and pointers.

I'll add my own, undoubtedly lengthy, two cents in when I get time later on...

Thanks!

No it's not!  Actually one of my favorite bear artists makes up entire "blanks," sewing and jointing the body (but leaving it unstuffed) and attaching a stuffed head without features of any kind.  She tosses these blanks into a bin and then returns to them, sometimes years later! 

It's a great way to work if you can manage to find the patience (I can't!) to WAIT until later to finish your bears to completion.  I feel certain it's a very economical way to use your bearmaking time.  I really get stuck doing one bear at a time, from start to finish, and trying to work up the right spirit or enthusiasm to start each one individually.  But then when I tried this "blank" thing, I was so unfulfilled, just sewing, and stuffing, and jointing, and sewing, and stuffing, and jointing. 

Clearly, there's no right or wrong way to do this stuff; just what's right or wrong FOR YOU!!!

I do think I might go back to the "blanks" thing -- which, Dilu, would involve completely stuffing/closing/attaching the head and ears, and then doing the face last (instead of first) simply because I need to get off my patootie and get some bears made quickly.

Dilu, you are a warm and wise woman, but I could hardly ingest the rest of your warm and wise post because of what you wrote, above.

REALLY?!?!?

Sue Ann... People WILL bid on your auction items.  :)

Also, I've been selling on eBay for over a year now, and have far more positive -- in fact, wonderful! -- experiences to report than negative ones, which are very few and very far between and very much isolated incidences.

Don't let forewarned=forearmed be the same thing as, "Don't go there!"  I think eBay is a wonderful sales venue for bear artists, as it's international, and the collectors set your prices FOR you... which can work to your great advantage!  And not just in terms of padding your pockets, but in terms of meaningful feedback. 

If twenty people clamor for bear A and it sells for $400, but only five people want bear B and it sells for $125, that really TELLS you something... about the market; about collector preferences (on eBay, anyway); about the particular look/color/styling of your work and how it competes with whatever else is out there; and how it does -- or doesn't -- meet the needs of your precious collectors!

I hear ya.  But...

... as my ex-husband used to say, "When you're a hammer, EVERYTHING looks like a nail."

PS  Yes, he said that about ME!    But still, it's a very valid point!!!  If someone is LOOKING FOR mistakes, they will find them!

Yes, that's what happened.  In my auction listing I was using a "logo" that I had originally designed as an image that could wrap around a custom mug; it was a convenient banner-style "logo" design because it was a very short, long rectangle, and it saved me the hassle of re-doing the image to use it "as is."

Along with a number of photos of my bears, this mug-wrap image contained my company name, my name, and my website information -- because I wanted people to remember them, while drinking from that mug!  I mean, that was the entire point of the thing!

The image in my auction was a .jpg so it was not scannable by any kind of automatic keyword search or text scan.  There's no way it could have been found other than by someone reading the listing and making note of the fact that my URL was referenced... and then reporting this error to eBay.  Or, if eBay has the resources for such things, perhaps someone at eBay read my auction and found it that way for themselves.  In either case, it could not have been found unless someone clicked on my auction and really gave it a close, close read.  The image wasn't even part of the listing description itself.

The forbidden use of my website URL was, however, clearly and entirely my error; third party URL references are very explicitly against eBay listing policy.  I knew this before using the image and just spaced out when choosing that particular picture as my "new" auction logo; I went for the visuals and didn't make note of the text content.  I won't do THAT again.

Anyhoos... Ultimately, while it annoyed the bejeebers out of me that my auction was yanked mid-run and had many nice bids, I immediately owned that, in fact -- lurking, petty, listing-reporters or not (who knows, in the end; and why invest energy in finding out?) -- it was MY mistake, in MY auction, and I had no option but to take full responsibility for it as such.

I'm extra careful now, in my auction listings, to protect against such things happening in the future.

Here's what the logo that got my auction yanked looked like:

Here's how I changed it to accommodate eBay's "no third party URL" policy:

Note the missing URL reference at the top right corner in the second version.

I think it's too bad that bearmakers can't support one another wholeheartedly in every way.  THe industry is in a slump and even for those who are doing well in terms of sales, nobody is getting rich off of this (except, perhaps, the huge manufacturers.)  I guess that's why I feel compelled to do my part to be a positive and supportive member of this great community.  I'm glad there are so many others who feel the same.

Hugs,

Hi Rita.  Actually, it's not the June issue; that's the problem.  Although that might still be the "current" issue on the newsstands, the issue that subscribers are quoting is the AUGUST issue.  It might not yet be available to the general public for purchase at their local bookstore.

The piece on noses is called "NOSING AHEAD" and is on pages 56 - 58.  It doesn't just cover polymer clay noses, but there is a particularly eye-catching illustration of how one might use a glass eye as the "base" for a polymer clay nose.  That's what Winney first mentioned.

Interestingly, I just noticed that our own Christine Pike -- a Help Advisor here, and a well-known bear artist for many years now -- authored this article!!!

Ah, there the picture is.  Gorgeous, as expected.

What's with the disappearing photo, though?  Judi, did you change something?

Why do you fill the tub with water in case of a hurricane????

I do "get" the "tape the windows" thing, though.

Actually, my jar already has stuff in it; bear stuff.  I have several jars filled with disks of various sizes.

I also occasionally use a wooden candle holder in lieu of my canning jar -- it's basically a wooden box, four sides and a bottom and no top -- that has all my eye elastic and cording in it, which I sometimes buy in spools.

It does help to have something in the jar to keep it weighted and it's not a perfect method; the head still rolls off sometimes, and it's not really a way to "hold" the head as much as a way to "perch" the head so I can look right at it without touching it.

You guys are so full of great ideas...

  I can't see the picture

Laura, you're an absolute gem.  There can be nuisances on the internet and I think you're right; it does give one a certain secure feeling of anonymity, to sit behind a monitor instead of acting face-to-face.

I've bookmarked your site and in fact will pass it along to friends and relatives who have experienced cyber-stalkers, of one sort or another, of their own.

Thank you!!!

And now... you will laugh.

When I'm figuring out where to set my bear's eyes, and after inserting the disk and cotter pin and closing it at the neck, I lower that dangling cotter pin into the open top of a Bell canning jar, so it looks like the jar itself has a bear head...  and then I work with the bear head like that.

When I sew it, I just... pick it up to do the nose embroidery, and hold it in my hands.  I use my hands and tabletop as I twist, morph, and move it around in stitching on the ears.

Whenever I need to put it down or look at it for measurements (where to stitch the mouth lines, for example) I put it back onto the top of that canning jar and stare at it.  And wait for it to tell me what to do next.

Okay.  Laugh now.

Me too.  I've always wanted to travel to New England... <sigh>

Actually, Winney, it's quite the opposite; I understand that many people get hairless cats specifically because they do not have the dander issues and thus don't cause the allergies that other cats (with hair) can cause.

It sounds like the kind of mohair that would do wonderfully, once you finish whipping up your critter, with one of those folk-art, vintage treatments.  Like a pinked-edge, gigantic bow.  Or a tea-dyed plaid neck ruff.

I never thought I'd be able to make a nice bear out of the very short, very sparse, MINT GREEN mohair I had in my own stash, but in the end it sold wonderfully well and I'm now using it in my avatar!

Earthquakes are a part and parcel of life in California and any life-long California resident will tell you he/she has experienced many... most of them nearly undetectable.

I was living in Zurich, Switzerland in 1989 so I missed the bay area's famous "Loma Prieta" quake; the one that trapped hundreds between a huge fallen overpass and the street; the one that sent a car plummeting through a hole in the Bay Bridge and its occupants to their tragic deaths in the Pacific Ocean, so far below; the one that liquified the landfill that held up San Francisco's Marina district.  I watched in horror, on CNN of course, from Zurich, photos of my beloved bay area community burn or crumble to the ground. 

Having said all that, and acknowledging how awful that (and other serious earthquakes) really was for those who were touched by it, I have to say I'd much rather deal with earthquakes than with tsunamis or tornadoes.  We had a rare, rare, rare tornado warning not long ago, while the kids were in school; I went to pick them up and the school wouldn't release them because the National Weather Service had issued this warning just a few minutes before.  And I had no idea what to do!  We don't have basements here, or storm doors, or cellars.  This is California!  We aren't supposed to HAVE tornados!

I guess it's as much the unfamiliar and unknown that's scary, as the natural disaster itself.

Anyway... I'm glad it was a small earthquake and that no one (we know of) was hurt.

Winney, I saw that issue too -- but may I politely correct you and offer that it was Teddy Bear Review, not TB&F? -- and thought that the idea of using a glass eye as the "base" for a polymer clay nose was absolutely brilliant and ingenious.  One of those, "Why didn't I think of that?!?" kinds of things. 

If I ever returned to doing clay noses (that's where I started), I'd go straight to this concept.