Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I was watching the YouTube vid of Lily grooming Faith, and realizing the size of Lily's teeth in the close-ups.
Hope's teeth cannot be far too behind Mom's in size.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whmHrhWB … ure=relmfu

Now note the size of Lily's and Faith's claws. I would imagine a 'pinprick-sized hole' to be have been made by something no larger than one of Faith's claws - and those sure aren't Lily's OR Hope's!!!

And I like the scenario of the coyotes.... could all be pipe dreams but I'm a glass-half-full kinda gal and just cannot see even a family accident causing both injuries to occur quickly together in any other way.....
Just call me Pollyanna

Hi Wubbie,

I've been mulling over the tangling/knotting thread question ever since you posed it.. and it was re-activated in another thread. We were all thinking about treating the problem (e.g., the litle blue box of wax treatment - Magic Thread?  Magic Wax??) instead of what occurred to me - solving the basic problem which could more possibly be the thread itself.

Most of the sewing thread available is cotton spun over a polyester core. With the abrasion of going through the cloth, the cotton wears out more quickly and the fraying fiber are more likely to catch on each other as they pass each other going in and out in near proximity.

So it's the quality of the fiber you're using that often affects how easily the sewing proceeds.

For this reason, when I began hand-sewing my minis, I switched to using only 100% polyester tread, which doesn't wear out from abrasion as quickly and then looked for a nom-stretchy one, as some brands were rather stretchy. Mettlers Metrosene Plus was what I chose and initially it was Swiss-Made. It had moved on to Germany within a few years after I began purchasing it and the quality suffered: it wasn't as tightly twisted. I felt that it was then more on a par with Gutermann's, which was a German company but then moved to Mexico and suffered the same fate. I went on eBay® and bought the Swiss made after that.

But here are 2 spools of 'Swiss' Mettlers which I photographed last night. "It was a dark & stormy night...." nearly 7 PM and not ideal conditions but I had intended to post this today anyway. I don't have any Gutermann's on hand but Molynyke (sp?) is a close second to it for this purpose.
You can see that the twist is so tight in the Mettlers that the colors reflect even in low light light and they fairly glow.
But in the other polyester the surface looks dull because it's less tightly twisted so it's fuzzier.'

If I had to say that there were any minuses to this thread, it would be that it is so tightly twisted that it rarely formed that 'bend' at the needle's eye. This is both a Good thing and a not-so-good thing.
Good - the thread never wore off it's cotton covering so it never got fuzzy and tangled or broke at those points.
N-S-G - I had to watch—especially at the beginning of the threading of a new strand—that I didn't pull the needle right off the thread, just because it didn't seat itself in any particular spot along the length! This is as close as I can usually get the threads to stay together.
The needle is a John James #8 - large eye - Embroidery, approx 1¼" long.
I have several hundred of #8 & 10 (at least!!) and no longer hand sew.
Anyone may have them or at least some for a SASE.

http://www.bearstudy.org/website/resear … -more.html

Lynn & Sue rec'd the primary findings they've been waiting for, from the Dept of Natural Resources.
It almost poses more questions than it solves, tho.

While it tells the what, it cannot give the how or who or when...

Mysteries remain.

Oh how cool - Thx for letting me know that, Joanne!
Cindy Malchoff asked several months ago for NFed images but I'd forgotten which city's show it was for.
No show exhibits or visits are planned for in 2011 and that bums me out 

And for the first time in some 20+ years, neither any PHX/family plans in '11 - DOUBLE    !!

I'm still so new at this - may I ask for some technical knowledge? I don't even know how to form my question in a succinct fashion so it's not findable in their Help Forums...

When you tap into 'Follow' someone's blog - I was hoping that would alert you when they put up a new posting onto their blog. Apparently that isn't it, as there's only one blog that I ever receive this type of notice from.

I'd like to know how to receive this type of emailed notice from my favorite bloggers as well as how to offer it from my own. Am I missing some setting somewhere and if so, where is it listed, as I sure haven't located it?

Gratefully,TIA!!

The fur/fabric is still *wrong/different* in all of these comparisons.
The sample ted has a very long nap in comparison to his size.
And in very great condition, with very little wear on it!

That curious front Body seam is significant to me - has it been re-sewn for some reason? (e.g., was a growler removed perhaps?)
Especially in light of the obvious machine stitching everywhere else.
Curiouser & curiouser .....

(and I HATE the fact that his maker has left his fur trapped in the seams for all of these years.
I feel like my 'angry' Mom just French-braided my hair too tightly for the day!!!)

I'm going to Subscribe to this topic, sit on the sidelines to listen to all of your chatter  - - - - and DREAM!!!

(My DS & BIL have been staying back there for almost a month.
I so envy them that they get to do this every year; David is an ex-pat.)

Love & Hugs from the upper Midwest: 60°F last weekend, 90° on Tues & Wed, 50° right now. And those are the high temps of the days....Crazy, no?

Doesn't the mixed very stiff, stilted use of the English language and then switching to slang expression, serve as an all-bells-clanging warning signal, that this person is NOT a legitimate business person, approaching us with a legitimate business offer?
E.g.,

and then

(easily picked up from our exported TV shows!!!)

As Randy says - DO NOT  E  V  E  R - click on a link SENT to us in an email we were not expecting, sometimes even from friends we know (at the risk of embarrassment, write first to ask if they'd sent something, from a brand-new clean post/page, NOT from hitting Reply!), because our email Addy Books can be hijacked w/o us even knowing it and start to send out Spam, again w/o us even knowing it, to everyone in those address books.

Delete that trash - don't respond.
Legitimate businesses will find you legitimately.. and come to YOU with legitimate offers, not ask you to post your own terms. They already KNOW what overhead they need to operate their businesses.

                                         
Not a FB member
                                         

I too will add my Congrats - both on your first bear in a number of years AND in your newest adventure!
You were very brave in jumping into both open-mouthed muzzle and eyes! Well done. And isn't it FUN???

We've got a(n absolutely crappy) JoAnn's nearby. I hate it, especially after visiting the JoAnn's SuperCenters in other States. It's a hole-in-the-wall shop that tries to have a little bit of every craft, including a floral dept, upholstery, dye/decorate-your-own-basic-all-white-clothing-blanks and consequently never has anything in stock - - - - and it's all mashed into about 1200 sq ft of space.
I refuse to go there; unfortunately, the Hancock's Fabrics nearby just closed so I don't know what I'll do in future... look up the quilting shops I guess for notions and thread, and trek into the fringe areas of downtown Chicago (e.g., Fishman's) for good fabrics.

I really envy you all who have great local sewing shops - you never know (appreciate) what you've got until it's gone and you can't just pop out for a zipper or a quick 'something' you need NOW! I can now empathize with our overseas friends who don't have the availability of the many products we have here in the States. And makes one more appreciative of what we do have!

Sure! Don't see why not? The nose is such a small part of the face - - it shouldn't affect the cuddle-factor of the bear, like the fabric and the amount of stuffing will.

I love it when old posts are revived!
I'm with Judi & Steve - Apoxie Sculpt® is the BEST!! And putting a loop through the back will make it absolutely unremovable; this stuff is almost indestructible when cured, yet still able to sand it/saw it/paint it/sculpt it/etc...

Nancy & Tami's needled wool noses are also one of the methods I use; you definitely can use a surface treatment like Mod Podge® in matte or gloss over the Apoxie Sculpt® and the wool to seal them both and to change their appearances.

But I'm chiming in now after re-reading Steve's post, after almost 4 years because of a current situation:

because 2 months ago I began wearing a small, really lightweight, custom-formed plastic brace on my right hand to hold my thumb in place. I ruined the first joint with the dozen years of hand-sewing minis and am waiting until next winter for a joint replacement.
The surgeon said this is quite a common joint for arthritic changes in their dominant hand, especially in women over the age of 50 - 60. Hobbyists who use it constantly and consistently are more likely than ever to impact this in further and more complex deterioration.
I don't know what caution to tell others who hand-sew theirs, to avoid the pain that I now have and the rehab (hopefully successful!) that I'll be going through, other than 'protect your hands in every way that you can.' I cannot pick up a glass one-handed any more, or open some doors as easily or most jars.. not fun!
Not that I'm complaining, because I had a heck of a lot of fun while I was sewing and it's mainly why I switched to Needle Felting or quit altogether, and the sewn minis took me to so many new 'faces & places' - I would just do things a little differently now in hindsight!

Agree with Kelly: give your needle that little bit of an UN-twist after every st and your thread won't tangle.
It takes a bit of remembering in the beginning, but it becomes second-nature after a while. (Check which way your thread 'wraps' - Z or S twist - and give the needle a bit of a sideways slide between your thumb & forefinger after every st while you're pulling it through the fabric...
Not that the Magic Thread wouldn't help, too, but on some threads it remains a just bit sticky in the beginning, until it picks up a bit of lint while passing through your fabric (or gets buffed, I never could determine which it was) especially, in humid weather (at least it did for me.)

You can also just drop the needle and let the thread untwist after every few sts, but that's only if it's threaded with a thread which doesn't slide easily out of the needle's eye. I always used Mettler's Metrosene Plus (Swiss Made) and it was crisp enough to never form a bend at the eye; the needle would have always slid right off.

Like Kelly, our first Teddybär Total was in Hennef too, which is near Cologne/Köln, in 1998.
Great show! We were there for about 2 years before it moved up to Muenster/Münster.
Germany is the only European country of all of those we've visited (most of them- even tiny Liechtenstein) that was either so detailed or so large that it isn't all on one map: we had to purchase 5 maps to cover all areas of it...
One year (Spring 2000?) we even were passing through Stuttgart over the weekend of a 2-day show and were allowed to exhibit for the first day only. The promotor was VERY accommodating!
Of course everything has changed in the collecting world in the past decade, over the whole world.
No one knows the answer - but at least many are searching for solutions.
(Berta Hesen-Minten won a Golden George, but she's too shy to toot her horn!)

Steampunked Clown - (not a very good image of it in the distance, on the screen!!)

- What Joanne said!
Ditto for everyone else's comments, too.
I'm fairly new - a month or so and just learning my way around... one down and one to go.
The second blog is strictly for sales and that should go smoothly too.
Write me if you have questions!

Oh you naughty GURL, Michelle - Passive/Aggressive, just like Me!!  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

Baby Li  by rkr4cds

To go back to Shantell and Zag's original questions - there is no doubt that SueAnn's answer is the kernel of the matter: most basic bear patterns ARE nearly the same design, with a little tweaking of a bit more length or shortening/narrowing or widening/a dart or not...

True design comes with total change, in completely changing where the seams will be and in shaping the body parts to create an entirely new 'species' if I can call it that. Look at our avatars alone in this short list of replies— there is no way that the same type of pattern could have created these same bears.

You've said that your pattern pieces all look basically the same though the pictured bears look different (choice of fabric, stuffing methods, needle- & scissor-sculpting all bring about amazing changes to even bears of the same pattern.)
Perhaps what your library of patterns holds right now are patterns you subconsciously chose because they represented an 'ideal' style of bear in your mind (which is why the pattern pieces are all very similar), and as your bearmaking skills evolve, so will the image (in your mind's eye) of what the ideal bear looks like. This all comes with experience and we've all gone through the same thing.
Very VERY few have the innate talents to be able to skip these steps and leapfrog over this growth process w/o going through the learning activity called Experience.
Relax and enjoy your journey!

As an offshoot of this topic, I'd like to relate something we experienced in Germany about 10 years ago: just like Schulte factory, this factory is located right in a block/neighborhood of residences. We were in a small private tour of perhaps 15 ppl visiting the 'Green' Hermann Bear factory and were given the official tour by both the brother and sister of the brother/sister ownership team, throughout the 2-story building and then allowed to look at will, asking questions and take all the time we wanted. It was wonderful to see how the small crew worked in each room, at each stage of the bears' development.

All of the pattern templates were cut of ¼" or ⅜" fiberboard and hung on nails, one pattern per nail around the entire perimeter of the largest room. In another room, several women were just sewing noses with black wool yarn, very efficiently, placing the exact number of sts in the exact places on the muzzle of each bear. Upstairs, a long light airy room was used for cutting the fabric: I believe they cut several layers of fabric with a band-saw sort of machine around those fiberboard templates. At the end on that room were the sewing machines, with about 8 women sewing. Some women took work home as well.

Back down on the first floor there were three men stuffing the sewn bears with wood-wool/excelsior. They sat at a table which had a sort of short metal rod clamped and protruding up about 8" in front of them; this was to help press and manipulate the stuffing into the narrow tight areas and to help pack it in really firmly. The men paid us no mind; their maneuvers were all very compact and practiced. I wouldn't say machine-like but 'spare' and efficient. You know by looking at someone when they can do a job in the least number of strokes or motions. It was a real treat to have seen how manufactured bears are created.

We were allowed to make a few purchases, though they aren't particularly set up as a retail or gift shop. It was quitting time for the employees while we waited outside the front door for the rest of our group to finish up paying. That was when I noticed one of the 'nose-sewing' ladies standing on the front step, holding the door open for quite a few minutes. Finally she turned and out came one of the gentleman 'stuffers.' He put his hand on her shoulder and together they turned down the sidewalk and left the factory, walking up the block and out of sight.
It was an enormous awakening to realize that all of the time I'd watched this man stuff at least 2 complete bears, he was blind and was feeding the excelsior in by touch. His bears looked exactly like those of the other two men as they all lined the finished bears up.  Amazing - and I was thrilled to have experienced this.

Well, where have I been?? If this was mentioned in the past I missed it.... I'm sorry to've misinterpreted your question wubbie; I love your answer about your 'eyeballs' - I've got several body parts that don't work either!

Is this too forward or invasive of me to ask—I beg your pardon—at this late date: how you do develop your pattern-making?  I hope you don't read this as the slightest bit of insensitivity—as one creative person to another—I'd like to know.
I have given this same idea much thought over the years and am comforted by the thought that of all of the skills I've mastered, the one that I could still do if I lose my sight would be to knit, provided someone else picked out my choice of color. I learned to knit at about 5 and it remains my favorite skill.

I once actually knit in bed one sleepless night, s  l  o  w  l  y    moving the arm on the side away from my husband, thinking he was sound asleep. Feeling pretty pleased with myself I was knitting away for half an hour when I was startled by his voice growling, "Will you put that d***** thing away?"
I then began the habit I continue to today of listening to recorded books on tape or overnight radio, with an internal sleep timer and ear bud headphones, if I can't sleep.....

But I really am interested in how you spatially develop a pattern, if you don't mind me asking, as I am relying on the one hand art that I know I can actually touch, feel and count (sts) if I couldn't see the work.
Are you asking the forum how one would go about it or have you actually developed patterns?
If not, I'm sure there are probably some industrial engineers here who could give suggestions - - - but they would first have to understand the mechanics of a standard teddy bear pattern of what-goes-where-and-why I should think!
best regards - Bobbie

Hmmm... I've heard of ppl who can create a bear w/o a pattern but not a heard of a pattern w/o a vision. Or thought about that direction but perhaps others have; one nice thing about being in an artistic field is that it's free-range: there are so many different paths that everyone travels to arrive at their own journey's end!

Personally and this is only my personal opinion!! because in miniature we do work in such tiny fractions of inches and an 8th or a 16th of an inch difference between 2 seam lengths that need to match can still cause a bulge or puckering in many fabrics, more on one side than on the other - that I find it a little difficult to see how others can just 'imaginatively cut out fabric' w/o a pattern, and sew up a bear (or anything else) with the pieces.
That's a little too serendipitous-sounding to me; if it works for others - great, though I've never actually seen it happen in person, but more like one of those passed on myths.

There are many approaches to pattern-making: some first draw images of how the finished bear will look. I can only manage cave-drawing-stick-figures, so after realizing what my first patterns would result in as bears, I began to make changes directly to the pattern lines as I drew out new patterns.
If I was uncertain about the outcome, I'd cut the new design out of muslin or scrap fabric and quickly baste and stuff for a rough idea of shape/proportion/movement/etc and tweak from there on paper for a final finished design.
With practice one can train your eye and mind to know how a particular drawn pattern line will behave as flexible biasing fabric.
I've derailed the Copyright portion end of the question but this was still along the Originality part.
Interesting aspect to consider, wubbiebear!

Yesterday, the DNR requested Jason's tissue samples as well (they took his body right after death but not the internal organs, which Dr Lynn had already removed for autopsy.)
Though privately frustrated, Lynn & Sue are hoping that cooperative compliance will bring about mutual benefits for both sides, now and into the future.
On the Daily Updates site, Lynn and crew gave the link to all of the videos they've posted on YouTube for the past 2+ years of Lily & her family. I had time to view only one and was lucky with the one I chose (listed below the main one below) because with all of the mentions of Lynn and crew adjusting the camera numerous occasions and putting on Lily's collar and readjusting it, I was curious to see actual human-bear interaction, i.e., do they have to 'dart' Lily first? wait until she's away from all of the family so she's not in a protective Mother-Bear mode? how skittish is she in having them touch her or her cubs?
It's the one time I've ever heard a sound from Lily - - -and it's actually a bit of a growl toward Hope while they're sharing the food offering Lynn tossed to them before working on the camera.
So if you ever feel in need of a 'Lily family fix', now you can bring up all of the episodes at any time!

http://www.youtube.com/user/bearstudy#g/u
Click - Load More - in the lower left corner to bring up all of the earlier videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/bearstudy#p … y6GEs7Hr4w

Hmmmm... Wondering here... I've been out-of-the-loop.
How are online & by-paper-ballots counted, as in - from one individual?
Does one negate the other?
Is there any way to track this?
How are both of them tracked so that each individual doesn't get 2 (or more, if they purchase more print issues) ballots?
Am I over-thinking this?

I guess this has always been around as long as there have been magazines published but I just thought of the 'fraud' aspects of online plus a second ballot with a mail-in vote. (I'm sticking with my paper ballot - I'm too easily confused with what I can hold in my hand, much less with having to flip back & forth between screens! LOL)