Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Just look at that little face!!!

Fantastically clever....I wouldn't know how to start!!

Oh for me ...(apart from saying that wouldn't it be great to all get together just for the hell of it....and what a shame we probably never will....) hands down it would be Judi so I can learn airbrushing from a maestro...all the other things I enjoy the challenge of fathoming out it myself....but this airbrushing lark, I think I need to see for myself someone doing it. I will do the next online workshop for sure.

Absolutely adorable.....and beautifully made....10/10!!!!!

I have bought coats too..I have bought a few from ebay but since my last 'problem' I now look in charity shops...they must be virtually new or you can't use much of the fur ..it gets squashed!!!!!!

Hi Winney....Bunny Clover...like most of mine at the moment is made from faux fur...don't ask me why...well I do know why when I think of it...I like the appearance of faux fur as it looks like real fur...ie it has guard-hairs which is what I love to see....giving it a fluffiness that doesn't happen with mohair unless I use the feather finishes, and then again I prefer straight piles.
I got foot pad and ear lining from Sassy's and very good they are too...they also have some really good synthetics but at the time I think she didn't have anything with a long enough pile for me ...I use anything between 5/8" and 1.5"...and now I am using a 2" pile knitted ...of which I have had to line the head but it didn't budge when I stuffed it, thank goodness.
The bunny was made from a piece of Tissavel blonde faux mink that I managed to get (it's difficult as hens teeth to find as no-one seems to sell it in the quantities we need to buy in)....I do occasionally buy faux fur coats that are in good nick as this fur is fabulous to work as it's soooo dense and so fluffy.

I do make from mohair but it isn't (from my point of view) as tactile and realistic looking as I like for my work...and I know I don't make realistic bears...far from it....but I like them to look as fuzzy and comforting as possible and I feel I can achieve it by using faux fur.

I think you'd look better if you were fatter, uglier and older......!!!! I am joking...They are all lovely but I do prefer the one where the photo is clearer.

I am so jealous.....

Hi Helen...I use lots of synthetics...problem is they seem as expensive and in some cases more expensive than mohair...

I get it from Edinburgh Imports mainly...there are knitted ones about which require you to line it first...one way to look at it though is no matter how expensive or inexpensive your fabric is the work is the same..

Shantell...the day you, I ...or anyone else.. makes the 100% perfect bear is the a day we stop trying...and heaven help us all if that happens..I sincerely hope I never make one..!!

I am sporadic ..some days I'll be on and off all day..then other days not at all...when I am at work I don't always look...and then on Sundays I can go all day and not log-on at all.
In the week I check several times a day and , if there's an interesting thread started up I will check back more often.

I check the general chit-chat first then the technical stuff...then the showcase...but often if I get caught up in a thread I won't look at anything else....

I am on for about 5 to 15 minutes at a time...sometimes a bit longer...but I do genuinely limit it because I could waste my entire day away faffing about on here...

That's it me 5 minutes are up.......!!!!!!!

Welcome back to Teddy Talk!!!

Jenny

I am going to throw a cat among the pigeons too and say I think she looks like a girl...see, I even said 'she'...I always imagine a ribbon in their hair before I decide and this bear looks feminine to me...

Thanks everyone for looking at my little ballerina...and thanks for your lovely comments...

Shelli, I admire your work and thanks for all your helpful words of advice, which even though,often, I only pick up on when others ask the question have enabled me to make changes to my work and take my techniques in new directions and totally inspire me...especially the oil painting technique which I freely admit I had no clue about till you mentioned it and I know my work has improved because of it...

Like we've said before...no matter what the outcome of these awards/competitions it does stretch you creatively and that has to be good....

This is Miss Zsa-Zsa ...my entry for the larger dressed section of the Golden Teddy...I deliberated about entering her after Shelli enquired about Tu-tu making...but my bear was already made and I was set on entering her ...she isn't in the TOBYS...and, as our bears are so different it makes no odds.

It goes to show how two people thousands of miles apart can end up thinking the same thing...

Anyway...she's fully armatured and has a fancy frock on...oh and silk shoes 'what I made!!'

Cute...and original.....excellent work!!!

Absolutely lovely..well done...very imaginative

It would be good to set a challenge, say Easter ...or something topical...and we post maybe anonymous pictures in a separate section...then we could all vote...

Just mulling it over.....

Absolutely stunning work...as usual!!!!!

Is there any reason why there couldn't be a Teddy Talk Award ?

Just a thought

How about these then:

'Reality check course for those with short arms and long pockets....yes, prices have gone up since 1960 and this course brings you bang up to date' My husband seriously needs to go on this one

and ' How to dance at weddings without everyone within 10 yards suddenly pretending they don't know you....bring your own disco music for this one...sorry guys, no lycra allowed'

This piece is wonderful.....it's seeing this that made me keen to do a dressmaking course because I want to get better at making clothes...except that when I enrol they might be troubled that I want to make things measuring only 8"!!!

You are so good at everything....well done!!

I didn't touch the sewing machine for 8...yes 8 weeks as I had flu and then flu again followed by more flu......so this week I am up and at it again...and it does feel good. Coincidentally I have had a fair few enquiries too which has spurred me on as well...

It was so hard to get back down to it but  then I just decided on Saturday...'today's the day'....I hope I keep it up now I am on a roll!!

Thanks again everyone....Nancy I have a rabbit in the 'friends' section....  I love the originality of all the entries...it makes me wish I'd thought harder before entering a bunny...

Oh! Thanks everyone for looking at my bears....it's great to have all your comments...and even though looking at the competition my chances are slim, I still think these competitions help in the long run...to broaden the old horizons as it were!!

Boo is in the smaller of the dressed categories, Shelli, ...he's just shy of 13"....the other bear is 15"..hence being in the bigger bear category...

Yes, Shelli...she has got whites under her eyes...I thought it worked with the brown fur.....

I don't often do it ...but some need it somehow...!!