Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thank you for adding me in Wendy.  I did find a display/hide display button....  teddy bears and friends is now the only display at the bottom of my web page. :hug:

Wow Paula, I'm in agreement, all five inches of your special bear are lovely, I'd be chuffed too! 

Hello Wendy,

I tried to submitt again today, hopefully it worked.  Like Linda, I only just started my web and I have questionable pooter ability.  Thanks for the clever idea!

Hmm...  good information Shane, I'll have to check out Disco Joints and see just what they have available, currently I need eyes and the little black onyx beads for small stuff.  I certainly agree with you, I love Canada too but not our mail system or customs. 

Thanks for the tip!

Wow...  How cool is that?  Beam away mom!

Shelli is correct, it SUCKS.  I would choose priority or express post and cross my fingers for the Canadian.  I've paid higher rates to send parcels from British Columbia to Europe and they have arrived on time or in less than 7 days. 

In considering a courier, both fed ex & UPS do impose brokerage fee to collect GST and Customs fees on ground deliveries to the end buyer.  If wanting to use a courier the only way to avoid this is for a person to take their receipt from PayPal or eBay and pay fees at customs then presenting their customs reciept to the courier upon arrival to show proof of payment.  An alternative would be to fudge the value of the bear if sending via ground courier service.

Couriers are however worse than our postal service for overcharging.  UPS has charged me up to 48% to 50% of the original cost of item for brokerage fees, just for collecting the 5% tax that is due to customs.  It's criminal. When the courier asks the sender for the value of the content and tells the truth the customer gets to pay as much as 50% of the items cost.  A $98 peice of mohair cost me over $150 + $25 - $30 shipping expense.

Another thing to consider is niether UPS or FedEX deliver on weekends unless you are in the inner city core so it can be faster via postal, especially when you consider various holidays in a calendar month. The sad truth is that courier rates to Canada are more that double and triple what they are in the US.  Canada's entire population is about 3 million people less than that of the state of California.

Canada post charges $5 to $8 to cover all air mail brokerage fees, so our customer sees no additional fees when sending by air mail service to customers, one reason postage is higher.

Added below is a link to a program most Canadian consumers recognize, it explains better than I can. 

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/file … index.html

That's is a good little segment on monkey business! :crackup:

Hello Matilda:

I joined your ring today and noticed there is some oddity happening.  Profile pics do not correspond with web information to the right of pic.   Is it possible to undo this?

Hmmm....  Hoping you would have had some answers to your question as enquiring minds want to know.  I often have the same problem and had my velvet edges just fall apart as it sheds so easy.  On another note, I really like the shade of blue you've chosen and think the jacket looks darling.

Hello Linda,

I had a read through your site and think it is fantastic.  I mostly enjoyed the sections of 'What I Do' and 'About Me' and think it looks great visually too.  Congratulations! :clap:

Thanks for the pics Julie, I've enjoyed them all and am impressed with the workmanship and variety.
But category eleven, in the last pic, I'm a little startled by Hope's appearance.  What is one to do with a young teen spirit?  It's a little obvious that she was unable to behave herself.  I suspect she had in fact been running with the wrong crowd & out drinking the night before while in Brighton?  She made a wreck of herself...... it would kill her father to see her in this condition.

Absolutely amazing, I had to look and look again.  I thought you were putting me on and that it had to be a made up fantasy character.  So surreal, I've never seen anything like it. :doh:

Me mum recieved Burney, a raccoon by Susan Arnot of Under the Apple Tree, for her Birthday this past Saturday.  She appreciated the beautiful workman ship of this adorable soul.

As well I have one of Roxanne Props bears hanging out in my hug until Christmas, then he'll go to his new home.  But who knows, we've grown so fond of him we may just keep him.  :redface:

Hmm....  thank you Maria, and Tom would probably tell you great minds think a like,  I prefer your version of the Red Baron, he's a wild one.  Will you be attending the show in Germany?  I haven't an issue of the mag so I'm gonna have to wait and see who the nominees for TED Worlwide are when they post to the www mid December.  Suspense does little for my patience! 

Hugs,  :hug:
Kathleen

Okay, me three, I made 1st in my category!  :dance:

Big thank you to everyone who took part in some way to make this event special!   :clap:

I have some picci's from the previous year but not this current year.  If anyone is interested in having a boo I would be happy to share.

Hello Matilda,  I did notice you have planned to do a little needle felting and an open mouth with teeth and I think you should go for it & hope go all the way with the spectacular, colour.  I would love to hold a wad of soft, milk chocolate wool or fabric at the muzzle and pin a black triangle in palce to see if it grounded the orange a little.  The colour of your bear suggest to me that there is a professional clown screaming to come out of her.  In a nut shell, I see a milk chocolate bear muzzle peaking out of a orange clown costume.

Curiously, now that you've taken us this far I hope we get to see the after pics?  It's kinda like a teddy make over show.  Please forgive me, I know your bears are 13 inches but sometimes I get carried away and think & work big...heheeeeeeee

hahhhaaaaaaaaaaaa.....  Chief, just how the heck do you know this navigating stuff?  Good trick...I'm gonna click above my avatar and see the magic! :clap:

I don't see it as diatribe, you are candid and more of a beacon that has allowed others to navigate safely. :hug:

Good one.   :clap:   :dance:  :crackup:

Great peice/article and in reference to that where can I find the bit about the pros and cons of men in speedos?

Hey, best of luck to everyone attending the BBAA today!   :dance: Hope it is tons of fun and that there are some piccis to post. :photo:

Looks at em all snugged!

Hmmm..I had a hard time seeing what is wrong with the eyes except that you were shooting for a traditional.  I would combine the easiest and cleanest of all work arounds so to speak. This pair could be semi-traditional with your spin on em.

Myself, if I had my hands on this pair I would take Paula's advice and move the ears forward, more so on the lighter bear. Putting the inner edge of ear on outer gusset seam and lower edge of ear not extending beyond the level of the eye line, in a )=curved fashion, so to speak.  Ears, pin em around, don't like em, move em, move and pin em again, until you find a sweet spot.   

As well, I see a little shading around the paws and pads and think it is enough for the size of the bears but would again take Paula's advice and add a few claws. There quick, easy and fool proof.  Dozens of styles to choose from too. 

I agree with Jenny, more shading on the fabric can be messy business.  And I think the small eye white is a nice detail,  I found white rings most useful when making darker bears with black eyes so the eye is more visible in on  dark fur.  My avatar bear is cream and has a white ring, bigger than my average but the thickness of the mink, even when scissor sculpted barried the eyes.  Instead of shading on a light bear, I would consider penning or painting a tiny edge around your ring for future projects.

Perhaps adding teddy under the arm of an elephant as it's special friend, and upping the price is the fastest solution.  I realize this sound a little lazy but I'm on the practical side of, 'time is money' and always look for a work around unless I absolutely can't live with something as it is on my bear or friend.  You have a lot of excellent feed back and again, if it were me I would put these to practice into a new piece.  Your friends on TT are correct that the right buyer just hasn't come for em yet.

TTYS,
Lazy  :redface:

She's got the AWE factor!  Really creative styling.