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For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Posts: 1,836As an example, a few years ago, everything became "collectible," so the truly special pieces were drowned in a sea of matchbooks, shotglasses, and Happy Meal toys. You will never convince me that a swizzle stick is as collectible as a handmade teddy bear, even though people do amass huge numbers of swizzle sticks. .
:redface: Mindy
:crackup: That DARN Antiques Roadshow!!! They've got everyone holding onto everything hoping someday it's going to pay off!!! That show (as well as trash in the attic and bargain hunt..I love the BBC shows) have created new generations of pack rats!! 
(I'm such a doofus...i had to look up swizzle stick...I was picturing pixie sticks and wondering why in the heck someone would collect a pixie stick!! :crackup: )
I'm totally hearing what you're saying Mindy and I still like the OOAK and Original definitions and will personally continue that route when defining my stuff, it just seems to make sense to me. It's a teddy bear; it's going to have a pattern with 4 limbs, a head and a body..it's the execution of design that is going to produce that OOAK that is separate form original works. Do you have any photos of the OOAKs you've seen at shows where you can see the total difference in each work, yet they're still by the same artist? That might be cool to see that show table...to visualize it is always nice. I'm such a visual learner myself...hands on..imagine that 
:hug:
~Chrissi
Pumpkin & Pickle BearsHeather wrote:
The tough part about asking for a new pattern for an ooak, is at what point is a pattern new? What if I only change the head, or the arms. Or what if I change every piece, but only very slightly. There really are only so many ways to draw an arm or a footpad.
I guess that's why I don't think an ooak needs a new patten.
I couldn't agree more Heather! There is only so many ways you can change a pattern before the final result (the bear) looks NOTHING like your signature style! Which I'm sure most will agree is what we all aim for - to have a recognised 'style'.
Oh Jenny 
It gets complicated! It is good and I think very helpful, what it says in the dictionary. It is perfect! That is the way I will call my bears, no two are alike, even if sometimes they come from the same pattern because, they are a "class" by themselves" I think that "one of the kind" is the best way to describe most of the bears we design and the realistic one!. Is it? I do need coffee too.
Bear hugs and Golly smiles.
Laurie Lou BearsI agree with Heather and Gemma that there are only so many ways to change a pattern before we would end up not making our signature style bears.In the end we could be changing our patterns so much we could be making gollies like Dilu or rabbits'cats etc as you have gone so far in changing your pattern you are way off from where you started. :doh:
Laurie :hug:
Bears by EdieThis has been a very interesting thread and too am now wondering about calling my bears OOAK's. I just finished a mini bear today from a new pattern and then realized that it looked very similar to one I made several months ago - FROM A DIFFERENT PATTERN! - but from the same fabric! I think if I had been using the same pattern as before I would have been very careful to check that I was not doing the same thing as last time but since I was using a different pattern I just worked away doing whatever seemed to suit - I think it is mainly the fact that it is a mini and fairly long pile fabric that it has turned out so similar - or at least it was until I then consciously made some changes and turned it into a little girl but it is still more similar than I would have liked.
My big question now though is if I don't list my bears as OOAK's will people think they will have another opportunity to get the same bear???? (which they won't as in my mind I am not trying to make the same bear ever again but there are only so many things you can do with a bear so some are bound to look a little like the others unless I don't reuse the same fabric and that is impossible!) Perhaps saying "no two the same" - as someone suggested would help! Lots to think about here!
Bears by JodiEdie,
I think we are making this to hard. If we have to worry about it every time we make something it won't be fun any more. I think every artist has a stlye that always comes through no matter what !! Back in the day when I did allot of shows I could always tell what artist did what bears before I saw the tag on the bear. My bears included. They always look like family, you can tell they are related. You could always say , NO 2 WILL EVER BE EXACTLY THE SAME. I used to make around 200 to 300 bears a year and I never had any one complain that I did something the same. Even when I did a run of 25 that were susposed to be the same for Disneyland they were like puppies each had its own personality. So don't worry. People buy one bear at at time , and they pick them out like picking out a puppy. They pick the personality they like best, what speaks to them . Just keep making great bears and have fun . Thats what it is all about !!!!
Jodi Falk
Spirit Seeker by Jodi Rankin ( Falk now )
Here is a picture of the bear I did a run of 25 for Disneyland back in 1993. Like I said they looked like family but no 2 were the same.
Laurie Lou BearsI agree with how Lisa has explained it.This is how simple the terms should be so that you are not over complicating matters. 
Laurie :hug:
BrisbaneI totally agree with how Lisa has explained things....I think it would be impossible to draw a completely different bear pattern each time you make a bear .....half the time when I draw up a new pattern it turns out the same as a previous one anyway....but that said I can never make any of my bears look even remotely alike, I admire people who can do limited editions etc. as I find it really hard!!
Cleathero CreationsYep, with the dogs I do, If I finally get a spaniel head that is working for me I definately do not want to have to keep redoing each time I make a spaniel.... designing doesn't come easy to me and I can't freehand it like some do.
But my dogs NEVER look alike. This is an interesting conversation and I do not think anyone is wrong in their definaitions it is just a varying level of the same thing.
Posts: 1,836Lisa wrote........... but this is where you need some creativity in order to have it totally different. I don't know of any bear artist who makes one pattern for each bear and throws the pattern away? That's ridiculous. If you are talented enough to have a totally different look using the same pattern and the bears look nothing alike, it is therefore one of a kind, .......... as a collector myself, you don't want something the same as someone else, you want individuality and the sole creativeness of the artist! If you can't change your designs and/or cannot get totally different looks from one pattern, then your in the wrong business.
What I'm taking away from this goes back to what Mindy defined as well. Using the same pattern is not the issue...it's the bear as a whole. As she and lisa seem to be hinting at changing the mohair color and adding a bow are not creating a "totally different" bear. It's an original but not a OOAK.
Lisa states that with the same pattern must come great creativity to indeed create a true and sperate "OOAK". If I can't do that with each bear then I'm just sticking with the "original" terminology, I think that's most fair to a buyer. But that's just what sounds good to me 
:hug:
~Chrissi
This fascinating debate...(is it a debate?...no, discussion) is set to role on and on. I think it's provoked a lot of thought ...well I have thought about it a great deal.
My issue....seems like ages ago...is perhaps not with my ability to re-invent my pattern each and every time...which I love doing, it's what keeps me interested. The problem, as I see it, is this, I make a bear that I call a OOAK...then I sell it...maybe on ebay or via my website. I then get a few folks ask me if I can do a similar bear...not identical..just similar. I have to say that the thought of that depresses me because I want to move on...create something new..for me the difficulty is in what happens when and if you make the 'similar' bear...and because you put in that 'difference' to set it apart from the original bear, the bear now looks nothing like the bear the customer liked , so disappointment sets in.
I have decided in the light of what happened that from now on I am not doing any more attempts to create 'similar' bears...because if they are too similar then they go against my principles of not recreating one off bears..and if they don't look the same then the customer feels let down. So I am damned if I do and damned if I don't.
As far as the 'one of a kind' description is concerned I do think it's very subjective...but to safeguard myself and my intregity I am going to clarify my position on my website...I am working on it!!!
Matilda Huggington-beareJenny, I have also been asked to make similar. I am very clear in telling the customer that the one they wish for is a ooak. That I can make some thing on the same lines but designed SPECIALLY for them.
That has always worked for me.
Wendy
