Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hi Becky.  :)

Ah, OK.  Thank you.  :)  I don't like the thought of open-bear surgery!  Eeps.  That's a frigtening thought.  He can stay as he is then.  :) :)

Poor teddy -- he was destined for a strange existence.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Hi all,

Some of you might remember stitchy:

He's from a pre-cut fabric set, so all I had to do with Mother, was sew him together and stuff him (and I think, given his proportions, his head is where his bottom should be, and vice-versa.  Poor little chap).  I really enjoyed making him, and he looks really odd.  But I want to keep him.  He's important to me.  :)

Problem is, his joints are a bit loose.  If memory serves, the disc joints are plastic -- two circles with a pin running through them which attach through the limbs. and click in place to hold his arms and legs to his body.  I'm wondering if there's a way of making his joints tighter?  He's getting too floppy!  I should cuddle him less.  :)

Thanks in advance!

-- Thomas Adam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgLD5Nk2 … re=related

Yay!

-- Thomas Adam

1985, I think.  I have a copy, it's good.   My favourite though is Peter Bull's "A Hug of Teddy Bears".  :)

-- Thomas Adam

I love his eyes, hehe.  And I assume Tomash is Russian for my own name?  :)  Even better then.  :)

How did you get his expression like that with the eyes?   They make him look so... alert.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

It's always nice when a pumpkin comes to visit... :)

-- Thomas Adam

Awww -- he's lovely.  :)

What a dear little chap.  :)  As far as I know, the Berlin teddy bear was a mass-produced bear.  What sort of things were you wanting to know?   He's certainly seen a lot of love.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

How lovely.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Hi Katherine --

Thanks for the information.    Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of my control I cannot attend.  But I hope that someone takes photos and/or a video, else I'll believe it never happened. 

Hope everyone who's going has a lot of fun. 

-- Thomas Adam

I've been really busy with work -- but I'd add my name to the list, if it's still open.

Bear in mind (pun intended?) that it's only the 13th November -- at least give things another week?

-- Thomas

Aww!  What a lovely expression he has.  :)  So sweet.  :)  I tried reaching into the screen to hug him.  :)

-- Thomas

Aww.

I watched this at work yesterday -- great way to spend the afternoon, and so many teddies.  :) :)  I hope everyone had fun, and I am pleased to hear there were lots of bear adoptions.  :)

Thanks to whomever created the video -- I wish/hope more venues to do this, it's great for those who can't attend such places, but can at least see all the great teddy bears.  :)

-- Thomas

Aww -- you can't not to go Witney -- it's teddy bear heaven!  It's such a wonderful place!  I try and go at least once a year, and the highlight for me (other than Aloysius, and Alfonzo of course) is the fact that the museum in the shop has a black memorial Steiff teddy bear for the Titanic.  I've loved that teddy since I first saw him, and wish I could hold him.  But he's very old, and prefers to sit behind the glass.  In the dark.   :)

It's a great place -- very famous, and has to be worth a visit.

But since you likely can't leave the confines of London, I can help you a bit.  Hamleys has already been mentioned (ugh -- not the same anymore).  There used to be a teddy bear shop near Mayfield, but sure if it is there now, and there's a few teddy bear artists stools in Covent Garden market usually.  Well-worth a look there.  :)

-- Thomas

Hello.  :)

Well, I've seen quite a few taxidermy bears actually -- they're big, but there's no mistaking a real bear which has been preserved after death, and a much cuter, softer, cuddly teddy bear.  I think it's important to remember that the distinction is just that -- you can't *hide* a real bear which has been stuffed.  But an artist's bear is different.  The artist might aspire to make a bear look as life-like as possible, or they might not -- they might do something else.  I see a lot of that in the wide-range of teddy bears on here -- the interpretation is what sets it apart, both from different teddy bears, and real bears.

It depends.  I would resist cuddling a real bear -- one I knew had been prepared taxidermy.  But I cuddle every teddy bear I get my hands on, when I am allowed.  :)  It's children who are going to perhaps wonder the most here.  WIth the rise of shops like "build-a-bear", and other plushies (I mean plushies here as opposed to specifically teddy bears) one can buy from card shops, the emphasis isn't so much on the bear as it is something "soft and cuddly" -- and I would suppose children would expect that aspect moreover they would a traditionally-made mohair teddy bear which is somewhat harder, and perhaps not as cuddly.

Not that this denies the traditional artist-made teddy bear any love, but a colleague of mine at work has pointed out the she doesn't like some of the artist bears on my desk because they're not as squidgy as the other ones (bah!  I say).  I wonder if that's how children will see it?

In my eyes though, I admire all teddies for the personality they have in their look, the material they're made of, and if know, the person(s) who made it.  That way, I am able to bestow a lot more personality into the teddy bear than I am something which is mass-produced; where the appeal and function of the teddy bear has already been pre-determined to a large extent.

-- Thomas Adam

Hehe -- how ever do you make such decisions lightly?  Do you have an example from your bears' travel journal?   :) :)

That's so sweet...

-- Thomas Adam

Excellent!

I am hoping to try and make this -- although Southampton -> Sheffield is quite a distance.   :)

-- Thomas Adam

Hello all,

I'm curious to know how many of you have "travel teddy bears" -- teddy bears which you take with you when you're out and about.  Or perhaps you've designed teddy bears for this purpose, I don't know -- but if so, I'd love to know!  :)

Peter Bull was famous for carrying around Zissi (I belive the bear's name was), a tiny tiny teddy he took everywhere with him.

For myself (as I have presumably mentioned before), I too have a teddy bear (http://xteddy.org/~n6tadam/xteddy1.png) -- xteddy -- which I take everywhere with me.  In fact, he was found hiding in Hawaii, and when I got him, I didn't care for the tag in him (he's a Gund teddy bear) so I ripped it out, and cuddled him tightly.  :) :)

And to this day, I still do that.  He goes everywhere with me, when I go to work, when I am out and about shopping, when I go home, etc., and he provides no end of cuddles throughout the day when I need it -- even at night.  :)

Has anyone here considered making such a teddy bear?  I appreciate I could go to something such as "Build-a-bear" -- but these days, they do less and less teddy bears and more other plushies.  Even a teddy bear key-ring would be cool, although he's have to be durable to withstand a lot of wear-and-tear!

Poor teddy bears.  Sometimes they are just born into a tough life.  :)  Dear xteddy knows all about that.  And he's been such a good bear to me, even soggy when I've needed to cry.  :)  when I get to work, I fluffy him and place him on my desk alongside my other teddies already on my desk.  :)  Then he's set for the day, and goes back in my bag when I go home.    And throughout the day I sneak a cuddle here and there.  :)

So does anyone else do this?  :)

-- Thomas Adam

It was Bob Dylan who sang:  "You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows", and I think that's applicable here.  It's important to remember your target audience in this -- and the expectations they're going to have when considering adopting a teddy bear.  This isn't confectionary -- where it's so mass appealing, there really would be mass riots if the price of a chocolate bar fluctuates [1] and people notice.  The chocolate bar is something people don't care about in the same way as a teddy bear, but the point of it is that there is no attachment to a chocolate bar in the same was as a teddy bear -- the mindset of the thing is different.

With most collectors -- and I'm talking about the ones who've perhaps adopted more than one teddy bear from an artist before, tend to look beyond the teddy bear itself.  To me, I care just as much about the artist as I do the teddy bear -- and that's the key-point, you get more than just the teddy bear from artists -- you get an expression.  So, lowering prices, potentially to make a sale, might be needed in the artist's eyes, but I would hope -- I would expect prices to fluctuate.  Besides which, each teddy bear is different, so prices will always differ.

So no, it doesn't disappoint me -- and I do understand it, but I would advise artists to be careful -- wanting/needing to sell is one thing if it's a livelihood and sole point of income, but don't go overboard -- there has to be a good price on such a unique thing as a teddy bear, and to disrespect that to get a sale, to me, is doing yourselves an injustice.

-- Thomas Adam

[1] I cite here, the "Curly Wurly", but am painfully aware such references are even before my time.  ;)

Ah -- that's amazing!  All those teddies, there's so many!  They all look so cute and happy.  :)   Awww.

I love the stairs -- with the teddies on either side.  I think most of my colleagues thought I had gone insane earlier.  :)  But even my boss was impressed.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

OK --- for those of you with reduced bandwidth, see:

http://xteddy.org/~n6tadam/pics/teddies/reduced/

:)

-- Thomas Adam

Hi --

I'm curious to know how many of you arrange your hug.  :)

I spoke to Becky, of Dangerbears (of whom I've been a huge fan for ages!), and touched on this briefly and wondered if anyone here have themes for their teddies?

As you can gleam from the following photos:

http://xteddy.org/~n6tadam/pics/teddies/

They're dotted around the place, which is fine.  I often envisage a tea-party affaire though.  :)

So -- the question -- do you arrange your teddies into themes, or groups, and if so, how?  :)

Kindly,

-- Thomas Adam

I'm surprised there's no "Planet Teddy Bear" blog aggregator, or syndicate -- these things are popular with software projects, etc., and wouldn't be too difficult to setup for teddy bear artists and friends.  If there's enough interest, I don't mind doing this at all.

-- Thomas Adam

Edit:  Note that this is different from various teddy bear artists merely linking to one another out of courtesy, etc.   :)  Whilst that works OK, with an aggregator it's like an automatic informer that you've posted to your blog, that other people affiliated with the same site can pick up on, etc.  Bit hard to describe, but I will set one up as a proof-of-concept for you all to use.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Melisa --

I find it somewhat pretentious if the only reason is one of anonymity.  If you're already a signed-up member of something like e-bay and bidding, it shouldn't matter one hoot.  I for one would rather see it as an open -- but that's just me.  Having bid a few times in this way, as well as private, I find the private auctions don't really bring anything worthwhile.

-- Thomas Adam

Goodness me!  He's a colourful chap indeed.  :)  :)

He looks wonderful though.  Good job.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Aww -- he's wonderful!  I really like his expression -- and he'd look wonderful next to Leo I know it.  :)

Well done, Becky!  :)

-- Thomas Adam