Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

naw. . . he stole it from a macy's dumpster in Nome or Fairbanks, I think  :redface:

:redface:  :redface:  :redface:  erp. . . I DID suscribe, but it was only just last week! (you know me, always a day late and a dollar short) and it'll take weeks, maybe months to start. .

and bless you for sending some, I need to send one to my momma!

I'm esp excited about the new format & the new kids magazine, what a cool idea!

(in the meantime, I've borrowed your scan, thanks, Mindy!)

thanks, SueAnn & ladies. . . I'll admit to be pleased as punch!   (whoever thinks they'll land on the cover!)
:dance:  :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:  :dance:   :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:

and congrats to all the others who made it into print this month.  I haven't seen either issue myself yet, but I rented a car and drove Naughty Nick to the TB&F photo shoot in August, and got to see the rest of the bears in the 'Christmas Carol' spread - which was like a TT roll call - and it must be a beautiful spread, as there were some amazing pieces there.  I did see a tiny postage-stamp sized glimpse in a TB&F email, but there isn't a store within 80 miles that carries the magazine. . .sheesh. .     anyway, I'm a pretty happy camper   

aww. . . shucks. . . caught me!   :redface:  :redface:  :redface:

I've been told many times that my bears looked like me, and my mole island bears with their wide furry snouts were often compared to my mustache - and to my cocker spaniel buddy.  these days I'm doing bears with long, thin snouts, I'm thinner and I've got beagles, so go figure. . .

erp. . . how thin is that?  not too, I hope. . .but yeah,  those are current photos.  it's those 2 beagles and those 2 hour-long walks we go for every day - at ramming speed!  :crackup:

I wanna watch!!!  :dance:  :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:  :dance:  :crackup:

Catherine, I loved your dolls - I think that little piglet (elf?) is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.  what an adorable creature  :clap:

Paula, you always look as happy as your bears  :dance:

lol. . . or what a slob, although I admit that I prefer your version :hug:

well, I'm not all gloom and doom, I was just a little shocked to find out that the world had fallen apart while I wan't paying attention  :crackup:   I don't own any stocks, I don't have a retirement plan, a mortgage, or for that matter, any savings, so most of this hasn't affected me at all - shoot, I don't even keep a car, so gas prices haven't hurt me much either.  sales are a little slower everywhere, it's obvious, but like Jenny said, all you can do is be the best you can be, and move forward.

'let them eat cake' I always say, since cake-baking is one of my sidelines and people always do have to eat. . .

I really like Jenny's standards, they're what I aspire to also. . .

now if I could only get Jenny to give me a haircut like the one on the bear in her avitar. . . ;-)

p.s. and I'm feeling pretty good about ebay right now, at least this week  :dance:

mine's a sassoon that I picked up at TJ Maxx for 12.99 last Christmas when my old one burned out.  it has interchangeable heads, works both cordless and corded, which is great when you have a big trimming job.  it also has a 'power boost' button to rev it up when you hit - literally - a snag.

I use a set of heavy-duty power dog trimmers when I want to shave down large expanses of fur.  I figured if they worked on a cocker spanial, they'd work on mohair - and they do.!

I file down the lower tip of my fur-cutting Fiskars down just a smidge. I find that it helps me not catch that sharp, pointy tip in the weave & lessens the chance that I'll cut the pile.

it renders the scissors totally useless for trimming the edge on sassy, though,so I've got a bunch of them lying around.

. . .try the pure embarrassment of having your bear sit a 99 cents for 2 days. . .  {{{{shudder}}}}

TJ MaXX is usually full of them 'round the holidays, at a discount.   I think I've seen TJ's in england.

Marion, the little fiskars is what I use for everything (I'm a lefty and regular scissors are hell) but sometimes it just don't wanna cut, esp on the bottom edge, when you're trying so desperately not to cut the pile. . .   :pray:

I'd say price is definitely an issue.   I call it the 'oh' factor, as in the 'oooohhhhh' they say when they hear the price, right before they put it back down.  for manufactured, store-bought bears, the 'oh' factor is about $20.  On artist bears, my experience has been has been that it's around $300, and after that your collector base drops of dramatically.  the next big drop-off happens at $500 and you'll hear me say -often - that when you get over to bears over $1000, there are only about 12 collectors in the whole world - and I only know 5 of those  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup: .       

I don't think my 'oh' factor scale has much to do with current economic conditions, I think it's always been that way, but  I think the current economy has everything to do with it.

Paula, I've rolled with the punches, too, and while I haven't really lowered my prices, I've had people come into shop on the right day and a get a heck of a bargain.  I've also been trying to do smaller pieces and leave the vignettes alone, but my problem is that I'm so ADHD that if it's not an interesting project, I just can't get into it. (I literally can't sit still for more than 5 minutes  :redface: explains alot , doesn't it. . )

and I, too, am thinking about posting on ebay with no reserve.  in this case, it's less about selling the item than the absolute, total tension you are under for a week, while wondering if your piece is gonna meet that reserve or if you're gonna end up with egg on your face in front of 187 watchers. . .  completely nerve-racking. . .

I shave every seam and have been using my beard trimmer to do so for years, but last year I bought a trimmer kit that has multiple exchangeable heads.  one of them is only1/4" wide, and absolutely perfect for shaving seams.  unfortunately, it doesn't work worth a hoot on sassy fabics - sometimes I can't even get my scissors to shave sassies. . . (quick, say it 5 times, fast!)

oh, so true. . .and at the end of the day, it's also horrid and depressing when your work does not sell and you need the funds from your bear making because it IS your only income.   this is one nasty economy.  I hadn't been paying much attention to the news, but several of the posts about ebay had links that led to economic websites like the Wall Street jounal & such.  I spent most of a morning giving myself the willies before I decided that I was better of not knowing this stuff. . .

:clap:  :clap:  :clap: a really classy website, it suits your work perfectly - and what a loverly picture of you in the bio section.  you look about 20 years old!  nicely done  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

hey Brenda,
I never bothered with an 'about me' page either, on ebay or at my website, but I'm dating a PR guy these days and he's pretty tough on wrangling as much PR as you can get.  I suck at selling myself - I freely admit that much of my initial success in the TB world was due to my x's big mouth!!! -  and I had pretty much let everything slide over the past few years.   I'm trying a little harder these days   :pray:

Jenny, I agree with you, I think ebay feedback is joke these days.  my one bad feedback came about on a transaction where the seller didn't set a reserve & the item (ok, converse john varvatos in hunter green lizard!) went for far under what he expected.  the shoes never arrived, he claimed lost in the mail but wouldn't provided documentation.  I filed against him w/paypal, got my money back and left, shall we say. . . rather appropriate feedback & he retaliated with vicious bad feedback in return.   now you can't leave that kind of feedback for a buyer, but they didn't remove THAT one. . .  pricks, I say!

however, they do have some lovely collectors hanging about  :dance:  :dance:  :dance:

laura, I have a link to my 'about me' page at the bottom of my listing, and it works fine for me, but friends have told me it doesn't work.  I wonder how they machined that. . .

ok, so call me crazy, but has anyone else noticed that on the 'new ebay' - if you've opted in or landed there by accident - on the 'new' ebay the little red & blue 'about me' icon is totally gone???  you have to click on the seller id, which takes you to an ebay 'my world' page, which is totally different from your 'about me' page.

from your 'my world' page, you can access your own 'about me' page.

kathy, that bear is gorgeous  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

they really are sneaky and the evil empire

it is an odd twist, and a scary letter, although I have been tell people (non-ebayers) for the last few years that ebay has been changing and becoming more of a clearing house for online retailers.  I just never expected they would want to exclude us.  fer crying out loud, look how much money they get from us.  I wonder why they don't just spin off a smaller site for smaller auctioneers.

I don't like the idea of posting on ebay, I've fought myself on the topic for the last 6 years.  I've got more moral and philosophical arguments against it than Carter has pills, but the truth is, right now it's the easiest way for me to find a few new collectors and I need them.  I don't have a problem wholesaling my work either, but I produce a about one piece a week, if that, and wholesaling takes a big chunk of much-needed income.  as a single, self-employed full-time artist, I need to produce about $1000 a week just to stay afloat - and that's without keeping a car.  as kathy said, in this economy, it's really tough.   

every time someone tells me I'm a true artist these days, I tell 'em I feel like van gogh with an extra ear ;-)

I want one, I want one  :dance:  :dance:  :dance:  :crackup:  :hug:  :dance:  :dance:

jeez loiuse, Kath, . . . I just read all that - or tried to.  how Orwellian. . . do you feel more like you're in 'Animal Farm' of '1984'???  :pray:  :pray:  :pray:

I half expected them to say something like 'it's good for the tribe' and I'm sure there's probably some subliminal message flashing in the backgroud saying just that  :crackup:

the really sad, scary thing is that I've always enjoyed using ebay and preferred using Paypal, but this just making everything icky

well, they still allow us to list the fact that we accept other forms of payment, but one of the new rules - because I'm a 'new' member, is that I absolutely have to list paypal as a payment option.  in other words, from now on, you have to belong to paypal to sell on ebay.

clever, clever little minds.  I bet they have an entire department just to think this stuff up.

the really disturbing part about all of this 'withholding funds' thing with ebay is that ebay really not supposed to be involved with the money end at all, except to collect their fees.  you'll notice that they don't say 'Paypal is going to withhold your money'.  I wonder how long it will be before somebody brings suit against them.  I know they own paypal, but it's supposed to be a stand-alone entity.  this is the most convoluted banking scheme I've ever seen.  think of how much interest they're making on all the funds that they withhold.  dirty, dirty, dirty pool.