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I'm gonna have to say Sassy on this question! Just love her selection, prices, customer service... everything!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
What a perfect, tiny little person. Welcome to the world little girl!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
For some reason, when I glace at this area of the board, the dark squares aren't showing up, so I never know if someone is posting something unless I REALLY look. I don't know if it's just my computer, or what.. anyway, I seem to be missing posts!
I do sculpt quite a large area when using big eyes in mohair. About the size of the eye itself. That does seem to help get the eye more flush to the backing.
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Thanks Kim.... It's a really dark and rainy day here in Ohio, and our library is dark to begin with, so I had to use a flash.... I think it really faded out most of her imperfections and outright filth! Of course, most of poor Patina's "issues" can't really be discovered unless you are right there with her... she won't sit, certainly won't stand, even if you lean her against something. Her eyes are really uneven, her legs... aside from being so loosely jointed, are jointed so high that if she could stand, you could drive a car through them.... her muzzle has been dipped in many a tea cup in her hard life!
I love her too though Kim.... and so do my kiddies! On a good note.... she must have some strong seams to take the kind of abuse that my little ones can dish out and still be in one piece!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
And here she is.. making her photo debut... Patina!
The very first mini bear I ever made (that was fabric, not crocheted) is floating around the house somewhere! She was made from a pattern from a book of big bears, I just reduced it a whole lot. She's taupe colored upholstery velvet.... she has these big bug eyes! She was awful when I made her and still even more awful now.... she's been a doggie chew toy, had toothpaste smeared all over her head.... I never got rid of her, because my kids named her, and I just couldn't pitch her after that. She still turns up every so often when I decide to go down to the kids' recreation room in the basement and organize. Next time she surfaces, I'll have to take a few pics.
My first mohair bear was from my own design, and made of cream colored mohair. She's also a kid toy, and has been through a lot as well. Did you know that cherry flavored Robbitussin Children's Cough and Cold with decongestant makes a wonderful, completely PERMANENT mohair dye! It's actually a lovely shade of pale pink that covers a large portion of poor Patina's rear! 
She's a regular guest at our tea parties around here, I'll have to snap a pic of her!
Shelli.... she also has the same horrific affliction as your "Peaches" her legs and arms spin wildly if you so much as touch her! My first attempt at large cotter pin joints! She is certainly in the "well loved" category!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Back in one of my first forages through eBay, way back when.... i think I was looking at vintage Toni Dolls for my Mom... I ran across a listing that said OOAK in the title. I thought it might mean Old Oak....! I love oak!
Oh... here's a question that I'd love to have answered... When I was looking through a British bear magazine a while back I think that I saw the term, 'one off.' It was refereing to the same thing.... just like a OOAK.... I can understand 'one of,' being short for maybe 'one of five,' or 'one of one.' What does 'one off' mean? Maybe I'm remembering wrong and it did say 'one of....' Anyway, I did understand the meaning to be the same as when we say OOAK, but I just didn't understand the meaning behind it?
Anyone?
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Hi Jared! Very nice bear! I love center seam bears... they always seem to have a nice old fashioned feel to them. Baer Paths is about 5 minutes from my husband's law office, I could ACTUALLY go have a cup of cocoa with this fabulous teddy! If I could ever get out of the house, that is!!!!!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
I LOVE Hedgehogs! They are the cutest little things aren't they!? Catherine... your hedgehog is adorable! He's really in the Christmas spirit! Nice little smile!
There are so many non-bear ideas that I have as well.... Hedgehog has been on my list for a year now! I am still trying to refine a bunny pattern that I had almost finished last Spring! I'm giving it another try, we'll see how it goes. It's so fun to try new things! It just takes me so much time!
I'm off to read his details in the FOR SALE section!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
What absolutely wonderful news!!!!!!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
You hubby to be is a great writter as well! He was so descriptive... I truly felt like I had experienced the whole thing right along with you and your friends!!!!!! Congratulations!
:hug:
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Oh this has been a fun thread... and it absolutely sounds like you are taking it in the right spirit Helena!!!!! :hug: YOUR little raccoon is beyond precious, and believe me, none of us would mind if we awoke to find that sweetie staring back at us!
Real ones do kinda have that odd little hovering sway they do when they are confronted.... makes you wonder if they are going to run away or run towards! I think that is a bit off putting!
Anyway, all this talk of scarey animals made me think... gracious, what about BEARS!!!! The REAL ones! My husband sat down last week to watch some TV with the wee ones, and there was a wonderful show on the Discovery channel about American Grizzlies. Oh my! Beautiful animals, but sheesh.... those guys can be a REAL menace. And the damage they can do to people. WOW! It got to the point where they were talking about having to put big fences around school yards, etc., etc... and we had to turn it off. Didn't seem like great bedtime viewing for our three year old! So, we had a little talk with them about how they are safe here, and all that.
They did seem to understand, but then little Ben said to me, "Mommy, your bears would never do that, would they?" Oh, what a sweetie!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Combine what everyone else has said before me here with this as well.... much of it has to do with the way one holds the head (or arm, or leg) when stuffing....
I think Sarah is right on point with this... if you are holding the "left" arm the same way that you hold your "right" arm when stuffing.... you are likely to end up with two right arms! If you are shoving all your stuffing in and compacting it all by reaching in on only one side, or you are compressing on just one side because you holding the piece consistently in your fingers in one way, you can easily wind up lopsided. Can it be fixed? YES!
When stuffing, I tend to change my grip around a lot on the body part while I am shoving all that polyfil in. That seems to help. I also tend to do a whole lot of "head smooshing" when I stuff as well Dilu... just like you... that helps a whole lot as well. I sometimes even take that tiny head and outright squeeze the little thing between my palms till it really flattens out... then stuff some more.
Yes, it seems harsh and cruel! But Dilu, you need to remember that while those tiny bear brains may have some awareness of the harsh and cruel treatment they are receiving.... the voices of protest that you are hearing are coming from inside your brain, it's not them. Am I saying that you are nuts here Dilu? NO WAY! Just remember this, they can't hear what you are saying until you've put on the ears... so they can't hear all those terrible swear words and bad things you are saying about their lack of cooperativeness! And, they can't really complain verbally to you until the mouth has been stitched in.... Then I'm sure you'll receive an earful Dilu, but until then, just know that you are squishing for their own good!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Very cute Kathy! His little eyes look so bright and shiny!
Sassy Bears is an absolutely wonderful supplier of various mini fabrics as well as other mini supplies... joints, eyes, etc..... Found on the web at :
http://www.sassybearsandfabrics.com
I simply LOVE her fabrics!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Oh Sandi! Your daughter is simply precious! By far your best work of art yet! Look at the way she sheepishly peeks from behind that pale blond hair! She looks like a little pixie!
Baery truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
I love these Sandi! Again, that angora is just delicious!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Sandi,
If I'm not mistaken, I think I already gushed about this little guy in another post... but hey, he deserves another little gush! I simply love his expression. Love the fancy eyes, LOVE the way that his mouth is sculpted just so! Its been a couple of years since I made a thread bear... but he really makes me want to try it again! Oh... that SOFT angora!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Cute Racoon! I happen to love the little guys.... they are all over the place in Ohio. My parents actually used to feed whole entire families of them... I know you aren't supposed to do that, but they DID! "Ours" were really tame... they were actually scared of our meek little cat! We had a couple of Mom with itty bitty babies that were so tame they would eat dog food right out of my Dad's hand. Now don't anybody go trying that! Truly, you aren't supposed to feed racoons unless you are willing to feed them FOREVER! They do get to be really tame, and then they can't fend for themselves in the wild.... 
Plus, sometimes there are rabies outbreaks!!!
Helena... yours reminds me of those sweet little baby ones! You MUST make more!
Beary truly ours,
Kim Basta
Wild thyme Originals
I know that I've mentioned Beta before on the board, and gave a link to her site, but it was quite a while ago... I bet someone else mentioned her as well. She truly is a quality person through and through... so nice to exchange e-Mails with. Yes, her pattern are fantastic as well, and if I'm not mistaken she also has some kits for thread bears and tiny sweaters, things that like that. She is also one of the few artists, as you mentioned Dilu, that allows others to freely use her very own crochet patterns to produce bears for sale. She loves the fact that thread bears have become a sort of mini cottage industry, and wants to see it GROW! She didn't even used to have the permission sheet... but she was getting offers from manufacturers, or others who wanted to mass produce.... she just wants to see people enjoy making them, and be able to sell them if they wish. Truly a gracious lady!
I think that's a great idea Dilu, making some fuzzy little thread bears to include with your Gollies!
Berta is at :
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Hey Dilu!!!! Are you speaking of Berta from ThreadTeds? From the Netherlands? If we are thinking of the same person, she is the absolute sweetest, most gracious, most sharing, most everything bear baker in the world! Is it Berta!?
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
I really thought I was the only one who was a girl peter pan! ...even my star sign tells me that i live in my own fantasy world and escape in my dreams! are you a sag by any chance! hehe
hugs sarah
Definitely a female version of Peter Pan here! I can't remember for the life of me whether the actual age of Peter Pan was given in the books/movies, etc.... But for me, I'd say I mentally about 7 and 1/2! Though I'm thinking Peter was more like 12? Well, apparently physically, I can be mistaken for an eighth grader (that would be someone about 13 or 14 for those of you in countries with different names for school grades!) ... from the rear at least!!!! Learned that yesterday. Not completely thrilled about it either to be honest! I had to go into my son's Middle School yesterday to pick up one of his school projects. I was trying to get to Room 149 before the bell rang and the hallways turned into a herd of preteens.... So I am jogging down the hallway, 60 seconds before the bell rings, huge purse on my shoulder and pony tail flying in the breeze... and I hear a bellowing from behind me, "No running in the halls and all book bags in lockers until dismissal!!!!!" Had a momentary Middle School flashback, turned 7 shades of red, I'm sure! How completely mortifying! Had to turn around to flash my obviously 30 something face to the also completely mortified 8th grade algebra teacher!
Actually Sarah, I'm a Cancer, a moonchild, which means that I am nurturing/motherly, moody as heck, a dreamer, and a homebody... fairly accurate for me actually!
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Hi Kelly! I've never heard of any real formula or anything that can be used to price minis.... The funny thing with minis is often, the smaller you go, the more expensive they are... so the inch formula truly wouldn't make much sense in the mini world at all! There are so many minis out there, and the price range is really all over the place. I do always cheer when a mini fetches a nice price on eBay, but there are so many really GOOD ones that just don't sell, or bring in much less than they should.
Funny thing... at this point, my minis are sometimes in the same price range as the larger bears I make from time to time! The last mini I sold went for a HIGHER price than my last big bear on eBay! Now, try to figure that one out! :doh:
In my opinion, tiny guys made out of real fur, or mohair should go for a higher amount than ones made of upholstery velvet or a synthetic....
I'd love to hear other folks input on this question!
Beary truly yours,
KIm Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
Oh he's a cutie Anne!!!! Gorgeous little thing! I think his mouth is just perfect! Glad that you decided to give it a try... Now that my memory has been refreshed, I do remember chatting with you about mouths. That was super sweet of you to mention me, but you should never feel like you have to at all! If I share something it's becasue I want folks to try it! I'm so glad you did.... Rowan looks great and I LOVE the name! You weren't wasting anyone's time!!! Deb and I just got a bit lost!
Deb.... I never doubted your sanity, though I do always question mine... keeps me on my toes! :wacko:
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
"SOP" Ahhhh! Thanks for clarifying that for me Deb.... Hey, are you sure that it was me that they referenced? Maybe it was someone else, and that's why we can't find it?
Beary truly yours,
Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals
