Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

This little miniature bear, made of a soft off white vintage fabric, fully jointed, with a hand knit scarf, is sitting in a little girl's wicker knitting basket waiting patiently for warm "winter woolies". The bear is 3.25" tall and the basket is about 3.5 x 2.5.
I will be listing this piece on Bear Pile in a day or so. Price is $115.00.

I have just listed this little guy on Bear Pile. He is 2.5" tall fully jointed, and comes with his little rocking chair, hand crocheted afghan, and book.

Brenda, I emailed TBR and asked them about the Golden Teddy awards four days ago but they haven't answered yet - perhaps they haven't decided themselves what to do????
I'm not surprised to hear that it is all TBR staff as I got the impression right from the start that they were just taking over the Teddy Bear and Friends name when they said it was Jones Publishing handling the magazines and Madavor Media managing Idex.

Actually, the 2012 Golden Teddy Awards was advertised in the Dec issue of TBR magazine with a stated entry deadline of March 5 and a link for online entry on their website after Jan 6th. However I just went to the web site and the stated link is NOT there - so doesn't sound good for the awards going ahead.
I guess it was kind of inevitable but still kind of sad to see the 2 magazines being cut down to only one.

Marilyn, that is exactly what my husband wants to do with my machine but so far I've been afraid to let him as I can still sew somewhat on this one and don't have a spare! The problem with it is that all of a sudden the needle wouldn't stay in the centre position but moves over to the right and stays there. So it still sews but it makes it harder to see your stitching line.
When the repairman (and he only repairs machines from his home, doesn't sell them) took it apart he said it was obvious the machine had been dropped and there was a lot of damage inside. I haven't dropped it and it hasn't been out of my sewing room in over 6 years so if someone did drop it would have been before that so I can't figure out how it could have sewn fine for all that time and just suddenly developed this problem! When I get another machine, I will let my husband play around with this one and see what he can do!

Kelly, I would get another Husqvarna in a minute except that they are expensive and a friend who just replaced hers says she can't figure out how to work the new one and has been back and forth to the dealers as it is so complicated. Haven't had a chance to investigate but will have to get looking once the weather warms up and see if they still make simpler machines or only the fancy electronic ones - which I don't want!

HELP!!!
I need a new sewing machine! After 30+ years my old Husquvarna, that I expected would last me a lifetime, has developed problems that apparently cannot be fixed. I have NO idea what to buy now - don't really want to spend a fortune but I DO need a good basic machine - something simple that won't take me forever to learn how to operate! I've heard horror stories about how complicated some of the new electronic  machines are - don't want that at all!!
Would love to hear what others have for machines and what they like/dislike about them.

Wow! That's incredible! And this is your FIRST real fur bear!!!!!

Wow, what lovely ornaments! Great job decorating the tree, Lynn!

I have some larger bears sitting on the edge of the steps as you go upstairs and at Christmas I put Santa hats on some of them. Once before a party I stood them up peering through the railing at the goings on below - they looked so cute - but no one even noticed! Obviously the guests weren't bear people!

Here is another web site on Berg bears:
http://www.austrobear.co.uk/berg_tiere_mit_hertz.htm

I should explain that not all Berg bears are like the ones I described and pictured (and none of them are show on this web site!) - but I have about a dozen bears with some of these common links (and have come across at least another 20 -30) that made me think they were all made by the same company. I called them my "mystery" bears until I came across the pictures of the two with these same traits and the Berg tags. That convinced me that mine are also Bergs. I have another 5 small bears that are also Bergs - most with tags - and they are quite different from my larger "mystery" bears. I should also say that none of my Berg bears have tails - but it is entirely possible that some were made with tails.
Another common feature in my bears is that a lot of them are made from a very similar mohair - long and silky and pale gold and all the bears are a very high quality. I don't think any two of them are exactly alike but they have these interlinking traits that so intrigued me - which is why I got carried away buying so many of them! 

Your bear is most likely from the 50's and made by an Austrian company - Berg. I have been colecting and researching these bears for years. They have many common charcteristics - one of the main being the unique upside down U shape in the muzzle. They are very "chunky" looking bears. Some have the cropped mohair pads and muzzles and some have the cropped muzzles and felt (frequently orange!) pads. Many of the larger ones have growlers and I have smaller ones with squeakers. Some are all excelsior stuffed and some have excelsior stuffed head and soft stuffed body and limbs. I have some later ones that are made of synthetic - some still have the cropped mohair muzzles.
After years I came across a couple of similar but later bears that had the Berg tag on them so I am sure that is who made these earlier bears since they have so many things in common. I will add a couple of pics for you.

It's a while since I've put a bear on ebay so thought I'd give it a try again with this little cutie.
Nadia is a miniature anime type teddy bear. She is 3.25" tall, made of a very soft mini bear fabric in a light beige colour. She is fully jointed, polyfil stuffed, ultrasuede foot pads, stitched nose, mouth, claws, and eyebrows. She
as black glass eyes with white backing, face shading, and a band of ribbon flowers sewn to her head.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Miniature-MINI- … 1e6681c810

Thanks so much for all the positive comments! I don't think I will ever completely quit bears - not unless I find something else to become totally passionate about! Cleaning house just isn't enough incentive to get out of bed in the mornings!  :crackup: 
I may just do bears more for fun and give up the marketing, orders, and expectations!  I have some ideas I'd like to try that are pretty complicated but I can't seem to take time away from sales to experiment - so I am looking forward to that part of it! Like maybe go for quality instead of quantity for the next part of my career!

A particular number, Bobbie - 5000 - but not in a particular time - just happens that it will likely come in my 25th year of bearmaking.
I didn't actually start out counting at first either but when I got to around 25 or so I thought, "gee maybe I'll actually make a 100 bears - I better keep track!" so went back and added up exactly how many I'd done and put a count on from there. Once I got past the 100 I was so totally hooked I thought maybe I could make a thousand and just kept increasing from there!

I just have 50 more bears to make to reach the goal I set way back when I was just a few years into this bear making journey! Next year it will be 25 years that I have been making my little critters - doubt if I will get all 50 done before then so that will be kind of fitting. 25 years and goal reached would seem like the right time to pack it all in! (although I'd probably still have to make the occasional bear - not sure I could quit completely!)

He's adorable! Love his little hat!

Wonderful!!!

Love him!!!! 

Darling!!!

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much for the lovely comments!

Big congrats to all the winners! Well done!

Ziggy is an anime style bear, 6.5" tall, made of vintage long pile rayon fabric in a light rust colour. He is fully jointed, polyfil stuffed, and has ultrasuede foot pads. He has black glass eyes with white backing and face shading. His nose is stitched and waxed and he has stitched eyebrows, mouth and claws.

Little Olivia is a miniature bear, 4.5" tall. She has been distressed to look like a much loved antique bear. She is made of vintage off white rayon pile fabric, polyfil stuffed, black bead eyes, stitched nose, mouth and claws, felt footpads. She wears a dress made from antique lace and accented with slightly distressed silk ribbon and vintage flowers. She has been distressed by clipping fabric dye. She is loosely jointed to add to the well loved feel.