Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Cuuuute, Erin!!

This is just beyond cuteness.  So nicely done!

Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute~~~

I commented on FB already but wanted to add a few words here, too.  PLEASE just hibernate your bearmaking for a while; something that's more than understandable in the current financial climate.  Do what you need to do to be fiscally safe and sound.  Take care of YOU, and know you're well loved and supported as you do.

But please keep open the idea that you can still make bears, even if in a different way, perhaps as a hobby instead of a career -- at least for a while.  Truly, the world would be a more empty place without more darling, special Wee Scones in it.

Many hugs and heaps of empathy and support to you, hon.     

Perfect, and perfectly amazing, Kelly.

On a related note... someday, I have to get me one of those leather "vintage" cans you make.  They're just sooooo cool!

Very cute, excellent concept, so nicely executed.  A really impressive set!!

So remarkable; you're just unbelievably talented, Tami.  What a gorgeous pair.  Welcome back to the bears!

Holy crap, that's awesome.  Wonderful pandy!!

Very cute!

Another winner. 

VERRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY lovely, Jenny.  This pattern and finishing concept are clearly keepers.  Meow!!      

She's just perfect, Denise.

Just adorable.

Absolutely adorable!  He looks like a chocolate from See's.  I expect him to be sitting in a little pleated paper cup with sprinkles on top.  Just too cute.

Wow!  That's a really unique and super cute bear!

US BEARS -- I know there are people in the bear world looking for graphics regularly.  Banners, Etsy shop headers, blog graphics, site graphics; you name it.  I used to do this kind of work for hire and I had quite a few customers, and a variety of projects.  I still get asked occasionally if I do this kind of work.  (I love it, but I don't, by the way; it just didn't fit well into my schedule.)  For sure, it's hard for people to find designers for smaller jobs at reasonable prices.

I'm pretty certain, though, that especially if you want to be paid for this kind of work, people will want to know who you are.  A website or blog which showcases a portfolio of your work -- even just a few personal pieces -- would be helpful.  Failing that, just knowing your name would probably go a long way toward making you more tangible as a business contact.  In business dealings, customers appreciate transparency and accountability.

Do we at TT know who you are, yet?

Just a suggestion!  Good luck!!

My rockin' hot highlights look a bit more... seasoned... on me than on they did on the barista girl, who's probably a good 20 years younger than me.  I have "mature" rockin' hot highlights.  :)

For sure, that Brittany has magic hairstyling hands!

I'm sorry.  This is totally off topic but it's so weird and cool and serendipitous, I just had to share.

Today, I went to a brand-new hair salon.  I found it when I saw a barista at Starbucks with THE most gorgeous highlights, and asked her who did her hair.  "Brittany, at Satori" was the answer.  So I scheduled an appointment with Brittany at Satori and today, I met her for the first time.

While I was in the chair, Brittany asked what I "did."  I mentioned teddy bears, and she turned to a co-worker and said, "Hey, Judi!  Don't you know someone who makes dolls?"

Judi turns to Brittany and says, "No, bears.  It's a gal I just found again, after many years, on FaceBook." 

Judi came over and started talking very enthusiastically about this bearmaker gal she knows from back in the day, a lovely woman she missed terribly is is excited to know again.  She explained that this friend is part of this huge online community of bearmakers (hmmm... wonder what she means.. :)) and that she goes to these shows all over the place, or at least talks about them, in Southern California, and Nevada City, etc.

I was getting more and more a feeling of deja vu so I asked Judi, "Who is this gal?" 

And she said, "Oh, my friend Marlys Waggle."

You could have knocked me over with a feather!! 

Of course I practically exploded with, "Oh... My... Gosh!  I TOTALLY know Marlys!  She's a part of this forum I know really well -- in fact I helped found it forever ago -- and I see her on FaceBook all the time."

HOW WEIRD AND COOL IS ALL THAT?

I met the friend of a friend from the internet, all because I belong to Teddy Talk and she belongs to FaceBook, and I bought coffee at Starbucks on a day when the girl behind the counter had rockin' hot highlights.

I just had to share how very small the world can sometimes be.  And how incredibly weird, too.

That's a way nice thing to recognize and then, take a moment to say, Krista.  Means a lot.  Mommying is really hard work.  Thank goodness the rewards are so great!!

Thank you.   

I have to run out for a few hours in a sec -- highlights! -- but wanted to ask, just what about layers confuses you, Louise?  It is the mechanics of how to use the program ot create them, or is it the CONCEPT of what they are, and how they work?

I'll come back later today and check in to see if I can help.

Thank you so much to everyone for the sweet words about these guys.  You know, I've been selling for years now, and I've even had the good fortune to win a few awards and nominations.  But I swear, I always have that butterflies-in-the-stomach thing whenever I post a new piece for sale.  Will people like it?  Will it sell?  Will I be able to pay my Visa bill?  lol...

Your positive comments are totally appreciated.  Thank you so much.

Hi Thomas!  Thanks for the kindness.

In answer to your question... YES, the noses are just a few built up layers of embroidery floss (the six-strand kind that you can get anywhere).  There's nothing under them like felt or padding; it's all floss.  I do shave the area under the nose completely and remove all mohair before stitching, though, to keep little hairy stragglers from poking through.

Hope this helps!

These are my newest bears.  This is a photo from the eBay listing for BUTTERSCOTCH, so excuse the text, which doesn't quite make sense in this context, here at TT.

CHOCOLAT will post to my website (link in my signature!) shortly and is available for purchase, there.  www.potbellyarts.com 

BUTTERSCOTCH will be available on eBay for 7 days starting tonight, Sunday, May 3, at 7pm.   I think this link will work for you after 7pm tonight.  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi … 0353348258  If not, and you're interested in viewing my auction, try looking me up as "potbellybears" there.

This is my first eBay auction since they so radically changed their rules, so I'm a bit nervous about how all those changes -- and my sabbatical from auction listings! -- will impact this sale.  Fingers crossed for a good outcome.

Thanks for looking.

He's wonderful, Sue Ann!  I love his fur and look.

I've always offered my bears internationally because as others here have said, I think it's ultimately up to the buyer to choose whether (or not) to pay what may end up being fairly large shipping, insurance, and possibly customs costs.  We're selling to adults here, right?  I figure they can competently decide for themselves.  And it's not at all a problem for me to calculate international postage for those lovely folk.  I just click to a different page on the USPS website!  The work on my end is the same -- weighing, packaging -- no matter where the bear goes.

Having said that...

It's very true, Jane -- you're so right -- that international postage can be problematic ... even AFTER the sale.  For example:  Even when I've been excruciatingly clear with my international customers about the very real potential for high costs and customs fees on their purchase, over the years I've had a small number of buyers (two or three, including one very recently) get really upset at me and my "sales methods" when their parcel arrived, and they had to pay 'extortionate' customs fees in their own country, due to their country's custom policies.  All of which is, of course, something completely out of my control and that I can't predict, estimate, or change. 

The end result of such transactions is that these customers have a soured impression not of their country's customs policies (where the fault REALLY belongs)... but of ME, and of MY bears.  Blarg!  The overall EXPERIENCE of all that sours the customers on MY PRODUCT.  Which is, clearly, something to be avoided.  This fact absolutely gives me pause and has made me wonder, from time to time, whether it's really and truly "worth it," as you asked, Jane, to continue selling internationally.

For now, the answer is, "Yes."  It's still worth it.  It's been very few customers who've had this experience, and it's not something I can control and not remotely my fault, and I can't change it, so why deprive people of the opportunity they can grasp (or not) to have my bears?  I LOVE the idea of my bears living in other countries, and of being loved by foreign collectors.  It's very exciting to me!

What I don't love, though, is the idea that by merely inviting international buyers, I might be setting them up for a circumstance I didn't create and can't control, that will specifically turn them off of ME and MY work.  So unfair, and yet an impression of POTBELLY BEARS that's incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to undo and "make pure" again.  And I really hate the idea of turning off even ONE customer.  I want them all to be 100% pleased, truly.

To create an explicit expectation in my international customers that they may, indeed, face high customs fees upon delivery, I recently updated my website and created an entirely new FAQ section to address this problem.  If you're interested in seeing what I wrote and possibly adopting it for your own use on your site, blog, or in sales transactions (like on eBay) please feel free to use the wording or something close to it.  Hopefully this brief FAQ statement will prevent future customer disappointment at a time which should be full of bear-y happy celebration!

One thing I won't do, by the way, which I include in that FAQ paragraph and which I know other bearmakers sometimes do as a "courtesy" to help foreign buyers avoid customs fees, is mark commercial purchases as "gifts" or undervalue the purchase price.  There are some solid reasons for that.

#1... In order to fully insure a parcel, the insurance amount stated on the shipping forms must match the item's stated value.  In other words, if I mark a parcel as worth $200 and the buyer paid $400 and that parcel gets lost in the mail, I can only recover $200 for my customer from the USPS.  I don't have an extra $200 laying around in my wallet to make up the gap between the actual purchase price and the insurance refund I will be able to secure for my customer.  And I would never leave a customer in the position of receiving a partial refund.  That's just bad business.  INCREDIBLY bad business.

And #2... Falsifying USPS shipping forms by calling a "purchase" a "gift" is blatantly illegal, and actually constitutes mail fraud.  That's no small deal and while it's unlikely that any one bearmaker will be caught in this lie, it would really majorly suck if I -- or any of my friends in the bear industry -- ended up being that caught bearmaker!  And people DO get caught.  I'm extremely sympathetic to the problems these fees create for international customers, and I understand the well-meaning motives of those sellers who offer this "courtesy," but I'm not willing to lose my seller's license or face fines and sanctions by lying on federal forms, and personally, choose to obey US law.

Link here; look under INTERNATIONAL BUYERS heading:  http://potbellybears.com/My_Homepage_Files/Page6.html