Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hi wendi, I sent my last bear to aussie and the post was airsure signed for, but be warned it took about 2 weeks, that shocked me and I was very unhappy when I realised, luckily the customer was ok with it, thank god :hug:

Oh Cloe love your steiff, I became a proud owner of my first steiff at christmas-Black Watch Bear
and I love him so sooooooooo much he is still wrapped in all his tissue and outer box and i take him out when I am really blue and squeeze ever so gently :hug:

Well my daughter has just finished it and at 16 is blubbering like a baby, maybe she will tidy her room now, one can hope, until the next book is out. Oh yeah no more books? I think there will be another

Hi as a new bear maker I have adored this topic, thanks all for sharing your thoughts, I will be checking the library.
At the moment I have priced my bear at the cost of all the materials involved without time taken, I know this means that they are underpriced. I have done this for a few reasons. Firstly I am an apprentice -alun sugar eat your heart out :crackup: I felt that as my name is not known and I am learning it would be unfair to charge for my time, this is my gift to the kind people who hopefully will buy my bears at this stage. I am a perfectionist and plan each bear in my head and each new technique is thought out very carefully and researched prior to execution, so I do not consider them inferior to ones that I will make in the future, its just that you would not pay a skilled brick layers pay to a general labourer, even if that labourer is just as good. I do agree with Jenny and Diane that at the end of the day we are running businesses and a profit should be made. The difficultly for me is when to factor in my time, I suppose I hopefully will know when that is the right time to do so, as I do feel that my low starter could be helping to keep prices down.
With regard to ebay, I think that some low prices are possibly down to new people who think that they could make money this way only to discover that it is like all craft/artist medias, it takes a lot of commitment, dedication and talent, these will I am sure fall by the wayside to leave those that love it for the bears themselves, so I guess there will always be a divide of pricing on ebay between the chancers and the lifers
Cheers from an apprentice lifer :crackup:

Dear Bobbie, you certainly are a lady, to have gone through this without naming names I applaud you, I think I would have shouted from the roof tops, I am also glad that the people have been made to feel responsible for their actions, wether they were deliberate or unintensional.
I think that at the end of the day we all have to be careful in any profession we are in.
You have done an excellent job of making us all aware that we are all accountable and for that I thank you.
Sending you the biggest hug I can, all my love Sue :hug:

Hi I'm Libra and do love luxury-can't afford it but I can dream
I am true to my sign I think , Libran like balance and harmony and are the scales of justice, I tend to fight for what is right no matter how much trouble it gets me into and it does usually resulting in me being the one who is blamed in the end -this happens at work alot!!
My husband would disagree and say I am much more a fire sign than water so I suppose my moon sign could be Hell, is that a sign :crackup:

Those photo are perfect and very easy to follow, I had just decided to give this a go on my next bigger bear, so your timing is spot on :hug:

She is just so gorgeous, well worth it, love the colour :clap:

I think maybe too much grape juice :crackup:  :crackup:

It was so wonderful to read how it all started, and I want to add my thanks because I feel like I belong to a very large family :hug:  :hug:  :hug:

Penny, that is priceless, you can almost see the bottom lip tremble
Will watch for you in that dingy :crackup:  :crackup:

Gosh do we have to wait that long , Tuesday seems an aweful long long way away, Have a lovely weekend too :hug:

How absolutely adorable, love the "I Hate Cats" jumper :crackup:

What a lovely lesson on life :hug:

Amul he is lovely :clap:

Your witch looks fab, I think the ears look great, somehow they would not have looked so good if they had been higher up :dance:
Michelle, I find positioning a bit difficult, my bears sit for about a week with the ears just pinned in place, I then somehow, maybe its because I see the bear alot and fiddle, they just seem to sit right when I sew :pray:
PS 10-2 at the mo as I am new

What a difficult choice, I like the composition of 2 but No 1, he looks stunning against the black background, No 1 blew me away as well :hug:

The bears look fab in the pici :clap: , And welcome to this part of the world :hug: , I am not in norfolk but a neighbour just across the border, I think you must have been very brave to make the move, we have just decided to do the same thing (move to possibly scotland or Yorkshire) and it feels very scary

Kerren, thanks for the info, its look fantastic, now I wonder if santa will have anything for me this year or maybe my birthday in october :pray:

Stunning colours and her name on her feet, wow :clap: , would love to know how to do that

Definately no badgers here, looks great so far, have courage to continue, eyes look fab :hug:

This site just gets better and better, congratulations :clap:  :clap:

:crackup:  :crackup: Priceless :crackup:  :crackup:

Fab idea :dance:

Oh yes he is definately a Hamish, love the nose :hug: