Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

quote=student bearmaker]Hi 'bearmaker'
I'm pleased that you wrote—I'd quite forgotten about this post.

"I particularly want to create a long,pear drop shaped muzzle and wonder is this achieved with needle sculpting stitches from the inner eye down the side of the muzzle to under the chin?"

If I'm understanding your question, you'd like the muzzle to appear as thought it has a 'lip line' or wider sides across the muzzle bottom edges that across the top, when viewed for the front ( a long,pear drop shaped muzzle).
Meaning that instead of the normal rounded muzzle, you'd like one which is slightly wider across the bottom half when viewed from the front.
Part of this is the shape (aka the cutting line) of the muzzle along its lower edge; it needs to be have extra depth here to accommodate the amount which will be pulled up in needle sculpting.
The rest is what you thought: additional pulling up to shape the eye sockets and at the same time—shaping the nuzzle at the points which begin to flare out into the face, all around the base of the muzzle.

" I struggle with symmetry so need some aid to help get the right balance."
When I taught it was easiest for students to understand symmetry by turning the body part upside-down. Your eye can find imbalances more easily this way than seeing the ted's eyes and mouth, etc.. where one expects them to be in a face.
Taking a picture and viewing this onscreen, flipped upside down, it becomes most clear, when, through a photo-editing program like Photoshop®, it's possible to draw straight lines N to South & East to W across the image and see what parts are not in line with the matching other half.

Would you mark the outline with pins and wrap thread around the pins to get the shape and then zig zag stitches across the muzzle from pin to pin?
I'm not certain where you're placing these pins....If you send me your e addy, to rkr4cds@att.net I can go into this further and in more detail, with images to emphasize my meaning.

Thx again for your question; I may've left the bear community a while ago, but still do like trouble shooting and sharing my experiences!
Warmly,
Bobbie

No, don't delete; we do all have our own opinions about everything, but only those w/actual experience can post theirs w/o repercussion.
A very well-known Australian artist originally asked me for information, knowing that I attend shows where FH also exhibits, as an agent for other artists. She was wondering about 'employing' FH bring her work to US show attendees.
My own experiences can be backed up w/info in print & online; I did not enter the names of the 2 artists (I understand one has left the bear business) though not out of respect b/c I no longer respect others who are plagiarists.

I'd had a second-hand experience w/FH: an article on needle felting in TB&F had one 'artist' using my online previously posted description of the needle felting process as her own words. The article had FH's byline. I contacted the artist a few times before she responded - where she "threw FH under the bus" - blaming her for quoting me. TB&F printed a corrective attribution, after I sent them proof of the original article's words. As I recall, FH said that the artist sent her my wording.
In the end, no one took responsibility and a year later another very well-known artist used the very same wording on her website, too.
It almost doesn't pay to be helpful!
Bobbie R

I am so pleased to see this topic discussed again; I'm proud to say that I was one of the first to bring shading to minis back in 1992 & 3. Before that we just stitched the bears together but I wanted to put depth behind the eyes and into some of the body creases. We used mainly Malden Mills'® long nap fiber (the shiny nylon stuff) and I found the best color application was with Prismacolor® pencils, rubbed in in several layers, w/rubbing off all excess in-between with foam rubber makeup sponges. Sepia was my go-to color base color for everything.
From there I went to the Prismacolor® markers and found the Prismacolor® Sepia-shade marker to be consistent with the pencil and used that for both synthetic and natural fibers, even after switching to wool/animal fibers of needle felting. Copics® didn't have the same range of available colors, though they were the first to bring out a Color Blender, which helped fade out the marker deposit from ink-to-nothing in almost no distance. I liked the warmth Sepia gave rather that the cooler grays.
Kudos to you, Karen, for your intensive 'lab' testing. You do create Heirloom work!

USC 1056
Disclaimer of unregistrable matter

(a) The Director may require the applicant to disclaim an unregistrable component of a mark otherwise registrable. An applicant may voluntarily disclaim a component of a mark sought to be registered.

(b)No disclaimer, including those made under subsec. (e) of section 7 of this Act [15 USC 1057(e)], shall prejudice or affect the applicant's or registrant's rights then existing or thereafter arising in the disclaimed matter, or his right of registration on another application if the disclaimed matter be or shall have become distinctive of his goods or services.
__________________________

Please read and interpret these words most carefully, especially (b):
No disclaimer shall prejudice the rights to 'register' (any word) in another application.

This statute says nothing about the "use" of a disclaimed word or phrase AFTER an application matures into a Registration, only that they shall not "prejudice or affect'... 'his right of registration on another application/"

To paraphrase her meaning, Berta states that the 2 disclaimed phrases will become free for use by others, but "not until this application matures in a full Registration."
As of now, even though the applicants have sworn to this declaration of genericness - as of September 3, 2009 - it is not a lawful agreement until official Registration is awarded to the Thread Bears® company for Thread Teds by Thread Bears™.

Laughed Laughed Laughed - - - - -
My monitor showed only the first image and and the text 'I'm a panda."
When I scrolled down I really broke up - never expecting that one!!! still laughing!!!!!

THX - B

They even forecast Lake Michigan to act like a huge bathtub, with the water sloshing about side-to-side and waves up to 20 feet high hitting this western shore. High winds extending into Indiana & Illinois..
Still - I'd rather be safe than sorry, as it's said. Let all of the Chicken Littles run their heads off, it's better to be prepared with water, food & boarded up. or better still boarded up & Gone! I cannot see staying in your home in the direct path of any coming storm like that.   (A whole different topic!)
I think one tends to stay near the place you were born, if job or other situations don't move you on. I feel pretty lucky/fortunate to have been born near one of the least likely tragic weather areas in the world. (except for the quirky New Madrid fault-line!)

I'm (we're) planning on early April for a quickie visit over the first weekend and into the next week possibly... hoping I can squeeze in a lunch possibly? Pencil it in??  love to see you again, and Alison & meet  Thelma, too
hggzzz
Bobbie

In T'ai Chi we're taught to keep our center of balance .. well - centered. The Chinese say that the walk of people in the Western world is a constant state of keeping from not falling over. What that means is that most of us tend to lean forward with our upper bodies first, which changes the center-of-gravity to the upper half of the body and to keep from going down flat on our faces we stick out a foot/leg. From there it's a constant state of putting out the other foot and continuing on this way.

In our classes, the first thing we learn is - how to walk and then how to breathe properly. Which probably sounds a little strange should anyone ask a beginning student "So, what are you learning in your new classes?"
But all movement comes first from the thrust of the center of lower half of the body, the legs follow that and your upper body follows. That's a perfect example of standing up straight and stepping out smartly!

Otherwise (and especially as we age) we begin to lean over with our head and shoulders, that throws off our balance, which causes us to shorten our stride because we're off-balance, then the upper half leans over a bit more. pretty soon we're taking short shuffling steps with our weight over in front of us and over we go, tripping on something because our feet are no longer being set down properly: heel first and then rolling onto the instep and toes the way we should walk.

I'm a prime example of this due to back/nerve problems and the pain goes away when I lean over, though it causes this imbalance. (and I have fallen forwards because of this) It's pure physics and almost an impossibility - to walk with your regular stride if your head and shoulders are slumped and leaning forward. Like a half- filled water bottle: if you push on it closer to the top it's going to topple over but if you push from the center it will move straight across the flat surface. That's how we should walk - by pushing off from our centers, the pelvic area.

And why I went into this long 'harangue' about balance was to point out Jenny's mention of 'going over in those heels.'
Well, she had to walk that awkwardly because she had nothing 'behind' her to weight her down, as most models don't. For us average women and more, we'd have that advantage over them!

LOL - how true Randy. They look - - Magnificent!
Cirque du Soleil?

.. along with your hip, back and knee joints! That's what I meant about the Drs screaming - well, it'll only put money in their pockets eventually, for replacements. When one thing is out of alignment it puts uneven stress on the corresponding part on the other side of the body.
These put every part of the skeleton out of alignment - - and put her back into the walking mode from our ancestral beginnings, the Great Apes; hence the Lucy reference, especially the last few images from the back view.

It's hard to see this as beauty. Avant-garde maybe.
I feel sorry for the model. I know how they could have been developed to have been a bit more comfortable - - a bit more like the Alexander McQueen shoes and not so monstrously bizarre...(as if his weren't. 'Fess up, does anyone here own a pair?)
But every chiro in the world would be screaming a well as every orthopedic surgeon.

Frankly, this moves us right backwards to the age of the prehistoric 'Lucy'.
See if you can't stop thinking of that sweet skeleton head while you watch this!
http://shine.yahoo.com/the-thread-how-t … 00092.html
hggzzz
Bobbie

We often get emailed alerts for last-minute air fare deals: the price cuts are phenomenal! The airlines are looking to put bodies in those empty seats.
Unfortunately, they're not always to the same places that you need to travel to, or if they are the same, you just cannot count on waiting until the final week to book your flights!

Ahh, to have all the time in the world and no obligations one needs to consider. ... to just be able to pick up & Go! What a Life that must be. I'd just like to have the time that some of my friends have, who are always calling about going out-to-lunch, or "Come shopping with me!"  "No, thanks!"  (I shop alone - no time to spend while others browse and I don't want/need anyone else's opinion but my own. [Can you tell I've just spent 2 veeeery long weeks with my dear only sister who does love and need both of those things in her life on a regular basis?] evil grin...sshhhh! don't tell! and spoil her Fun)

OMGosh - - Really? She's denning on her own then? How time flies. I really have been out-of-the-loop.....
The main title on the home page is still up from 2012 and it says Lily & Faith; the den cam titles haven't been changed yet. I did wonder why Lyn didn't mention anything about Faith when he changed Lily's collar batteries.

Thx for your 'healing' comments, Marilyn! I suspect there were many others like you who hung in there, too. I involved myself in a local shelter/charity instead and gave my time to real persons in need, that's how I felt I was 'connecting'.
But I feel that I can look backwards now - - - however, I've missed most of Faith's first year of life.
If Lily produces another cub this winter, I wonder if we'll see the same type of caring, loving attention that Hope gave her and her brother?

Oh, that's very different, Joanne! Delivering a ted already sold - I misunderstood! Mea culpa...

Would you be signing then as an artist or as a collector?
I'm not quite certain I understand why anyone would want to sign up as an artist without taking a table too ... New Days, New Ways, me thinks!
Show agents are having as hard a time as the artists are. So many have gone-out-of-business...

I too have been next to or near fellow artists who brought only a handful of teds, arranging them highlighted on a few risers in the center of the table. However, the person's bears each sold for several hundred $$. When 5 or 6 bears can bring in $1500 to $2500+ income in one day, you can afford to bring a 'handful of bears' and not suitcases full of other table-filling props and ephemera.

And there are some who don't need or want that much in sales to be satisfied for the day. If their goal is selling all of their inventory, no matter what the bottom-line is in profit, then they're happy with an empty table, too. We all have different goals.
I was only pointing out the differences in the change in 'sales/inventory mentality' (if that's not too harsh a term!) in the times before the internet and after. Hopefully no toes stepped on here! 

Well, I've been exhibiting at teddy shows since 1990, and really don't find the premier shows/fairs any more expensive now than they were then. They were priced between $400 or 500 to $1000 (and more!) back then, depending on which shows you picked and if you had one table or more. What has gone up is the cost of everything else: travel!
Airfare, food, hotel costs, table set-ups and decor, even the price of the quality garment or two which most exhibitors tended to purchase as their 'show' clothing and keep for several years because it packs well, wears well, is comfortable in most climates etc.

In the beginning, many promoters allowed sharing of tables, most tables are either 6' or 8' long. None that I've dealt with recently do that now. And as shows have closed down and the sales rooms become less visited, there is a tendency to hold more of a Showcasing or Boutique show. Fewer artists, more space for each (not crammed in as we used to be!) but have also trimmed down on all of the convention pkgs that the collectors used to like: extras like night-before artist room sneak peeks (sales), dessert receptions, auctions (most artists donated a bear), workshops.....

OMGosh Joanne:
"The problem here at least is that the tables that are at the venue are huge."
We miniaturists NEVER thought we'd hear that from someone who makes standard-sized bears!!
I think it's a case of 'The grass is always greener..."
We envied you all, because your bears covered so much more of the 6 - 8' table, along with a few carefully placed accessories.
And you thought that we just popped our work into a shoebox and quickly toddled off, forgetting that at the show, we had to bring loads of stuff to fill up all of that empty space...

But since the internet, the mind-set has changed everything.
There are always two sides of every coin:
All artists always prepared a table-full of inventory, and if you were one of those lucky enough (or unlucky) to sell out, you had to prepare another full amount of stock before your next show. You pretty much knew how well your work was selling so you also had a pretty good idea of how many pieces you would have left at the end of most shows (on average.) And you would learn to schedule your shows a certain distance apart in time depending on how long or how quickly you could accomplish restocking your table for the next show.

The eBay®/internet sites have produced an opposite feeling in many (most?) artists' minds: that they will create a piece (or two, if similar) of work and list that one while they begin another. An added benefit is that the sales/income are a little more regular that way.
But it's basically a "make one, sell it, make another to replace it" difference over the old way of preparing 12 - 24 pieces for a date 10 weeks to several months in the future, and expecting no income until that time.

Does that explain it clearly? There is no good or bad, right or wrong way, "It is what it is!" Some are able to straddle the fence and work both systems: build up inventory slowly for a few select fairs every year while continuing to offer something on their website/blog/auction sites/Bear Pile/Etsey/whatever/ regularly so that they are keeping a presence in both markets. It's really hard but I know some are doing it!

But it's definitely frowned upon (and reported by artists present to the promoter, if noticed!) to bring a few bears for sale, whether in your arms, they're tucked in your bag or peeking out of a pocket. Others have paid dearly for exhibitor space and an outside sale like that would be diverting collector monies from them. I know you were kidding but I didn't want that it give anyone else any ideas!

Off my soapbox now!

.. old habit die hard! After hardly looking in on the bears at all last year, due to the loss of Jason & Hope, I decided to pop in today.
I see that they opened a new North Amer. Bear (Info) Center on the 28th (last Friday), dedicated to & named after Hope. Nice!

And on the home page, there's now a place to sign up for receiving the daily-posted updates/messages that are posted on the website every day. (Too many redundancies in that sentence!!)
Lily has gone into her den already and her heart-rate shows that she's very sluggish now.
They were changing the batteries in her collar; apparently there's a one-visit per week per den limit imposed by the Dept. of Nat Resources now which they must honor to keep their funding.

Lyn said the fur on Lily's back is standing straight up, thick and soft and measures at least 3" long. I guess she's ready for Northern MN's winter! She's a 5 yo now; in a branch-covered den this year: I thought that the rock den looked so cold - the once or twice I looked early on last Fall!
Once this one gets snow covered it should be much cozier!

Congrats to all! I do remember the excitement of 'the phone calls from Mindy!
Do they still give you the announcement that way or is it via an email?
Katie mentioned that "an email would have been nice" - agreed, because it's a physical 'something' one could actually frame if you'd like!, or put into your memory book.
The advertising dept. call very quickly follows the official contact; to cash in on one's excitement and to give stats on how many ppl are going to view the nominated works in the issue to be on view in the such-&-such issue, ready for the "XXwhichever" show.
Clever marketing!

Great - THX for doing the research for all of us! Time is what all of us don't have! I'm sticking with blogger/blogspot, too.

I've done the same or similar, Thelma- - but didn't bother sewing.. I just used a stapler!

Hi Katy,
I looked into the purchase of that book on Amazon Used books; it's about $35. It certainly does cover a lot of basic info on flat pattern drafting!! I would be really tempted to purchase a copy - except the section on pants and fitting is unbelievably small. At least that's how it looked from the Index and the small peek from the preview pages, and none of the trouble-shooting that other books have covered.
But for understanding how to fit clothing and how it all goes together, how different seaming affects the fit.... this book looks like one that many people would rely on for a standard 'bible' on their reference shelf.
Thx for the information!

First, Welcome Nan - we're glad you jumped right in with some questions! We like those and you're likely to get several suggestions from different members, as we all work a little differently.

Me, too - shallow darts right at the top of the head on the side head pieces, going from that seam edge toward where the ears will be attached.
After the nap is brushed out and the ears are attached, the dart seam is never seen.
Just don't make it too wide a dart or you'll end up with a point that's hard to disguise.

Sometimes it helps to work this out in cheap muslin or other fabric first, realizing that if it looks pretty good this way after lightly stuffing to check the shaping, it's going to look even better in your bear fabric!

What size bears do you design? Minis? Smalls? Standard-sized? This will help us in our answers to you, as the solutions will differ slightly depending on the size of your teds.

I have a smallish (20" x24" ?)very-finely textured Yei rug that hangs on the wall here in the studio computer room. I haven't 'felt' it for while so I just got up to do so.
It too is stiff-but-soft. I can't describe it better than that! It's thinnish, never really meant to have been walked on, and both warp & weft loom threads are so firmly packed that it's difficult to actually see where the difference in them is. I would say that this too must come from an undercoat brushing of fibers rather than indiscriminate blending of the two. And yet I know that I have others downstairs in the typical black, gray & white in a larger gray that are more loosely woven with coarser threads. It's fun to look for the Lazy Lines, picturing the weaver who thought they'd do just a little bit more before moving or changing the fiber on the shuttle!
I would think that, as in knitting, the thickness of the yarn used (weft) and the size of the needle (i.e., distance between the warp wrappings) would determine the hand of the resulting cloth, hanging or rug Just a guess though, from uneducated logic...
Native American museum out here in Phoenix - LV that museum!!!

blushing BLUSHING here...
(Instruction Sheet Kits drove me C R A Z Y!!!)

Ta, Rikki....So good to see you out of Lurkdom!
Me, too, come to think of it, Thx to Becky...