Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

lol, we all think our own pups are the cutest, but I'm thinking Jane's Lucy won this round.  yours are totally adorable, but I'm feeling sorry for your little tag-a-long, poor little guy, it's tough being left out.  you didn't give him a sissy name or something, did you?  butch & george sound pretty tough.  and I'm totally sure yours would win in the 'well-behaved' sweepstakes.  mine are terrific in the house, but little brittney spears around people and other dogs.

Jane, they really are great pups, I couldn't have invented a better pair - just the right size (about 50lb & 15" to the top of the head), wash & wear, black, so they don't show dirt, and more 'little boy' than I ever imagined possible.  when i got them, I was imagining all sorts of great matching outfits - red & black checked coats, camo's, hats, etc. .  .but they won't hear of it.  they'll wear them for me, but they look pigpen in 30 seconds.  and although they look almost the same, they have completely different personalities. scout is smart as a whip and rather reserved, scoot is dumber than a bag of hammers and the biggest cuddlepup this side of the mississippi.  go figure  :dance:

I dunno. . . do you suppose this could be considered snuggling?

if not. .  .I give you this one

(actually, they are inseperable and usually sleep curled up together.  it's what made the first 'mirror image' pic so unique to me)

yeah, but can you get them to do it symmetrically?   :hug:

thanks, guys!  actually, I think it's the only time those two have sat still for more than 10 seconds in over a year.  those 2-hour-long walks are really helping! (and I'm the thinnest I've been since I was 30!!!  :dance:   :dance:   :dance: )

I ran  upstairs to get something and caught my pups sleeping on the couch.  it was such a cute shot I had to share it.  meet my boys,

scooter n' scout, the couch potaoes

now that is a truly handsome bear   :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

Three women died in a car accident and went to heaven. When they arrived Saint Peter said , "Here is only ONE rule in Heaven don't step on the ducklings."

When they came in, they saw that it was true there were ducklings all over. It was almost impossibel not to step on one of the ducklings, though they try very hard the first woman had an accident and stepped on one of those. Saint Peter arrived with the ugliest man ever seen, put them together in chains and says  "That's your punishment for stepping on a duckling, and forever you'll be chained to this ugly man!"

Next day the number two woman stepped on a duckling. The man who see everything, Saint Peter, arrives with another ugly man, using the same comment as yesterday he chains woman number two to that man.

The third woman has seen what happened to her girlfriends, and don't want that to happen to her, so she walks very, VERY carefully.

She managed not to step on the ducklings for several months, and one day Saint Peter came to her, with the most handsome, and beautiful man she had ever seen. very tall, long eyelashes,  muscular and not fat at all.

Saint Peter put them together in chains without a word. The woman said: "I wonder what happened, that I should be chained with you forever."

The guy said, "I don't know what YOU did, but I stepped on a duckling!"

thanks, folks!  what made this so gratifying was not so much the selling price, or even the stroke that gave my ego, but the fact that this auction is a really big deal with the local arts community, and many of the artist who participate are considered big names & heavy hitters - and here the local 'taddy bear maker' scores big.  I felt I won a little victory for 'our side'  :dance:

I've been feeling left out lately because I've been busy filling orders and haven't had a new piece to post for several weeks.  anyway, our village has an annual street festival called 'Riverfest', sponsored by the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, , which is located in our town.  part of the festival is a poster auction to raise money to fund the DVAA.  many local artists & craftspeople submit posters and this year I promised to participate also. I barely managed to get mine done, finishing at 6 pm on saturday, just they were closing for the day.    I mounted the 11x17 poster to a length of 1/2" oak plank, fixed one of my leather branches in place and made a 9" whooping crane to stand on the branch.  magnets hold the bird in place, and a few sprigs of leather 'grass' completed the poster.  I'm very proud to say that my poster fetched $900, almost double the price of the next highest selling poster.  there were 55 posters in all, you can see the others at http://www.artsalliancesite.org/program … er_01.html

this is my poster.

look in the library under 'armature'

http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?id=782

lol, sorry, melissa, welcome to the club!  we went through the same thing with the KDIGS show, and finally ended up in June, where we had to compete with weddings and graduations. . .it's a tough call.  we didn't want to try and open a new show on a date when we knew most major collectors would be elsewhere.

erp. . .  teddy total is 25-26 April 2009, in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany.  this is probably the biggest show we have, or at least it used to be.

may?

I don't know if it matters, your show being in England and all, but march 14/15 '09 is also the date of 'Teddybear Welt', one of the big spring shows held in Wiesbaden, Germany, with 250+ exhibitors

I use ipowerweb.com    it's $4.95 a month with a free domain name.  I've used them for about 8 years, they have online AND phone support, and I've never had a problem.  I've even called them for help from my cell at the airport.  I recommend them highly.

http://www.ipowerweb.com/

I've tried everything. . . I bought a pro set-up with a 3-backdrop, 10ft  stand and 12' black velvet drape and 3-light slaved flash/umbrella light units that was so much work to set up and use that I sold the lights on ebay and I shot all my pics outdoors on bright, overcast days.  a lick of wind brought down the backdrop, and it's freakin cold in the winter, so. . .

then I bought a HUGE digital lighting setup - 3 lights on mega-tripods with huge softboxes, and a 8x8 blue foam digital backdrop.  the lights are a horror to setup, and I hated my work against the electric blue, so I bought a spring-folding lightbox like ya'll did.  it was a so frustrating to use that I started just clipping one of the bacdrops that came with it to the shelving above my workbench and shooting there.  it's a crazy setup between the hot glue guns and the computer, but the window has an eastern exposure and the natural daylight, mid-afternoon is just about right.  I prop a folding silver reflector against my monitor screen and hold in place on top with a swing arm halogen worklight and shoot away.

this new box is white on all sides, and reflects enough light on it's own, so I can stop using the reflector.  it came with 4 backdrops, but I prefer the white.  for years I only shot against black, but there is really to much contrast when using black, and the lighting is pretty tricky.

never, ever, under any circumstances do I use a flash with a digital camera indoors

the don & company were 5ft x 5ft, and I had to take them across the street to an art gallery, where they let me set up my lights and shoot against a blank white wall

I've got one of these, too, and I hate it for all the same reasons, so I bought a new set=up on ebay a few weeks ago, and I love it!  it's actually a folding 4-sided box with an open front & bottom, and it folds flat into a cordura nylon case that holds the lights too.  the lights pretty much suck, daylight is better, but ok in a pinch if you color-correct in photo-shop. it sets up in a breeze, the open front & bottom make access easy and allows the backdrop to drape gracefully.  it's 24" square, so it can hold a good-sized bear.  this is the link if you're interested.  not a bad price with buy-it-now, and like I said, very easy to use and quite stable.

http://cgi.ebay.com/24-STUDIO-PHOTOGRAP … m153.l1262

ouch!  been there, done that. . through the fore-fingernail twice & the thumbnail once. . . a miniature vise-grip pliers and an exacto knife are essential tools to have on hnd - and, as you found out, you gotta work fast.  you've got about 50 seconds before it really starts to hurt.  :redface: .  .

I've gotta to admit, when I saw the first picture of Judi standing behind that counter holding a tiger cub, the first thing I thought was 'dang, she's gone and got herself on 'Good Morning America' - how the heck did she do that??? and then I read on. . . and the really scary part is that the real tiger doesn't look as real as Judi's own tigers.  sheesh

the other thing I noticed was what a happy family!  speaking as a guy, your hubby must be proud as punch to be sporting a such a handsome, happy brood.  give him a big hurrah from us  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

last week I did a post announcing the demise of my poor bunny Popeye, who had apparently succumbed to a strange-but-unmentionable terminal illness.  the real purpose of the post was to show what disaster can happen with copic markers in the hands of foolish and unprepared, but a few people found the post offense and I removed it.  I'm here to have fun, not to cause controversy, and the post wasn't terribly important to anyone.

however. . 

apparently, I was over-reacting to poor Popeye's affliction and it's fatal outcome.

  soon after the photo shoot, I heard a small noise behind me, and turned to find Popeye standing, dusting himself off.   he'd only fainted from the lights, he informed me, and didn't appriecate being made fun of, or having his photo taken in ignominious postitions while he was passed out.  frankly, the episode put a quite a strain on our relationship, and this morning he announced his intention to defect to the home of a local couple, where he was going to star as a 40th wedding anniversary present and live happily ever after.  he also mentioned that he was quite taken with the name 'Smudge' and was changing his name as well

Smudge is show here doing his happy dance :dance:  :dance:  :dance:

and here he is last seen 'taking his leaf and leaving' - as he put it,

I'd like to offer a warm thanks to all those who posted, PM'd and emailed with offers of support, condolences and ideas for Smudge's revivial, all were taken to heart.  fortunately, in our bunnyland, there is always a happy ending! :rose:

ps - never underestimate the value of a good story when selling a piece       :crackup:

thanks, ya'll are very sweet.  I thought it might be fun to show a progression, so here is a picture of my latest whooping stork standing next to 'early bird' who was my very first long-legged bird, done about 3.5 years ago. 

early bird is 7.5" tall, and was originally supposed to be a flamingo chick.  I considered him such a disaster that I kept him.  also in the pic, to give you an idea of scale, is one of my 6" eaglets

below is the crane standingwith timon, my7" (plus ears) bitty bunny

suddenly, all of my old stuff seems quite coarse, but I think I'm going to like mini's ;-)

thanks, folks!  I'm learning that when you work this small, pattern counts for a lot.  on a bear with 1/4" mohair sticking out, you've got a lot of room to scissors=sculpt.  with this stuff, you're right there.  when I do this pattern again, I'll make the neck longer and the beak thinner - and maybe downsize it an inch.  I don't want to go too small, because I'd like to do one with chicks, and they'll have to be tiny.

ok, so I couldn't wait any longer and I hit my 'sassy' stache this weekend.  I posted more pics under a seperate thread, but I sure loved working with this stuff.  I can't wait to see what you do with yours, Ellen, I'm sure you'll have a riot!  Bobbie, I'm with you on the sheen/sparkle thing, it's what has kept from trying mini's before.   this stuff is wonderful, although I've learned you can't pluck or trim rooster tail, you've got to trim carefully, and you can't change the fur direction - can you?

this is my first 'sassy' probably not a true mini, as it's 6.5" tall, but the body is only 4" . it's modeled after a male whooping crane.  I used sassy longpile for the body, alpaca for the upper wings and a bit of mink for the black with feathers.  legs, beak, claws and eyelids are sculpted leather.

does anyone have any tips on shaving the seam allowence or flattening seams?  or do ya'll sew so close to the edge that it's not an issue?  I managed to sew the entire body on the machine, with a 3-stich seam allowence, but is that too much?

I broke down and delved into my new sassy stache this weekend.  I'm not sure if this is considered a miniature or not, but it was really small for me.  the body is 4" but the total height of the bird is 6.5"  I used sassy longpile for the body, alpaca for the wings & tail, and black mink for the wingtip feathers.  legs, claws and eyelids are leather, neck is poseable.  I'll probably make it one of my leather bases, but I thought I'd like to show it alone first.  I'm quite proud of how he balences on the tips of his claws - only one claw in the raised leg touches the ground.  it's hard to tell in the photo's, but the top of his head is red, as it should be.  whoopers only show the black wing feathers in the outstreched position, but like the idea of them showing here, and used some poetic license

I have to say that the fabric a wonder to work with, although it was a real pain-in-the-ankle to shave those seam allowences.  anybody got any tips on that?  I'm proud to say that I was able to sew almost the entire body on my machine, with the exception of the back gusset, and I'm amazed at how tiny of a seam allowence you can use. I did mine 3 stitches in from the edge, and I think 2 should be fairly easy.  nice stuff

I don't know how you'd go about marketing them, but there is an lady on 'bear artists worldwide' who seems to have done quite well with the idea.  her bear pattern is basic, but she's very clever about incorporating parts of the garment into the bear - a bear made from a suit, for instance, with the old lapel forming a lapel on the bear, but sewn as part of the bear, if you follow.  she has a bear made from a bright yellow ski parka that is particularly clever.

http://www.memorybearsbyrobyn.com/

I've done a few 'memory bears for clients myself, but my version is always one of my dressed character bears accoutremented with accessories appropriate to the proffesion of the person being remembered.  I've done an architect, a musical conductor, a veterinarian, a doctor and a weaver.  I didn't try to make the bear look like the person, but used favorite articles of clothing for the fabrics used to dress the bear.  the conductor carried a sheaf of favorite musical scores, scanned, reduced, printed & aged, the architect carries a roll of plans from the mans favorite house design (his own design, of course) and had antique miniature drafting instruments in his pockets, the weaver had a scale model working amish barn loom with a few small examples of her work rolled and stacked alongside the loom.  I usually name them the Gaelic equivalent of the person real name, and my clients seem to take great comfort from their bears.  good luck with your venture!

I also once had a request for 4 bears, each constructed to contain an aluminum tube, so the client could have her ashes diveded between them and give one to each of her children.  I declined the commision, but I guess it beats sitting in a vse on a shelf.

rkr4cds@comcast.net <rkr4cds@comcast.net>