Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

What a gorgeous bear. And Jessie, your love for bears makes me smile

Gorgeous - the effects of long fur on small bears are fantastic, it's what I use all the time but it does take patience and a bit of practice. He's gorgeous I love him!

How cute - the one on the right looks exactly like my cat BoBlue, he's even got the same white spots on his nose!

You can join the forum regardless of whether you have a reborn or not Jessie, it's a lovely place. Lots of people on there hope to one day own one and they are welcomed there like everybody else.

Baby Banter has a bear section I've been helping to set it up with the administrator, we're trying to get some tutorials for bear making and that in there because they're all doll people there and don't know the basics about how bears are made, but some would like to have a go. So we're trying to set up some sections about some basic bear making tuts.

The good looking reborns are expensive, basically the more you pay the better doll you get - but not always, you do have to watch those artists just trying to make money fast who really haven't made the doll properly. I have 7 reborns. 5 were made by Andama Dujon, the administrator of Baby Banter, the other 2 were by different artists.
Not because they look like babies or anything like that (I understand some people need them for therapy etc and they're very helpful to some people) I just like them because they're very artistic and lovely dolls.

Jessie on the forum, Baby Banter reborn dolls forum, you're welcome to talk about dolls you hope to one day own, or ask advice of the members on what reborns to buy etc. You can also share pics of your bear collections and bears you've made and generally do anything lol. We don't mind, it's a very easy-going forum if you do the right thing (it also has some of the strictest spam detection  programs in place I've ever seen so members occasionally accidentally get banned for posting a link or something and we have to let them back in lol).

Anyway anyone who likes dolls is welcome there basically. And bear people too! It's an everybody place. Like this forum, it's a bit of everything

OK, thanks Joanne Just being careful

Oh and he also has a gorgeous scissor-sculpted goatee which is very suave looking

He's so gorgeous!

Jessie, he's a pirate bear made in a bone coloured fur. He has a captain's hat as he's a sailor, with a beautiful big red feather sticking out the top. He has light shading around his eyes that are dark brown and also have eyelids, and he has his own treasure chest full of rolled up maps. He's also wearing..... I would describe it as a collar but not like a dog-collar, it's a sailor's collar, like the collar of a shirt but more refined and leather looking This also has a gorgeous red ruffle with a jewel on the ruffling

Hope that paints a good picture for you! He's absolutely gorgeous

My very first bear's name was Harry, however I didn't love him that much and so my second bear kind of took over from him. My second bear, who remains my favourite bear and I still own him, is named Bicky and is nothing all that special to anyone else. In fact I've been told he's awfully grubby from other's perspectives - but I think he's the most gorgeous bear in the whole wide world

I was a very unwell child, and very often (I had a number of illnesses and it was not unusual for me to be unwell) my mum used to cheer me up by telling stories with Bicky, talking in "his" voice and telling me great tales of adventure. I especially remember a story she told me about a koala (Bicky looked nothing like a Koala but everyone who knows me will tell you I have a huge imagination so he was the BEST koala I'd ever seen lol) who had a stutter and lived near a creek full of chocolate.... I don't remember what happened in the story but I remember it made me so happy because I'd been coughing (asthma at that stage) all night and crying, and couldn't sleep.... I had a ventilator in my room that poured out steam to try and make it easier for me to breathe and all my other bears got locked in my cupboard so they wouldn't end up soaking wet lol, but not Bicky! There would have been hell to pay if ended up locked anywhere.

The next day he was always hanging outside from the washing line..... used to be by his ears, but I thought that was awful so mum would put him in a stocking like a hammock and position him all cutely so he looked comfy LOL.

I also had a lot of puppets (which is why I've always collected puppets and now perform puppet shows almost daily for birthday kids and kindergartons etc) and lots of them were treasured too, but none quite like Bicky.

And I can tell Bicky was important to me because all my other bears had their ribbons literally RIPPED off of them as I HATED ribbons (then), but Bicky got to keep his ribbon - so that's saying something LOL :D:D

OK now that I've remembered things out loud for some time I'd better go try and work out how to make this custom ordered pony.... Hugs to you all and thanks so much for starting this post

Jessie it is a reborn doll forum. I don't know if I'm meant to mention names or not, I just really love this forum and would hate to do something and accidentally be banned lol. It's a lovely place. I PM'd you the name of it just in case. I'm not trying to advertise it as I love this place too and they're both totally different to each other in what is displayed, but same in the way that they are both lovely little communities. Many of my good friends are on the other forum which is how I found it in the first place, I have lots of different dolls though.

I do, for the record, love it here and wasn't sure what we were and weren't supposed to mention so I tried to avoid "Getting in trouble" :crackup:

Bear hugs to you all

Gorgeous! Love the expression

He's gorgeous as are all your creations Jo! Love him, you can't tell you've never needle-felted a rabbit's face before He looks fantastic  :clap:

Awwww what gorgeous little friends. Love, love, love them!  :clap:

I collect dolls too! I have quite a few now, and  I'm a member of a great doll forum but aren't we supposed to refrain from mentioning other forums on here? I won't say the name of it but it's a lovely place and look forward to reading about your new collection Jessie

How cute is Le Boo!!!! Gorgeous well done!

How gorgeous is little Meep! Love him

Wow what an interesting post. I have done some sketch and art courses etc, I always begin with a sketch of the finished product with all the accessories in the sketch I want to use - then I draw out shapes using graph paper and then I perfect angles etc before transferring the pattern to fur - or, if it's going to be a pattern I use a lot I transfer it to plastic and then to fur.

As for the English Bulldog - I think if you just use a basic dog-shaped pattern and then just needle-sculpt the creases for the face etc. But sheesh! Out of all the dogs they could possibly think to ask you to make it had to be one with more wrinkles than a pug lol. Good luck to you!

By the way I think a pattern that had a wire armature would probably work better for realism etc then a pattern with seperate limbs that were jointed. If that doesn't make sense feel free to let me know lol. Sometimes these things only make sense to me lol.

I definitely agree there's something special about hand-sewing. I only ever hand-sew.

GORGEOUS!!!!  :clap:

LOL Your post made me laugh TC!!!  :crackup::crackup::crackup: Still a gorgeous bear no matter who owns the rights and how old or young he is ROFL

Awww he's just gorgeous I love him! Well done

Your bears and creations are just amazing I can't believe their all crocheted! Well done love him

Awwwww I LOVE them!!! I LOVE foxes!!!! I love your creations they nearly look like paintings they're so realisticly cartoony and just super gorgeous. I love them!

I hope I can own one or two one day (knowing me it will probably be multiple if I start with one lol).

Love them!

He's a gorgeous bear TC!!!! Love his cheeky smile

Bravo US Bears  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  :clap: I have not visited the page either and I won't, I really don't need anything else to upset and add anger to my week lol. This week's been bad enough so I won't be visiting it I'll just take your words for it that's it's not nice.

I do like to stick to forums like this and other nice ones where I can remain ignorant of the horrible things that go on out there. I had some really, really, awful experiences on FB when I used to be on there and I vowed a long time ago I'd NEVER go back. However an artist I know is suggsting I make a page for my bears as a business advertising plan. Still not sure though.

And Dawn, you most certainly did not offend me or my father (well if he knew about the site etc he'd probably have a lot to say about this post but thank fully he's probably out hunting doing his own thing lol). My mother been a vegetarian for a very long time too, and the only reason I have not gone Vegetarian is because I have lots and lots of health problems and I simply can't or many more things would go  wrong. I congratulate you though and I'm most certainly not offended by your comments, I simply wanted to make sure people didn't read my post and think that my beliefs were that some animals deserve to die whereas others don't ~ as that is absolutely NOT what I meant. Sometimes I just write things and think everyone will take it the way it was meant, then when I read it back I see what others would see lol. I didn't mean it the way it sounded if you know what I mean. Animals mean so much to me and everyone, NONE of them deserve to die. No living thing deserves to die.

This is a really sad predicament that the world has seemed to end up in. How do we fix the problems when it will make so many more to simply ban hunting etc? It's best not to think too hard about it or one can end up depressed I think.

Another member also sent me a link to the site and I saw photos of Hope, she was beautiful indeed.

I do have to say I honestly, with all my heart, believe that hunting feeling like a necessity for humans is coming to an end. We are out-growing this, however slow and prolonged it may feel to on-lookers, the Human race as a whole is going a good direction not a bad one. I hope everyone tries to remember this when things like this happen to make you feel down. Hope brought such happiness and inspiration to so many lives, don't forget what she taught you all and remember that there are more bears in need of help too.

I'd also like to say approaching hunters with some understanding, empathy and if you can't manage empathy than sympathy, is a good thing to practice. The hunter who killed Hope sounds to me like a good and honest hunter who did not mean to shoot Hope and who does not do so for sport but for the quality of meat etc. It may be hard to hear, but at least she was not left to waste like so many heartless hunters practice. From what information you have been given I hope you all try to visualize that Hope left this life painlessly and with thanks given to her by the hunter who took her life. Hope taught you all so much.... Bear hugs to you all