Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Totally huggable!
Michelle

I love his expression!
Michelle

 
Beautiful rabbit face lovely little chap!
Michelle

  he looks like a real racoon amazing!
Michelle

  Stunning!
Michelle

 
Francy like I said before your work is amazing beautiful face just perfect!

  Francy what a wonderful face those beautiful eyes! you are doing the most fabulous work at the moment it a joy to behold!
Michelle

  Oh my he is so sweet!
Michelle

Well this is my first forray in to Faux fur and in all honesty it will be a while before I use it again. I am not too keen on the feel of fake as it makes my teeth feel a bit funny if you know what I mean so sewing it up was a bit cringeful and wasn't too keen on the extra faff of having to line all the pieces. On the positive side though it looks beautiful and takes colour well  so I will no doubt submit at a later date.


Flossie Twinkle Toes
Flossie reminds me of a big pink sugary pillow of candyfloss. She is just as soft and sweet natured but what she is probably most famous for is her love of sparkles, glitter and twinkles. She doesn’t see why they should be saved for going out or Christmas. ‘It makes me feel magical’ she says, and I can’t blame her for that  - we all need a bit of magic and sparkle in our life.
Michelle

Thank you Anita, Peter, Francy and Christina!

Francy I am so with you! I get all fired up and super excited cutting the pattern then usually about 1/2 way through the making of the actual bear have a crisis of confidence! My favourite bit is ladder stitching the limbs up as that for me is when they start to come to life. The most horrible bit is when a needle felting needle snaps off and you have to take every thing apart and start again to find the tip agghhhh!
Michelle

Wonderful badger! I love the little apron and the nose is perfect!
Michelle

What a lovely idea a kittyrina!
Michelle

I already saw this little beauty on bearpile so sweet!
Michelle

Well I have finally started taking pics of my new bears.....


Cosy Dennis
This is Cosy Dennis - a bear in a basket. He likes nothing better than to curl up for a nice little nap with his blanket and I use to find him in all sorts of unusual places. He once thought it would be a good idea to sleep in the washing basket until he ended up sharing his bed with smelly socks and another time he was stuck in a drawer for two days before anybody found him! So in the end I decided to get him his own little basket and now he is very happy and of course much easier to find.
Michelle x

Humm I agree with Chris. I have been through a divorce and it is truly horrible and am sorry that you have to go through this. However it seems to me that you are doing the equivalent of playing sad songs to cry to with your bears. I understand that in an ideal world they would all be together but try to pick a few (out of a hat if you can't possibly choose) to bring to your new life -they are part of who you are. Stop punishing yourself you will get through this x

  He has an afro! totally love this pic thanks for brightening my day Gail 

Wonderful face wonderful work I am sure your show will be a sell out!
Michelle

'Hey Mum you didn't say we were going on the roller coaster today weeeee!'
Michelle

 
Beautiful eyes lovely cat! I really like the shape you have created not just a bear with a cats head I am a sucker for anything black and furry!
Michelle

Thanks Michelle I think your right best stick to what I like.

Hi Emilyjane
Welcome to teddy talk it is a wonderful place full of helpful people and great advice! It is a little quiet on here at the moment but I expect that most are very busy finishing commissions and listing bears to sell for Christmas. I am new to making bears myself (in fact it is a year this week that I started  :)) and have only been selling since May this year. So my advice is what I have learnt recently and may be lacking in parts that others can help with. I wonder why you are so set on selling in craft shops? If you sell in a retail shop you will have to sell (to the shop owner) at a price low enough for the shop owner to make a profit margin on which is normally around 50%. This makes my bears I think too expensive but I know a lot do so there must be a way of working this that I would like to know too Anybody??
Regardless how you sell you will need to purchase product and possibly public liability insurance to cover you and your customers and you already are aware of labelling for the over 14 age group.
Other ways to sell are at specialist bear shows where you pay for a table that cost from £40 to over £100 for the day there is a list of all the shows in the Uk in a copy of
Hugglets booklet that has just come out for 2014. You can also open your own online shop on craft sites Folksy or Etsy (they walk you through the whole process) that is very easy to do and costs very little (a few pence) to list a bear for sale but once a bear is sold you do have to pay % of the sale and also % to pay pal. Bear pile is a great on line shop that costs a monthly fee of about £10 but you can list as many bears as you like and doesn't charge any sale commission. You can link a face book page to any of these sites and of course you can also sell on your own website/blog page. There is a lot of work in selling bears yourself but it is nice to have direct contact with the collectors.
Anyway good luck and lets have a look at your work!
Michelle

Hi all
I just finished a large bear (50cm ish) and had a bit of a problem with the filling. I buy my filling in bulk and last time I ordered some thought I would get the slightly more expensive 'high loft' one thinking it would be better. How wrong I was! It is so bouncy and slippery I am having a hard time getting it to shape and fill where I want it to and no matter how much I cram in I can still feel the joints when I press hard around the arms. I do tend to like a firmly stuffed bear and can be a bit guilty of over stuffing at times and so there is no way you can feel anything else but bear. Is this normal with this type of fill or am I doing something wrong? My finished bear is much softer than normal but I am still worried about it. Smaller bears are not so much of an issue as there is less arm to feel at.
I was wondering about washing the remaining (giant box ) of fill to try and loose some of its bounce?? or just order some more of the usual stuff and save the bouncy for making cushions. Btw I also like the wavy heavy weight fill although I haven't found a bulk supplier that does small orders of 10kg yet my usual supplier is World of Wool who are great. Any input as always appreciated.
Michelle

Beautiful bear! he looks so soft
Michelle

Fabulous hedge hog! His little face is adorable and mouth is amazing! Sooo cute!
Michelle