Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Donna, thanks for the clarification and info about the TITO contest.  Wish I had something ready for it this year, but guess I'll try to get good and ready by next year.  Congrats on your win last year.  :):cool:

Shelli, You are an awesome teacher.  Thanks ever so much for such an organized overview of the mag. contests.   :D:cool:

Yeeks!!  Funky green sky...have to hide in the bathroom....sounds like a freight train...maybe earthquakes aren't so bad after all.   Werner and I were talking, and we both think another quake could happen here again soon.  We're hoping people will take the next tsunami warning seriously, in spite of the fact that last night's warning was cancelled.

Jane, what an awesome dream!  So vivid.  Maybe it was a vision of the future.  Lovely costumes on your Mikado bears.

Very nice bear, Millie.  Your distressing looks great too.  I'm eager to try some more distressing.  A technique I've been hearing about in the cloth doll arena is for baking the item.  I'm not sure just what that does to the item, or if you have to treat it some way first, but all the ones I've seen appear to be made of muslin and they come out kind of grey-black.  I'm just wondering if someone knows more about that technique, and if it might do something interesting to mohair.

Right, Jane.  When you find the head it may have a whole new twist on 'distressed', eh?

I'm so delighted to learn that the talking birds really are smart.  I always thought that their words were just like random recordings, but they really understand some of what they say??  Wow!! :cool:

Thank you for your kind comments, Rita.  I wish I could honestly say they always fly off the shelves, but it's not always so. The red golly mouth was made of two flat pieces, sewn onto the face part-way and then stuffed and finished.

Laure here, in Eureka.  Hubby and I were about 75 miles south of Eureka when we got news that there had been a large quake in Eureka, and that there was a tsumami warning.  We thought it was odd, as nobody had felt anything where we were at the time.  Later when we were on our way back home to Eureka, we phoned a friend who told us the tsunami warning was cancelled.  My son told me tonight that he and his family had felt it only slightly.  I read on the news that it was centered in the ocean south west of Crescent City 80 miles north of here, a town that was wiped out by a tsunami about 20 years ago.  With all of the seismic activity around the world, I would not be surprised if we got another one before long. :o:o  But we will be fine.  God watches out for us. :D:D

Thanks for the insight Sue Ann.  I didn't know that the magazine contests are judged by the photo only.  After talking to Audie, who someone at IDEX said was an authority of some kind, I assumed that he had judged the magazine contests.  Thanks for making plans to post the contest deadlines.  That will help me a lot. :D:cool: 

Hugs,

Rita,

When I  have a bear that is not a hit, I do as Marie suggested; I take another look at them and see what, if anything I can do to improve them.  Sometimes they need their ears adjusted or some accent color added to their faces or paws, or a new ribbon or embellishment.  Not too long ago, I ended up removing a sculpted face from one of my bears and replacing it with a fur one...it sold right away.

I am strongly in need of knowing how to keep tabs on deadlines for these important contests.  I seem to get wrapped up in the daily struggle and it slips by me.  One bit that I can offer, though, is that I had the privilege of a private critique by Audie Sisson who has been a judge at some of the contests.  If a person has the privilege of getting their bears called in for a closer look, the winning criteria has a lot to do with the eensiest details of craftmanship.  Some areas that he pointed out to me were: the stuffing must be very smooth and evenly distributed, unless lumpiness is part of the design.  The ears must be sewn firmly to the bear with no spaces between the bottom edge of the ear and bears head that are big enough for Audie's little finger to poke through.  If the bear is weighted it is preferable for the weight to be distributed evenly throughout the bear so it has a balanced feel.  I don't know what he would say about having the bear's feet weighted for standing.  The seams must be smoothly executed, with no accidental corners in an intended curve, such as on foot pads.  Those are Audie's rules.  I don't know anyone else's, but I'm sure they are sticklers for workmanship.

That's how I do it, Dilu.  I stuff everything before adding features.  That way, there is something to hold onto for leverage.  I felt so affirmed to learn that Steve Schutt does it that way too.   Just kidding.  I don't think there is a 'right' way, just what works best for you.

Hi Suzanne,

Sorry about your frogleg dilemma.  Hope you get it right side out soon, without too much wear and tear.  This may not help you on the frog project, but I've learned that it works pretty well on small pieces to ladder-stitch them from the outside.

Well... like you, Daphne, I have much more mohair than I'll ever know what to do with, but can rarely resist an interesting buy on it.  Johnna called me and offered me not only the extra 1/3 yd, but said she had another 1/2 yd of it as well, and did I want that too?  Well, duh!!!  Of course, I took all the extra pieces.  It was such a great price that I will feel fine about torturing it all kinds of ways.   I will be sure to post the results.

Winney, I appreciate your tender, loving heart.  Very interesting stories.  I  have never heard of having a 'judas' goat for a flock of sheep.  Is that done for a reason, or was it just a coincidence?

Laura, thanks for the 'tips' page.  I esp. liked the advice on adding ultrasuede reinforcements to your joints, and their method of ensuring even placement of limbs.

Laura, Rita,

I feel for you.  Biting comments can be so discouraging even if they are not public, and so much more when they are.  I once had some biting comments come to me from a somewhat well known figure, for asking advice from them.  Nobody saw it but me, but it wiped me out, big-time.  When I try to imagine what would make them do that, I think they must be very insecure to feel a need to hurt others like that.  Then I try to get beyond my own pain, with compassion to pray for that person because they really need it.

Thank you, friends.  I'm glad I'm still here too.  Nobody could have told me then that I would be making teddy bears now.  I thought I would be either a Disney artist, or a famous ballerina.  Although, come to think of it, I do recall thinking that it was odd how I felt about dolls.  I didn't really enjoy "playing" with them too much, so I thought at the time that I was peculiar because I really liked my dolls a lot even though I didn't use them the way other children did.  Of course, that never stopped me from leaving them out in the weather til they rotted, or pulling them apart to see how they were made.

Loved your memories, Winney! :D:cool:

Possibly you could rest the noses on a piece of quilt batting while they bake.  That is what Earline taught us to do with face masks.  I don't know if Fimo bakes at the same temp as Cernit.... 250*F?  The toaster oven is great for these small projects, and they don't have to be awfully small, at that.

Ladies, I think I just bought the last yard of the chocolate-peach mohair.  The ad said there was only 1+ yards left, so I ordered a yard and asked for the remnant too.

Yes, Kirsten, I meant to mention that Penny's avatar was looking great, but I got all caught up in being sappy over her departure instead.

Nope, didn't feel it up here in N. Cal.  When I was a kid about 9 yrs old in 1955, we had a doozey of a quake here.  It was my first earthquake experience.  It was on a weekend morning.  Dad woke in a bad and vociferous mood, thinking that Mom was shaking the bed.  We were in the process of building the little cottage we were living in, and the walls were still bare studs.  I'll never forget the picture in my mind of our yellow tabby cat, Goldie,  literally circling the walls of that little house!!!  When Mom finally made it to the door and opened it, the whole world looked like it was on top of a huge blanket being shaken by God as waves and waves rolled along the ground.  My baby brother was tied in a child-size rocking chair with a diaper, next to our wood-heating stove.  On top of the stove was a washtub of near-boiling water.  Mom scooped him up, chair and all, and after the quake, the washtub was found teetering halfway off the stove.  Our huge Christmas tree that extended into the rafters of our unfinished ceiling miraculously never lost one ornament!!

You folks are making me want more pets, and I don't even allow our current ones inside!  Maybe I'll just get some bologna.  I've heard it has a long shelf-life

A little reality bite there, Kirsten.  I'd bet quite a few of us here could benefit from taking that advice, not the least of which would be 'moi'.  but GOLLEE!!! Fun is addictive!!!! :lol: