Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I wanted to respond to Daphne too, but figured my first post was long enough 

Daphne, I loved the idea when you took other artists' bears to shows with you.   The thought has been tickling at me ever since.  Some thoughts (I'm going to list these separately)...

I must agree that an International table is the only way to go. 
#1) It sounds impressive for the show, and could indeed be used in promotions. 
#2) I think collectors might love the opportunity to see work in person that otherwise they might never be able to, and international artists certainly fit this bill.
#3) I think all artists understand how hard it is to travel internationally for a show.  I don't think other participating artists would resent a grouped International table, whereas there might be sour feelings towards a  group of artists that are in the same state as the show, like Luann mentioned above.

I am not sure that asking every promoter to shoulder all of the responsibility for an International sales table is the way to go.  I think many may just be too busy (or not interested enough) to attempt it.  I wonder instead if the better answer isn't to work with the blessing of promoters, but instead function as in independent group.  I can say that for me, I would be willing to volunteer time and effort into such a venture.  I would be willing to volunteer in whatever way I was able... shipping & receiving, working with artists, build a web presence to drum up support, babysit a table at a show, whatever... because I think it's a great idea.  But I must admit that I would be *most* willing to work on something like this in the US if I knew that my own bears would have a chance at sharing table space at a show that is international to me, like Australia or England.  This would be a group whose efforts were truly reciprocal.

I think chosing the shows that would best host such an International table might be a challenge in itself.  It would be a mistake to just go to any show willing to take them.  I've been to numerous shows this year so far, and no way would I recommend all of them for such a venture.  In some cases, there were barely enough collectors through the door to support the artists there in person, I would never take additional artists' bears to a venue like that.  It would be a waste for everyone involved.  And of larger and more heavily-attended shows, the promoters might not be interested in the idea at all.  Much research would need to go into this.

Now, presuming that a list of acceptable shows could be scrounged up and promoter approval granted in advance, it seems to me that the best way to ask artists to foot an international shipping bill is to offer them the opportunity to send their bears to MORE than one show while it was in the country.  On their application, they could check off which shows they would like their bears to attend.  If the bears sell at the first show, fine.  If not, they get stored carefully by the group until the next show that artist wanted their bear at. 

Consider making it a juried process.  It can be juried individually by bear ("would you accept this bear at your table?") or by artist.  Gather as impartial a jury as is possible, with other artists, promoters, store owners, whatever.  Limit the number of bears that can be submitted by any one person at any one time.   

Figure out the maximum number of bears you would be willing to place on a table at a show.  I figure there are two ways to do this, to prevent overcrowding.  Divide up the table space at that show (6' table? 8' table?) by either:
#1) square footage - each artist gets 1 square foot of space, for example.  Some artists might send one big bear, another might send half a dozen minis to fit that space. 
#2) divide by the number of bears you think the table can efficiently hold, perhaps 20 of varying sizes on a multi-tiered display.

So with those potential examples above (I'm randomly choosing numbers by the way)... let's say you could get an 8'  x 30" table at a show for $300.  You could divide it into square footage, oh we'll say 12" x 15" blocks which makes for 16 blocks of table space at $18.75 / block just to pay for the table.  The decision could be made as to whether people could purchase multiple blocks.  Alternately, if dividing by the number of bears you'd like to see on the table, let's say you want to see a maximum of 24 bears on that same 8' x 30" table at the $300 price.  Now the price per bear would be $12.50 to cover the cost of the table, and people could send multiple bears with a limit per artist.   Interesting!  Certainly beats the costs of travelling internationally!

Sorry, I think Daphne's original question was "would you consider it?".  Yes, I would.  Sorry for all the extra blahblahblah above 

Cheers,
Kelly

Jared, interesting thoughts about using eBay as advertising space for 30 dollars.  Although if you think of it as $30/week, and consider that TBR or TB&F is a 2-month magazine... then the comparative price is actually $240 for two months' worth of featured bears on eBay.  Well, that really is on par with the price of taking out a two month ad in one of the magazines.  I do agree that eBay reaches a broader audience, including interestingly enough, people that don't normally collect teddy bears but may run across them in an eBay-wide search for something else.  That is the power of eBay, there is a POTENTIAL for an endless supply of buyers (getting them to look at your auction in particular is another story).

Regarding B4B... I think Nancy is wonderful, she has my utmost respect and I wish her the best of luck.  However.  I've watched many, many sites try to rise up over the years as competition to eBay in various niche markets.  I'm not aware of any succeeding terribly well.  The only one I know of that has survived well is TIAS (tias.com) for antiques.  And I think that even they have changed the way their site functions to survive.  If I recall correctly (???), in the beginning they tried to be a straight auction site taking business from eBay, and it didn't work out.  Last I heard anything about them, they work on many levels primarily as simply a store for members' listings, but one of the recent additions is that they now DO support eBay auctions of its' members, including participation with eBay Live auctions. 

When it comes right down to it, what eBay has that other sites do not is TRAFFIC.  Even if 1% of people looking at teddy bears are actually going to buy a bear, eBay makes up for it by shoving thousands of people past your auction every day.  Sites that rise up to compete with eBay need their OWN traffic flow in as large a number as they can.  It's not just a matter of encouraging artists to support the site.  "List your bears here, it's cheaper!"  "Tell your mailing list!"  Only a PERCENTAGE of a mailing list will check out a new listing or auction, anybody that keeps track of their statistics knows that.  It's like having a bear show all set up with dozens of artists, tons of bears, and then having 20 prospective buyers walk through the doors over the course of the day.  I went to a show like that this summer, needless to say sales were horrible.  Even if every one of the twenty prospective buyers bought multiple bears each (and they didn't), there just weren't enough of them to make it a good day for sales.  It's the collectors, the visitors, the TRAFFIC that makes or breaks a sales venue. 

I haven't sold bears on eBay since last year, for the very simple reason that I found through trial-and-error that my bears sold more reliably and for better prices at shows.  But when I did last sell bears on eBay, some sales went to bear collectors but some did not... they went, for example, to someone browsing all of eBay to find a Christmas gift for his fiance, to someone looking for something extra-special to have under the tree for his older daughter, to some fellow in Singapore with no grasp on the language and no history of buying bears (but I discovered in mailing the bear that his street name was the same as the bear's name... must have been how he found it!).  It was not just bear-collecting traffic that sells bears on eBay, it is the general Joe Q. Public, and no competing venue has access to more Joe Q's.

OK, I've been typing this so long, I don't remember what I was originally answering.  <sigh>

Cheers,
Kelly

Dunno, it is kind of hard to tell from the photo.  I have some of the MC16 and it does like pretty much exactly like that in yardage.  What about asking Elke or someone else who is extremely familiar with the brand?

Cheers,
Kelly

Daphne, my first thought when I saw which mohair you liked was "it looks like 1" dense curly kid".  Look up MC16-208 and see what you think...

Cheers,
Kelly

How very sad to hear about the passing of this lovely lady!  Our thoughts are with her loved ones at this time  :hug:

Uhhhhhh.  Schulte.  Yup.  Schulte synthetics.  Lovely stuff.  I'm working on a bear right now that is made out of their 1" velveteen, and it's dreamy soft, thick and glossy.  Someone will need to use a crowbar to get this bear out of my arms and onto a sales table in the fall <sigh>.  Some of my favorite bears of all times have been made with their synthetics, including one of my own that I kept (gave him to myself for Christmas last year!) and one that I swiped from my mother as she was putting the finishing touches on.  Yup, it's going to be hard to give up this new one and all I have sewn together so far is the head and ears!!!!

Cheers,
Kelly

Wow Irene, what FUN!   :dance:

I would have been the same way... I want one of those, and one of those, and one of those, oh yes and some of those...

Can't wait to see what new bears you make with your beautiful fabric!  (Love that batiked looking one on the bottom of your pile!)

Bear hugs,
Kelly

Hmmm, thanks for reminding me I needed to update my version of Firefox 

OK, I've looked at this site with an older version of Firefox, and also with my freshly downloaded 1.5 version... and no problems on this site that I can see.  Hope you figure it out, Amelia!

Cheers,
Kelly

Yes.

Yes.

Aaaaaand yes.

Well, you could always dye something 

Have fun with whatever you choose, I know it will be lovely!

Cheers,
Kelly

P.S.  Where did you get curly alpaca??????

I agree with the others' votes on muskrat.

Learn something every day... I didn't know "china mink" meant muskrat-dyed-as-mink!  LOL!  I figured that "china mink" was one of those fancy ways of saying "this is not actually mink", looks like I was correct on that one.

Cheers,
Kelly

Ginger, fantastic job on your reports, I can't think of a thing to add!  Hope everyone had a safe trip home!  It was wonderful to meet you and Deb for the first time, and great to meet up with Janet and Pam again as well.  Wanda, you were missed but your gallery piece was much admired!  Deb, I apologize for hauling you from your table at the end of the show, you probably think I'm a dope and are welcome to conk me over the head next time you see me!  That's a great group shot of the Teddy Talkers, I don't think Francisco knew what the photo was being taken for, but he wanted to be in it anyway and darted in front of the camera to be included 
 

For my $0.02... the show was definitely top notch, it never seemed to slow down and the enthusiasm among collectors stayed at 100% until the doors closed on the showroom (well, past that even!).  This was the first show I've attended where I don't think I had more than 60 seconds of quiet at our table at a time, there was always someone stopping by to browse, chat or buy (woohoo!).  I think most of the artists had strong sales, ourselves included.  There were the wonderful signs of a great show, with collectors laboring down the aisles under the heavy weight of many bags of bears, and even making trips up to their rooms to unload and come back for more.  Bless 'em all.

Bear hugs,
Kelly

Still working on bears here, too!  (Of course!)  To Janet and others flying in, best of luck with the airports, hope you have a safe and uneventful trip!  I think I'd be worried sick if I had to get my bears through an airport these days...  I am lucky that TBAI is the ONE show I live fairly close to (~ 3 hour drive).

Deborah, Janet, Ginger, hope to catch up with you all this weekend!  I have on my packing list to bring a digital camera, so maybe I'll be sneaking up on your tables hiding behind it.  If anyone else gets a chance to drop by the show, please do, the gallery is always second to none, to say nothing of the artists' tables themselves.

Wanda, it was wonderful to meet you last year, I had hoped to have more time to chat with you this year!  Very sorry to hear about your husband's health problems, it sounds like you're doing what you need to do and what is best for your family.  You and your gorgeous bears will be missed at this year's show!  My mother sends her best wishes and hugs as well.

Has anyone heard from Deb in New York lately?  I thought I'd threatened her into visiting this show earlier in the year, hope she is able to go!

Best wishes,
Kelly

Karen had a good idea to see who else was going to Expo, and here's a thread to see who's going to TBAI 

Anyone, anyone?  I know you're out there!  Who from here is attending as an artist?  Visiting?  Passing through?  Driving by on the thruway and yelling "HI!" as loud as you can?

I'll be there as an artist with my co-artist mom (Canna Bear Paint).  Please come over and say hello if I don't find you first!  I know I missed meeting a bunch of people last year, so I need to play catch-up with them this year.  You have been warned... 

Bear hugs,
Kelly

I received my issue a few days ago, but just now got a chance to look at it more closely.  Great issue, kudos all around!  Big congrats also go out to Deb (Bearhaven Bears) for the wonderful article profiling her!  I recognized the pup in the one photo from when you gave us here at TT a sneak preview of your TBAI gallery piece!

Two big thumbs up  
Kelly

Skippy is lucky to have you looking out for her, Shantell!

(Disclaimer that I have known people that used this, though not used it myself).  Feliway is a synthetic cat pheromone, it seems odd but interesting!  By my understanding, when a cat rubs his (or her) cheek up against something, he leaves a pheromone marking that labels it 'his'.  Once he's marked something with his cheek, he is less likely to mark it by other means...  with urine, scratching, and so forth.  The odor also supposedly calms the cat (they consider it a "job well done" and it gives a sense of familiarity to an area, I suppose!).  Feliway replicates the odor of the cat's cheek pheromone, the cat can detect it but people cannot.  There is a spray that you can spritz onto any particular surface that the cat is damaging.  Or there is a diffuser which you plug in, it acts like a plug-in air freshener would and dispenses small amounts into the environment for several weeks.  People use it various ways.  I hear you can also spritz the inside of a cat carrier before travelling somewhere (like the vet) to calm them down a bit.  Some people use it when moving a cat to a new environment.  Anyway, I think it's facinating stuff.  If I happened to have a nutty high-strung cat or one that liked to pee or scratch inappropriate objects, I think I'd give it a try.  Your mileage may vary, of course 

Cheers,
Kelly

Oh my, big pretty kitty!  Couple of thoughts... do you have any TNR programs around you for feral cats (TNR = trap - neuter - release)?  You might be able to find someone who would possibly assist you in catching her for a spay post-kittens, or might even do it for you.  The best thing I can think about trying to get her in the house / garage and KEEP her in there is to prevent her from getting pregnant again, which unfortunately she will be capable of within days of having her litter.

Regarding your other cat's problems indoors... I know some folks who swear by the Feliway diffuser to correct inappropriate urinating and even scratching indoors.  Might be worth looking into!

Best wishes,
Kelly

I will be very interested to see the response to this as well.  I've on multiple occasions had people express interest in having a 'duplicate' to a OOAK bear made.  When I respond with something along the lines of "thank you very much, I can make you a cousin of that bear but not an exact duplicate because the original was one-of-a-kind", the person requesting the duplicate tends to disappear... In fact, I'm working on a website overhaul in my spare time (what spare time?) and am strongly considering putting something about this on the site.  Something like "inquiries about custom bears are always welcome, but please be advised that we will not create an exact duplicate of an existing OOAK bear".

So yes, I do agree with you that one of a kind is ONE OF A KIND.  I feel that I must protect the integrity of the original work that was sold as OOAK (as in 'the only one like it in the world') by not replicating it on demand.  That's why we call them OOAK and not OOAKUYAFA ("one of a kind unless you ask for another").

Cheers,
Kelly

Hi Shelli, I must say that TBAI is... TOO SOON!  Mid-August.  We're OK with small and medium bears, but have some biggies to work on and I'm trying to do my first real display of minis.  Last year we had our gallery piece done months in advance, and this year, well, we're still working on it.  Finally had to drop it off at a woodworker's because I was going nuts trying to figure out how to install some things myself.  There's only so much I can do with a handsaw and a hammer, it turns out!

Will try to remember some  :photo:  this year!
Cheers,
Kelly

We'll be there, Daphne!  Hope you'll be able to make it, it would be great to meet you!  I agree with Sue Ann, bring enough bears for two days and expect to have a really fun time.   We've been there three times previously, and I know there are several people who post (and lurk!) here that attend Schaumburg either regularly or once-in-a-while.

Well, back to the grindstone.  Got to finish bears for Binghamton first before I think about Schaumburg!

Kelly

Hi Celena,

Sorry to hear you are not feeling well!  Also consider a possible sensitivity / allergy to something in your environment or something in the food that you eat.  I've known of women who got migraines from certain perfumes, for example.  My mother developed a severe milk allergy later in life, and when she went on soy products instead, the soy gave her horrific migraines that lasted for weeks.  Turns out she is also sensitive to soy!  If you haven't already tried it, experiment with your diet to see if there is anything you are reacting to, remove things one at a time and see if you get better without them.  The weird additives, preservatives and color dyes they put in processed food now can be very scary stuff, people do react to them!  Things like caffeine and refined sugars can also give some people nasty reactions...

Best wishes,
Kelly

Ah Jenny, your bears are so lovely... I have the feeling that your standards are exceptionally high 

If it's going to bug you, by all means keep plugging away. I usually tell myself in a situation like this to just keep trying something else until it works, the worst case scenario would be to make the SAME mistake repeatedly.  At least you can narrow down the possibilities if you just keep tweaking it different ways.  On the other hand, if the mouth is going to push you over the brink, it may be better to walk away for a while.  Sometimes I have the best solutions for a bear problem when I'm in the middle of doing something else completely.

Best wishes,
Kelly

Excellent article, Daphne (and Laura!) 

Bear hugs,
Kelly

Oh sure, do it the simple way, why don't you   

Cheers,
Kelly

Great minds think alike, I've been pondering that question for a few months now 

Never did quite figure out how to go about it, but at one point I wrote down a bunch of weird ideas to try.  I remember one was installing a hinge inside the mouth like a real jaw acts like.  I even went to Home Depot and looked at cabinet hinges, but they all opened and closed too freely for what I wanted... in other words, the bear's mouth would fall open, whereas I wanted something where the mouth would stay wherever I put it (fully closed, open at any angle or open fully).  Now a loose hinge would still work if all you wanted was to have it 100% closed or 100% open... the loose hinge would allow the mouth to fall open all the way, and then just install something within the mouth that when the jaw was pressed together would hold it closed (magnet, snap, velcro, whatever). 

Are we having fun yet? 
Kelly

Hi all, I have not been around much as I've been running in 50 directions at once lately 

One of my many current projects is redesigning our web site.  Adobe was very obliging and let us upgrade an old educational version of Photoshop to the brand new full CS2 for a comparatively smaller fee.  I've been neck deep in graphics!  It's going well, but I've got some questions that I hope you lovely folks can help out with!  I want to include information on our site redesign about special orders and commission work, but we really haven't done much with them before and certainly never had a set policy on them. 

So, how about an informal poll...
- Do you take special order bears?
- Do you require a deposit?  What percentage of the cost do you require?  Is it refundable?

I'd like to resolve our special order policy soon, as we're running headlong towards 5,000 unique visitors on our site, and were wondering if there was something we could do to celebrate it.  I loved seeing Louise's anniversary pandas, and we were wondering if we could do a special "5000 visitors" bear in some manner.   Hmmmmmm.

On a related note, my mother has been fielding questions at the last few shows we've attended about doing fur bear commission work, but I'm thinking this may need some extra information because of the nature of fur garments.  For those of you who have done this before... shouldn't they send you the coat FIRST, so you can make sure it is usable?  I also presume you'll need to look at it yourself to confirm how many bears / and of what sizes will be possible?  So would they send you the coat with a deposit, that you would return if the coat were unusable?  Wouldn't they be responsible for shipping costs both ways as well?

If you use someone else's fur (zero cost to you), would you charge a little bit less than if you were providing all the fur?  And I'm also thinking that if we happened to have a nice complementary fur to theirs, we could offer them a two-tone panda option.  Is there anything else important I'm missing with these thoughts?  I would love to have a set-in-stone policy for these on our new site, and also a printout that we could take to shows with us that would answer just about every question people might have.

My eternal gratitude for your help    
Kelly