Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Yeah, my username and 'tradename' (if you can call it that- not so much trading lately!) are nothing alike, and neither has more than the most tenuous link to me, so here goes...

Username is from back in the day when I was a big fan of all things Anne Rice, especially the book 'The Vampire Armand'.  There is a character in this (in like... one sentence?) called 'Gaetano'.  Meanwhile, I discovered the internet at school (oh no! My downfall! ) and realised that no matter how you look at it, 'Chloe' and 'Johnson' re the most common names in the entire world at the moment XD  Hence, I needed a username which I could use for everything so I didn't forget the endless numbers and random letters in using my own name.

Obviously, the answer was to nick it from a book   Sadly however, the dyslexia fairy struck and my misspelling stuck, so i am now Gantaeno for nearly everything except a few sites where someone else nicked it   I pronounce it gan-TEE-no   Its also hilarious trying to get my mum to e-mail me using it.

My current trade name, 'Je Suis Lugly' is also totally random.  Lugly comes from Ugly and Lovely, which my creations tend to be (often more on the ugly side, lol!) I was going to be I AM LUGLY so that people don't think I speak French because i am atrocious with languages (except garbled and gibberish ) but i went with Je Suis coz it sounds better.... sadly I now have to hyphenate it in websites and e-mails because if you string it together it looks a bit like JesusLugly... oops. Ah well. I like it and it's staying!  So guys, I'm Juh- swee- lug-LEE :D

Sorry for the essay XD I'm halfway done with exams and I need to talk about something I know about!

Lol, I have to say my favourite 'bear-making threads' have got to be the ones here on Teddy Talk        (Sorry, couldn't resist)

I use the extra-strong thread on a spool from Bear Basics here in the UK_ I swear I could sit on it and it wouldn't break   I bought some other stuff cheaper, but it was more... fibrous?  It breaks relatively easily sadly Still good for handsewing normal seams though.

Yes I HATE it!  I'm usually listening to something else whilst browsing, so annoying for music to come  up on a site, especially if it can't be stopped...

  Just checked your site- love Squeak too!

Wow Lisa, I love him!  Gosh, I hope you never turn your hand to Sloths XD

Is that in the really old Mickey cartoons?   He went sailing in the episode 'Steamboat Willie' if that's any help

I have her Monkey Portrait book AMAZING

How's you?  God luck with baby!  I assume you got the book ok?

Thanks everyone   I had a great time with my family this weekend (first complete get together since 1995!) although it was not without its mishaps!  My granny liked the bear, and immediately asked if I wanted it to look like a Steiff, which is all he compliments I needed!  I didn't really want to tell anyone about the hobby (I'm not embarrassed or anything, but it as my Grannys 80th, not my show-off day!)  but I found my mum hiding in the kitchen with two of my aunties filling them in... grr!

Back to locomotion and nervous control... thanks again  

Hey all   Thanks for your lovely comments- I have snuck back on!  I went back into my Summer Job work today, and on of the first things said to me there was 'have you brought another creature to see us?'   Even they know I'm mad... lol XD

I'm currently on a mixture of genetics and the dynamics of animal locomotion    PAIN!

  Thanks everyone!  I really hope she goes down well   I love old style bears soo much, I think attempting one has really sharpened my perception of how HARD it really is!

Well, back to the books!  Thanks guys  

It's my Granny's 80th birthday party next weekend so I've made her an old-style teddy after much cringing about 'distressing' it- still think I was a bit heavy handed, but ah well! At least i had a go, not like with my last 'old style' bear!

I was thinking of calling her Esmeralda, for some reason   Esme for short.  I hope she is well received!

I'll be revising pretty heavily (I hope!) from now until after my exams, so please don't be offended if I fall silent for a bit- I might have actually succeeded in being strict with myself!  How will I live without TT?!?!

:hug:

to be honest I don't use a seam allowance on my patterns!  I have each piece actual size and draw around that, leaving enough room for a seam allowance on cutting it out... then I sew along the drawn line   Works for me!

Oooh Judi, I've been waiting to see this new girl since you mentioned her on your other posts- good job I just refereshed the main page before logging off! As it is i can't even see the aftershot now- I'll have to keep refreshing, typing and copying XD

... and it was worth the pummeling of the F5 button!  She's amazing, just like your other big cats!  Makes me wish i had an airbrush- more bear junk to clog up my University room!

      Love her!

Hey Siue, my Saturday job for a while was on the photo' counter at Boots, so if you have and questions, I might be able to help a wee bit?  I've never had a digital SLR as I'm a poor student (lol!) but my two Samsung cameras have been pretty good for the money I'd persoanally be looking for something with an SD card and a long memory, but mines a day-to-day camera too XD

Have fun!

Oooh Sue, about your daughter- is that Grantham College?  I remember you ringing up- never did check to see if she'd decided to go with them or not!  Their testing I have to say was top notch- both dyslexia and discalculia- something I'm sure I have My sister might be going to College instead of the High School, whee I went

I was attempting to outline the text on Photoshop Bobbie, but I couldn't work out how to do it- don't suppose you know how?  I'll have another bash as it :)

Ah see Maria, yiu have a website slave-y   I had to work out what to change, but at least I had a good starting point from that first coding...

"Also poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio!"  Yeah, I studied Hamlet at A Level with a mad teacher, so it's special to me

Oooh, well done!  *strikes up cheerleading crew*   :dance:  :dance:  :dance: 

Hopefully I'll be ok to come down and see you all again in September- I can't do the February ones because of Exams, so I only have one opportunity a year to terrorise you all  

Well done you!!

Thanks Maria, between the three of us I guess I'd better pay to switch my domain name over! Or I guess I could just go with a .co.uk... decisions decisions :D

Maria, I nly know enough to be able to adapt the code given to me by a friend, which is the CSS to have a background image, a table with the links to the side in it, and a scrolling text box   I'd be happy to share it if you'd like it?  I like your website tho, but it's the amazing Hamlet bear that I see first when I enter it that makes it XD

Thanks Wendy, sometimes their weird little faces fascinate me too! (Like... OMG how on earth did I create something so freaky looking...)

So, you definitely prefer the new one?  I see you're a freewebs member too! And you've just linked to Paypal on your site, which is what I figured I'd do... does that work for you?

Ok, so I had a Mr. site package and made a website up from it based on their layouts, which you HAVE to use: brilliant if you can't do HTML but i have a little experience, so less good for me!  So I decided to have a go at making a freewebs site, and came up with this:

http://www.freewebs.com/je-suis-lugly/

I know I need to add a link back to the main page on each section (I was thinking of letting you click on Pokes face to go back?), but i was wondering which everyone preferred?  I'll have to pay to switch over my domain name (about.... £25 total?) so I'd like to know if you think the difference is noticable enough I won't get the shop, or blog, or maintained e-mail list or anything that I get with Mr. Site, but i think if i just added paypal icons, or linked to my Etsy store it would be ok?  Such a shame that Mr. Site won't let you code your own layout!

Also, if I switched, would anyone like the Mr. Site details?  I think I might be able to still use the old site under a different name, so i guess someone else could use it too? Might cost something to change the names, but it's really good if you can't do HTML, like i said

My old site can by found under my avatar

Thanks!

Hmmm, I think Liebe's fur had a pink backing   Ah well..

What's the Christie bears pink like?  I want it, but it's all money, isnt it?  And I can't have two pinkies, one after the other!

How many do you have set by now?

Etsy is an online shop-type site where you can only sell handmade or vintage goods   You can use paypal both to buy and sell. I've had some really nice bits and bobs from there, Michelle   had a shop too but I might sign up for a new one so it'll have my name on it rather than 'gantaeno', which I prefer to only use as a username   I have to say, I've never had any problems

Oooh Sue, I really like the downward pointing snout thing you have going there   Can I ask you where you got that pink for Candy Floss from?  It looks so similar to the piece I used for my Sloth Liebe that I'm wondering if they might be one and the same, and I'd love to have more!

Glad you pulled out of your rut! 

Awww you're all so lovely          I love my TT pick-me-ups, almost as good as chocolate!  I was expectingy lots of "I NEVER make mistakes!" lol

Do you think if I did a little selective needle sculpting it might pull in the neck bulge a bit?  I've never really tried it before... I'm going to have a go at more complex eyelids though :)

Heya Lisa, I'm pretty good except for my recent deluge of exams!  Shouldn't be on here now really!  I really can't throw her away or anything, but she's annoying me XD

Karen, I'm picturing a bucket of eyeless, earless, mouthless heads next to your work area XD  I should really just re-do the neck but ack, I'm lazy

Brenda, obviously your mouse was pretty ok!  Maybe the buyer thought it was 'intentional ugly ' I might go for that with this one

Ali, I agree!  Lets you and me set up an 'Unwanted (or misused!) Bear Sanctuary for Teddies!

I think you're right Tami   The problem is, I think the mohair I used is just too straight and short for my sloth patterns: the joints are all exposed... hmmm. I don't know though, Naira was made with a similar length mohair, and she turned out alright!

  Well, maybe the 'unfinished bear' swap isn't as mad as it sounds!  Did you keep the bear you improved?

Thanks Jenn!  Ruddy neck...