Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Sue Ann, today we celebrate mother's day here in Antwerp (though not in the rest of Belgium  ).

My hug of teddies always buy a bouquet of flowers for my mum, because she also loves them dearly (though she will not always admit it  ) and these are the flowers my teddies told me to buy  .  Rather silly, I know, but hey, we like it.

Does this answer your question?

Hugs  :hug:

Peterbear

Hi everyone,

Several artists have written that placing teddies on e-bay often generates limited interest.  I wanted to check it out for myself, so last weekend I was browsing through the "artist bear" section on e-bay and I did spot a few lovely teddies.

One of them was an 18" OOAK bear by Belgian artist Liliane Vandepaepeliere (Lily Bear): Liliane has been making bears since 1992, but now specializes in felines and other animals.  I have found some of her cats on sale at the Toy Shoppe. 

Bidding started at £ 39,00 and the bear looked really beautiful, so I decided to take a little gamble and bid £ 40,00 (the bear was offered by a collector, not by the artist herself).  After a few days no new bids had been made, so I expected some annoying people to bid during the very last minute.  As I sat eagerly behind my laptop, counting the minutes before the bidding would end, I decided to raise my bid, but not really expecting to win the teddy.  But as the last seconds slowly crawled by ... nothing happened !  Nobody except me had bid on this beautiful teddy; I had won it for

£ 39,00

(in a shop this bear would certainly be priced over £ 200).

First I did a little dance of joy  :dance: , but then I thought : hey this is actually not good news.    

If nobody wants to bid on such a lovely artist bear, then bidding on new artist bears will probably be low as well; which is a bad thing for the artists themselves; which in its turn is a bad thing for teddy bear lovers, because some artists might decide to give up bear-making all together.

Anyway, I am very happy to have "Louis" in my hug, but still worried that the "teddy bear market" is really suffering from the economic crisis.  Hopefully things will start to improve soon.   Here are a few pics of "Louis":

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear

He does look absolutely adorable, Becky : such a sweet innocent face.    The tipped mohair looks beautiful, unlike anything I have ever seen.

Vincent will certainly make someone very very happy    !

Hugs,   :hug:

Peterbear

He does look so adorable and soft and sweet; I just want to reach into my laptop and stroke his lovely fur  .

Well done Chatherine; no doubt he will soon find a loving new home. 

Hugs,  :hug:

Peter, Lewis, Bailey & the teds

What a wonderful story, Tami, thank you so much for sharing it with us ! 

Hugs,   :hug:

Peterbear

Hi Kay,

We were also sorry to hear about the loss of your mother-in-law. 

I'm glad though that you still found time to post one of your lovely new teddies.

I'm also very pleased to report that "Toast" will be joining me on my epic journey to Kensington on September 13th 

He will be lord of the treasury and make sure I don't adopt too many teddies while I'm there.

Will I see you there?

Hugs,

Peterbear, Toast, Andes, Woody, Monty & Moet  :hug:

Thanks for the suggestion Becky; I hear textbooks are still selling as well !  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

Hugs,  :hug:

Peter

"Listen", I said to every nincompoop, "I never graduated" !

Peterbear

Hi everyone,

I would like to introduce you to BAUDOUIN (pronounced “Bo-dwain”), a V.I.B. (very important bear) that Lynette Littlejohn (LJ Bears) made especially for me as a commemorative bear.

He is 19” tall, made from beautiful golden mohair; his name is embroidered on his right foot pad and on his left pad is the date April 28, 2009. He wears a blue waistcoat with green lining, a green logo, green silk pocket handkerchief and a teddy bear pin.

Usually people will commemorate the date of a wedding anniversary, the birth of a grandchild or something like that, but I wanted something completely different !
Last year in September the financial crisis hit me especially hard : I have been working for the largest bank in Belgium for 22 years and was pretty confident I would continue to do so until my retirement. However in September things turned very nasty indeed : not only had I suddenly lost most of my savings (shares of my own employer), but we were on the verge of bankruptcy  .  Many jobs, including mine, were uncertain  .  The state intervened, but made it quite clear she wasn’t planning to continue doing so.  A French bank, BNP Paribas, were willing to take us over, but the greedy big shareholders kept refusing every offer, issuing lawsuit after lawsuit to stall things  .  Finally on April 28 of this year, the shareholders had to back down and an agreement was signed to incorporate us in BNP Paribas.  It was a huge relief for us, because that was the best guarantee we could possibly get for minimal job loss  .

So I wanted something to commemorate this event, because I had never experienced anything like that ever before, nor do I want to experience it again.  And, although we all lost a lot of money, having job security is more important to me.  Now what better way is there to mark a happy ending than to adopt a teddy bear  :D

So I asked Lynette if she was willing to make a teddy that would remind me of these troubled times, but also of the fact that you should never despair.  I named him “Baudouin”, which is the first name of the ceo of BNP Paribas and also the name of our previous king.  It think it sounds very distinguished and the bear also looks very smart.  Lynette did a terrific job, especially in recreating the logo of BNP Paribas on his waistcoat. 

So here are a few photos of “Baudouin”, the VIBB (very important banker bear).

The logo is magnificently reproduced.

Here Baudouin is trying to find a way out of the economic and financial crisis (I’m certain he will come up with a solution).

Here is the link to Lynette’s website, where you can find Baudouin and some of the other LJ Bears.

http://www.ljbears.co.uk/Bears_by_Special_Request.htm

Hugs and a big thank you to Lynette  :hug:

Peterbear

P.S. I generally don’t believe in “fate” or that kind of stuff, but : on the day that Baudouin arrived in my home (Thursday last week), we got the confirmation from our new employer that there would be no forced redundancies: is that a coincidence ???

Hi Joanne,

I have bought several bears on e-bay, though mainly manufactured (Steiff) bears.
I too am not very happy about auctions with reserves.

Here is what I do if come across one :
- I place my bid with, what I consider to be, a fair price for the bear.
- If the reserve is not met, I contact the seller and just ask him/her how much the reserve is (just like Little Bearies  ) ; so far no-one has refused to give me the reserve price.
- Then I decide if I want to bid above the reserve price.

However I do prefer an auction with the "buy it now" option.  The way I see it, this has two advantages for me as a buyer :
- Either I am very keen to have the bear and then I will gladly pay the price the seller has proposed, so I buy it immediately : BIG ADVANTAGE -> I am certain the bear is mine !!
- Or I would like to have the bear, but don't consider it a "must have" and then I make a bid, considering how much I want to spend on the bear.  If the bidding goes higher, so much the better for the seller, but then I'm out.

I have another problem with e-bay though : when you are searching for Steiff or Hermann or Merrythought teddies: no problem.
But when I want to find real OOAK artist bears, I always get a lot of results that don't match what I am looking for.  Is there a good way to search for real artists bears?

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear

Indefatigable Martin presented on show excellent "Doodlebears" 

(this one is for you Jane  :dance: )

As far as knowledge goes (which isn't very far, granted  ), the expression "A hug of teddy bears" was first used by Peter Bull as the title of his last book about teddy bears.

Peter Bull was an actor/writer/TV personality, who was a true arctophile and did a lot to promote teddy bears.  He always carried a little teddy bear called Theodore with him.  He was also the owner of the famous "Aloysius" teddy, that featured in "Brideshead revisited".  Sadly he died in 1984 just before his last book about teddy bears "A hug of teddy bears" was published.  If you haven't read any of his teddy books, I highly recommend them : wonderful stuff for teddy lovers  .

And how many bears go in a hug : as many as you can hug  :crackup: .

Bear Hugs, :hug:

Peterbear

What a wonderful bear, Sue, he looks gorgeous !

I guess you were Gregory's "star" pupil ?   

Will you be making your own BIG bears now ?

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear & Bashful

A sweet name for a sweet teddy ! 

He is absolutely adorable.  His new mum will be over the moon  :dance: !

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear
&
Horatio
Morris
Paddy
Tiddler
Bellamy  (the whole All Bear Gang)   

Hi Tami,

As a banker myself, I would definitely choose for an international bank transfer.  BUT : you must take into account that banksdon't anything for free (how else would they pay my huge salary  ).  Your client has the possibilty to choose between : all bank charges to be paid by the beneficiary (i.e. you), or to be shared between both parties, or to be paid by your client.  If your client is prepared to take all bank charges for his/her account, there is no problem.  But otherwise I advise you to contact your bank and check how much they will charge you for a payment from Hong-Kong.  For small amounts this can be a considerable cost and I think you have to calculate it in the price of your bear.

Also state clearly in what currency you want your payment  !

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear

Halitosis and male baldness usually reduces gardeners' esteem rather seriously.

I knot it doesn't make much sense ... but are we going for a record number of replies (anyone check the Guiness the book of world records) ??  :crackup:

Hi Allison,

I have just one piece of advice for you : don't get seduced by Megapixels  !  You're probably never going to use the maximum resolution, because the photo's take up enormous amounts of space and take ages to edit in Photoshop.  8 Megapixes is more than sufficient, unless you're going to enlarge your photo's to billboard size  .

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear

That is such a lovely thought of you Eva, giving your friend one of your teddies.  I'm sure he will be so grateful having the company of this beautiful bear while in hospital.  I am absolutely convinced it will help him recover much more quickly  .

Hugs, :hug:

Peter

What wonderful photo's Robert, but my favourite is the one with the two (polar) bears  .

It warms my heart to see these beautiful animals.

Thank you for sharing them with us  :clap: .

Hugs,

Peterbear

Tessa, as a teddy bear lover and not an artist, I know that many artists share your experiences about how difficult it is becoming to sell your bears.
And I fully agree with most of them that getting the people to notice your bears is the most important thing.

That is why I liked the idea that Susan (susiray) suggested a few weeks ago ("Christmas websale gettogether" on general topics): why not join forces and organize an online show with different artists from TT?  I didn't respond to her post, because I thought I should mind my own business  (sorry Susan), but since there is a general agreement that sales are down and that getting publicity is important, I think Susan's idea is great.

Many of you will be familiar with the shows that TBACA (teddy bears and critters Australasia) put on and they are a great success.  I loved their last theme of a black and white ball  .  Maybe you can use this opportunity to offer some of your bears that have been on the shelf too long; I know I am a sucker for poor teddies that have difficulties finding new homes  .   

I hope this will be useful to all you wonderful artists  :clap: .

Hugs,

Peterbear

Hi Valerie,

I tried your weblink to the URSA voting site :

but got a "page not found" message with Internet Exporer.

This link works for me : http://cyberdendesigns.com/URSA2009/LetVotingBegin.htm.

Maybe other TT'ers will encounter the same problem.

Hugs   :hug: and good luck to all the participants (I have already cast my votes  )

Peterbear

Eleven very inhibited donkeys expressed new courage eventually !  :dance:

Hi Susan,

I also find him irresistible; his fur looks fabulous.
He looks a bit sad though, I guess he needs a good home ... 

(will have to check out e-bay  )

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear

Never, ever fart at royal invitations or use slightly lascivious yarns.

   :dance:

Hi Joanne,

I have tried it out on Belgian e-bay; so I typed in my search "mohair artist bear"
I got 35 results ... without your bear : http://shop.benl.ebay.be/?_from=R40&_tr … Categories

At the very BOTTTOM of the page you can click on "alle overeenkomde objecten van internationale verkopers bekijken" which means : see all objects from international sellers matching your search. Then your bear was the second on the list (highlighted) :
http://shop.benl.ebay.be/items/__mohair … .m63.l1177

I guess that is not really what you paid for !

Hugs,  :hug:

Peterbear

PS.  What a lovely bear !!