Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Woah - I think you are selling yourself a little short there I would look at increasing your prices! Did you work out how much materials cost and things? (even if it's just a hobby, you don't want to be losing money!)

But massive congratulations - it took me a long time and a lot of courage to put mine on Etsy - the ones I put up did sell though!

I've only had three bears listed on Etsy... and well... I sold them all! It wasn't super rapid selling, maybe 1-2 months? But then I only had two listed to start with and then wasn't doing any renewing or "marketing" stuff. You have to be fairly sharp when it comes to the tags you use for the listings etc to get the views.

If you start up a shop there, post a link I'll follow your shop

Awww, super cute The first one is my favourite

I bought a load from ebay. You should take a look! There's tonnes of different shapes and sizes. I've shipped three bears and they all got there safely

great first bear! and for a great reason too

Did you use a pattern? If you intend to make more bears I would take that pattern and try altering things on the next bear in places you want differences! (this is how I learnt anyway )

for example, shorter paws, smaller/bigger feet, longer arms, more curved arms, etc etc. wider head? rounder head? All sorts of things you could try

If that stuff is a little too scary to start with, then I would just try making the same bear from a different material, and see how much the bear is different!

Finally; Best wishes to your friend's health and well-being!

Sorry if these ramblings aren't what you intended to hear as answers

These are some excellent tips! I shall have to invest in some cotton gloves. I find it very frustrating when my bear ends up looking "well-loved"(aka, scruffy), before it's even fully finished!

I shall definitely test these on my next worse for wear looking bear.

I think these guys have already said everything I would have said, but I wanted to add that that doggie is very cute! Where did you get it/who sells it?

Awww, now she's really adorable. No wonder she found a home fast

Her dungarees are also adorable too!

Nice work!

Everyone seems to have given you wonderful wonderful advice!

I also think if you get stuck with a part (as I do frequently) is put it down, and do something else, or go to bed and try again with a fresh brain and eyes. Even then I still get "stuck" with bears for ages because I have high expectations and want them to all come out exactly as planned - but I guess the bears have their own thoughts on what they'll look like

Ooooh I've never tried painting eyes... I think I will avoid that until I've got a handle on some of the other techniques I'm trying :)

Yes, I agree on the Pics thing! I'd love to see some of your bears !

Thank you

I always end up getting to the "making" of the bear, eg putting it's eyes/ears/ nose in place and suddenly get really unsure of myself and the decisions. I guess because it feels so permanent and I really want them to look nice etc.

You're so right, but it's so hard to remember that when you're working on a bear that everything you do is learning and it's OK to make mistakes - because then you can learn from them! Hopefully one day I'll learn that

And that is a great tip, if I ever end up with a bear "past saving" I will keep it, so that it can help with learning new techniques

I haven't really made any bears that stand completely properly(a little bit), but to my knowledge standing requires tight joints(to stop them just flopping) and well balanced stuffing & weighting.

I'm guessing a little weight in the feet helps, and then as you are stuffing you should stand the bear up and move the weight around until it's happily standing! Someone else can probably advise you much better!

ohhhh, this post just ended in me spending money on fur. Bad ladies for linking me to it! bad! 

hehe.... I can't stay mad, I'M GETTING NEW FUR.

I got a piece of the tissavel faux fur(don't like the idea of knitted backing) and also some mini fur fabric as they're both furs I've never worked with. Let's see what challenges they bring

It's a very nice reminder of how lucky I am to live somewhere that *touch wood* never has that extreme weather other than occasionally too much rain.

I can only hope that none of you are affected too severely by the hurricane. It must be so scary to go through them!! ...I can only imagine what it's like.

Unfortunately wherever those things go they leave behind a trail of destruction. Scary scary

Thanks again guys

it's always lovely to see these comments

Here is Koko! more about her on my blog ---> here and she is for sale ---> here

She is 4" tall. Made from crushed velvet. Sooooo hard to take photos of her!

Oh Croissant is so handsome! He looks like a bear who should be hugged lots!

Gorgeous! I didn't notice she was a crocheted bear until I read the description

I love her little jacket. Every time I've tried to knit a hood for a bear I end up with a very gnome - like bear.

awww, he is ever so cute!

Loving everything about his little face :3

if only I had the spare money! Hope that his auction goes well for you

Thanks so much everyone! It's so lovely to hear all your kind words, it makes me look like this -->    !

I don't think I've ever found any good fur in a normal craft shop here in the UK. I've always ordered my fur off the internet, or bought it at bear fairs/shows/events (then you're seriously spoilt for choice though!) there's a few I buy from, bearbasics.co.uk, sewwhatandstuffit.co.uk being the main two online.

You probably don't need the fur to be as long as the one in the picture to still achieve a "moustache" look. Long fur can get expensive

for me looking at that picture it looks like he was made using a very long pile fur, and then just had his fur trimmed in the right places to give him a moustache!

I found trimming fur a bit challenging when I first started - because you obviously can't glue it back one once it's been cut! But best way to learn is to just try it

My advice would be to trim VERY small amounts at a time, then you can't make any big mistakes!

Hope that helped a little 

I'm on a roll, here's my second bear up on etsy

Thanks a lot guys I'm gonna try and get a few more of my bears online soon as well It's still all very scary, even the idea of someone actually buying him is quite scary too!

This is George! He is the first bear I've ever put up for sale! Here

So it's super scary/nerve-racking/exciting/and did I mention scary?

I made a blog post about trying the polymer nose out!

but here's a pic of the bear "trying on" his nose