Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

I have done quite a few bears in synthetic but this one would be my favourite so far.

This is Pumpkin & Pickle.
Made from Koo-Gee plush in Tropicano.
Purchased from Beary-Cheap Supplies in Australia.
Pumpkins head is made from Mock Mohair.

Pickle is made from Moccassin.

These two have been sold.

The fabric is thick but lovely to work with..I reversed the fabric for the paws and footpads and then needle-sculptered them..

I tried the needle-felting too but just could not work it out however I have just started needle-felting the white backing behind the bear eyes and am pleased with the result.    Will post a pic tomorrow...

I just love my laminater.   When I have completed the drafting and tweaking of my patterns I laminate them and store them in a plastic sleeved folder.

They are named, but they do get mixed up a lot as I will use a body pattern from one, arms and legs from another and of course the head from another.

This gives me something to do on a rainy day...... re-sort my patterns..

Wow, some of these posts have a lot of reading in them.

Points I picked up were,  I have done local markets here in Australia and have had success. However one market I had been doing for 4 years and I did find that custom was thinning out over the last season.  Maybe due to cost of living rising in Australia and other things were more important to buy ( fruit & vedg) than teddy bears.
Have been selling on e-bay for about 8 months now and did start the bears off cheaply. But as mentioned on an earlier post the first bear did cover my cost and so the next 1 or 2 bears from the fur was all profit. As I make small to medium bears I usually get 2 maybe 3 out of a fat quater.

Another point that struck me was selling from a website. Quite a few said that can be a bit slow.  I haven't sold from my website yet but whenever I go anywhere I always have a handful of business cards in my pocket to hand out. Trying to get my name out there.

My bears are my hobby so I don't make and sell  bears to put food on the table, however my aim is ONE DAY to sell a bear at an unbelievable price ( for me that is )

Have learned a lot from this thread.   Thanks all

I would love to join in with this swap Daphne,

Denise Eastwell.  (Tuppies Teddies )   small-medium bears