Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

here it is :)

and a close up

Thanks everyone!

I know this is a shot in the dark but I'm looking for a bear I lost.  I got this bear when I was 3 from Hawaii and now in moving he's gone!     I'm 26 now so the bear would be vintage I guess 23 years old or older.
I don't have any pictures but I'll give as much info as I can. 
He was again from Hawaii but I think made in Korea or Asia somewhere.  He had on a white shirt that said "I left my heart in Polynesia" and I think it had a red heart and maybe red around the cuffs.  He was a very dark brown almost black and fully jointed, mohair (I think) with leather paw pads.  I think he was around 10" tall no smaller for sure and no larger than 12"

Any help pr leads would be great.

thanks again everyone! :pray:

Yea! I'm so glad you found your bear 

I was really happy with the way this one turned out so I just had to share!

Woohooo! Ok just had to share that one of my little needle felted parrots was featured in the August issue of BirdTalk magazine! 
Yea I'm so happy

Hello to everyone out there that has an Etsy store.  If an bear artist would like to help start a Etsy street team please e-mail shelley@ursaminorminiatures.com
She contacted me about starting a team & I think it would be great to all the Bear Artist on Etsy to get together & help each other out!

I have an Etsy shop & do OK with my needle felted animals & ACEOs but have sold no bears   I just moved a bear over to Bid4Bears in hopes that it will sale.

? same seller too but one's listed on the UK e-bay & one on the US seams really fishy to me I don't think I would trust that seller

That's so weird.  You can look at the picture & it looks like "kat" is signed or sown onto the foot.  It would be hard to believe that tow people would have the same name & same company name too.  Do you have a trademark on your company name?

I have a sister & can't imagine how painful that must be & I'm very sorry for your lose.  I will keep and eye out for your bear 

I've started a very basic & simple needle felting tutorial http://www.squidoo.com/ArtistPlush
At this point it's more or less just a supply list but I plan to add to it & hopefully even have some WIP tutorials and patterns.

Anyone feel free to add links at the bottom to needle felting sites or supplies

I've started a needle felted tutorial page www.squidoo.com/ArtistPlush
I know it says Artist Bears too but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do anything but needle felting & maybe start another Artist Bear page later.   I'll be adding to it as often as I can.  There is also a spot close to the bottom for everyone to add a link to their gallery page, main website or another site that you might like!

FREE US shipping on anything in my Etsy store http://www.featherheart.etsy.com
Hurry offer ends June 30th!  FREE shipping counts on custom items too if ordered before June 30th!

Take a look at my mom's Etsy store too! www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5548402
It's not plush but she does some really cute artwork!

I sold my first big bear!!!!! Sorry I just had to share

Ok so does anyone know anything about sergers?  I was given a Singer merrittlock 14U44 serger from my mother-in-law. It's a normal small 4 spool serger. I kind of know what a serger does but don't really know what I bear maker can do with it.  I don't have the manual so that's a pain.  I threaded it following the diagram inside the machine & it started to work fine but then one needle, the right one slipped off & I can't figure out how to get the darn thing back on not at all like a sewing machine.  Any help would be great!

I don't have pictures saved to my computer but have him uploaded in my gallery http://enchantmentsart.deviantart.com/a … r-55534851  the only fur I had was leopard print LOL

I started last May so it's been almost a year now.  I also started needle felting around the same time So I'm one heck of a newbee

Well I got some glycerin and tried it on a few different pieces of fur.  It didn't seam to help but it did make the fur smell better Some of this fur I know is too fare gone, a few pieces rip like paper when you pick them up   so most of it's becoming cat toys (but my cat doesn't mind) I'm also going to use it for little things like trim and so on.  Still digging though this big box so maybe there is hope yet.  On a side note a found some weird and kind of neat mink heads in the box! They have glass eyes  so I'm sure I can use the eyes if I don't do something else with them, oh and there was a bag of tails in there too.  I also got some muslin and plan on lining the rest of it.

I signed it too (can't remember what # I am) hope it will help.  I think the new feedback change in May is a really bad idea

Also if someone leaves feedback & it's unjust (like they never paid the full amount) you can contact e-bay & they can remove the feedback.  I've had this done before for almost the same thing.  Someone won one of my mini bears & it stated to contact me first if you where outside the US.  Well to make a long store short they didn't, paid the US shipping price for the bear & would not answer my e-mails.  I e-mailed and said shipping would be a lot more if shipped outside the US, a month went by (I didn't ship the bear) and no answer.  So I refunded their money (I did get the PayPal fees back & contacted E-bay about there fees, never got the e-bay fees back) I then relisted the bear & it was ok because it sold for more the next time.  But about 3 months later the original buyer sent me a nasty e-mail wanting to know where the bear was...& left me negative feedback!  So I contacted e-bay, they (I think) contacted the seller, saying something like they didn't read my terms and conditions and that I had refund the payment.  The feedback was removed about a week later and now says something like "Buyer and seller have mutually agreed to remove this feedback" Sounds odd but it's better than a negative I think once the feedbacks left there is somewhere you can dispute it.  Hope this helps

On a side note grrr I hate this e-bay thing.  I know how everyone feels because on the one hand I love buying on E-bay!  I not too long ago got some great deals on Mohair & a few items like my glass eyes and wool always come from the same seller on E-bay.  I might not list items for sale on E-bay in the future but I don't know if I could give up buying on E-bay   Buying on E-bay is a little like a drug too lol

Oh where is the library on photography at?  I can't seam to find it LOL Yea I had the same thought that the photo tent would be good for small bears but not for anything over 10"  It's so funny how the prices go on theses things too a 12" X 12" photo tent is only about $10 to $20 a 16" X 16" is $40 to $100? So I might just look into building something.

Thanks so much Patty!  That's a great little set up & I think I could get my hubby to make me something like that

I didn't know where to post this because it's kinda about bears but not about making them  Anyway does anyone use a Photo Tent when taking pictures of their bears or other creations?  I can never seam to get my pictures to look right (like I always say "I'm an artist not a photographer" ) I thought a photo tent might help.  Or does anyone else have any tips on taking pictures?  I've tried inside & outside, different color backgrounds and setting & nothing seams to help.

I'm just now reading this.  I had made up my mind the other day after E-bay froze my account for $11 due on E-bays fees that I would stop selling on E-bay & stick with Etsy & Bid4Bears   I didn't know about the boycott but after these items end I think I'm done with E-bay  & I've had an account sense 1998  E-bay's help sucks, the fees keep going up & I can't think of a reason to keep selling there.  I'll be listing everything from now on at my Etsy store www.featherheart.etsy.com  Thanks for posting this

thanks everyone.  No the furs not meaning full to me just got a box full of vintage fur at a good price.  This was just the first piece I pulled out of the box & started to work with.  I knew the fur was old but had no idea that it was starting to dry rot like this.  I think I might just play around with this piece or make cat toys or something & hope that not all the pieces in the box are like this.  There was 7lbs + of fur so hopefully some of it will be useable, this mink piece was just soooo pretty that I hated to toss it away... but there is also some pretty beaver and fox pelts in the box that I might try next.  Yea when I went to turn an ear the leather just ripped   But I'm also trying a fairly small bear about 10" so maybe I should try larger?  I've never worked with real fur before so this is all new to me (unless you count shed dog hair in needle felting LOL) Thanks again everyone is so helpful to a new-bee like me

I'll be going to the craft store on monday & I'm going to try all 3 things.  I'll let everyone know how the latex thing works out.  And on the glycerin I guess I need liquid? Or can you use the bars and rub it on the leather part of the fur.  It's a good thing I have a box full because I have the feeling I'll be messing up a few 

Thanks everyone!  The fur is starting to lose the smell already just being out of the box.  Thank goodness none of it smells like smoke.  Now the only thing is getting the leather backing to stay together, some of the fur is starting to dry rot from age.

Thanks I'll try both things as I have a lot of fur.  Someone I know also said to try liquid latex and "paint" it on the back of the fur (leather part) to make a flexible backing.  Has anyone tried that before?