Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Oh I would bury my face in her fur.  I love soft faux fur.  I can't see because I'm visually impaired, not because of the picture quality.

Long time no hear, Becky *gives you a bear hug*.

Thanks.  I do like working with mohair, but the pocketbook says no mohair for you, lol, at least for now.

Can you please describe her?  I can't see pictures due to being visually impaired, but I love puppies.

I have a question about this bear.  I'm thinking about making him, but is it okay if I use plushie fur instead of mohair?

I'll definitely be back more often, although I still have trouble with pictures.

How's it going?  I used to be on here several years ago, but I haven't been on here in a while.  I thought I'd check back in as I want to get involved again with the teddy bear community. 

I haven't been able to make a bear in forever as I'm visually impaired and I still need a lot of assistance, which is frustrating for me.  I'm still collecting avidly, but haven't been able to adopt any artist bears in a long time.  I pretty much get bears and plushies from thrift stores.  Sorry I was away for a while, but I miss all of you guys.

Man I'd love to go to that show.  Did they have more bears than the Nashville Doll and Bear Show had?  I can personally attest to the epicness that is Cindy McGuire's bears as there is one who lives on my bed.  I'd also give my eyeballs for a Desert Mountain Bear.  Joanne, have you got any more bears left from the show?

Has this bear been sold?  Dang I'd love to have a big ol' alpaca bear.  The one I had was really little.

The way you described her, I'd love to give her a big squuz.

So what was the picture?

What's happening here?  I seem to have lost the plot.

The mystery bear arrived today, and he certainly feels like an artist bear.  I've named him Frodo, and he's on my desk with the small bears.

I have Asperger's as well.  It has a lot of cool aspects, but the sensory overload and the having trouble understanding what people mean is a pain in you know where.  I often joke that I speak a different language from normal people.  You speak English, but I speak Aspie, lol.  Sometimes people say things and I have to ask someone to translate it into Aspie.  Yeah I have a weird sense of humor, but hey, you have to or else you would go insane.

When you say your bears are not cuddly, do you mean that they are like normal artist bears rather than the plushies I'm used to, or do you mean they're hard as a rock?  The artist bears I have are stuffed firmer than a normal teddy bear from the 80s and 90s like I'm used to, but they are still cuddly, at least cuddly enough for me to sleep with, but then I've seen some artist bears at bear shows where and I really hope you don't interpret this in a bad way as it's not meant to be, they were so hard that if someone broke into your house and you couldn't find a baseball bat, you could use the bears.  Are your bears that level of firmness?  Dang I wish I could feel them in order to decide.

Could you create a thread here with your bears and descriptions of them?  The bear budget is depleted for now, although my birthday is in a few days, so I may be able to get a bear then, not sure, but if you have bears I like then I'll get him next month if everything goes the way I hope it does.  Also, and this is a bit weird, but due to being mildly on the autism spectrum, I have a thing where I get stuck on certain words, it's hard to explain.  I'm absolutely obsessed with Sequoia, and I've been on a kick of collecting all the bears and dolls with that name, so if you have a Sequoia I'd pretty much give my eyeballs for that bear.  Go ahead and laugh.  It is very weird.

I also have not made a bear in a while and am now focusing on collecting.  I have a job as a piano player in restaurants, so I've been concentrating on that.  Also there are parts of the bearmaking process that I can't figure out how to do without assistance, and no one was able to assist me whenever I wanted to do a bear, so I got sorta discouraged.  Sorry about your arthritis.

What is the best way to buy artist bears if you are not able to see?  Now that I have a decent job, I'm able to occasionally buy bears and dolls, but the bad thing is that you usually have to buy them online unless you can go to bear shows as I was able to do recently.  The people who have been here for a while know this, but for new members who read this, I'm blind so am unable to see the pictures, which seems to be the way most people decide which bears to get, and they haven't come up with the technology to allow me to feel the bears through the computer screen, lol, so I'm hesitant to spend a lot of money to buy a bear I'm not sure if I'll like.  Do you guys have any suggestions for me to find bears to join my pack?

Thanks.  Can you tell about the other bear?  I hope he is in fact an artist bear.  I just didn't know how it would be to post secondhand artist bears here, as I don't know how artists would feel if they are here and they find out someone has sold their bear.  I got the secondhand bears because I'm not sure my wallet would thank me for making two big bear purchases in one month, lol.  I guess you have to collect them slowly.

Sue Ann, since I'm on an artist bear kick, have you got any bears available?  Also, should I only show you guys artist bears or would people also like to see regular plushies I collect as I used to post here?  Dang, I have used the word bear a lot in this post.

These two are from the pre-loved market, so I hope it's okay to show them here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/152036314483?_t … EBIDX%3AIT
This guy hasn't arrived yet, so I can't tell you anything about him.  He is a bit small, but he could always be one of my travel bears to go in my purse.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172153183144?_t … EBIDX%3AIT
I'm holding this guy right now, and he is adorable.  I love this little bear.  Also, I'm curious if anyone knows this artist.  If she's here I hope it is okay to post her bear here.  If you are reading this board, I'd like you to know that you have made an awesome bear and he will be very loved here.

Does anyone here ever make wolves?  I absolutely love wolves, and they are hard to find.  I have a few, but there absolutely needs to be more wolfies in my pack.

Man I'm being seriously tempted by your bears, especially that Tissevel fur bear, or however you spell that word.

Thanks guys.  I absolutely adore her, and have been sleeping with her for the past two nights.  This is the first time I've ever been able to sleep with a mohair bear without getting scratched.  I love this big ol' squishy, cuddly ballybear.

Just curious, but do any of you guys have her bears?

Is this mohair or faux fur?  Also I can't find the link on your web site to see the available bears.

I went to the Nashville Doll and Bear show yesterday and bought a big bear from Cindy McGuire whose business name is China Cupboard Bears.  She still has her picture up on her web site, or at least she did yesterday.  The name the bear came with was Beatrice, and she's a big ol' ballybear.  Also I'm excited because this is my first time I've ever been able to afford a really high-end artist bear.  I have several artist bears that friends have made for me, and I've gotten some other bears in trades before, but I was able to actually buy this big girl.  I have always wanted to be able to do this.

I can't figure out why they're showing up here but not on the other messageboards I've posted them on.

I can't post pics here as my camera takes too big pictures for this board, so I'm going to try to post the images from another board directly into my post.  I hope this will turn out okay.

I went to the Nashville Doll and Bear Show and got two really awesome bears.  One is definitely an artist bear, and the other I'm pretty sure is as well.  The first is Rodora, a Heart and Soul bear from Rocky Bottom Creations.  She is made of Irish linen and wearing an Irish lace collar.  I'm obsessed with all things Irish, so I had to get her.  The second I called Sequoia, and he was added to my forest of Sequoias.  He is the length of my hand and is made from alpaca (sorry if I butchered the spelling of that word), and is the fuzziest ball of fur I've ever felt.  I would be interested to know who made him, but we're all pretty sure he's an artist bear.  It would be awesome if he was made by one of you guys here.