Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Me too Bronwen I think I'll try the single cotter pin technique next time..  :hug:

Browen when I use wobble joints I contain them by how hard I turn the cotter pins...the more you turn them the less wobble.

Although I have trouble sometimes I now find that if you make the first one (inside the head) really firm then you can do your adjusting with the one inside the body..(is this making any sense at all??)

I'm never sure how much wobble is good though...I have a bear I made recently that I absolutely love except his head looks like its going to fall off every time I pick him up  :crackup:  so I'm going to have to take him apart (again) and redo his wobble!!!

Too cute!!! 

Hi Judy

It's terrible what's been happening to you on ebay
My husband and I have used ebay to buy and sell for quite a while now without many (touch wood) problems at all, thank goodness.

I would email the bidders from your tiger and warn them they may get a spoof second chance offer...that is if they haven't already all got one!!!

There is some html you can add to your auction listing that will stop people right clicking on your pictures in order to save them...I can't find it at the moment but when my hubby (much more computer literate than me!!) is around next I will get him to find it and I will post it here. Then anyone who wants to can copy and paste it into their auction page.

It's not foolproof but it will make it a little harder for people to steal your pictures.

Wow he is just fantastic...so much work. ....But I must admit I like him on the stand, just seems to finish him off somehow. 

Bronwen Luis is adorable....and his nose looks great 

He's great

Hi there

Don't think you are doing anything wrong when it comes to ebay...Sometimes it's hard to understand why someone else can sell a bear and then your own creations don't sell. Your bears are beautiful. On ebay there seems to be no reason to sales, sometimes things sell and sometimes they don't.  Sometimes you can list something that doesn't sell and relist it a week later and get a bidding war on it.

This applies all over ebay not only with bears!! Doesn't seem to make any sense. I think that what the other girls are saying is right its more about other factors not your bears.

Your bears are just gorgeous, but it can be hard not to take it personally when you put so much time and love into something then it doesn't sell. You should be kind to yourself and keep creating, don't let ebay affect how you feel about what you do because ebay is not a reliable way to judge your talent..... It's only a reliable way to judge how much spare money other people have!!!    and at the moment it doesn't seem to be much (money I mean)

Anyway keep going they will sell I am sure   :hug:

wow!...she is just adorable. 

Thank you all for your comments...The sore fingers might stop me from doing too many of these!!! 

We've done that before when we've accidently missed an auction and had no problems...perhaps if you want some security in your transaction you could ask the seller to list it with a "buy it now" option and let you know when they do so that you can purchase it straight away. 

This is one of my first real fur bears
Unfortunately her joints are a little loose! and she ended up with a flat nose so I added the open mouth.
Never the less I was quite happy with the way she turned out.   The first one I made I didn't realise you had to line them   you can imagine what happened!

I hope I did this right!!!   :redface:

Thank you Lisa....every time I feel any self doubt I'll come straight back here and read your posts..they are so inspirational!!

Bronwen good on you...and good luck I'm sure you'll be very successful 

Bronwen you said it exactly how I feel    the what ifs will paralyse you if you let them.

Your bears are great!!!! Keep telling yourself that!
But if nothing else take comfort in the fact that I think a lot of us feel the same way.   :hug:

I just wanted to let everyone who posted here for me how much I appreciate the time taken by you all.  There are some very informative posts here with lots of helpful information and I am overwhelmed at the kindness of everybody to take the time to help me out.

I will certainly be taking the time to implement many of the suggestions made, but first I'm going to take a month to make and stockpile a few bears before I start listing again so that I have enough to list every week without having to put myself under too much time pressure.  When I start selling again I'll be sure to post the bears here as well.(and anywhere else I can find    )

once again thank you all you've given me the boost that I needed to keep going.

Eileen said

Ther's no such thing as housework round here though!!! 

Definately the fees and especially the fees on items that don't sell!!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer me...There is some great advice here .

I don't have a website yet (with 6 kids one bear a week is all I can manage!) I'll have to work on that.
I'll spend some time mulling it over before I decide what to do. Although I think for now I may try to run regular auctions without the featured listing.

Once again thanks to all who took the time for me. 

Kind regards...Sarah   :hug:

Thank you for your helpful comments

Melanie Jayne said

I just wanted to clear up the fact that when I said throw the towel in I meant the selling not the bear making (I don't think I could ever do that!!!)    :)

The problem I'm having with Ebay is affording to keep paying the fees week after week if they don't sell, I'm not sure if it would be worth listing without the featured item (which costs me about $30.00 when converted to Au dollars) as I would have thought that they would get lost in such a big list of bears.

HI  I am hoping some of you better established, more successful bear artists with more experience may be able to help me. 

I am trying to sell my bears with little success so far and am wondering how you all got started and when do I throw in the towel and decide that no-one likes the stuff I do? 

Also where and how do I go about making some kind of a name for myself, I am at a bit of a loss with that kind of stuff and don't really know how to begin.

I've only really tried ebay so far and aside from costing myself fees that I can't really afford I have had not much success, I am assuming you have to be quite well known to do well there or is it just a matter of keep listing until such time as you sell or go broke (whichever comes first!!   )  I am sure that the technical aspects of my bears are up to scratch so perhaps it's just that there is no market for the new artist at the moment?

What do you think, any ideas or information would be appreciated