Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Oh no.  Hope you find that box.

Oh man, do they actually kill the minks or just sheer them like they do goats and sheep?  I'd feel kind of bad if an animal had to give his life so I could make a bear.

Does anybody know anything about this brand?  I have a big ol' huge white bear about as big as a two or three your old kid, named Lester.  Sorry I don't have a picture because you know me and pictures, but for some reason I'm just really curious about this company.  He's a big, white, unjointed bear with a face of a different kind of fur.  His head is about the size of a basketball and his nose is probably the size of a baseball.  I saw him at a yard sale a few years ago and fell in love very hard.  I'm told that the tag on his butt says Commonwealth.  When I started joining bear forums, I became really curious about whether he's a collector bear or just a squuzball.  Can someone tell me anything they know about this company?  Thanks and sorry I don't have a picture.

Thanks for getting that song in my head *plays the flute part on my recorder*.  Sorry that's all I can say about a thread about photography.  I wasn't going to post except y'all got that song in my head, lol.

Thanks.  The avatar was designed by Joanne Livingston.  She completely rocks.

I'm aware of that, but I was just referring to making the bears, not selling them.  I wouldn't sell a bear from another artist's pattern without their permission.

I started making bears in April of this year.  We had several deaths in our family and I wanted to make bears for my family members to give them love and comfort.  I couldn't figure out how to get one together until April and now I'm hooked.

Well, pictures are not going to help me very much.  I guess the only way I'll ever be able to use it is if I find one at a thrift shop.  I hate buying fabric online because I can't see it and I need to feel it.

That's true.  For me, I look at doing other people's patterns like I look at playing the piano.  I write songs, but I don't only play my songs.  It's like recording a cover.  You have to play it your own way because if you try to copy the score exactly it sounds blah, but if you add your own style to it it sounds really cool.  I think it's the same way with making bears.  I hope my bears have their own style anyway.

Lenora, you should still try it.  If he looks goofy I would still love him.  I had one little guy that came out as not a bear at all.  I gave him to a kid at church and she loved him.  Actually she was a teenager, but she likes bears.

I thought I'd throw this out there to see if I could find any takers.  I propose a challenge where we make a bear entirely by feel without using sight.  You can use sight to cut out the pattern because I can't even do that, but the sewing should be done by feel.  For those of you who don't know, I'm almost totally blind and I'm a bear maker.  I've had challenges that most people don't have.  I just thought it would be fun to see if anybody else would try this.  If you do it and you think your bear looks weird, I know a collector who would adore them, BTW.  Bearlove to you all.

I went to the antique shop today and saw the most gorgious mink bear.  I couldn't afford him yet, but I would some day like to make a bear out of this fur.  Does anybody know where I can find some mink and also how expensive is it?  Does it cost more than mohair?

Nice scripture reference.

Well,  I don't see anything wrong with selling a bear made from another artist's pattern because the bear will still be your own even when you use someone else's pattern, but I would always find out from the artist whether it would be okay and I would definitely give the artist credit because that's just common courtesy.

Awwwwwww.

Well all I know is that's a very special girl.  Now I need to go give her a hug.

Can someone please explain to me what is a teddy doll?

The color doesn't make her any less huggable.  You have to look on the inside of a bear, and I don't mean the guts, lol.  When you hold a bear, you can feel all the love he/she has inside.  Bears are some of the truest friends you can have.

Sorry, but I just have to bump this thread.  I can't resist.  I can never see my stitches, so I always do it by feel.  You can feel where the two pieces are connected and then you stick your needle as close as you can get to the spot.  Is that clear as mud?

Oh man, I absolutely love velvet.

Is that what all that bunch of numbers and HTML code is on the index page?  Oh, got it.

Oh, yeah.  I think I saw him on Facebook.

She sounds from her description like she would be a real softy.

This is an artist bear that I got from Elize Fouche.  His real name is Da Red, but I call him Red for short.  He's a felted mohair bear that looks like he's antique.  I love this little bear.
http://www.africanbearcompany.co.za/reg … ame=da-red
Elize, if you ever come back to TT, is that gravel in his belly?

I got this bear from Becky Chase in a bear swop.  She's my baby girl.  I don't have a picture, so I'll have to post a link to her web site.
http://dangerbears.com/ImageGallery/Ima … 8b875473eb
Sorry, Becky, if you've already posted her pic.