Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I had a good laugh over the toothbrush!  My Gypsy isn't exactly naughty....she is just....strange....

Oh Mindy, I might have it.  The trick is going to be finding it...give me a couple days to poke around  through my endless books.  If I have it I will let you know right away.

Edit:  If I don't have it, I bet ya John Port might have it.

It's a gorgeous morning in Colorado, there isn't any snow on Pikes Peak.  My grass is even still fairly green.

He is really sweet Ruth!  I love black bears.

Thank you Mary!  Yours is so creative, I had a good laugh at those teeth!

I got both mine in the mail today, but I've been working so hard on these show pieces I haven't even had a chance to look.  It sounds like good stuff in there, guess I better go see!

I think ebay is frustrating all the way around.  I am still doing it for now, but I am not loving doing it.  It's frustrating to have people be so insulting, even though I am sure they don't realize they are doing it.  I had one the other day, so I can commiserate with you.  I don't think she meant to be insulting, but it certainly was.  I have come to discover that ebay is a mecca for...unusual...shoppers.  I prefer selling from a set price, but that's not the world I live in at the moment so I am playing the game and practically giving stuff away for prices at about a third what I usually sell for.  I see that a lot on there, established artists who make wonderful stuff going for a song, and a few others who do poorly at shows...but since they photograph well, even though they don't really produce a quality product going for hundreds or even thousands. 

From a buyers standpoint it's also frustrating to keep trying to get something from an artist only to have "sniper bids" at the last second every single time.  I am bidding higher each auction, but it's never quite  enough.  I am not going to bid more than I feel the bear is worth, she is a newer artist who hasn't even learned to pick seams.  Since I haven't actually held one of her pieces in my hand I am not going to go TOO high.  I would prefer to be able to go to the persons website or a shop where they sell and just buy it outright, but the person in question only sells on ebay.  If someone came to me and said I really want one of your bears but I can't seem to get one, and I felt they were bidding fair prices, I would just offer to make them something for private purchase. 

Maybe that would be a good way to go for the people who are asking you to end your auction early.  Instead of taking it as an insult, take it as a compliment and buyers frustration because they can't get one of your pieces.  Just tell them you wouldn't feel that it was ethically right to end the auction early, but they are welcome to bid and if it goes to someone else you would be happy to make them something comparable.  Then get a deposit, and charge a little extra for your effort since they wouldn't bid, it's not as if they know what your reserve is anyway.

I had to do more! 

Awww that's so sweet!  I have a soft spot for stuffed mice...I am not sure why...

Congrats, that's wonderful!  :clap:

I would definitely use a heating pad...and maybe get a second opinion?

Well my next Halloween pieces aren't bears...but this is "Ghost" and a gingerbread man!

Edit:  And I finished Battina this morning!

Sure, I will!  I don't have any links to other people on mine yet, and I did so want some!  It never occurred to me to just post and ask! 

Here is my link:

http://blondheart.blogspot.com/

This has nothin to do with bears, but it makes me laugh right out loud every time I see it:

Click here

Edit:  It's perfectly safe, it's on YouTube

But there you go, it's your business and you run it not them.  So don't sit there and wonder, send them a polite E saying "If you've changed your mind fine, but please let me know so someone else has the privelege of buying the piece."  If they express that they are still interested in purchasing after that, give them a short time frame by which to have paid or you will move forward with it.  I know that sometimes you want to give people a break and don't want to confront them but we run a business like any other.  Most other businesses would not extend the courtesies that you have.  Most importantly, don't take it personally.  It's not an insult to you.  Every business deals with it's fair share of flakey customers.

Art is such a doll.  It sounds like you had a great time!

I have been giving this a lot of thought since I first posted.  I stand by what I said, I think you have to consider WHY another person behaves badly before you just write them off.  But if what Shelli says is true, and I believe it is...that this type of behavior has become prevelant in recent years, I think I can see why.  I still don't believe one artist would maliciously sit there and think how can I suck the life out of someone else's joy and accomplishments. 

On the other hand, I blame the internet.  Things can be really misconstrued since you can't hear voice inflection and intent of how things are said and for some reason people tend to always take the most negative way something could be meant.  Maybe there is a certain amount of suspicion because you can't look the person in the eye.  But also there are a lot of artists now that have hardly done shows, and some have never done them.  They have learned the business very easily because there are so many resources available telling them how to make bears, how to sell on the net, etc. so they haven't had to work for it like their predecessors.  I get it because there is a much lower overhead to selling on the net so it makes good sense on the bottom line, but they are missing a large part of the business.  They haven't had to get out there and travel and bust their hump to earn it and build that common bond that socializes people into the community.  If you don't ever do shows you don't really have to learn how to interact with other artists and customers face to face.  So in essence there are no politics anymore because people don't have to build that rapport. 

The rapport you build online with people is simply never going to be as solid and intense as with someone who you have looked in eye and SEEN their joy or their pain in three dimentions where it was real, right there and you shared it in that moment.  Now I know you're going to probably disagree that the people you have met on here or wherever are very real friends.  And that may be, I have some good friends online in the community too, but as much as I like and care and want to support them, they just don't have that same bond as people I have seen at shows for years.  They share their accomplishments or their sorrows and you read it five minutes, an hour, a week, or several months later so you aren't there to share it in real time and it's hard to be excited when you are reading it in font. Like Shantell said above, congrats on whatever it is you're celebrating.  We don't know what you're celebrating because we haven't all seen it and it's hard to express great joy for you when I don't even know what it is.  So I am not as happy as if say Judy called up and said hey I got this or that and I am thrilled,  because I know Judy, I've roomed with Judy, we have great, funny "war stories" over the room disaster.   But that's also why I asked what was going on with the person who was being perceived as mean in their moment?  Do you KNOW the person who was being mean?  Was the person online when they said it?  Did you read it wrong?  If you didn't, did you care about their world as much as you wanted them to care about yours?  Do you have a bond with them?  Do you care about them enough to be hurt by them?  These are important questions.

When I recently went to San Jose I saw some people I hadn't seen in a few years and I was truly impacted by how much I had missed seeing those faces.   How much they meant to me, and how much they missed me too.  It was like I hadn't had to take the sebatical because of my shoulder issues.  I don't know how this whole new internet selling thing is going to turn out for me, but I will tell ya this...I wouldn't trade those hard years of doing shows for the world because you can't create that type of friendship that's built on the years of camaraderie over the blood, sweat and tears anywhere else.

I don't know what happened, and I don't want to know.  But I will say this, just because people make teddy bears doesn't mean that they aren't still competitive or that they even have to be a nice person.  It's a business just like any other. 

But you also have to remember that business's are run by people.  People who have other things in their lives than their business.  Maybe the person wasn't really jealous or angry at you, maybe they had trouble paying their utility bill that month, or maybe they were dealing with a teenager in trouble, or maybe a relative was sick or maybe... *insert crisis here.*  Maybe it wasn't personal.  Maybe your success just hit them when they were at a difficult point and instead of being happy for you, they thought why couldn't I have that too because from their standpoint they needed the money or the ego boost or just a win for the day more than they felt you did.  Sometimes it's hard to see someone get ahead when we are working just as hard.  I've been on both sides of that fence.  We don't always know what is going on in a persons life, their day or their mind.  Try to be forgiving even though they reacted badly to you, because I just don't believe that people sit around maliciously thinking of ways to make people feel bad about their success.  If that kind of thing bothers you and you want people to be considerate of your feelings, you have to be considerate of theirs and whatever they may be going through at any given instance as well.  Now don't mistake me for saying that you're not a nice or considerate person, I am quite certain you are.  But sometimes we get so caught up in our own excitement we forget about others.  Did you ask them why they behaved that way? I think it's the best way to find out.  :thumbsup:

Edit:  I also want to urge you guys to be careful about letting negativity breed...one person was negative to Lynette...how many have been negative to that person in return via this thread?  Food for thought.

I had a look, and it was fun!  I love the color, don't change a thing unless you feel you need to!

Ellen, part of the fun of boiling mohair is to see what color it turns!  Certain browns take on a nice greenish appearance.  But like Diane I never boil more than one piece at a time.  The good news is accidents often lead to better creativity!  Light grey is a fabulous base color to start from...you can pretty much take that color anywhere.  Imagine it with an indigo overdye....or maybe a plum, possibly a sage green.....the sky is the limit!  Oh hey...how about sky blue pink! :crackup:

Just remember to resize them since boiling washed it all out!  Have fun, I can't wait to see what you make of it.

Edit: Don't forget you can bleach it too, just do it very fast and diluted with salt and vinegar in the water as well.

I'll do it, I already sold one Halloween piece, but I was going to do a couple other fun ideas anyway...here is my first one that just sold.

That's a great way to do it Diane!  I try to make sure as a rule the "dirt" is random like the before pic.  My bear above was more uniform in the after pic because I wanted it to be specifically black and orange since it was a Halloween piece.  I also go ahead and embroider the nose with the spaces (they aren't evenly spaced tho, they are random as well) simply because I am always concerned with breaking threads.  I never want to compromise the integrity of the mohair or the nose floss.  That's just my thing, I can't put holes in things...a girl has to draw the line somewhere! :crackup:

He is just beautiful!  You're so lucky, I wanted children so bad....but some things are just not meant to be.  Sigh~

The good news is the auction got a bid at the very end, so I guess it all worked out.  I am still not sure about ebay.

(Sorry for the double post)

I know this thread was kind of dead, but I wanted to update you and show you the bear I was distressing from above....

This was the partially aged:

This is the finished aging, he is ready to be detailed and dressed:

I wouldn't have normally made him orange but he is going to be a Halloween piece.  Part of getting a faded orange was to not start with orange.....but the aging process on him took about a week overall.  Of course the hastily snapped pics don't really do him justice in the lighting down in my family room...but you get the idea.