Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

My son just got his new K-Zone magazine and he loves to read the "Amazing Facts" page.
To my horror...one of the facts he read out was :
"Teddy Bears kill more people each year than Grizzly Bears"!
Shock horror!
I would assume this is due to children swallowing parts etc...who knows...but it sure helps to make one see the siginificance of those little notes we all add to our collectable bears about not being safe for small children huh?
What else could it be? Do they come alive at night, hit the vodka and go on murderous campaigns??:/

Thanks Dilu...and actually, it is possible that the hormonal thing is one avenue that hasn't been investigated yet. She has been going thru change of life and has had a bit of a rough trot. We'll get that checked out..thankyou!
She actually was on tablets for a long while which were helping with the headaches...but they removed them from the market because they 'can cause stroke" !!!
Yes, she was very young..and it couldn't have come at a worse time. She had been working on a parenting book for the previous two years and had just launched it 6 weeks before her stroke. She had six months booked in advance for seminars and promotional goings on, and it all fell in a heap. My dad stepped in and marketed it for her and it's now in it's third printing, so she is so pleased. She has since written another booklet called 'Tantrums in the Supermarket" that is also selling well. It is a real milestone for her because her speech is difficult to understand and she can't write or type...so she has had to dictate to dad who has done all the computer stuff and got it published for her. She was a very popular marriage and relationship councellor before the stroke...and still manages to councell a few clients each week with dads help. She's a real people person, so it helps her a great deal to feel she can still help poeple. If the stroke isn't enough...she has always battled with deafness (genetic, and I also wear a hearing aid) and underwent surgery two years ago to have a cochlear implant inserted...she's a living breathing miracle my mum!
Thanks for your help Dilu...blowing kisses to you!

Danni,
The stuff at Gerry's works just the same as the ezy wax.

Dilu,
If you discover the miracle cure for your headaches..please do tell. My darling mum has headaches all day everyday and has tried everything under the sun, including every type of therapy. Sometimes it's not too bad...but it's always there, and she has the doctors shaking their heads over it. She had a massive stroke 7 years ago when she was only 53 and we almost lost her, but she has recovered well enough to enjoy life still....except for this dratted headache, which just showed up 8 months ago out of the blue.
And yes..she drinks heaps of water.

Oh...now I have a question about the photos...I'm, assuming they need to be fairly small to fit on a swingtags without looking yukky....so do you set it up to print say 4 pics to a 6x4 picture when you get it printed at the shop and then chop one pic out for the swing tag?? My printer is a B&W laser printer so I can't print colour.

Kelly,
THANKYOU!!!!  You are such a sweetheart to take the time to write such detail. I'm sure I'm not the only one besides Shelli who will benefit from your comprehensive instructions....heck I'm blonde and I understood it all!!!:lol:
I have been doing my swingtags with PUBLISHER, which allows the flipside thingy, and I have been doing fine with that for them...but the business cards are a whole new equation! I have tried over and over to use the pre-perforated ones, and out of a sheet of ten cards, I seem to be able to get two or four that line up well enough to use them, and have to toss the rest. I measure and calculate just like it says to do on the back of the business card packs...but what a headache! So..I'm going to try again...this time using WORD!!!!
Ten thousand hugs for you!!!!:D:D:D:cool:

Hi Jean,
I have used the Liquitex Gloss on noses too and it works a treat! Was put onto it by my good friend Rosey Day, who uses it on all her miniatures. For anyone that hasn't seen Roseys bears..do have a lookie..they are a treat! www.roseyday.com
I have been trying to talk Rosey into joining us here on Teddy Talk..she's a good "Yakker" too..with heaps of know-how, and one of the nicest people I know. So Rosey...if you are reading....c'mon girl, JOIN!!!

Lisa..sounds like you just got a bit heavy handed with the wax between coats....you really need to get that elbow grease going to create a bit of heat/friction to get the wax nicely worked into the threads. I keep going until I can feel the warmth coming thru the paper, then do my next layer. Don't give up...the lightly waxed look is great for antique looking bears and would look terrific on your pandas too!

Shelli,
I'd sure love to see a pic of one of your hang tags.

Sue Ann posted a gorgeous poem not sol ong ago that Paul wrote just for her....I'm sure she could be talked into reposting it. It was just SOOOO romantic!!!!
Welcome back Sue Ann...we missed you!

Danni,
If you use Ezy Wax, you just warm it a tad in the microwave (or if you happen to have a large cleveage, I've heard you can pop it down there for a bit too!!!:P) then just stroke it on the nose (always in the same direction), just a light coat at a time  and buff with fax paper between coats. You can either just add one or two coats, or continue adding coats until you have a really built up waxed nose which covers all the threads....depending on what kind of look you are after. You can also paint the wax or shade it afterwards too if you like.
I have the wax in most colours...even reds, and greens etc...but you can also get them thru Beary Cheap.
I know there are more ways to apply wax...but I find the Ezy wax the easiest and least messy. Let us know how you go okay~!

Hi Shelli,
I went and read all the posts on the NCTB fur link.....and lost an hour of my day there!!!
I just wanted to comment that the experience of having the nose perforate and begin to detatch when stitching a nose on a real fur bear is my experience too. This bear is Albert and he's made from rabbit fur. I lined the pelt with homespun 100% cotton, but when I came to stitch the nose over my template, it just started to detach. My pelt was in good condition. So in the end, I was scared I'd ruin the bear so I just glued a latger suede template over my botch marks and left it at that. It WAS only my third bear ever and also my first fur bear...so maybe what Nancy said about beginners having troubles is what my problems were...who knows. Anyway...if Nancy has made 2500 fur bears and never had this probelm...that tends to suggest that mine was an isolated one. I have some lovely coloured rabbit furs to make into bears...now that I have more bearmaking experience under my belt, maybe I should have another go. Does anyone know if Nancy's book is available in Australia?

Thanks Shelli...and you are right...I have neglected to make reference to The Bear Cupboard on my Just Us Bears site...must remedy that this weekend when I'm adding everyones links. My Just Us Bears site is so badly in need of a revamp and some more bears that I have tended to just ignore it lately. I have been working on this same bear now for like three weeks...trying WAY too much new stuff, and I'm getting sick of it. Coulda made three 'normal' bears in the time I've spent fiddling with this one. *sigh*
I am glad you made reference to The Bear Cupboard...you're right, I'm not very good at promoting myself. And you weren't blind...I only just added the site to my signature after you posted about not being able to find the info. So thanks for the kick up the proverbial...I needed it!

Louise,
Thanks for adding me to your links..I will add you this weekend when my 'webmaster' is home.
When you are next updating your links page...would you add a 'y' into my name. Thanks...no hurry.;)

Shari,
That panda on your site is just to die for! I would so love to see a closer pic of his facial and open mouth detail. Also, the bear you were using as your avatar before the angel....he had such a wonderful face, but I can't find him on your site. You do fantastic open mouths! My only effort at an open mouth was a disaster area!

No worries Danni. Trouble is...I've just realised if they both enter their bears..they'll be competeing against each other...and that won't be pretty! Still, guess they're better to learn sooner rather than later that there can only be one overall winner.

My patterns have an almost right angle at the eye area. I recently tried an inset muzzle and lost all the shaping at the eyes, which resulted in a much bigger and deeper muzzle. I was really diappointed with the result...guess I'll have to try, try again.
The thing is..how do you retain that shaping when using an inset muzzle? Anyone?

Shelli,
I didn't mark anything on the pattern, I just made sure I didn't offer the previous bear for sale until I had completed the next one. I was really surprised with how similar I managed to get them. As I said, I had already sold the first and she was gone before I decided to make her an edition of five...and it only came about because when I offered the first bear for sale, five people wanted her...that was before I knew about ebay. So I told these people that I couldn't guarentee the bears would be the same, and didn't accept any deposit from any of them until they had seen the finished bear and decided they still wanted it.

I was floored when number two and three looked like twins, and even more surprised when four and five were really close copies too. I did find little details like stuffing made a difference and I had to copy the amount and distribution from the previous bear. Even eye placement and depth of socket sculpting...I'd think it looked about right, then grab the other bear to see that just a few mm out competely changed the face. With the noses, I used a template for them all...but once again couldn't remember which size I'd used on the first one (I write everything down now!) and with the mouth...I always line the edges of my mouth up with the edge of the nose..so it was just a depth thing, which was pretty easy to eyeball. What did I learn from doing an edition of five bears? I will NEVER do that again! NEVER! I almost killed my interest in bearmaking because I got so depressed knowing that my next bear was going to be exactly the same and the one before, and the next, and the next. And I had nothing new to show on my website during the three months it took me to make them all...because people would just think it was the same bear and they were spoken for anyway.

I was at a stage in my bearmaking where I had only made two or three bears from my own patterns and I was desperate to make something different and try new things. My suggestion for anyone thinking of doing a small edition, is to actually make two bears the same BEFORE you decide if you really WANT to make X more. Nothing kills  a passion faster than being tied to something that resembles a chore!

Obviously I'mgoing to have to either slow down, or make use of the spell checker!! It's 'cos I'm trying to type as fast as Shelli can!

Shelli,
It's a shame your experience with pet rats it that of being bitten...I can only think that maybe they weren't handled enouh as babies. I have had three rats and they are all as gentle as can be...never even THINK of biting. They are such gentle creatures. Winney, I knew yu weren't talking domestic type ratties....even the average greay run-of-mill fild rat is a completely different species to domestic rats. I would be petried if I saw a muskrat or a rat as big as a cat! Yikes!!!! My girls fit in the palm of my hand and like nothing better than to lay in the crook of my arm at night when I'm watching telly and be stroked.

Sandi,
Recently I was admiring a TINY jumper on a bear about 6 inched tall, and I asked the artist did she knit it and where did she source a pattern so small. She replied that she just used a normal baby jumper pattern and knitted it with ultra fine wool and small needles. maybe you could try that? May take a parctise run or two to get the size right but I'm sure you'll find a bear to fit whatever you turn out anyway.

Shelli,
My URL iswww.bearcupboard.com
I'm surprised you didn't find it on google...when I looked, it was on page 1!

Shari mah dear...there is just something about husbands...in that they feel responsible for pointing out the mistakes in our bears...and if there aren't any, they'll pick on something that isn't quite perfect, and tell you about that. My hubby loves my bears as much as I'm sure yours loves yours....but wouldn't it be great if they were a little less blunt in their obersvations!:P
Your bear is very very sweet...and has tons of appeal to boot. If hubby thinks he looks a tad beaverish, he's entitled to his opinion...but I beg to disgree. Beaverish....Humph!

Miniature donkeys Sandi?? Oh you HAVE to post some pictures...I can't think of anything more adorable!!!

Nance,
Your beautiful creations are up there with the best..don't put yourself down! The only difference between you and the 'somebody's' you refer to, is exposure..and you're working' on that!
You'd do well to read the little quote in my signature...which incidently, I gleaned from the label of a bottle of Tamari of all things..:lol:

Could everyone add my two links too pretty pleeeze??

I was holding off, waiting to get around to making a banner link....but it may never happen.*sigh*

www.justusbears.com My personal website
and
www.bearcupboard.com Teddy Bear Making Supplies

It's worth noting that this linking is really worthwhile to all of us too. My Just Us Bears site has quite a few links on it, and when I created The Bear Cupboard, I pasted the links straight off my own page onto the Bear Cupboard page...and when I uploaded the site for the first time, it made it on to page one of Google. Hubby reckons all the links played a large role in that...the more links you have, the more chance you have of being noticed by a search engine.

Just a question for all you banner girls.....don't they take up too musch room on your site and do people really wait for them to download or get impatient?
I will add all the links on this thread as well as all the ones from the last links thread...pleeeeze add me too!:D:D:)

Well, famous last words! I was telling hubby about this particular thread..and Adrian overheard. Before long, he was sifting thru my mohair stash, and found a lovely piece of blue that Sue Ann 'donated' to me...and now has it cut and ready to sew. Looks like we have some competition in the family.Lol! Two more bearmakers on the go here....I'm doomed never to get back to my own!