Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

:clap: that super-lon thread is completely amazing!   :clap:  I ordered some sassy stuff last week thursday and had it by saturday!  I started using the thread to close the piece I was currently working on and was astounded by how easy it was to use.  ladder stitches slide right up easily, no snags, no glitches, and it stays closed when you release the thread.  the thread is so fine and ties so tight that the knot just disappears.  I loathe handwork because my thread - even guttermans - always knots and twists (my mom says it's because I'm a lefty) I've tried thread magic and running the thread through a fabric softener sheet, but this thread is a dream to use.  I found myself soft-sculpting away like I never have before, thinking how fun handwork was!

I had to place another order on monday, to get more thread colors - and more of that fantastic fabric.  I haven't had time to work with the fabrics yet, I've got a few commissions to finish before I can start something new, and I know once I start using is, I won't want to stop, but I know I'll need a good stash at the ready.

I met Ted at the second show I did in the TB world.  he was the guest of honor at a first-time show being held in a *convention center in an industrial park in northern New Jersey.  there were only about 30 exhibitors and about 12 collectors, so we had a lot of time on our hands and spent most of the show visiting with other artists.  Ted shared a number of his teddy-bear-tricks with us that day, but the ones that really stuck with me were his stuffig tips.  he had a stuffing tool of his own design that looked rather like a large wood screwdriver (he gave me one!) but his special little tip was that he left a small hole open in each body part that he wanted to stuff firmly, and after he closed the piece, he used his stuffing tool to force more stuffing inside.  I really took this to heart, and started leaving small holes in the butt & shoulders & tops of the legs and using them to really cram more stuffing into my bears.  I stuffed rock-hard for years, going regularly through huge 40lb boxes of firm-pac from Spare Bear Parts and developing terminal carpal and rotator cuff injuries in the process.  then I met him again a few years ago and during the course of our conversation, thanked him for the tips he had given me as a newbie, but queried how one earth he had managed to stuff that hard for so many years and still be mobile, bemoaning my tortured arm.  he asked my process, and when I got to the part about forcing more and more polyfil into the torso through the butt-hole, he started laughing at me.  apparently, he pretty much stuffs with excelcior, which doesn't have near the compression factor of polyfil and no wonder it felt like I was stuffing a bottomless pit!

I also occasionally forgot to close said butt-holes, and people would pick up a bear at a show, slip a finger up his butt and say, "wow, this is really realistic! is he supposed to have a hole there?"

anyway, I stuff rather softly these days and use armeture a lot to hold things in shape.  I have an assortment of different-sized wooden stuffing sticks with egg-shaped handles that I get from Teddies of Mt Holly (these are great on the wrist) but what I use the most are my tweezers.  I have an entire set of medical tweezers that I bought from an industrail supply company.  they range from 4" to 12" and there is one that's just the right size for any job.  most have blunt tips and don't puncture the fabric easily, but espcially usefull is a pair of 6" tweezers with a 3/4" bend at the tip.  they are sharp as a needle and useful for poking tiny bits of stuffing behind the nose & for trapunto work or stuffing pawpads.  I also use a mini blunt needle-nosed pliers a lot, and I couldn't live without my 6" vise-grip pliers

I use mostly pellets, glass & excelcior these day, and find it is easy to stuff larger bears with my fingers using excelcior.  I love using this stuff and can't believe I used polyfil for so many years.  I used to buy it by the truckload, and now I buy a little bag at walmart once in a while.

*(the space was so huge most of us actually drove our cars to our tables to unload and set up and we took one of the empty booth spaces and made a small 'artists lounge' in the middle of the showroom.  there were rolling cloth screens across half the hall, and on the other side of the screen they were holding a kids karate tournement.  talk about a disasterous show!!!  hiyyyyaaaaa karate!!!!  ooouffff!!!!!! echoing through the showroom all day)

I believe the 222 is the free-arm - costs loads more momey but really nice (although my husk is a free-arm and I think I've only used it once)

I've got a 1939 featherweight and I think its's a totally wonderful machine, both from a practical side and as design concept - it's almost a perfect machine, however the best part about the singer featherwieght is the parts!   

a recent thread on TT about sewing machines caused me to remember that I had not one, but TWO vintage singer walking feet (aga: the penguin) and since I haven't used my FW in years, I put them up on ebay last week.  they brought me $425 EACH!!!

:dance:  :dance:  :dance:  kelly does his happy dance  :dance:  :dance:

I took the cash and went to sassy fabrics!  lookout minis!

I've also got a 1928 singer handcank that remains one the most beautiful machines I've ever seen, lovely cloisonné flowers and vines scrolling all over it.  it looks terrfic on my counter with bears scampering all over it, but it's the machine I taught myself to sew on.  it has a lovely bentwood case, too, as does my other cased Singer, a 1930's electric model.  oh, and I've got a 301 slant-needle.  I've been looking for one of those 50's 500's series, the 'rocket ships', but I'm sorta out of space  :redface:   :redface:   :redface:

anyway you look at it, vintage singers are a good investment.  have you seen the restorer who is offering refurbished ones in fire-engine red on ebay?  totally cool stuff

dilu, I'm with you, but I have a total fixation on all vintage machines.  I bake with vintage hamilton beach mixers, toast with antique toasters and even have a 1930's crockpot with dividers and a time clock!  antique camera's, projectors and typewriters are all pretty cool too  :redface:  :redface:  :redface:

I saw a copy go on ebay for $101 USD, just last week.  bidding was fierce.

well, a businessman who depends on his work as his sole means of support, and as an artist who pretty much abandoned his clientle to follow his muse, I can tell you that there is almost as much satisfaction to be found in eating as there is in creating a beautiful object - meaning if money is an issue, don't shift styles to quickly.  my birds, for instance, are ooohd and aaah-d over all the time, but not by bear collectors.  creatively, it was a wonderful journey and I learned a lot.  I have no idea where I'm going with the stuff I'm doing lately, but I'm loving the heck out of it,  and who really needs a car, anyway?  :crackup:

wow, I loved them all  - thanks for the link and the complete waste of my morning as I explored her website  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  I'm sure they are hairpieces, but what a clever idea.  she has a picture of herself wearing the elephant one at a party, but she doesn't explain much about them.  she seems to be a sort of combination model/concept artist.  her video with the exercising poodles is a riot.  her coffin cafe was fun, too, and the coffin waitress custumes were pretty clever, altohugh must have been hard on the customers.

I admit to have a rather macabre sense of humor, though, and I have quite a skull collection of my own, from a tiny bird to turtle, a grizzly and quite a few deer & a longhorn cow.  I have them hanging all around the house, along with a few taxidermy pieces I've picked up over the years, including a stuffed crow.  one day a 5-year-old friend I was babysitting asked me why I had these strange things hanging around the house, and I told him that when I was kid, my mom wouldn't let me keep anything fun, andI decided when I grew up, I was going to fill my whole house with all the things that I loved.  I thought he'd react with a 'wow' or a 'cool idea' but he looked at me carefully for a few beats and said

'yeah, well, everything you love is dead!'   :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

out of the mouths of babes. . .

it's Persian Lamb.  the curl is natural and won't come undone, although you might find it difficult to work around all the piecing seams

I make very few real fur critters, only the occasional bity bunny, but I use it to trim bear clothing with., and because I'm always one the lookout for new material, I've got quite a collection of fur coats that've I've picked up at yard sales & on ebay.  a number of them actually fit me quite well, and I usually wear a fur coat around town when I walk my pups in the the winter.  whenever I'm called on it by anti-animal cruelty mavens, I tell them no wild animals were used in this coat. . . they were pets!

however, there are a LOT of hunters in this area, and the comment I get hollered out of truck windows quite often is 'hey, great coat!  you shoot those yourself???'

I also have a little sideline I call 'kellydean reFURbished' where I recycle peoples used & vintage furs into vests & pillow for them.  like Kathy, I like to think these poor critters didn't die for nothing and as far as PETA people go, I also point out the care & attention I lavish on my own pets.

yep, been there, done that. . . them fiskars can be some nasty suckers. . . other things to avoid catching in your lap in this manner. . .  bundles of 100 felting needles. . . hot glue guns. . .x-acto knives. . . indeed, knives of any sort.   and those Clover mini-irons can be deadly.

other tips from the voice of experience

. . .if your hot iron is falling, it's probably best to just let it fall and not try and catch it.  ditto knives & scissors.

Visine and some types of crazy glue come in remarkably similar bottles.  you shouldn't keep both on your workbench

don't try and connect sections of loc-line with a pliers.  you'd be amazed by the amount of flesh a pliers can plough up when it slips

working in a sitting postion with a hot melt glue gun while wearing shorts in probably a bad idea, even if you don't drop the gun in your lap.

a sewing machine that will sew through 6 layers of leather can sew through your fingernail, too - or your thumb. *

*(an x-acto knife & tiny vise-grip pliers are essential tools for the removal of sewing-machine needles embedded in fingernails. you'll have about one minute before it really starts hurting, so you'll have to move fast.  and there's no point in grabbing your pliers and running into the street for help.  people just shudder and tell you that you should go to the emergency room)

he's really wonderful.  can you tell us (moi) what part about working with the sassy fabric was different from what you were used to?  after working with the *vintage mohair & alpaca that I like to use for my smalls, fabric with a thin, no fray backing sounds like a dream.

*(read: dense, thick-backed, easy to fray )

wow, whatta cutie! and thanks for posting him, Christine.  I've been eyeing those sassy fabrics for awhile, esp the longpile, but needed to see a finished bear to get the scale.  coolbeans!  I'm off to buy some sassy for myself.  I've been wanting to try 4" or under for a long time.

funnyfunnyfunny. . . .

I've got a coupla cute pics of my own to add here, I used to have a page at my website called 'Why Men Shouldn't Babysit', but TT won't let me paste the pic in.  it uploads the file, then doesn't paste.  when I try again, it tells me the file already exists on the server???  what's going on???

Judi Paul, what a pretty pic of you and your bear.  no fair being the best and a fairy princess!

I'd also like to add that the entire current issue of TB&F is about bears for kids, getting kids involved with bears, etc, ect, ect (good job, Mindy!!) it a really cute issue (great little article by jack kinsey, whom I first met as a babe-in-arms at my first ever teddy bear show) 

Eva, I think you've found a very nice niche. . . affordable hand-crafted teds for children!  most of my stuff get stuck on a shelf (though I do have on collector in england who's always undressing his bears and pressing thir clothes  :rolleyes:) but one of my clients bought a 15" 'whocaresbear' for her 4-year-old son, and tells me that he sleeps with it every night, and has long conversations with 'Brian' all day, and I have to say it really gives me a big smile whenever I think about it! 

you sure can't negate the power of a good hug, eh?

seriously breathtaking work, exquisite attention to detail. I'm just green with envy.  really.  I spend a lot of time at art-doll websites, am a huge fan of lisa litchenfels (got her book) Akira Blount, mark dennis - and I've got all of Oroyan's books, too. and I can see that you've really got a gift.  I keep saying I'm going to try my hand at it some day, but can never find the time.  and it's only your 5th doll? zowie

I've seen a lot of snappers this large but I've never seen a 'regular' wild turtle get so huge.  (I captured a giant snapper when I was a kid and put it in our swimming pool, because I wanted to keep it as a pet -  boy, did I catch hell)

I'm really curious about the deep crack in her shell & 2 holes flanking it.  doesn't it look like maybe somebody trid to repair her long ago with a big staple or something?  they aren't bullet holes, couldn't be car damage. . .

there is a National Parks Service office directly across the street from my shop and I'm going go ask them all the pertinent questions about what kind of turtle it is and how long they take to hatch.  in the meantime, I'm glad I covered the nest.  there were dig marks all around the perimiter, but they didn't get to the eggs!

when they do hair on dolls or those 'reborn' dolls, they root the hair with a fine needle-felting needle and then they coat the inside of the head with glue.  hair extensions are put on with a hot melt glue gun and a special glue.  I'm thinking it might be easier to buy ultra long fur like tibetian lamb and trim it.

I got quite close without using a zoom.  she had really beautiful eyes,
not at all reptilian, but very wise and sad.  they had a lot of sparkle, too,
like those pretty glass eyes some of you have been making

we walked past the nest tonight again, and I made tepee to protect it out
some heavy metal rr plates that were lying around.  she's not a very smart
old lady.  the lumberyard & feedmill cats have already taken care of the killdeer
nest that was on the same spot earlier this spring.  I don't think these eggs have
much of a chance w/out some help and I'd sure like to photograph a hatching nest.
look at those cracks in her shell, I wonder how old she is?

she really was cool.  I'm waiting for the UPS truck to show up, so I can head back and see if she's still there.

I can't belive these photos were taken on a cloudy,overcast day.   sheeesh.

shoot. .

she was gone, but she covered up nicely.  I can't believe she manage to dig through
those heavy rocks along the tracks. boy, birthing them babies is some work. . .

this, by the way, is the view in the other direction.  you can see now why
I was so surprised by her choice of nest location.

thanks, Mindy!  I never heard of either one of them and gawd knows I need help in those areas

I was walking my pups this morning, along the railroad tracks that cut
through the middle of my village, when I noticed something slightly
unusual out of the corner of my eye.  a huge old lady turtle laying
her eggs halfway between the feedmill & the lumberyard.

I distracted my boys (they never even saw her) and hurried them
home so I could come back with my camera without 100 lbs of puppy
on my arm.  I walked around her carefully, taking pictures.  unfortunately,
I didn't have my tripod, but all most of these pictures were taken very close in.

I think I'll call this one 'an ode to commerce'.  living in a tiny village in the middle
of the wilderness, I'm constantly amazed at how our animals adopt.  with a whole
river to choose from, why on earth is this old lady laying her eggs right in
the middle of town???  she's obviously been around, given her size (about 18") and
the wear on her shell.  she's come a house, a road & 2 big hills from the river in order to lay
her eggs in the sun by the railroad tracks, in full view of the lumberyard's parking lot.

I loved taking a peek at those eggs. . .the contrast of the weathered old turtle, the rich, dark soil and those fresh, pristine white eggs laying there untouched was so beautiful

hmmm. . . well, if i had to do a project like this one, I'd probably buy one of the many animitronic toys I see on the shelf at the toy stores for children, strip the fur/fabric/stuffing and use the animitronics underneath for my critter.  here in the US, I saw all kinds of these on the shelves at xmass - birds, cats, dinosaurs. . .  I don't think you'd need to worry about copyright laws, esp if you weren't trying to market the piece, you are only using the mechanics underneath and it's a commisioned project.

hey bobbie! not the puppenhousen (I've never worked small enough for them) it was a shop owner* from a small village outside of Bern.  I believe she's gone out of business, as I haven't heard from her in a few years.   as for my 'ex', he firmly believed that fame was a self-fulfilling prophecy and was constantly blowing his own horn.  bank tellers, drug store clerks, and captive audience.  I usually blushed and found something really interesting with my shoes. the best retort he ever got was from my nephew, who, after a few hours of nonstop drivel, finally said 'well, if you're so famous, how come I've never heard of you???"

one thing I constantly forget when traveling in the EU, esp. in Switzerland & Germany, is that most shops and shopping districts are totally closed on Sundays, even in really big cities like Munich - although we did go inside some fabulous churches and spent a long time watching the big clock.  Bern rolls up it's sidewalks at 4pm on Saturday, making a weekend stay over rather monotonous.  and once, some clients from London invited me to join them on the ferry from Dover to Calais, for a drive up the french coast.  we found a lovely little village there - that was totally closed down on Saturday afternoon - until 4PM!

* - I try to leave names other than my own out of the conversation.  I haven't seen any collectors on here yet, but I know there are lurkers.  I'd hate to get caught out telling tales:pray:

well, Shel, if you find yourself in a pinch and all else fails. . . bluster! - just put on your bold and bully your way through. . .

I used to do a wonderful little show in Bern.  the first time we did the show, we knew nothing of Bern - or the promoter, only that her invited artist list was stellar and I was hugely flattered to be considered at all, much less invited.  the other big incentive was that the promoter was paying for everything, including our hotel room.  she kept telling us that the show was being held in the ballroom of the best hotel in the city, the Hotel Schwietzerhof (sp???).  the only other instructions we received were that the hotel was directly across from the train station, and that we could find her there when we arrived in Bern. 

so we came out of the station and sure enough, directly across the street was the hotel - a glorious old place with a small, intimate lobby that reeked money.  we schlepped our way to the desk with our 18 suitcases, disheveled and bone-tired from our almost-24-hr trip and asked the desk clerk for our show host.  the poor girl had no idea what we were talking about and after discussing it for a few frustrating minutes, my partner said 'look, we're exhausted.  why don't we just check in and we'll find our host later".  the clerk agreed that this was a good plan, asked our names and looked at her reservation list for a long time.  she turned a little redder, looked up and said 'monsieurs, I'm afraid that I don't show you on my list.  could you possibly be listed under another name?"  we gave her all the possibilities, including my real surname, my parnters and our hosts.  nothing.

we were beginning to feel more than a little frustrated when my partner drew himself up to full height, puffed out his chest like a pouter pigeon and declared loudly 'my dear woman, do you know who we are???  I'm the world-famous author so-and-so, and this is my partner, kelly dean, the world-famous teddy bear maker from the US!  we have never been treated so poorly!  I can't believe this is happing to us!  you had better get your hotel manager out here on the double!!'  I never!!!"  and in a Swiss hotel! so much for Swiss efficiency. (I wasn't totally surprised - he was prone to this type of behavior, to my lasting embarrasment)

the poor girl blanched, ran for her manager, who came out of her office, shook our hands gravely and apologized for the horrible mix-up.  she quickly snapped her fingers to summon a bevy of bellboys and we were escorted  by the manager up a flight of stair to a set of double doors at the top of the stairs.  she opened the doors with a flourish, and we stepped into the fanciest hotel suite I'd ever been in.  2 rooms, a huge poster bed, fireplace, oriental rugs, fresh flowers - and bathroom that had to be 30 ft long.  my partner went wild over the bathroom and the spa tub, and while he went to shower, I started unpacking clothes into the armoire in the bedroom.  there was a knock at the door and when I answered it, there stood a bellboy with a tray holding an ice bucket, bottled water, 2 rich, thick white terry robes and 2 pairs of slippers.  I brought one set of them to the bathroom where my bf was splashing in the tub and said 'wow, can you believe this place?  I could get to like this teddy bear business'

just then there was a few short rings from the telephone.  I picked it up expecting to hear my show host, but it was the hotel manager instead.  she informed me that they had located our host, and gave me directions to the ballroom where she could be found.  I thanked her profusely, and then asked her if she could send someone up for my shirts (what the heck, eh?)  there was a short, quiet pause, and then she cleared her throat and said 'monsieurs, I regret to inform you that there has been a mistake with your room.  we talked to your host and she informed us that you are not staying in this hotel.  she has booked accommodation for you elsewhere.  I do not know where, but I'm sure she can help you with that.  you will need to vacate the room immediately'.

I gave her a totally embarrassed 'um, ok, sorry. . . ', hung up the phone and went to tell my partner what had happened.  it took me about 10 minutes to convince him that I wasn't kidding, and then we quickly threw everything back into the suitcases and made our way to the ballroom, where we fond our host.  when we told her what had happened, she burst out laughing and said 'like I could ever afford to stay here myself! you silly Americans!  I booked you at a hotel a block away.  here are your directions - go check in and clean up" 

so we headed for the lobby, me going as fast as possible to avoid the desk clerks eye, when suddenly she called out to us

'monsieurs, monsieurs, is there a problem?  was your room not satisfactory?'

I kept going, red-faced, but my partner turned and harumpffed 'well, we've been thrown out of better hotels than this one, we're going to stay at the movenpick.'

then I heard a snort of derision that made me turn around.  the desk clerk was struggling to hold her composure and she replied 'I'm sure you gentlemen will enjoy your stay there' in a tone that said perhaps the movenpick might be only a block down the street, but it was waaaaaaay down the rungs on the social ladder.

I just blushed and ran. . .

I've stayed in various 'Ibis' hotels in Europe and they were very clean and neat in an 'ikea' sort of way.  another nice chain of that type in Switzerland, Germany and the NL is the Movenpick, and both are reasonably priced, very family oriented and have great eats (movenpicks mondo ice cream sundaes!)( our room at the Movenpick in Bern was huge, with 2 beds)  we stayed in clean-if-plain hotel called 'the Hotel Balcony' in Florence.  it was maybe 90E a night.  we didn't find it, it found us, by way of a shill at the train station.  it wasn't fancy, but our room really did open out on a balcony, and this was the view:

I've also done quite a bit of room-booking on the web, and can tell you from firsthand experience that pictures can lie and you can't always believe what you read.  be sure and check references & guest comments.  never pay cash in advance.  if you don't believe me, ask Di Bester about the 'Windsor Arms' in Earl's Court in London (((shudder)))

on the other hand, last year I rented a very nice floor-through apt in Fulham (London) for a week for $60 USD a night, a freakin good deal for London.

oh, a few last tips. . .

never plan a trip using the proceeds of a show that hasn't happened yet.   :redface:  I did a 3-week trip through Europe after Teddy-Total a few year ago that was an adventure in itself.  Franfurt, by rail to Munster, then to Stuttgart, Munich, Salzburg (gorgeous) Florence and flew home from Rome.  you might just find yourself with low sales, no cash and [img]very[/img]heavy suitcases.    I finally ended up shipping some things home from Stuttgart (oh, how I envy the miniaturists.  wouldn't it be loverly to walk into a show with a shoebox full of bears)

oh. . . . :redface:  :redface:  :redface:  and never plan a 3-week trip with an internet date that you haven't actually met in person first  :redface:

although it will give you some interesting stories.