Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I'd love to help  -  I sent you an E-mail.

Happy 13th Anniversary to ME! by qdpatooties, on Flickr

Here's my first bear (I don't count the ones I made as a kid) from back in April 1998.  It was also the first pattern I drew out as well.

I just visited and it looks very nice!  I'll have to keep popping in to see what you're up to.  Congratulations on entering the Blog World!

Very nice blog - love the colors you use in your crocheted items!

I sew my head, turn it and then stuff it completely.  Then, I add my neck joint (if you have one) and sew up my neck opening to keep it in place.  I put the ear pieces right sides together and sew around them and then turn them.  I have done it both ways - ladder stitched them together and I've also just left them open at the bottom and sew them on the bear.  I actually prefer the latter.  I usually sew my ears on at a 10 and 2 position if you think of a clock.  I start at the seam at the bottom of the ear and pull some thread through and secure it.  Then, I find the 10 position and starting at the top I slowly work my way down the front of the ear using a ladder stitch to secure it to the bears head and then up the back of the ear until I reach the point where I began.  I secure it by knotting it and then I run my needle through the bear by pushing it in at my end knot and coming out the bottom.  That's where I cut off my thread so I don't have any threads sticking up around my ear.  I repeat the process at the 2 position for the other ear.  I hope this all makes sense!

Congratulations and very cool.  I love to see "new faces" in the teddy bear magazines.  It keeps the hobby interesting for me.  I'll have to look the new issue when I check out our new Books-A-Million this week!

He reminds me of an antique bear I own - love him!

So sweet and amazing accessories - just look at how many fish he's caught!

Darling and such personality!

I recognize some of the names here!  The winners were announced on Saturday at the TBAI show.  Congratulations to all who entered, all who were nominated, all who won and to the wonderful collectors for taking the time to vote!  I didn't see this posted here yet so if I'm duplicating someone's post, I will not be hurt if this one's deleted.  Hugs to all!

Miniature Artist Bear
Mr. Bean
Yeun Hee Park
Hee Bear

Small Artist Bear, Dressed
Ben
Susan Donaj
The Wild Things

Small Artist Bear, Undressed
Romeo
Britta Helberg

Large Artist Bear, Dressed
S.S. Sailor
Laura Sanchez and Steve Shutt
S. S. Bears

Large Artist Bear, Undressed
Serenity
Michelle Lamb
One & Only Bears

Artist Set or Vignette
Polar Pals, Fishin’ the Tundra
Ron & Kristy Northman
Capt*n Ron’s Bears

Small Artist “Friendsâ€
Lettice
Jenny Johnson
Three O’Clock Bears

Large Artist “Friendsâ€
Chaucer, a Young Tiger
Karen Lyons
KJ Lyons Design

Artist Creation, Non-Traditional Materials
Leonardo
Kelly Graham
Ted E. Graham Originals

Small Manufactured Bear
Shaggy, the Artist Bear
Steiff North America

Large Manufactured Bear
17th Sonneburg Museum’s Bear 2010
Hermann-Spielwaren

Manufactured “Friendsâ€
Baby Babu
Ashton-Drake Galleries

Best in Show
S.S. Sailor
Laura Sanchez and Steve Shutt
S. S. Bears

Things have definitely changed - this place used to be a bustling "metropolis" of sorts! I think the main problem is that the Internet and Social Sites have grown by leaps and bounds!  There are only so many sites one can realistically keep up with at a few at a time. I admit that I am on FB a majority of the time because most of my friends are there but I like that Google+ is starting to grow because it seems like it's going to be easier to control who is in your "Circle of Friends" there.

Anyway, if it helps at all, I hear ya' and understand what your saying.

Wow - that is terrible.  Our movers were the exact opposite.  They packed everything and I mean EVERYTHING including wastebaskets full of TRASH!  I hope your stuff shows up soon!

Wow there are a lot of very nice "gallery worthy" photos there Randy.  I would definitely choose too many and most of my choices would be based on things that I love - the beach, bears, etc.  I see from viewing your Profile that you belong to several Flickr Photography based groups.  Why not go to some of the "experts" who really know what to look for in Black and White Photography and ask them?  Or if you have a little more time on your hands, you could link your Flickr account to a Blog and post your photos based on theme and have people vote on which ones they like the best out of each grouping.  Just some suggestions!  They are all very nice!

Strange - it doesn't sound like you are logged in to Google.  I'm only able to see the "Dashboard" of the Blogs I Author after I've logged in - have you tried logging out of Google and then back in to see if the Dashboard reappears?

I sent a bear Express Mail International to Moscow, Russia on July 18th and it still has not been received.  It's been sitting at the Moscow Post Office (they attempted Delivery ONCE) for almost a week now.  For $35 - I feel kind of bad for the buyer!

Sounds a lot like the Craft Stylish website I joined a while back.  I have free patterns I've posted on there but no one seems to find them.  Oh, except one SPAM'er.  Yeah!  :doh:

I just invited you Sophie.

I added you to my circle.

I just joined Google+ and would love to add you all to my teeny, tiny circle.   I am Lisa Thoms - I'll try looking some of you up as well.

Wow have you been busy!  Darling little guy!!!

Beautiful Shelli.  Nice to see you back in action!

Darling Shelli!

Adorable and I love her name!

I was a sickly child and often stayed at home with my grandma when my family went places.  She would entertain me with all sorts of games (Jacob's Ladder) she knew from childhood, played board games with me and then one day, when I was about 7, she taught me to sew by hand.  The first thing we made was a dress for my Cinnamon doll.  She never used patterns so she showed me how to make things without a pattern.  After we made a few things together, I was hooked.  I would take scraps from my mom's fabric stash and make doll clothes.  Doll clothes evolved into critters somehow and I created a Piglet to go with my Pooh Bear (they didn't sell them back then to my knowledge).  Creating Piglet opened up a whole new world for me.  I made a HUGE doll for the haunted house my sister and I put together every Halloween and after that it was on to bears.  My first bears were out of corduroy (because that was what my mom had left over).  They were string jointed and instead of a head gusset, their snout was sewn on and resembled half a football.  Instead of an embroidered nose, they had one of those leather buttons.  The eyes were large round beads.  I made a lot of these bears just to make them and continued making bears and clothing for myself well into my teens.  Then, I went to college and forgot all about sewing and concentrated on studying (yeah, that's what I tell my mom).

I had collected dolls all my life and found out about Artist Dolls while I was in college when I fell in love with a Julie Good-Krüger doll I saw in Doll Reader Magazine but couldn't afford it as she cost more than my books for that semester!  Once I had my job, I started buying dolls from some of my favorite artists and joined a UFDC Doll Club.  I met a lady that lived locally and we decided to open a Doll and Teddy Bear store mainly to showcase her love for sewing for the American Girl dolls and sell some of the dolls from our own collections.  We hadn't been open long when the first Doll and Teddy Bear Expo came to the Washington, DC area and we attended as shop owners.  It was there that I discovered Artist Bears and my first interaction with any artist was Sally Winey.  I adopted a bear from her with the intention of putting him in our shop but somehow he managed to come home with me.

It wasn't until I got married and moved to Charleston, SC where I could not find a job that paid me what I made "up North" that I even thought about making artist bears myself.  We had just moved there and we were going into all of the shops in downtown Charleston when I went into a bookstore.  My friend and I had closed our shop when I moved but being a collector myself I always bought the magazines because I was always buying, selling or trading my dolls and with the Internet expanding the way it did in the 1990s, it made it easier to see the latest from my favorite artists.  I saw the artist bear magazines as I picked up my doll collector magazines and it made me think back to my one artist bear and how I used to make bears back when I was a kid.  So I bought both "Teddy Bear Review" and "Teddy Bear and Friends" and came home and got online.  I think somehow I found TBML (Teddy Bear Mailing List) which was like a forum but the messages from everyone were E-mailed to you.  It was there that I met other artists and found out about a teddy bear show that was being held in Hershey, PA which also had some classes.  I had designed a few of my own patterns by then and was anxious to show them to the person teaching the class (Garth Davies) to see what he thought.  I learned how to joint my bears with hardware in that class, Garth gave me the nod of approval on the two patterns I had come up with so far, I bought my first mohair and went home to see if I could make some bears.  I made up my patterns in mohair and was shocked at how much better they looked then when I had made the test bears out of corduroy and then a few out of plush felt.  Wow.  This stuff is good.  No wonder it's so pricey but SOoo worth it.  I was now fully addicted and so in April 1998, I became Bunting-Thoms Teddybären.  My name has changed a few times since then to reflect my "breaks" in making bears but the love of making them has never been lost.  I think that is something that will always stick with me no matter how many breaks I take.

Hi Clare!  I stop by now and then because I miss you guys too.  I'm currently trying to give myself a kick in the rear to start making bears again.  Hugs to all you great bear people!