Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

We've missed your quirky timing and sense of humor!!

LOL - too cruel!!! Those are truly a Stake on a Barbie or multiplues thereof, or Barbies on a Stake.. ah, you know what I mean - - - -
Happy 4th of July.
(Are you punishing us Yanks by torturing our capitalistic dolls for claiming our independence lo those many centuries ago....?? hmmmm.....?? Good play-on-words, tho, MJ!! still grinning)

A new campaign is running - to make the State Park area of Lily's family and the other black bears in the study receive funds from the Coca-Cola® company to make improvements in the top 3 most voted upon parks in the States. The Home page says -
Vote as often as you like (there is no limit like - once a day) and the dollar amount to be divided will be 'up to' $175,000. Not sure why they phrase it that way but it's what they write.

So here is what Lynn & Co wrote on the Daily Update today. First, Frirday's post to explain the need for the votes. Then the phenom of Sat morning!!
And YES, it's a good thing he gave explicit directions on how to vote, because I spent an hour in 2 different accessings and just couldn't get the site to work. After following his instructions to the letter, I voted half a dozen times. And I'll continue to do it as often as I remember to, every time I'm at the computer.. .
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Lily Power

Coca-cola is holding a new contest to name America’s favorite park.  Last year, Lily fans wanted to show support for the area where the radio-collared bears live.  You did heroic voting to boost tiny Bear Head Lake State Park into first place over Yellowstone and Great Smoky Mountain National Parks.  Unbelievable.
This year, another nearby state park is being used by 4 radio-collared bears.  Soudan Underground Mine State Park is partly the home of Jo and cub, Juliet, and Juliet’s radio-collared yearlings Sharon and Shirley.  It was in this state park that Jo squeezed in and out of a rock den last fall and scraped some fur off her back!

The Soudan Underground Mine is known as Minnesota's oldest, deepest, and richest iron mine. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is a popular local attraction. Some Lily fans who attended last year’s Lilypad Picnic toured the mine.

On March 17, a fire broke out in the mine shaft. No one was hurt but the mine shaft is now in need of repairs before the underground tours can resume. They probably could use our support as the state park most used by research bears this year.   Right now, undiscovered by Lily fans, Soudan Underground Mine State Park is languishing far down the list with 151 votes.  It would take a Lily fan miracle to catapult that park to number one by the time the contest ends in September, but such miracles have happened before. Lily fans never cease to amaze us!  To vote go to http://www.livepositively.com/#/americasparks/vote .
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And now - Sat AM:

Amazing!  In 8 hours you pulled off the miracle we thought would be hard to do by September.  Lily fans started voting in earnest for Soudan Underground Mine State Park about 10:30 PM.  It was buried deep in the rankings with only 151 votes.  By 6:45 AM, you had the park in 1st place.  Now you have it pulling ahead with over 24,000 votes—more than double the votes for 2nd place Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Together, you are giant-killers.
What is super is that Lily fans are again helping the area where the radio-collared bears live.  We hope your work sends a message about the value of these bears to the area. From what DNR officials have told us, you can help the study bears best, and best show the value of the radio-collared bears to Minnesota, by putting your votes solely into Soudan Underground Mine State Park.

To vote, go to http://www.livepositively.com/#/america … eaderboard .  Click on the VOTE button.  A screen comes up saying “Search for a Park.  Start typing in Soudan, and it fills in the full name of Soudan Underground Mine State Park.  Click GO.  A screen comes up with an orange symbol showing the location of the park on the map.  Click on the Orange Symbol.  A screen comes up saying “Vote for this Park.  Click on those words.  A screen comes up with scrambled letters.  Type in the letters.  Click “Submit.  A screen comes up saying “Back to Map.  From there on it’s easy to vote over and over. Everything comes up quickly.  Clicking on “Back to Map takes you back to the “Vote for this Park.  Click on that.  Type in the scrambled letters. Click “submit.  Click “Back to Map, etc.

When I voted again tonight (Sunday PM, the votes were more than 50,000 for Soudan and the Great Smokies were in 2nd place at 11,000. I'm pretty sure that Lily's home area is going to stay in the running for Capital Improvements and much needed money for research dollars.
Hip Hip Hooray for the way that the world has banded together behind these wonderful bears. We are learning so much from this man's efforts and his dedication to allowing them to lead 'bear' lives in the wild, yet trust him and his team to continue to monitor them, sometimes even after years of separation.

Ah.. I like that. I'm going to try to figure that one out myself.
Or try to figure out the off-site / other page tuts like Joanne L /Desert Mountain uses. That gives a heading for each positing.
What I see each time I visit my own site is something different—perhaps this will end the nonsense?

Sometimes my Followers images are missing, sometimes only one post is there and sometimes several are shown. It's a mystery.
Right now I've got a SNAFU with the Slideshow having stopped working so I quit working on the blog, partly out of frustration as much as time constraints. It all seems so easy when everything goes according to plan......

Tatyana, could you (and others) add the 'Subscribe by Email' Gadget to your blog?
I forgot to keep a list of the blogs I subbed to and I've lost track of most of the ones I subscribed to, as I thought I'd somehow 'know' when new material was posted. It's great to now receive an email alert when new posts are made!
THX!

'Like' is too weak a descriptive word to use, Kathy. We know you to be a fair-minded person who pours your heart & soul into your product, for both side of the table in the board room, which you represent: your staff as well as your readership - in other words - both sides of the equation. Keep up the good work and long may you remain successful!

I  was driving 50 miles on an interstate in northern Illinois today - about 10 miles behind a sedan whose back window was FILLED with manufactured mini to small (under 6" or 7") bears! How funny that this thread was revived today! Most of the bears were a bit color-faded, and I'm afraid that I didn't recognize hardly any of the characters (the Grammar Police would be all over that sentence structure!!), but I could see that they were lovingly stacked, they weren't just haphazardly stuffed or piled onto that rear window shelf.

Each one had its little face pointing outwards towards the traffic following the car - you just couldn't help smiling back.
I was wondering if the adult owner did that (there wasn't much room for the driver to get a clear view through the rear view window, which is rather against the law!!) or a child arranged them, but it was positively enchanting!!

Aw, Wubbie - yours is a True Heart!

many mini hugs
Bobbie

Does anyone have their collection of Teddy Bear & Friendsâ„  magazines still stacked up? I'm looking for a particular issue - the May/June 2003 issue which had an article featuring Berta Hesen-Minten, written by Shawna Lytle.

If anyone is able to check, in the next day or so, and has the ability to send me a scan of the cover along with the article page(s) you will receive my undying appreciation, a guarantee of my help with anything you want/need in the future which I can help you with and a Free Get Out Of Jail Card (for those of you old enough to remember Monopoly®!)

TIA -

THANK YOU, Christine!!
You've just verified what so many of us have been conjecturing about. It's nice to've heard from Ms Experience!
We figured we weren't too far off the mark...
I do remember reading you - I have Brit connections.

So sad. All the fluff and adverts now. There's a bit more good stuff in TB&F than TBR here in the States and online at Bears & Buds—I know that all 3 editors read here in TT regularly—I used to write articles for Bears & Buds until an ongoing assignment has been absorbing my time, though I hope it ends within a year and I can return, because they do welcome authors with content there!

Great suggestion about the 3/division fact; never heard that one before...
Thx again for your input.
We've hijacked our thread from the GTs to awards in general to magazines worldwide, and that's not a bad thing as they're all interrelated.

THX Marg, I was blanking on the name, thinking *Australian Creations* but that didn't sound quite right so I knew someone would pop round and fill-in-the-blanks for me.
Our two countries are roughly the same size, though ours is far more residential and your population is *peopled* more with the four-legged type than ours, yet yours still comes up w/a quality magazine written by journalist-style input time after time, year after year.
Amazing.
It's no wonder that so many outside Australia subscribe to it!

Amen, Karen, and it's too bad that the 'Art Format' of which you speak—the technical aspects—behind the work that create such strong, masterful pieces as are seen in the Doll world as well the Textlles, Jewelry, Fiber Arts, Clay/Pottery, and the ilk, can all support great quarterly or bi-annual publications, separate from any 'sales/ads/features' types like that which TB&F and TBR present in the bear world.

They feature Gallery work, talking with the true experienced professionals in the mix as well as new beginners for both takes on the field, for insights from both sides: fresh innovative ideas tempered with experience, give REAL informational articles on How-To-s to help everyone advance their skills,
In other words, as Randy said - journalists (and photographers) who know how to write and present their materials professionally!
Karen's record matches mine, about 10 to 1! I too quit entering. I called entering all of the comps a large part my Advertising Budget for years, as I had no other to use. No more......

Not sure about that Edie, there are only 2 nominations in some of the Manufactured Categories... don't know if the criteria is different 'behind the scenes' for Individuals...

And Natasha, in all of my years of submitting, I used to submit the same works to both comps.
The quality of the nominated pieces always appeared (in MY opinion, only!! LOL) to be of a better, higher quality in some of the categories in TB&F's TOBY than in TBR's Golden Teddy. (If you asked many US artists for an anonymous opinion, you'd probably get a majority agreement of the same.)
And only once, in all of those years of TOBY nominations and wins, did I ever receive a single GT nomination on the same piece that got through 2 rounds of TOBYs to win 1st place.

The quality of the GT's nominations has definitely improved, as overall bear design and creation techniques have.
Not knowing what pieces are submitted to the pool from which the nominating committees have to choose from, it's difficult to say if the quality submitted is of equal quality; even now, as I lay both of this year's choices out side-by-side, there's just 'something' about the TOBY nominees (as a whole, not as individual pieces) that puts them on a slightly higher grade.
Perhaps that not the best word for it (just back from the dentist & I'm distracted...) but it explains it....

There are a few more TOBY pieces included overall - 4 or 5, and the images are not all 'framed' individually like the GTs, but they are shown twice the size of the GT's and in the end I think that the size lets you examine each piece better.

Yes, there was some cropping done, and the TOBYs have been criticized in the past for that, but overall, collectors say that it's the eyes/face that draws them. And for competition work, realizing that this cropping has and may occur, any artist would be safer in designing a piece that would keep the piece within the bounds of not having feet or ears lopped off/Photoshopped off if that's a special Studio feature of theirs but keep the design centrally located or concentrated where it can still be seen.

Well, enough opinions spread around now while I'm vulnerable. I'll put my nose back to the grindstone where it belongs!

I agree, Us. Most are fluff features; i.e., same backgrounds on how we were -
born, grew up
had / didn't have a childhood ted
kept / lost that ted
introduced to bearmaking with a kit / in a class
instantly 'hooked' on it....et al....
..just different materials used, global locations.

Yes we all have a slightly different slant, and reading from the artist's angle we each feel / know that we're unique, but from the 'other side of the table' (show/fair table, magazine page, etc) from the collector's viewpoint like Us is saying, are we really all that different?
Are the magazines REALLY giving the readers NEW information every issue or following a formula they began with and are just repeating?

I know they're struggling here, but when compared to the great Australian mag with actual different multiple patterns in it every issue (please correct me if I'm mistaken, I haven't seen it in a few years but this was its normal routine) can ours compare to it with the paper doll cut-outs TBR used to feature?
Or the 'fluff' etiquette column written by a Teddy Bear, answering questions not even submitted by the readership?

Where are the Meat & Potatoes articles?
June's issue of TBR is totally presentations of artists and their current offerings and a few recent show reports.
TB&F's Summer issue is a bit more well-rounded; along with the artist features to promote their new works, it has a bit of historical referencing, which has all been presented before but probably new to more recent collectors and the TOBY voting - 2 more rule-breakers here by the artists: not photographed against solid-colored backgrounds but  chosen by the nominating committee anyway..

There is one DIY craft idea, made with polymer clays, a quickie idea that even kids can do so a good thing to tuck away for a summer camp craft or rainy day.

There were issues presented under Mindy's reign that had projects which actually taught bear-making and ideas about storage, insurance, organization and marketing (and many others that I cannot think of off the top of my mind now) not dumbed down articles but presented in a professional manner. I designed and wrote 2 of them and if they were over the heads of some collectors and hobbyist bear makers I know by the mail I received that they were appreciated by others, both artists and collectors
TB&F has always been slightly ahead in the amount of actual variety of information within each issue, but I do feel that both of them should read the European, Asian and Australian magazines regularly to see a different perspective on what we are being presented with and change it up a bit!

This is no longer 1995; the world of collecting and bear making has changed with the internet and the way bears are being designed, marketed, purchased, displayed, etc, etc... by the shops, artists, collectors, museums, and every entity involved with bears today!
Get a few journalists hired to delve into these topics and GIVE US MORE MEAT!

You're welcome - and Kathy Martin is a GEM!

Well said Leslie, there's nothing like viewing in person.

That being said, the overseas shipping imposes a hardship on many from other countries - - - but then, no one was ever "promised a rose garden" in this life, meaning that if one wishes to take part on comps in other countries, they must be willing to put up with import duties, the chance of the entry going astray, high shipping fees going & coming, the long wait for its return before it being available to sell, and all of the other difficulties that might be encountered.

It's not fair to fill the forums with all of the whinging about problems before and afterwards—because no one is being forced into entering a non-local competition: if it's something your personality can embrace, with all of the plusses and minuses, then Go For It!

I applaud those who sponsor competitions—they cannot win in everyone's eyes. There will always be ones who hated the experience no matter what and others who thought it glorious and have already plotted out their design(s) for next year.

While the sponsors just want to go home, take the phone off the hook and put their feet up for a week! Cheers for all they do!!

You're right on, Luann. I'm glad that I don't sound like the only paranoid one here. You know the Federal legal issues I'm dealing with, and that YES, ONE PERSON CAN "fight City Hall", and WIN, when 'Right' is on your side. I've done it twice in Small Claims Court and it's EXTREMELY satisfying. Shaking in my boots the whole time, but I knew I was right, which was what kept me going through all of the continuances!

Most definitely deal with Apple directly; they're the ones with the cadre of attorneys who are looking out for only Apple's interests.
They are at fault if you can prove that the other party did not own the Intellectual Property rights to this image, and they don't.

Luann & I have both had experience with this (as regular individual citizens) and Luann is giving you sound advice, Melissa.
Your provincial government must have some office like our Attorney General (top attorney in each State) who will stand in for the legal rights of its individuals.

Make a few more calls and find out who holds that office. They are generally willing to take on high-profile cases like this (Apple®.)

The trouble you may be thinking of is monetary, but it's the IP angle that's most important.
Do you, as an artist, want to have your design ideas stolen from you and not fight that?

Protect what's yours and don't let it be taken from you, thinking that it's probably not worth the effort or bother.
I too think that there were many more downloads than you may suspect.
That company/individual should be made to pay for their error in judgment, as well as Apple® for their mistake in not checking their sources more thoroughly.

Tami, I love you with all my heart! I never even noticed your name listed - I've been studying the bear faces and so far have only filled out my card for the first 3 categories - got distracted with other stuff...

But - that's EXACTLY what I said in my Point #2!!
The entrants are competing against themselves!!!!!! It is truly splitting-the-vote and not giving either bear a majority of the number count which should go to the artist: any artist could have this happens to them and there's nothing they've done to cause or affect it..

Now that I realize that there are TWO artists this is happening to this year, I'm going to write a pen & paper, hard copy letter to several TBR individuals—this is just WRONG!!!

If the Rules are set up - they should be followed. I've had occasion in past years to write to TB&F and received replies. The next years those particular problems were changed to reflect those issues, so I felt as though even one voice made a difference when there were infractions by the nominating committee.

It is not the magazines' Editorial Board who're also the nominating committee (at least it never was when I was competing, so unless that's changed too...) so they are the ones who should definitely hear our minds about this. If we don't say anything these will not change, they'll think we won't notice. If the entrants are to be held to the Rules or be disqualified, so should the nominating committee!

I'm glad I took a screen shot of it when I first saw it this afternoon. Otherwise I'd believe it was just a figment-of-my-imagination.

Good Work, Gurl!!! Standing up for yourself. Your first contact post sounded so hesitant and wistfully-wondering.

'Right' was DEFINITELY on YOUR side!!!

Oh Yes, I saw that too, Tatyana... it never occurred to me but I think that would be an Excellent place for Melissa to CLAIM OWNERSHIP of her own image - right there for all to see, and direct visitors to her own site & blog to prove it!!

And here's one more thing that puzzles me——it quotes a "Release Date" of - 2011-10-29.
Wouldn't that read..... 29 October 2011? And isn't today 9 June 2011?
Isn't that like Back To The Future?????
I don't understand that bit at all.....I guess there's no understanding unethical ppl....

I've been sitting on this for a few days, waiting for this to *mellow* in my mind but it just hasn't.   

I have the current issue of TBR in front of me and am very upset about the nominating committee's huge decision to ignore one of its own Rules this year. In the past, both of our No Amer magazines have been guilty of doing things like this- setting up Guidelines like photography only against solid colored backgrounds and then choosing images taken out-of-doors in the grass, or choosing a design that is a single in one picture and part of a multiple set in another entry.

However, I do watch my particular favorite category (Needle Felting) for wonderful new entries each year, to see how far the b=new artists have expanded the art form.
I was totally shocked to find 2 images posted - by the same artist...
This is to say nothing against the wonderful artist - SteviT - who is a marvelous artist and a fabulous needle felter, in miniature yet!

It was not her choice to pick 2 of her entries for the competition. But since I had begun entering competitions 20 years ago, I don't ever recall (excusing my possibly faulty, aging memory) a sponsor going against their own CLEAR drective ofnominating the same artist twice in one category. Here is the Rule:

Rather than comment here on the forum, as I don't wish to begin any rancor or ill-feelings, but merely point out what a poor decision this was on the side of Teddy Bear Review's Golden Teddy nominating committee, I would hope that anyone who feels as strongly about this as I do, do as I did yesterday and write to TBR's Editor:

This may, in future, affect a nominating place of any one of us. I'm one of those who do 'fight City Hall', who doesn't mind sticking my neck out, against the popular trend of everyone else and their principles, when I think that a wrong needs to be to be corrected.
Thx for your cool, calm and patient understanding.

OMG - I just came across this topic and looked it up - followed the link and it's definitely still there... DARLING Owl!
You've got your sketches/fabrics/everything that represents the background behind its creation by you!

Cease & Desist first (as per Randy's information) then I would contact Apple/iTunes immediately.
They certainly do NOT want to be seen to be promoting plagiarism.

I'm all up for downloading direcly from my desktop/computer: Thx Karen & Brenda, and Sandi too (I'm still reading through that fella's site and will try out a few of hs codes later...)

But this has stymied me in the past, as well as today: I don't now what to fill into the 'Feed URL' line to indicate where the images are coming from, so I gave up in past as it wasn't intuitive.

Suggestions, please?

Right now they're on my Desktop, in a Folder called Slideshow Pix.

I've put a Slideshow on my blog and am having the devil's own time understanding the connection between Photobucket's uploading and Blogspot. I got PB to accept the images fine from my desktop. I got the long string of html to post into the spot on blogger to show the blog.

The first time I did it 2 weeks ago with a couple of images it worked OK. Then I added a few more pix and it didn't—the pix were gone but the next time I turned on the computer it was OK again along with the new images.

Last night I decided to try to upload about 2 dozen more: all uploaded fine in Photobucket but the new url isn't accepted by blogspot. It just says Loading on the blog gadget space.

Actually there appear to be 2 urls: one is sent by email within a few minutes when you're given the All Clear that the images are ready for download within the next 24 hours or you have to reapply to Download again and there's second, longer url code (which are the ones I've used previously) in a window to the right side on the same page as the newly uploaded images.

So - - if there's anyone who uses Photobucket to host their images, AND Blogspot, I'd really appreciate a word or two of advice on what I'm doing wrong here, and why it works some times and not others!
TIA!

Because ppl have no conscience today....
...and eBay will take the lucre, no questions asked.. until there's a problem and then wash their hands of it.

Sellers used to honor the boundaries of categories.
Another example: one used to have their listings pulled if a website listing or any other selling source was posted within the auction text too, heaven forbid that anyone's attention was directed elsewhere than within eBay (I cannot even bring myself to stamp their name with a ® which I normally would, as they are so egregiously out-of-bounds nowadays)—now business websites urls are posted boldly right there, directing the Buyers to go view the rest of the Seller's goods.
eBay doesn't even put on a feeble show of policing their own policies any more.

As soon as it looked safe for a few to slip the mass-produced goods into our smaller niche market, many others are following, with a better chance of being seen there than in that other one of tens of thousands of listings.

As long as eBay is continuing to make their money from all Sellers (not Buyers) they don't much care where it comes from. And they are doing it from those selling groups of items, not us individual piece Sellers.
We OOAK Sellers are *a bother* and are being discouraged from listing.....

Wubbie - it sounds do-able to me! You'd have to be in person with a person who has already designed their own patterns, someone who has created work that you like, so you know that it will come out in the end with a product that will represent what you are going for but I think it would work.
I wish you were closer to Chicago or I was closer to Murfreesboro and I'd volunteer. I'd like to meet you sometime anyway, just because you've got such a 'Can Do' spirit!!!