Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

That's a great set of diagrams, pictures, and explanations on how to do a ladder stitch. When I first started making bears, I had no idea on how to do a ladder stitch and couldn't find any detailed explanations in any of the "how to make bears" books that I read. I did my ladder stitches incorrectly until one day I finally figured it out.

So will you be offering them on Ebay?    :crackup:

Or you could enter them in the TOBY or Golden Teddy awards!   

Seriously, we have some serious CUTENESS here!! 

Hey Deborah! I saw your $1 auction on Ebay this morning. Lovely bright-red Teddy! I noticed that the bidding is now significantly higher than $1. I'll be keeping track of your auction and see how you fare.  Good luck!

Thanks so much, everyone, for your encouragement. I've found that sometimes bears can "tell" me what their basic characters are like. Alvaro "told" me that he likes leaves and forest. But he also "told" me that he loves stone necklaces as well -- so that's what I gave him!

I LOVE long fur! I still have some of Intercal's two-inch white fur to use. I'll probably dye it and then -- well who knows? I'll let the bear spirits tell me what to do with it after that!

WOW!!! What amazing pics! Nature is certainly wonderful!

Hello! What is the "new bidding system" that you are referring to? Is this the system where bidder IDs become anonymous after certain bid amounts are reached?

I've also noticed a slow-down. Many talented people are not getting the bids that they've normally been getting. I wonder if it's the summer or perhaps the rising gas prices. I know that here in Maryland, we're getting a big hit on our electric rates, with rates rising by at least 50% this month.  Everything seems to be going up, other than wages.

I had a similar experience recently. Not on one of my bears but on a Himstedt doll from my extensive collection of Himstedts that I was selling. A lady with 100% positive feedback wrote me during the auction and asked about accepting layaways. I told her I would, because I've certainly paid for plenty of dolls and bears using layaway. In fact, Judi Paul of Luxembears is generously offering me a layaway plan for Black Forest, the bear I just won on Ebay made by her.

At any rate, I told this lady that I would take a 3-month layaway and that the layaway payments were non-refundable; in the event that she changed her mind, she would forfeit the payments made. Of course if the doll arrived damaged, then she would get a full refund as I always require insurance whenever I sell anything on Ebay. At the time, I also had listed a 3-day return guarantee that if for any reason, a buyer wasn't satisfied, she/he could return the item within 3 days and receive a refund minus all Ebay fees and shipping costs. On my auction, itself, I stated that payment arrangements had to be made within 3 days.

So this lady won the auction and I invoiced her. No response after 2 days, so I emailed her again. She reminded me that she was the person to whom I had offered layaway to, so I asked her for the first payment. No response. 5 days went by and still no response or payment. I finally emailed her, reminded her of my 3-day payment arrangement requirement and asked when she planned to make the first of the 3 layaway payments. 

A couple of days after that, she replied in a huff that she would pay for the doll in full, which she did via Paypal. I promptly took the money out of the Paypal account so that she couldn't do any "chargebacks" and I promptly sent her the doll. I with-held the feedback for the 3-day guarantee period to pass. I was afraid that she would decide that there was something "wrong" with the doll and demand her money back. Fortunately, that didn't happen. I did give her positive feedback for a quick payment. I wondered if she were going to spoil my 100% positive feedback with some sort of negative comment, but she didn't -- she didn't give any feedback at all.

So I still kept my money and my 100% rating, but I learned some lessons.  No more 3-day unconditional return guarantee; my items will be sold "as is." I'm not sure about layaway, but my bears are so far quite inexpensive so layaway shouldn't be an issue. I haven't decided whether to offer it or not because of the generosity that others have shown to me concerning layaway.

A couple of years ago, when I was just getting started selling on Ebay, I listed a bear on Featured Plus with a no-reserve, starting bid of $19.99. I got burned this time, as I ended up having to sell the bear for $21.00, which barely paid for the Featured Plus. I took a bath on the other Ebay fees, the cost of materials, etc. Someone got a nice bear done by a beginning artist and she was happy with the bear did give me positive feedback. Still.....

However, starting a bear at $1 rather than $19.99 might give some sort of psychological boost to the bidders. Who knows? I might make it a 3-day auction or even a 1-day auction; I'll have to think about it and I'm very open to any advice here. At any rate, I'll let my current bear listing finish and see what happens.

Hello dear people! 

I've been reading all of the Ebay threads with great interest because Ebay puzzles me. I'm a VERY small-time bear artist. I have a regular, full-time job that pays most of my bills so the bear-making is a side-job, a hobby, for me. But having a regular, full-time job means that I have a lot less time for bear-making. Plus I sew all my bears by hand and that's even more time-consuming.  So I'm not usually able to build up a lot of stock.

I live in the Maryland area and we've lost many good shows. We do have two good shows each year, but the waiting list to get into these shows is quite long so I haven't had chances to exhibit in either one of them. Because I work full-time and don't have a lot of stock, I haven't been able to go to shows other than local ones. So I've turned to Ebay.

I sometimes wonder if I'm "under-pricing" my bears. I can sell smaller ones (around 13 inches) for under $100 on Ebay, no reserve, without using Featured Plus. I've tried listing them for more and also with a reserve, but with poor results. Right now, I have a larger, 16 inch bear listed at no reserve with a BIN in Featured Plus for 10 days.  I had tried him earlier without Featured Plus but no takers. I did some re-working on him and then decided to try out this format.

If my bear doesn't sell this round, then I'm considering listing him at $1 with no reserve, most likely not on Featured Plus.  I'm thinking that -- hey, maybe people will see this as something really "radical" and that this will spark interest and get my dear little furry buddy a good home and will at least get me back the money I put into his materials.

Or I may end up just keeping him as my own. Or else I might donate him to the Washington D.C. Expo Good Bears of the World auction. I am an active local chapter member of Good Bears of the World and I've donated some of my pieces for the past couple of years. Of course I don't get any money for my donation, but I get the good feeling of having donated to a very worthy organization. Some of my bears have gotten good homes that way and also, people get to see my bears.

Anyway, thanks for reading all this rambling. Bear hugs to all! 

I don't blame you at all for loving him!

He's lovely! Love his innocent expression. Also great work on his feet and the lovely tipped mohair.

Denali 2 is WONDERFUL!!! Love his expression, his coat, his eyes, his nose!!!

This is Alvaro, a hefty 16 inch bear with 3 inch tipped Schulte mohair. I actually made him in three stages. First, he was "bear-naked," but then I later decided he needed a crown of leaves. Then I tried some experimental eye lids, an experiment that did NOT work.  Fortunately, I was able to cut away the failed experimental eye lids and then read some advice right here in Teddy Talk about putting in leather corded eyelids.

Alvaro's nose is embroidered with perle cotton, then I put on a layer of Modge Podge to give it a shiny "wet" look. His eyes are hand-painted Intercal eyes that originally were clear glass.

I keep many of the bears I make. Alvaro has definitely turned into one of my "keepers." I now keep him in my cubicle at work (I work as a computer programmer for the government) and he keeps me cheerful while I write and debug programs.  I've also decided to use him as my "avatar." 

          WOW!!! He is GORGEOUS!!!! The collector who commisioned your pirate bear will be a VERY lucky, happy mommy indeed!!!! 

I am both an artist and a collector. What I am doing now is doing an embroidered nose. However, I will "finish" the nose. Depending upon the colors I use (and I LOVE colorful colors), I'll add little highlights of different colors on the stitched nose. Then I will lightly coat the nose with some wonderful stuff called "Modge Podge" which I got at a crafts store. Modge Podge is white in color when you spread it on the nose, but don't worry, it dries perfectly clear and puts a little gloss on the nose. If you want a truly glossy nose, you can put on several layers of Modge Podge.

Here is an example. I used dark teal embroidery thread and then one coat of Modge Podge.

Fran, the dolls in the photo are all Annette Himstedt vinyl. I love Annette Himstedt dolls and have a whole slew of them in my collection, including a bunch from this year.   

This is Poor Cinderella, still in rags as you can see. I made her over a year ago and she's still with me. I got the dress from a resale store and sewed patches on it and on her shirt that I made.

The bear is OOAK with distressed Schulte mohair, around 16 inches tall with amber/brown German glass eyes, hand-shading, stuff with polyfil and pellets, brown felt for her paw pads.

"Cinderella" has always been one of my favorite fairy tales. I have an Annette Himstedt Cinderella (Aschenputtel) doll and I'll post a picture of my Poor Cinderella with Aschenputtel. Plus as you can see, she has other dolly and bear friends to help her out. 

Awwww..... She's so cute, the poor little girl....       :rose:

Nina

I think Rosa is just perfect. Her head, eyes and arms are JUST the right size.    She's lovely.

Hello, everyone! Yes, I collect dolls as well as bears. I particularly love Himstedts, as some can tell in my pictures. This year's 2005 Himstedts, with the "ethnic" dolls are out of this world.

That little sad brown bear is just so precious!  :teddybear:

Nina

Hello, I'm around 25 inches tall, and I'm Nina's "avatar" but here is the Real Me. I'm made of a combination of mohair and alpaca. My mommy got me a wonderful flyer jacket and goggles so I can go flying -- or at least pretend to do so. I was named after the Blue Angels flying team. I'm OOAK with glass eyes, mohair paw pads that match my head and body. Beary Happy Hugs to All!   

Hello, everyone. I was made by Nina Boal of Bubbling Spring Bears, who just joined this forum. I'm around 13 inches, OOAK, made of black/silver batiked Schulte mohair and charcoal gray German glass eyes. My paw pads are white mohair appliqued with the same black/silver batiked mohair that most of me is made up of. I'd love to make friends with everyone here!   

Judi, your tiger is utterly gorgeous!

From a new member, Nina