Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Jodi,
Here are the close-up pictures of the bears you wanted to see:

This is the little panda which I made:

This is my little crocheted bear by Berta Hesen-Minten.  He is completely wobble-jointed, so it lovely to hold.

and a couple more pics of some more of my collection:

Ellen, like you I prefer artist bears, although I do have a couple of old bears, including my treasured 1906 Steiff that my husband bought me as my wedding present.  I also have an extensive collection of my own bears, spanning back to when I was about 10!!  I could never afford the bears I wanted with my pocket money back then, so I made bears for myself to keep.  I carried this on whilst I was at school, and when I was at university, and after graduating and starting work a couple of years ago, my collection grew very quickly!!  I still make myself bears to keep - being miniatures I think I can get away with this, as they fit into a cabinet very easily.

By the way Jodi, although I trade as Mary Myrtle Miniatures, my name is actually Samantha Potter!!    Mary Myrtle was my great-grandmother's name.  When my Mum started selling her miniature dolls about 15 years ago (when I was still a child), she chose a business name which could include anyone in the family, with the hope that I could one day join her, so we now both trade under Mary Myrtle Miniatures!  It has also included my Aunt, who designs and knits beautiful miniature clothes for my Mum's miniature dolls, and now my Dad, who has finally joined-in, and makes dollshouse furniture!!  It a bit of a family affair!

I mainly use fabric available from Sassy Bears.  Two of the above bears are made of the sassy long pile fabric which has been hand-dyed by a friend.  The other bear is from the two-tone sassy fabric.

If anyone who makes miniatures has not had a play with some of the fabric from Sassy Bears, I highly recommend it.  Great service and great fabric!!

Jodi asked: Who is that little guy in the arms of the big white bear ??

The little bear in the arms of the white humble crumble bear is a little crocheted bear by Berta Hesen-Minten (another of my favourites!!), and the little panda sat in the lap of the three o'clock bear is a little panda made by me!

Jodi - your collection is amazing!!  Your house must be like a museum!!

Great collections everyone - I love how they are displayed!!  Such original ideas!

Thanks guys!!

I know I am very lucky to own lots of the bears in my collection!
I had only just got 'Haydn' by Christine Pike when I took this photo, but he has his own hatbox to stand on now.  I have admired Christine's bears for many years, and my husband bought me 'Haydn' for our first wedding anniversary this August (from Party Bears shop in Bath, UK).
My Humble Crumble bears, and my three o'clock bear are also some of my absolute favourites. 

Inspired by Jodi's collection appearing in Teddy Bear Review, I thought it would be great to see some more people's collections of bears and how you display your collection.

I took this photo of my collection of artist bears last time I cleaned it (a few more bears have appeared in it since then!).

(I'm sure a few of you recognise your own creations amongst my bears!)

So lets have a look at some of your collections!!

I LOVE this bear!
I will be sure to come and take a closer look at Ally Pally!
I love all your bears, but there is definitely something about this one's face that particularly appeals to me.

There is certainly a difference between competitions where everyone who enters gets through to the final round for  judging for a first place, and those where the entries are shortlisted to be eligible for first place. 
I feel that if someone has entered an award where no short-listing takes place, then it is worthless declaring that you have one of these 'ribbons', as it is only a symbol of your participation in a competition, whereas an award such as the TOBY or Golden Teddy, where you may not win, but were shortlisted (or 'nominated'), this is worth declaring, as although you didn't win, it is still a symbol of achievement. 
Hope that makes sense!

Hiya Catherine,

I haven't heard from them either, so from past experience you have to assume at this point that you did not win I'm afraid!!  They usually just write to the winners.  Mind you, last year I did not hear, so assumed I hadn't won, but because I had moved house it turned out that the letter had gone to my old address.  When I found out I had actually won, it was a fantastic suprise!

My understanding is that the winners are first unveiled at the Ally Pally fair at the end of October, where they are on display on the TBS stand.  They are usually in the TBS issue after that.

Hope this helps!

Hugs,
Samantha
x

She is so wonderful!  Reminds me of my white persian cat I grew up with, who we lost a couple of years ago.  Such a cute little face, and its lovely to see you've retained your 'look' even though its a different animal.  I love her!

Lovely - really lovely!  They look really sweet together.  I'll come and have a peek at them at Ally Pally

Wow - I can't believe he is crocheted.  He is beautiful!

A few more bears I have ready for Ally Pally.  This one is 7cm sitting.

This one is 6cm sitting.

This one is 7cm sitting.

Thanks guys for your nice comments!!
Remember to come and say hello to me in the dollshouse and miniatures fair, next door to the bear fair.  I share a stall with my mum - but always feel a bit separated from the 'bear people'!
I'll try and post a couple more photos of my bears as they are ready.

I've not posted in the Showcase before, so I thought i would share with you a couple of bears ready for Ally Pally.  I'd love to know what you think.  This little bear is 7cm sitting.

This bear is also about 7cm when sitting.

This bear is only 5cm when sitting!

Marion - you made me laugh!!  I do have an older brother and he certainly does not understand my bears at all!!!  People always say that my husband and I look young, and although I am 23, he is actually 28! 

(By the way Marion, I love your avatar! )

What great stories!!  I've really enjoyed reading them all.

I met my husband when we were at university in Bristol.  We both went to 'le roc' dancing (which is a french jive/rock and roll dance) and met there.  We both liked eachother, but were really shy, so it took us months to actually get together.  Within about 3 months of our first date, I started staying at his student flat, and we didn't have a night apart from then until two years later on the night before our wedding. When we finished uni, we moved into a rented house, and the day before our wedding in August 2006, we signed for our new house that we currently live in in Chetenham.  We just celebrated our first anniversary in August.
Our wedding day was amazing - a perfect day.  We got married at Tewkesbury Abbey, which is an amazing building, and just down the road from where my parents live, and where I grew up.  We had bears on our wedding cake, and two of our flower girls carried bears in their baskets.  My husband bought me a 1906 Steiff as my wedding present - something I have always wanted, but never thought I would own!!  He was sat on our bed in the honeymoon suite, when we went up there after the wedding.
As we had met through dancing, our first dance at our wedding was important to us, and we did a waltz to the song 'Could I have this dance for the rest of my life' - which is a great song, and has a lot of meaning for us now. 
I still often think how lucky I am to have met someone like Alan.  He has very quickly taken the teddy bears into his stride, and seems to enjoy helping me on my stall, and helping me choose which bear(s) will be added to my collection.  I don't think there are many young men who would have accepted it all so quickly!!

Congratulations!!  Thats wonderful news!

Fantastic!! 
Just what I needed to read after an exhausting day out at work!!

My favourite award winner is my 'Faithful Friends' entry which won the miniature category of TBS Readers' Choice Awards last year.

The two bears are 5cm sitting and 3cm sitting (so the picture will probably appear bigger then the actual bears!!).

Interesting topic.

I love entering awards, as I like to use it as an excuse to spend a little more time on one piece, and try and stretch myself that little bit further.  I enjoy the excitement of seeing whether you are nominated, seeing who else is nominated, and finding out who the winner is.  I also still get a thrill from seeing my bears appear in magazines, and an award nomination often allows your bear to appear. 

When I advertise my bears, and on my business cards, I tend to list any recent nominations or wins, so that collectors who may have seen my nominated bear, will make the connection between me and that bear - good advertising really!!  I am not including the information to say that my bears are 'better' because they have been nominated.  I am simply allowing potential customers to make the connection between a nominated bear they may have seen (and liked?), and me.

Having said that, I often get frustrated by competitions, especially when it is purely judged by a photograph.  When designing my entry, the question 'will it photograph well?' is constantly going through my mind, which can actually restrict the creative process.  It is always also worth remembering that the outcome of a competition is heavily dependent on who else has entered, and who is judging (I know of an artist bear competition which was judged by a bear shop owner- who will be judging what would sell rather than which should win, and an old bear specialist amongst others).  I never set my heart on being nominated  - and therefore cannot be disappointed.  If you don't get a nomination, you have to feel encouraged to develop your skills and techniques even further for the following year.  Anything which encourages me to strive for improvement can only be a positive thing.

Last year, I was lucky enough to win a Readers Choice award in TBS magazine, which I was really proud of. I obviously realise, however, that it is so heavily dependent on who else had entered, how well the photograph comes out in the magazine, and what people who vote personally like. I thought really hard about whether or not to enter again this year (as I do not want to appear 'pushy'), but I felt that I wanted to, but decided that my entry had to be really different to my previous entry.  I therefore tried a fabric I had never used before, designed a completely new pattern, used paints for the face, etc, which I had rarely done before, and decided that even if my entry wasn't nominated, I had learnt a lot of new skills anyway (this bear is actually my avatar bear).

Sorry to have gone on a bit, but I absolutely LOVE entering awards, despite often getting frustrated by their restrictions, and would hate to think that people see them as a negative thing.  I can fully understand that many people do not want to enter awards for a variety of reasons,and I did not start entering them until six years after I began selling my bears (I first entered an award when I was 21),  but I now get such a buzz out of creating the piece, photographing it, and the anticipation of waiting to see what happens, that any disappointment that may appear along the way, is quickly forgotten!!

Great discussion - its really interesting reading all of your views!!

Hugs,
Samantha
x

Wow!!  I love the pictures.  I've never heard of an 'open-house show' before - what a great idea!!  I'm glad it was a success, and as you say, future events are likely to be even more successful!!  Well done to you!

Judi - your tiger in the magazine is superb.  I've seen pictures of him before, but seeing the picture of him all white- before you add the colouring, just highlights how talented you are - its breath-taking!!
x

Hi Clare,

I have searched everywhere and can't find the piece of plush-felt!!

However, if you have a Hobbycraft store near you, then go to the area where they sell the normal cheap craft felt on shelves.  Next to that, there is usually some cheap fur fabrics hanging up along the shelving.  If you look carefully, you will find some in this area which is felt with either a slight straight pile, or a sort of looped pile (difficult to describe - they might call it a shaggy pile - not sure).  They are larger pieces than the normal craft felt, which have been folded up and a label attached.  Usually about £5.99 a piece.  They usually have a few nice 'bear' colours in both types.  I hope this helps.

Get back to me again if you need any more info!!

Hugs

Samantha
x

FANTASTIC!! 
(I also love his feet!!)