Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Gee, shucks... Thanks for the nice mention.  But don't martyr me!  I LIKE doing these graphic thingamajigs, and as I've said before, it allows me a good excuse -- I'm doing something good for someone OUTSIDE MYSELF -- to spend a little time away from my bearmaking (and housecleaning -- AARGH!!!) pursuing something about which I'd like to know much more.

I'm glad you like and appreciate the avatar, Rita... that's the part that makes my heart sing, and not any kind of public accolade.  Truly.

I hear ya.

And I don't think you misled anyone!  It's just that when Penny mentioned stockinette, I knew that it was most definitely NOT "nylons" or "pantyhose" material, and wanted to be sure that, for those that don't know Lisa's work, they didn't misunderstand.

I do know that many, many doll artists work in stockinette, but it's certainly thicker than nylons.

I wouldn't want to work with pantyhose either; it's a speciality -- with corresponding astounding prices! -- that Lisa has studied hard, and a niche she's well earned!

I keep an accounting log (for sales), a photo log (for reference and reminder), AND a "recipe" log (tells me which pattern pieces I used for which bear.)  So if you're a nutty packrat, Kim, I've got you beat three times over!

Penny...  When I lived in Zurch I made a brief foray into dollmaking and used stockinette to cover the face mask and sew up the body.  If there is only ONE kind of stockinette, and it's the same one I used, then Laure is NOT talking about stockinette when she discusses Lisa Lichetenfel's work (with which I am also familiar; she's astounding.)

Stockinette is, like you said, like a pair of VERY thick tights.  It has cotton in it and is opaque and knit and stretchy.  More like very thin socks.

Lisa quite literally works using nylon pantyhose in many, many layers.  I've seen photos of how she works and it sure looks like she's using the very same translucent substance that is used to make women's nylon stockings.

Just wanted to add this, in case you were hoping to get the exact same effect using stockinette... because I don't think, even with Lisa's expertise, you can, given the difference in the materials.

Lisa also, by the way -- just so you don't get discouraged -- LITERALLY makes an entire wire skeleton.  Not a basic armature, mind you... but a skeleton, very precisely proportioned.  And then she adds and sews on the "muscles" just as they would correspond to real muscles... even for the face!  She sculpts a foam head with eye sockets and pads it with stitched-on fat and muscle layers.  So it takes her, like, months, just to get far enough to add the final, pantyhose layers.

Her pieces are also smaller than you might think.

Here's her website, in case you'd like a peek:  http://home.earthlink.net/~jcarruth/

Me too.  Sending warm and hopeful thoughts, I mean.

While I'm sure there will be plenty of mourning for you both if physiology doesn't ultimately work in your favor, adoption is TRULY a real and viable option.  One of my very best college girlfriends is bringing home twin daughters from China in just a few weeks!  I can't begin to tell you how excited she and her husband are...  So, however it unfolds, it all works out.

Hugs,

Gail, that bear is wonderful!  No wonder it garnered such well deserved attention.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha

Now be serious and show us.

Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that too.  I want to be nosy and ask what it was for -- hey, you brought it up! -- because I am enamored of all things medical; it's one of those one-shot-learning subjects for me (as a teacher, I know you know what I mean.)

Hope you're well on the mend ASAP.

Let's do Tijuana!  That's cheap and horrid and we get the added thrill of the "will we live or will we die" cab ride!  Wheeee!

Actually, we should plan something.  I know you all want to be respectable and all and drink tea and talk bears, but can we do something a little crazy?  Maybe see a cool show?  I just saw The Lion King -- for the second time, and it was worth every penny -- and am taking my kids to see STOMP in less than a month (which I have seen twice before; incredible!) 

I love girls' weekends, and take way too few of them.

Seriously, can anyone seriously do this, and if so, when and where?  We need an event planner.

Walnut ink is awesome stuff.  It looks like... ground walnuts.  And makes a terrific mess, so be careful to drop cloth where you use it.  I've only used it previously for scrapbooking and will soon pull it out to assist my bearmaking.  That is, if I can ever get off my computer.

Oh, I was joking about you hosting it, Kirsten.  Sorry for the miscommunication! :P

Mexico?  Sounds great.  When and where?  Who's coordinating the trip?  Does it matter that I have cellulite and am as white as a ghost?

I ADORE mine; The Seller Sourcebook. I think it's about $7/month and I have so much hosting space for my photos it's practically a backup hard drive for my work, I swear it. I have been running auctions through them for over a year, probably 2-3 auctions a month, with six to ten pictures per auction, and I have never once taken a photo down off their server so that I had more room for new ones. In fact, I'm not even close to using up all my paid-for space!

It is, I think, a three-month period for which you sign up, so the maximum it would cost you to start up would be about $21. Or at least, that's what it was when I signed up last year. And you can set up your account to auto-withdraw your quarterly $21 due, so it's a total and complete no-brainer in terms of keeping current. They always send a receipt.

They are constantly adding new templates -- literally constantly; every time I go back there are many, many more -- and the gal who owns it has always answered my questions personally, and even sometimes within just a few minutes time. They are growing fast, tho, it appears, and I haven't asked anything in a while, so that might be different, too.

I found that after a brief overview of how the site worked it made perfect sense and is quite easy to use. THey are always trying to make it easier, and give you more and more options. You will quickly learn what's best for you.

Check here: http://www.sellersourcebook.com/

Oh, and both PhotoShop and PhotoShop Elements are wonderful for photo editing.  Lots of options for color correction, brightness/contrast, desaturating (changing to black and white), etc.  I think you get this functionality in most of the photo editing/design programs!

Rita, yes, send me a photo (info@potbellybears.com)

Tell me your color preferences and your full name and your website URL so I can include it.  Also, let me know if there's a "look" you're after -- modern, geometric shapes, cottage garden, old west, desert, denim, vintage/antique, victorian, whatever.

And yes, my program is very expensive.  It's the one professionals use.  I came home one day and it was on my desktop, a gift from my husband.  I just Googled it at a "compare-prices" site (http://reviews.cnet.com/Adobe_Photoshop … 18085.html) and it appears to begin at about $375 and go up from there.

You don't need PhotoShop 7.0 to make these avatars, though.  I don't have familiarity with the other programs (Jasc, etc.) but I'm sure they offer similar functionality to the Adobe products.

Adobe PhotoShop Elements (I think they're on version 3.0 with this; Laura, can you confirm?), which is a more "compact" version of 7.0 and more user-friendly, for the non-design professional, costs significantly less, at around $100.

It has all the functionality you'd probably ever want for web and design purposes. 

I used PhotoShop to design my 1/4 page ad for the current "voting" issue of Teddy Bear Review, which I am DYING to see in print (mine comes two weeks after everyone else gets theirs; maddening, that.  Has anyone seen it yet?)  I think the program did a great job with the ad but I believe you could have made the same ad using  Elements.  I've looked at some of the Elements "how-to" books and the description of how to do certain effects is EXACTLY the same as it would be in using the full PhotoShop 7.0 program.

Anyway, rambling on here... hope this helps.

Oh, and please remember that of my small handful of very, very best girlfriends, I am unusually blessed to have two of them -- and one of their husbands, so three people in total -- working full time as graphic design professionals, including marketing and branding and business planning strategy work in their spectrum of skills.  So I have a very, very friendly and accessible place to jot a quick e-mail or make a quick call, any time I have a question that needs answering.

There are also so, so, so, so, so (I can't put enough "so's" in there) many tutorital sites on the web for special effects you might like to try, but it's very laborious to sift through them.  The tutorials themselves, though, are usually very to the point and spectacularly easy to use.  So that's a good place to go with questions too... as are the digital scrapbooking sites, which also often contain tutorials on the various design packages, often divided up by program (PhotoShop tutorials HERE... Jasc tutorials HERE... etc.)

Okay.  Hayley, you're wrong. Your feedback will follow to your new name if you simply rename yourself.  If you create a NEW name, that's where you lose your feedback.

Now, somebody correct me if I'M wrong.

Mwaa!!!  ---> (that's Southern California, UCLA, 80's-era, ex-cheerleader, sorority girl speak; a kind of "kiss kiss" sound)

Drop kicking a bear... now THAT's putting all that testosterone to good use.  I am surrounded by men (three sons and an infant ==> my husband Tim. )  Ha! ;)

You have all given me some wonderful ideas.  Keep em coming!

As for you, Miss Hayley... thank you for the tummy roll tutorial.  I can actually picture what you mean with the inverted vs. pooching out tummy rolls (the ones like a "dragon."  Do you know many dragons, personally?!?)

My bears started out with very big, pouchy tummies and I still use that body shape from time to time.  But it's the ROLLS I'm after, and that I havne't yet mastered.  Not just the size or the pouching out, but the ROLLS.  Ya know?

Gail, if you find your picture, YES, do post it here.  I'd love to see it.  And congratulations on your first place win!

More later...

Night night at 10:26, Kirsten?  I know you're in my time zone (PST) and thought you were still a YOUNG person!  And you don't even have the "school day" excuse since it's summer vacation.  Eek! :P:lol::D

I'm off to bed... soon...

It's 11:58.  Yes, a night owl; that's me!

Oh Rita, that bear is absolutely adorable. I love the paws in pockets, too, and the cute overalls.  Really, a wonderfully cute little guy.  Very well done!

What are the Wiggles?  Is that like Teletubbies for down under folk?

I believe you're right, Nanc.

Also, I'm so envious that you know Janice.  I watch her auctions all the time; she makes very beautiful and truly sweet, sweet cubs (and other critters, too, actually, all of which sell for wonderful prices.)  Tell her about TEDDY TALK and send her our way.  Is she up for the challenge???

PS  Do we have to drink tea?  I like tea just fine -- a nice, solid Earl Gray happens to be a particular favorite -- but this group seems more the type for the "multi-colored-umbrella-resting-against-the-salted-rim-of-the-glass" style of beverage.

Actually, me too.  How about at your house, Kirsten?

Or, better yet, how about HAWAII?  Bermuda?  The French Riviera?  Do we have to make bears, or can we just hang out and be chicks?

If and when I ever throw a grand and exciting, adult party, Penny will be the first one on the list.  She's a cracker, that one!

Okay, so doing some rudimentary math, I'm getting that you're eight hours ahead.  Which means that, by now -- I went away from the computer for a bit -- I'm probably talking to myself.

Typical.

"The Starfish Technique."  I love it!

Understuffing will be a huge issue for me.  I stuff my bears to firm and hard they are practically rocks.  I might have to come up with an entirely new "line" of bears.

I take it the old-looking, understuffed bears then have no chance of ever standing upright, right?  And that you never, ever use an armature for them?

Curiouser and curiouser...