Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Aww, that's so sweet.  :)  Cookies and everything.  I wonder how my own teddies would react to such things?  I suppose they're on a diet, mind.   :)  But how thoughtful.  :)

I bet you're very pleased indeed.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

That's good news.  What sort of technical college is this?  I work as a software engineer, so such things always interest me.

You should make him a teddy bear in celebration.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

Cute.  :)

I have to be really careful since I could easily buy every traditional bear I saw.  :)

I hope he finds a deserving home.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Hedgehogs are rare now (at least here in England).  But I've seen some recently tearing open a bag of rubbish.  Sigh, a shame since whilst they're cute and all, they're a damn nusaince, and so we've compromised by leaving cat food down instead; they prefer this to the rubbish bags, thankfully.   :)

-- Thomas Adam

Hehe,

I am going to be really proud to introduce him into my hug.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

But even that has problems -- yes, you can make it for yourself, but you also need to "prove" it's your own work and not something you've sold or are selling.  You can do that by your own authenticity.

Derived works based on something that's copyright is fine -- this isn't a patent, after all.   :)

Oh, IANAL [1], but having lived with a few law students at University over the years, I know bits and pieces.

-- Thomas Adam

[1] I Am Not A Lawyer.

If it's sufficiently different you'll be fine.

-- Thomas Adam

Aww, he's absolutely gorgeous!  Wow.

-- Thomas Adam

Hehe, cute -- nice idea too.   Well done.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Well, like anything, people will pay the price for any goods if they themselves appreciate the value in what they're buying.  To some people a bear just being a bear means just that, they won't go out of their way to look for anything that doesn't cost a lot, because the value isn't in things like a person's time and effort, the uniqueness of it, etc., it's the ubiquity which drives them.  It's the same thing with food; some people will spend more money on gastronomy whilst others will go down to KFC (ugh!)

So you will find a niche I am sure for this, and when you do the people who buy them will do so for all the -right- reasons and you then won't need to worry.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Where's your grandchildren's teddy bears though?   :)

-- Thomas ADam

Wow, what an unusual bear -- reminds me of a giraffe slightly and I am not sure why.  :)

I like how his head tilts -- and the fur is such an amazing colour; really suits him.

-- Thomas Adam

Aww!

I want to reach into my computer monitor and cuddle him!

-- Thomas Adam

You might find the following useful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_safety

It lists several US-specific documents you're likely going to need to source.

--  Thomas Adam

Well, the only thing I've found with any ease is this:

http://www.knittingonthenet.com/pattern … eteddy.htm

Could someone who knows anything about knitting comment on how feasible it would be to take the design pattern listed, and enlarge it perhaps, such that it was a centre piece on a jumper (sweater)?  Is it even possible given the design?

Thanks all!

-- Thomas Adam

Aww, how lovely!  I love the yellow colour of the first bear and the purple nose, and think the colour change in the second bear is really nice.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

Wow, she's... different.  :)  Hehe, not something I would personally go for, but she's an elephant for sure.  Those eyes are striking -- and i love how her fur is sparse around her trunk, brilliant!  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Aww, very well done indeed!

I love his proportions and the shape of his head, and his nose.  :)  He's clearly enjoying his trophy, and why not?   :)  What will he do with it when he gets back?  I hope the other teddy bears in his hug don't object too much.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Oink.   :)

They're really rather friendly as are the little piglets you catch a glimpse of in the background of some of the photos there.   When I visited my parents, the piglets rushed over, and I was sorely tempted to untwist their little tails to see what happens.  :)   As I gazed though, the adult piggies did nothing, lying on their backs completely unaffected by my presence, hehe,  So cute.  :)

Forgive me though, I did not mean to switch focus to piggies at all.

-- Thomas Adam

Dear god!  That frightened the life out of me.  :)

Mind you, in similar comparison, my parents took some photos of the pigs next door to them last week:

http://xteddy.org/~n6tadam/farm-pics/

-- Thomas Adam

This really pisses me off.  Sorry for my language -- but I realise that teddy bears deserve respect both in terms of their character and the time it took for the artist to create them.  Oftentimes, when I am choosing a teddy bear, I do so because it appeals to me, which means I would expect to pay in the region of £80 pounds sterling, if not more.  And to be honest, since I have budgeted and potentially made plans for a new teddy, it wouldn't necessarily matter if it cost more overall.

How some people could therefore not take this into consideration, I don't know -- the point is not about the money -- and I find it annoying that in this example it was -- and as you say, you might as well have gave the dear teddy bear away.    Sigh.

-- Thomas Adam

Thanks all for the replies so far. :)

I feel a little silly now -- since my impression of this is seemingly (no pun intended!) wrong.  :)  Still really useful information.

Are there then, any instances, where one would choose a particular seam (such as a centre one) over something else -- or does this simply fall down to how a teddy is designed in the first place?  Don't ask me why I am so hung up about this -- I just am interested in it, for some reason.  :)

Maybe I ought to get out more.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Hello all,

Well, I am slowly making my way to making my first teddy bear, I have just been swamped with work, but ought to start making some headway on this over the weekend.  :)  Just in terms of making phone calls to some nice people in the UK about recommendations, etc.  Got to start somewhere.  :)

As part of my reading and general interest into teddy bear making, I have read some references which allude to the fact that sewing a teddy bear with a centre seam is really difficult.  And as I look at some of the teddy bears in my hug, I note a few of them do indeed have a centre stitch.  But what I can't understand is:

- Why it's potentially difficult.
- And how other teddy bears are eventually sew up and where.

It seems in the case of the latter, it depends on the design overall?

I hope this makes sense.  I am sure it will to most of you since you create these lovely teddies.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Hehe -- it's pretty uniform across all airports to be honest, where it varies the greatest happens to be whether a country's security alert is high (whose aren't these days?). or some individual creates a nusiance.  I can't find it on the Internet, but I do recall reading an article where even though a teddy bear had been put through an x-ray machine, the poor teddy was gutted (literally) because the security guard there still thought there was the likelihood of drugs inside of it.  :(

I know it's not in most people's understanding to care, but what the hell would you do if that happened to your teddy bear?  You can't exactly ask the security guard to resew the teddy bear together again -- and if I were the security guard, I'd be embarrassed, too.  Sigh.   The more I read up on this on the Internet, the more sadened I get.

But at least you didn't get a problem, and your teddy made it to your Grandson.  That's the main thing.  ;)

-- Thomas Adam

He's gorgeous and fits the style of teddy bear I really adore.

Do you have a website and/or other examples of your work?  I'd be really interested!  But congratulations with this teddy -- he's big.  Is he for sale?  :)  I think he could fit nicely into my hug to be honest.

-- Thomas Adam