Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

free snake!!!          roflmao

We did have just such a guest winter before last - a small juvenile eastern milk snake
was in our utility room, coiled around the dryer exhaust pipe! It was Octoberish & in
the 50's out so I couldn't see fit to put him back out in that weather. So I set him up
in a little 10 gallon tank with a heat lamp etc & 'Autumn' spent the winter with us. He
went back outside in June. He was marvelously tame, no biting or pooping on me or
even waggling his tail. Snakes wiggle their tails when they're nervous - if they're in
dry leaves, any snake can sound like a rattler. But little Autumn was even happy to
eat right out of my hand. Much better manners than the garter snakes who usually
hang around! He sure knew the right house to visit - I was glad to have a chance
to enjoy him.

I keep a ball python girl named Harper & a corn snake fella named Ted. They're
6 & 5 years old, & fully grown at about 5 feet long each. Harper will go to sleep on
my lap, & her belly is ticklish. if I touch her tummy just lightly, she twitches away
just as you do when it tickles. But she does seem to enjoy having her back stroked
with a more firm hand. Holding Teddy is like getting a hand massage, or playing a
more interactive version of cat's cradle.

I am glad you didn't kill the snake - & glad that the kitties didn't, either! They are
good neighbors & eat all manner of garden pests. Poor fellow was probably just
trying to catch some rays when the kitties found him!

Did you ever get a bat in the house? THAT is some cat entertainment. 
That's how I was convinced that my strictly indoor cats really DID need their
rabies vaccs kept up to date after all (we need an "eeek!!" sorta smiley) I do love
bats - would love to put the bat house up this year, after the people house gets
painted - but if he'd smacked into a window or gotten snagged by a kitty I'd have
felt horrid. Was marvelous to see him up close when I threw a towel over him
to take him outside, though. He flew three 'victory laps' around the clearing before
he fluttered off, & I took it as a 'thank you' 

Aleta you remember the bunny! yes & that one was needle felted. It was
because of that bunny that I got this commission  but for the skin
texture in this one I had to do ultrasuede. hard to hide stitches but I am
happy she turned out.

thanks so much!

MKinsey how awesome & flattering that you mention Christensen - I
have a big book of his lush paintings - & really it ought to be on every
doll artist's shelf I think. His characters & scenes are marvelously inspiring!

thanks so much everyone!   

the best part is, I still have two more pieces of that wonderful vintage lace
(we need a drooling smiley!)

she's a gorgeous mama cat, & looks so proud & pleased about
her babies. How lovely they are - & how kind of you to take in
these guests! It's not easy seeing all these gorgeous kittens - but
I am at my kitty limit (3) & mine are approaching stodgy age anyhow.

But KITTENS!!!     

lol is that all? trust me to wonder is it a super secret internet hideout chat or something 

Maple.
or Bramble.

he IS maple cream color (yum)

I LOVE the artists on this show

but it drives me crazy that they force the featured artists
to be all 'wacky' - I can understand, watching someone
make art might not be the most riveting thing, but ergh

I'm just quiet in real life & would hate to be forced to act like that  :redface: lol

is that variegated thread for the nose? I love it
I think her profile looks great, but you gotta do what you
gotta do until you feel she's 'done'

what sarah said - & is anyone welcome?

oh he is wonderful. he's just right. I love him.

& a gorgeous boxer girlie too!!!      
My boxer boy Tice says she is lovely 

she's finished!

you can laugh at my lame 'backdrop' if you want,
I was just happy to get her finished at the time.
you know how it is sometimes 

16" tall, free standing on wooden base. stuffed Ultrasuede
over wire armature, hand painted glass eyes, vintage lace &
brocade bodice with silk skirt. embellished with beads, diverse
fibers, paint, ink, ribbons, charms, embroidery.

her 'mama' adores her & she has arrived safely home.
now I can relax 

thanks for lookin - I am happy to hide my stitches in
mohair again for a while!

Whoa - ohmy.

Are you sure that's a bear?
I think it's Bigfoot!

Yeah.
Foot. 

:crackup: roflmao

:whistle:

edited to add,
it just figures that THIS is my 100th post on the board...

Nettie I have had that "it must be nice not to care" feeling at times too, at times
of tiredness & frustration & feeling overwhelmed (& low blood sugar lol); but I
come to the same conclusion you do. It is good to still care, though we do have to
'recharge' with positive thoughts & feelings. Vets in certain areas & animal shelter people
sometimes suffer 'burnout' from the thoughtless cruel stuff they encounter on a day to day
basis - & for their own mental health have to get away from it. I speculate that police officers,
people who work with neglected/abused children, emergency medical people, etc might go through
a similar thing!

Bear making is pure 'good stuff' for me - therapeutic, good feelings, kind friends & good people
who also share the craft. So to have stuff like that trained russian dancing bears thing, & the thought of
vivisection & violence, & other stuff like that sneak in VIA the "teddy stuff", is rather an affront & a
surprising & unpleasant shock I can imagine. The basic emotional reaction is "this is my GOOD place,
what is THAT doing here??"

But at the same time (I AM a Gemini, I see a lot of points of view at once lol)
I can identify with the artist, going for an 'eeek!' reaction. I still like to get a
reaction but in my old age I've moved on to aiming for "wow that's AWESOME"
instead of "wow that's GROSS" these days lol

I hope my comments before didn't put any fur bear artists uncomfortable -
I'm not crazy about animals being raised/killed to make new fur coats etc,
but to have vintage furs, heirloom coats etc. used to make bears is certainly
understandible & even sensible to have it not go to waste. It's like the old
joke - 'Do you know how many creatures had to die so you could have that
coat???' "Yes - my Great Aunt Edna."   

& Shelli, that jewelry artist makes very cool stuff - it's kind of Mad Max found objects
tribal looking! I dig it!

it's not your fault!
it's not your bears' fault!
Can you maybe list them as store inventory for a Buy It Now
price that matches your reserve? They might not sell right away
but they hang around a while as you add more bears - & a few
bears on hand for sale seem to promote one another. People can
still put them on their Watch Item list. But at a BIN price, anyone
can snatch them up at any time so you still get the "can't let anyone
else get it!" competitiveness in a buyer.

I will ALWAYS prefer to list as a store item with Buy It Now, for things
that I took way too long to make, love way more than I should, or otherwise
worry they won't meet a reserve or get bid up to what I feel they're worth.
It's pretty much the default with dolls because I take an absurd amount
of time fiddling with their costumes & I have to wait for that one person
to come along & fall in love with it for the ridiculous price I set.   
I'd rather wait for the right price, than let it go immediately in an auction
for less than I feel comfortable with. But I bear no ill will either if something sells
for less; in those instances the buyers seem thrilled, & I get the vicarious bargain
thrill on their behalf!

Anyhow that's what works for me. Your guys are great - don't let this bit of a slump
throw your confidence into a tailspin!! This is just an occupational hazard of making
art - the customers' gas tank & grocery budgets take their bites of the cookie first.

I'm guessing that she just named him 'Vivisection Vinnie' for sake of
the alliteration & 'vivisection' being a suitably 'icky' word. 'Visceral Vinnie'
would have worked just as well & probably been more appropriate on
a couple of different levels!

It's not my taste but I like that it exists. I don't believe that art should only
be beautiful. & different points of view can certainly provide different
& interesting attitudes - heck I know some folks who would be more
disgusted at real fur teddies & bears with leather parts, than this one,
which appears to be synthetic fur & acrylic paint. They'd be offended by
dead animal skins being manipulated to look 'cute'. Not my point of view,
but IMO valid.

Renae that tenement fire photo you describe sounds...wow. Harrowing.
I haven't ever seen it but I have seen similar scenes from 9/11. I don't
think it's a matter of gawking at an atrocity, but it's the only way we can
feel the reality of a situation sometimes, & empathize with the people in
the picture who are more like us than is comfortable - "there but for
the grace of God go I" sort of thing. At least that's my feeling. I can't
imagine how the surviving family must feel. I can't in good conscience
put journalistic photos in the same mental category, though; nothing
suffered to make this bear. & it does spark some interesting thought!

it reminds me of an art exhibit I saw within the past couple years: common
cartoon characters like Betty Boop, Charlie Brown, Powerpuff Girls, etc, but with
a parchment paper overlay for each one, showing a very 18th century looking, faithfully
realistic study of what their skeleton must be shaped like. Naturally the skulls were freakish,
huge, with unnaturally round eye sockets, tiny mandibles, etc. It was funny & grotesque &
weird & absurd. I loved it  This bear reminds me of it.

Aha! here they are: http://michaelpaulus.com/gallery/character-Skeletons

I think it's cool that this bear challenges us to re-think what makes a bear a bear,
does it have to evoke a certain response, look a certain way, etc. I suspect that
if it didn't spark that sort of reaction, the artist might be disappointed.

ebay sellers often use 'GOTH' as a way to label anything the least
bit ooky, as it's an often-used search term apparently - even if not
quite relevant as in this bear (IMO)

Far more satisfying than having scores of scary things like this
around, would be to nestle it among several of one's sweet, cute,
innocent bears.    :twisted:

But then I have one of these

& it's pretty much the same effect  :crackup:

ooo. this would be cute with some variegated ribbon, &/or
a couplefew coordinated ribbons, fibers, etc. uhoh beads
could get involved too.....bitty little bells....charms....  :dance:

I'll ship internationally too - & I haven't encountered anything smokey or
mildewy or whatever that I can't freshen with febreeze, vinegar, or baking
soda! So I'm game for exchanging with anyone I think.

Chin up! You will feel SO relieved when you are done - your heels will
be inches above the earth! & then you better do something purely fun
& delightful as a reward!

If it's a matter of just getting your bum in the chair for a long haul of finishing
em, one thing that helps for me is audio books. The library has books on tape;
I get some mysteries like Patricia Cornwell or Janet Evanovich, & wanting to
hear how the story turns out keeps me at my task. Busy hands work leaves
enough of my brain free to attend to a story, & maybe yours is this kind of
work. I get the unabridged versions so you get at least 6 hours of story
& nothing is cut out.

Audio books work for long car trips too - The Green Mile, unabridged, got us
all the way to California 

no problem Krista! I figure if my swap buddy doesn't want the furs,
I'm happy to send em to whoever does want em (renae was that you?)

& I feel very virtuous to have gone through my stuff & liberated all this
material which I won't myself use! 

maybe if you shoot him outside in light shade, the coolness of the shade
will tame down that 'day glo orange' effect. Not that it will help highlight the
black at all!    what I'm used to doing to shoot black is sun sun sun -
which is inflaming your red! Oh no I am no help at all, am I

he sounds awfully neato, tho - can't wait to see him!

oooh - may I play? I have bits & pieces & things for medium to large sized bears, & would appreciate medium
to small sized 'stuff' :-) No smoking here & the only 'fluff' on my stuff tends to be mohair

:-)

edited to add, after a whirlwind tour of the stash:
Oh I got a grocery-bag-sized bundle of loot.
Beads, costume jewelry, buttons incl. a couple nice
czech glass ones, trims, ribbon, & gimp, a couple spools
of small eyelet ruffle trims, little brass bells, eyelash &
boucle fibers, some vintage velvets etc. etc. etc. etc.

I also have a mink collar & a spotted-cat fur mantle -
much bigger & wider than the collar, like it goes over the
shoulders as well. it is a spotted fur, not a dyed rabbit or
something. I'll never use these. Where did I get them from?
I've no idea. Someone take them! Shall I include them or not?

do update when you hear back!

think husbandperson would go for a wallaby if I pitch it
as a mobile storage solution? after all, those pouches are stretchy..   

*intrigued*  is it true that they want to pee their bed every time they get up from a nap?
& don't we get pics of this alleged wallaby?    :pray:

.........As for wall storage - shelves & shelves & shelves & shelves with sterilite bins
that I pull out as drawers! I can also just have them out on the table or whatever,
in the case ofif there's bunches of trims & snips & scraps that I want to have at
hand to pick through, tubes of paint that don't really need to roll everywhere, etc.

I have rectangular laundry sized baskets & littler square wicker baskets on
the more visible shelves for fabric & 'stuff', a peg rack for all my spools of
thread, etc.

This might seem silly but if you go the route of cabinets with doors, keep in mind
the clearance space of the doors! It's not much fun to have to move your table,
lamp, stool, airbrush compressor or whatever every time you want to get into
your cabinet.    Erm not that this is the voice of experience talking or
anything *ahem*

they're definitely different words - unless you mumble I guess lol

I would say keep it, but if you still feel unsure, perhaps you could email her
& see how she feels about it?