Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hi
Many of you will know that last year I took part in the WSPA fund-raising Bear Trek through the mountains in Romania to the WSPA Bear Sanctuary. Well in spite of being in last place for the whole trek, and feeling that it was really suited more to those who are younger and fitter than me, (or at the very least 100 pounds lighter than me!) I have decided to do it again! This time, however if I am last I will make sure I have company at the back because I have persuaded my husband, Chris to come with me. Our fund-raising target is £5000. Quite a large amount, particularly in this current climate.

The first major fund-raising exercise will be on Sunday at the Scottish Bear Fair in Troon. www.scottishbearfair.co.uk  There will be a large table there just for WSPA fund-raising. I have been overwhelmed with the kindness of my friends, and am happy to report that I have had some really gorgeous old bears and artist bears donated to sell for WSPA. As well as that, there are hand-made cards, some very pretty collars for bears, and the cutest little pin cushion.

I hope eventually to photograph all the donated items and put them on a website - I will let you all know when this happens.

Hugs

Dawn

www.justgiving.com/dawnandchris

I find that somehow the bears arrange themselves. I am sure that sometimes I come home and they have all moved around!  :crackup:  :crackup:

Katy you are absolutely right. To be eligible you either have to have been born in Great Britain (if this is the case it is irrelevant where you live and trade) OR You were born elsewhere but are now living and trading in Great Britain. This rule was changed this year as it seemed unfair to those that had been living in the Great Britain for several years, but who under the old rules were not eligible to enter.

Aggie - perhaps you could tell us a little bit more about yourself and your bears?  This is a very friendly forum and it would be nice to get to know you.

This is Tevye one of my Showbears now appearing on Bearpile and looking for a new home.

http://www.bearpile.com/detail.cgi?id=1386&item=40502

Oh Dear, if you are feeling pessimistic what hope is there for the rest of us! The sad thing is, that with a few exceptions, once artists take a direction away from bears they rarely come back to it. Maybe we need a universal advertising campaign, something like:

'Worried about the economy? Worried about your job? Affected by government cuts? Never mind, help is here in the form of a beautiful new fluffy teddy bear - he may not solve your problems, but you will never be alone, and the more bears you have the better you will feel!'

Just a thought............
:crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

It's a tough one and no mistake. Judging by the number of people that are writing to me just now, things are not easy out there. My take on it is that it is OK to reduce the price of a bear, providing you are still keeping the value of the bear. In other words, there is a world of difference between selling a bear for a hundred pounds, and selling a 2 hundred pound bear for a hundred pounds.

In the second case, the buyer knows that they are getting a quality bear that is worth X for Y. In the first case, it looks like you are devaluing your work.  Personally what I do, is I offer the discounts to my valued collectors first. That way, the people that have been loyal to me and kept me in business over the years get something back. I would much rather it that way then someone I don't know, grabbing a bear on Ebay just because the bidding didn't go very high.

Oh how wonderful it would be if the world was full of Peters! Or, if our Peter won the Euromillions lottery!  Just imagine our Peter in a castle with unlimited space and unlimited funds. No bear maker would ever have to worry about sales again!  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

I have had a lot of artists contact me about sales being right down, and I have to admit that places like Bearpile seem very very slow just now.

Hi
If anyone is around Troon, in Scotland on 7th November, the Scottish Bear Fair promises to be a wonderful event. Lynn Bowie of Madabout Bears has very kindly donated a table to me, alongside my Hugs Unlimited one, to raise funds for the WSPA Bear Trek that myself and my husband Chris are doing next year.

I have had some wonderful old teddies (including the one in the picture) donated and these will be for sale with all proceeds going to the Romanian Bear Sanctuary. There will also be some beautiful hand made cards, and some pocket money toys for the children. I will also be raffling one of my own Hugs Unlimited bears.

I hope to see some of you there - more information can be found at www.scottishbearfair.co.uk

Hugs

Dawn
Hugs Unlimited

Hi
Definitely not the British Bear Artist Awards - there is no banner here, they are the BBAAs and don't have 'character bear' as a a category.

However, just to put my slant on it, I would say that a 'character bear' is one that is playing a role - that could be a fantasy role, imitating a human, or it could be the bear being a character. In terms of my bears, I do a range of 'Showbears' which are based on characters in musicals. I consider these to be character bears, but the bears themselves are very traditional

Hugs

Dawn

Aww thanks everyone for your lovely comments. He is very cuddly, still looking for a new home though.

Hi

In the style of other magazines and TV programmes,  I thought it would be fun to have a review of the year in the issue of Teddy Bear Times that comes out in January. If you have anything you would like included - competitions that you have won, or extra special commissions, new directions you have taken, births, weddings, anything in fact that you think would make good reading.

If you are a collector, I would also love to hear about what made 2010 really special for you as well.

Please email to me tbteditor@btinternet.com by 12th December at the latest together with at least one high resolution photo.

Many Thanks

Dawn

Editor

Teddy Bear Times

I have been watching it all day and it has been fascinating.

I also had a press release from Christies saying that the amount for the harlequin bear was actually £46,850 with the buyers premium!

As an artist who feels bad about charging actual shipping costs with some of my heavier bears, this is just entering into fantasy land!

I too am shocked at some of the prices for the smaller pieces - I can't help but smile when the Auctioneer says this is 'only at £500' etc.

I know how much of a struggle it is for artists at the moment, but it is nice to know that there are people spending on bears etc. I guess it is an investment market, and quite different from what we are doing.

Hugs
Dawn

Hi
Meet Fluffy, he weighs in at nearly 5 pounds - over two kilos! He is made from a gorgeous 2 inch pile mohair and stands at a very chunky 19 inches.

Fluffy is now available at Bearpile.

http://www.bearpile.com/detail.cgi?id=1386&item=40105

Thank you for looking.

Unfortunately, it is not just the Daily Mail that got it wrong. The same quote has been used in a lot of newspapers - including the Financial Times!  Very interesting though to see who is selling the bears!

My guess is that someone took the information over the phone and didn't bother to check it. One reason why I always prefer to have things in writing before they go in Teddy Bear Times!

What did you think to the Teddy Bear Times version Peter?

Hugs

Dawn

Hi Sheila

I can give you first hand experience. I developed it about three years ago. I was put on a high dose steroid (I think that is what presnidone is?).

However, I did a lot of research on the internet and found that it can be caused by Vitimin B12 deficiency. I started taking very high doses of the methylcobal B12 and that seemed to do the trick.

I would say that it took about two months to get better, but that after three weeks, every day was a big improvement.

I wish you well - it is a horrible thing to have - the worst thing for me was feeling that I had to explain to everyone I met why I looked like what I did. Having said that, I'm sure that most of them didn't even notice and it was me being extra sensitive.

The steroids made my appetite go into overdrive and I managed to put on about 30 pounds in a very short time.

The correct medical terminology is 7th Cranial Nerve Palsy. It is apparently a lot more common that you would think.

My understanding is that the majority of people get better quite quickly (although it doesn't seem like that at the time).

Maked sure you get plenty of rest and try not to stress too much.

Take Care

Hugs

Dawn

LOL - at Evilbay - it really is not good just now. I must admit I'm not keen on reserve auctions, but I have started to put a reserve on because there just is not the interest there at the moment. I must be honest, Bearpile is slower than it used to be as well.

I agree, that one of the problems is the amount of 'non-artist' stuff that clutters up the category. Ebay will remove items if they are seen to be in the wrong categories - maybe we should start reporting some of them?

I have no objection at all to Russ, Charlie Bears etc., being there, but they should not be listed under OOAK Artist Bears!

Hi
Just to let you know that photos for the 12 entries for Category one are now online: http://www.britishbearfair.co.uk/Shortlist%20Cat1.htm

The rest of the categories will be on shorty.

Apologies for the delay, this is taking a lot longer than we thought.

Hugs
Dawn

Meet Lavender, now available on Bearpile http://www.bearpile.com/detail.cgi?id=1386&item=39787 Lavender is made from sparse grey mohair with black guard hairs and is filled with woodwool, cotton, glass beads and steel balls. Her skirt is trimmed with antique French lace and has lots of sparkly crystals sewn on the 'petals'.

I have to tidy mine a bit this week - my boiler is being serviced on Friday and he will want to get to all the radiators in the house - I really dread the annual boiler service - there really is nowhere to hide, and I always seem to get the engineer that just does not get artistic messiness!

Also, I find I have the brain of a two year old in that if I do not see it, it does not exist! Therefore I have to have everything on show or at least very clearly labelled!  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

Apologies for not getting the photos up on the website. We are having major technical difficulties - and time issues! My computer hasn't got a scanner and a lot of the photos I have are in paper form.  I really think it would be unfair to put some up and not others within a category, however, I think we may put them up one category at a time starting on Monday.

My little farm on Facebook is also sadly neglected. 

Peter - I think you would love to see everything being set up - it never ceases to amaze me when I look at my stand with all the props and boxes and shelves etc., that it all came out of the back of a battered Fiat Punto!

It is always a serious race against time though - now that Hugglets is half an hour earlier, we barely have time for breakfast at the hotel before setting off!

Please don't forget that I am looking for stories/photos of Hugglets for Teddy Bear Times. Unfortunately, I was not able to get around too much to talk to people and take pictures. Please email them to: tbteditor@btinternet.com

Hugs

Dawn

PS Peter - don't be sad at the bears being packed away. I will freely admit that I have never had a complete sell out at a show. On the other hand, I have never made a bear that did not find a new home (eventually) sometimes it just takes a bit longer. Molly was around for ages before she caught your eye - and look how that story turned out!!!!! 

XXX

Hi Meet Arthur from the Hugs Unlimited Bears that Time Forgot. He has been aged and stuffed to give him a slouchy feel. He is available on Bearpile. http://www.bearpile.com/detail.cgi?id=1386&item=39573

Thanks for looking, Dawn x

Hiya

It would really speed up the process of getting photos on the website if I could have digital photos of those entries that were sent by hard copy to Wendy. Scanning them in takes a long time and there are a lot of bears to get on the website.

Please send to tbteditor@btinternet.com - if you could make it a high res photo it will also be great for Teddy Bear Times as well.

Thank you.

Hugs

Dawn

Hi
As far as I know, there is no reason why they should not be shown. Normally, the first sighting of all the bears together is in Teddy Bear Times. However, this year, as there is a dedicated website they will be on there before being published in TBT.

As far as I can remember, pictures of shortlisted bears always appeared on here - I remember putting mine up before they were in Teddy Bear Times.

I'm really looking forward to seeing them all in Brighton - there is a great variety of bears and I think that the judging will be very difficult.

Hugs

Dawn