Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

The Fur Real panda should have a baby bottle that he'll drink from.
We have a white polar bear who does the same.

I also see an FAO Schwarz Bear and an Aurora "Brian" Bear who are brothers to some who live in our den.
Our three Aurora teddies are all named "Bear Brian."  They are all different sizes.  There's "Bear Brian," "Big Bear Brian" and "Bigger Bear Brian."

You could have "Bear Brian," "Baby Bear Brian" and "Big Bear Brian.  You could have "Bear Brian," "Baby Bear Brian" or "Bear Brian's Big Brother."  You could even have "Bear Brian," "Big Bear Brian" and Bigger Bear Brian."

It all depends on who you talk to first.  :D

You have a nice collection of Teddy Bears, there!  :)
Don't worry too much about feeding them.  They don't eat very much...  They're already stuffed!   

Toasty came home yesterday! 

He's all clean and fluffed.  His stuffing has been replaced with polyester fluff so he'll never have to worry about bugs again.
He still had his metal dog tag and his red security thread behind his ear.

Melanie made him brownies to celebrate his long trip.  He had a snack with me before bedtime and he shared breakfast with us this morning.

Toasty is happy to be home and we are happy to have him back safe and sound! 

Well, then, every Bear has a story and that's Harold's story.

We have a lot of thrift store Bears living here.  Melanie's father used to be one to haunt thrift stores and places like that.  He would often bring home Bears and give them to her.  Most of them live on the stairs.

That's what we call them...  The Stair Bears.

Say hello to Harold for us! 

Thanks, Peter!  :)

Toasty arrived at the Bear Hospital today.  We're now waiting for news of his repairs and his safe return.

Could be a carnival Teddy, one you win on a carnival or amusement park midway.

There were and still are hundreds of companies that pop in and out of business, making prizes for carnivals.

As such, his provenance is more related to where and when he was won.  What amusement park?  What game did you win?  Who did you give the Bear to when you won it?  For instance, if a guy and his girlfriend was on the boardwalk at Atlantic City when he threw a baseball to knock over the milk bottles then gave the Bear to his girl and they were married shortly thereafter, this would be a very important Teddy Bear!  Wouldn't he?  :)

For a Bear like this, his story is key.  What can you tell us about him?

A date when he was received or some other estimate of his age would help, too.

Hey!  That's a Georgio of Beverly Hills Bear!  One of his brothers lives here!  :)

Sitting down, our Georgio is about 10 inches tall.  How tall is yours?  He looks a little smaller but that could just be the photo.

No matter what the size he's still a cutie!  Nice find!  Probably not easy to come by since he's from 1996.

Our Georgio sits in a custom made Bear condo in the living room where he and his other Bear pals can always see the TV. 

Update:  Toasty Bear is on his way to California to get restuffed.

I spoke to Harry Nizamian a while ago and he agreed to restuff Toasty if we would pay postage.
Melanie was hesitant to send him for fear she wouldn't get the same Bear back.

Harry phoned us back, last Wednesday evening, asking whether we were going to send Toasty back to the Bear hospital.  I put Melanie on the phone with him and he promised to take good care of the Bear.  She was finally convinced to send Toasty back.

We bought Toasty one of those metal dog tags you buy from the engraving machine at WalMart and tied it around his neck.  Melanie sewed a tiny bit of red thread into the seam behind Toasty's ear so she could tell that it is the same Bear when he gets home.  Then we put him in a plastic bag, boxed him up with a postal money order for return postage and sent him off yesterday, insured and with a tracking number.

Toasty's last check in was from the depot in Pittsburgh, heading west to California.  Estimates are that he'll arrive on Monday.

Every night before we go to bed, we look up the tracking number and plot Toasty's location on Google Earth.  When he's back from his trip, we'll have an exact record of his journey!  :cool:

More updates when Toasty finally returns from the Teddy Bear Hospital.

Some of the early Merrythought Bears had buttons in their ears, too but the company was founded in 1930 and they didn't start production until early 1931.

The dates you describe would tend to rule out Merrythought unless your grandmother had her dates wrong.

If he is a Merrythought, his button would have been made from celluloid, an early type of plastic, in which case, it would be likely to fall out.

It is common for people, even appraisers, to call any "old" Teddy Bear a Steiff.  It's not because they are trying to cheat.  They just don't know.

Merrythought are every bit as nice as Steiff.  They just don't have the name recognition.

I agree.  Looks like a hand made Bear.

The damage to his paw doesn't look too terrible.  Definitely recoverable.  Probably just needs a patch sewn over his paw.

There are plenty of people, here, who might be able to do that.  Just look around.

I think you might end up contacting a textile mill and buying direct.  They might refer you to one of their wholesalers but anything less than that probably isn't going to be equipped to handle such a large order.

You should probably microwave him every once in a while in order to kill any bugs that might have taken up residence in the grain.

According to the FAQ on Toasty Bear's website:

Has anybody heard of Harry Nazamian?

He's the guy who I talked to.  He was the CEO of Dakin before they were bought out by Applause Toys.  Now he's in charge of Timeless Toys, the company who makes Toasty Bear.

I gather he's a big Kahuna in the plush character kingdom.
The creator of the first Garfield plush toys, is what I hear.

Just spoke to the company.

It was tough to get through to them.  I was told they are in the middle of moving and are very busy.

I spoke to a guy who said he was the CEO of Dakin toys.  He is the guy who designed the original Garfield plush character.

He has never heard of this occurring and he quickly offered to replace the Bear but I said that's not an option.  Toasty is a member of the family.
We talked for a while and he offered to restuff the Bear at no cost.  While this is a generous offer on his part, Melanie isn't sure.  To be honest, I'm a little leery, too.

How do we know they aren't going to toss poor Toasty out and substitute another Bear?  We're concerned that the person who restuffs him won't care and do a hack job on him.  These things are really important because it's not just about the Bear.  It's about provenance too.
Where did you get the Bear?  When did you adopt him?  Then there is the Bear's story...  his memories.

If the person who fixes Toasty doesn't understand, Melanie doesn't want to send him away.  I agree with her.  It needs to be somebody who cares.

P.S.  He does not have any metal in him.  He was made to go in the microwave... but he'll never see the inside of one. 

After the elephant, it's turtles all the way down.

Yes, you are supposed to heat them in the microwave oven but, when I gave it to Melanie, she said he would never see the inside of one of those contraptions.

However, as I have been reading, the most common way to control the grain borer is to fumigate the silos with gas but they are doing some research on using large microwave machines.  Essentially you cook the little buggers.  I might be able to convince Melanie to let Toasty Bear go into the microwave for a short period of time if it will kill off any of the pests.

Apparently, the Sootheze company will refill your Bear with new flax seed if it dries out and stops holding heat.  I've been thinking about doing that but I am hesitant to do so if it will make Toasty Bear attract bugs again.  It's not very nice to think that he would have to be microwaved every so often to keep him pest free.

As an alternative, I might just have him refilled with plastic pellets instead.  That way he'll never attract bugs again.

Our vacuum is one of those bagless machines with the plastic dirt container.  I took the container outside to empty it.

All of our dry goods in the kitchen are in Tupperware containers wherever possible.  Plastic bags when Tupperware can't be used.
We also have pheromone-based bug traps in all the cupboards.  They are little cardboard boxes with stickum inside with a pheromone bait patch inside.  Bugs are attracted to the scent and get stuck in the stickum.  (A lot like the old "Roach Motels.")

We have a Bear living in our den who has developed an infestation!     

His name is "Toasty Bear" and he was made by a company called Sootheze.

Here is Toasty Bear's website:  http://www.sootheze.com/toasty-bear-collection.php

Melanie and I were in the middle of a clean & fluff session when we noticed a mass of small, brown bugs and a bad musty smell in the vicinity of one Bear.  We had to immediately go into emergency mode.  Toasty Bear had to be isolated and the area around him had to be thoroughly cleaned.

I did some research and found out what the bug is.  It's called the "lesser grain borer."  (rhyzopertha dominica)
Website:  http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig117

This is an insect that infests grain in silos.  Since we are pretty conscientious about keeping our Bears free from pests like carpet beetles and moth larvae, we were perplexed as to why Toasty Bear would attract a grain eating insect.  I did some more research at Toasty Bear's website and found that he is filled with flax seed.  Aha!  Grain!

I gave Toasty Bear a good going over with the vacuum cleaner.  (He said it tickled!  )  Then I took him outdoors, patted him and brushed his fur really well to get any loose bugs out of his fur.  Next he was wrapped in a plastic bag and, now, he is hibernating in our freezer.  (He'll be okay.  He's got fur to keep him warm.  Besides, there are plenty of Popsicles for him to snack on!  )  We are counting on the cold to kill any of the bugs that sneaked by the vacuum cleaner and the brush.

Does anybody have some advice on how to proceed?  Since this is a den of over 1,000 Teddy Bears, this is NOT a trifling matter!

We sent an e-mail to his Bearmakers at Soothze.com but haven't heard back from them yet.  If they don't answer soon, they are going to get a phone call from one very grouchy Teddy Bear collector!

As a side note, as a collector, I would advise any Bearmakers out there who are considering filling their Bears with anything that could become infested to think twice.  If you adopt-out a Bear who gets infested he could end up doing a lot of damage in his new Bear Den!

Getting revenge on Harry Harlow.

Eew!  I think I stepped in something!

Guard dog in training.   

If you've got something to say to me, say it to my big brothers!

Puttin' on the Ritz!

Caught in a sudden updraft!

The only people who say needle felting is not an art form are the people who are jealous because they can't do it.

Right Bobbie? 

You can be MAKING a Bear but you don't have to finish the Bear.

Remember how Jed Clampett (from the TV show) always used to be sitting out by the "CE-ment pond," whittling on something but he never quite finished?
Do it like that.  Just sort of "whittle" on a Bear, mostly for show but also to show people how you make a Bear.

Or...  If you have an "almost finished" Bear, bring him along and let people see you bring him to life, right there at the show.
How many people have the chance to adopt a Bear right on the same day as he was born, handed over from his Bearmaker to his new human?

Whenever I go to an art show, I always bring a vintage camera and it's always loaded with film and I always take at least one picture with it.
I have had a couple of people hit me up for digi-copies at the galleries.  Nice thing about the way I work is that I HAVE to get their e-mail address because I have to develop scan and convert the film images to JPEGs.  I can't do that in one day so I have to e-mail it to them.  A great marketing ploy?  I think so.