Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

He's finally done!  I've been working on this guy for over a year now.  He's one of my largest and my most detailed needle felted work to date. 

Needle felted wool (3 different types) over a soft sculpt body, polymer clay nose, resin sculpt claws, posable wire hands, felt shorts, leather belt with metal buckle. He stands on his own & can be gently posed and is able to hold objects

More pictures & views can be seen on my website http://www.featherheart.net

Ah I love the penguin well I love them both 

Ah thanks everyone

Finally I have my new home on the web! www.featherheart.net  It's just a free Bravenet page but I'm working on it. 
I have a links page so if anyone would like me to link back to their site just let me know, all I ask is that you link back to me
Hope everyone likes it and any tips or pointers would be great!

Yeah now they are saying if you make under 500 of anyone item you will be excluded from the law, which is great for one-of-a-kind items so that's hopeful for artist but that's still under work & still not part of the law.

FAQ:
What is the definition of a children's product and how will the age cutoffs be determined?
* A “children’s product† means a consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger. In determining whether a consumer product is primarily intended for a child 12 years of age or younger, the following factors will be considered:
* A statement by the manufacturer about the intended use of the product, including a label on the product if such statement is reasonable.
* Whether the product is represented in its packaging, display, promotion or advertising as appropriate for use by children 12 years of age or younger.
* Whether the product is commonly recognized by consumers as being intended for use by a child 12 years of age or younger.
* The Age Determination Guidelines issued by the Commission staff in September 2002, and any successor to such guidelines

Hope this helps, I'm worried about the bears I DO make for kids, I also make a line of felt and fleece bears that are kids safe & sale them mostly at shows & the number one buyer are kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.  So I would have to stop making these plush altogether I guess.  Also the age determination guidelines issued by the CPSC states things that the public "sees" as made for kids will be included  so that means I can't make needle felted poke-a-mon because it's "seen" as a kids cartoon even though the needle felted "sculptures" are collectables.  What the public "sees" as being made for kids or a kids item is so large that I can't see how this law as it's written right  now can work. Someone could come along that's not a bear collector & say "well in my eyes teddy bears are for kids" so then what happens? again this law is very badly written 

I'm not sure if any info has been posted about this or not yet, and I know it will not effect too many of us (or lets hope not) but there is a new law coming.

The issue:
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick.  Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008.  Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number. 

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels. 

For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business.

The big problem is if you make anything for kids 12 and under you would need to have that item tested before it could be sold!  I don't make that many things for kids but every now & then I make felt animals that are kids safe or fleece animals.  And if someone orders a needle felted plush I guess I have to say "don't give it to anyone under the age of 12"? 

I'm worried about this law because, artist bears in some cases still fall under "toys"
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/

Here is a link to a petition you can sign and were you can send e-mails & help

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?t … panel=true

Did you know that by FEB 9,2009, if any of your products can be used by children 12 years old or younger that you will need to get CPSIA certified testing on the content of your materials to make sure the lead and phthalates levels fall below the CPSC new standards and have labeling with the lab testing certication # and specific batch code attached to each of the products? This testing startes at around $300 per batch. A batch is considered to be a group of a single product that all where made using the same material material lot. In other words if you knit several hats and the yarn used in each has a different production code or dye lot or from different manufactors, even when they look identical, then each single hat is a batch.

The more of us that take action, the faster we can get the CPSC to ammend the law or at least postpone the compliance deadline.

Thanks!
The gel wasn't too bad I just had to be really careful not to burn it

ah thanks everyone!   :hug: I'm so glad everyone likes him.  He's made it to his new home & they where super happy to get him.  I'll be working on a blue one next I think!

thanks so much.  I wish I could keep this one but it was a custom order

I'm calling this my needle felted master piece LOL
He's made over a soft sculpt body with a wire armature so he can be posed.  His arms and legs are string jointed.  The wool is a blend of angora, & merino wool with angelina fibers.  This wool was a pain to work with but I got it done :)
Dragon is about 8" tall and 10" from nose to tall.  Wings are made of fantasy film, wire and fimo gel & are about 5" long each not counting all the wire.

This guy took about 3 months to make

I made this little guy for a show this past weekend & was so happy he sold.  The person that got him was an ex-bear maker.
5" tall 5-way jointed & made of mohair.  For some reason his eyes look weird in the photo

Here is a picture of the little african grey.  I also posted a topic "I'm in a magazine" with more pictures 

We have power!  After over 48 hours with no power it’s finally back on.  I could care less about TV, or AC the only thing I worried about where our animals, mainly our fish.  Thankfully we had a small car jump-starter that powered the saltwater tank and had batter back-up pumps in the other fresh water tanks.  No losses as of today so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Here are a few pictures of the debris.  It doesn’t look too bad in the pictures but this is going to take days to clean up & these pictures where taken after some cleaning.



This is why we didn’t have power

At this point I’ll be spending a lot of time cleaning up.  Oh and I have to replace all the food in the house the only food we have left is bird food LOL.

Did anyone else have Hurricane IKE damage?  Oh and a note to self I need not to try & sewn in the dark LOL I was  working on a bear bye the window & it was no problem but as the sun started to set I should have stopped   Now the closing seams look really bad & have to be redone LOL.

Silly question but can you get it in the US?

I'm so happy with the way it turned out sometimes being married to a graphic artist has it's advantages LOL.  Anyway now  he's working on coloring it, my hang tags, tush tags, website and what ever else I can make him do.....

oh and by the way my husband does freelace work (great rates) just thought I would plug him a little..... He made my etsy store banner too.

I've been wanting to subscribe to a Teddy Bear magazine but I don't know which one would be best.  I would like to find 1 that's monthly if there are any and one about making bears not collecting them.  Any one have a suggestions? The book stores here don't have any bear magazines so I can't even look at any to see which ones I like.

Cool site.  You might also look in the scrap booking section of your local craft store.  I do a lot of shopping at Hobby Lobby and have used tiny little paper tags they had (like shipping tags) & just got some of the shrink film plastic, & I'm going to give that a try.

Ah he's so cute just want to hug him!  How did you make the toenails?

wow your avatars crocheted?  It looks like fur!  Do you mind if  I ask what type of yarn you used?  I really want to make a crochet dragon but have no idea where to start

oh cat toys would be cute!  I'll ask & I'm sure she could, I've also made little felt real cat toys  

She got a pattern for a cute bear hat & poncho set.  I'll have her make that & get some pictures.  I'm sure she can make sweaters too.

My mother-in-law is an amazing quilt maker, she also crochets and knits.  She can make just about anything.  I wanted to check if there might be a demand or need for bear sized quilts.  Also what would people be willing to pay for them?  If anyone is interested let me know & I'll also try to get pictures of her work this weekend.

Ah he's very cute & great for making your own pattern!  My mother-in-law crochets a lot & wanted to teach me.  I got a few needles and some crochet patterns and tread I just don't get the patterns  Also tried to knit and same thing I read the patterns and they might as well me in a foreign language 

OK so I found a copy of 101 bears to make at a good price only problem is it's on Amazon-UK and it will not let me order it.  It's 15 ponds so I don't know what that is in US $ like $30 US right?  Anyway if anyone is willing to buy the book & ship it too me?  I can pay whoever back via PayPal.  Also don't know what shipping would be to the US but the last time I got a book from the UK it was $10. 

Or if anyone out there has a copy of this book I would buy it   trying to find it under $50!

thanks everyone!  Nope the one that made it into BirdTalk magazine was an African Grey parrot but I hope to get this one in there too