Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Thank you.  :)

Ah, yes.  The calf!  My boss told me off this morning at work for wasting time looking at that stuffed cow!  :)  But I thought it was magnificent, seeing as I also collect dogs on wheels, I really wanted the calf!

-- Thomas Adam

Hello all,

Some of you might already know about this, but see:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11517569

Some of the teddies there look lovely!  :)  I'll be keeping an eye on the auction.

-- Thomas Adam

Hello.

Aww.  I loved the first photo of them all together -- I've made that the wallpaper image on my computer.  So cute!

The little teddy looks like a Merrythought to me, but that's just a casual glance.  The other bear on the right is a Steiff, for sure.

-- Thomas Adam

Aww, he's absolutely adorable!  I love the way he sits.  Awwww.   Does he have a name?   :)

I wish he were in my hug!

-- Thomas

Adorable.  :)

-- Thomas

The mouse is just excellent.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

Oh, that's easy, Peter, I just don't care what anyone else thinks.  I am well-known at the company I work for, for liking teddy bears -- and my desk at work is a giveaway for that, I've lots of teddies on it -- and will cuddle them for inspiration at work -- they really help me.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

I was curious about your comment -- so I lined up Leo and Buddy and Claude and Scrappy and looked at them all -- I am sorry, Becky, but I can't see the difference between Scrappy's supposed "less developed technical skills" and the other teddies.  No, he's perfect like the others.  :D  You might see it differently, you made him, but from my point of view he's fine.  :D

Perhaps I had misread your nice "info" letter you'd sent along with Claude and Scrappy -- I hadn't realised I was cuddling *the* Scrappy -- goodness me.  Are you sure you don't mind?  I feel really honoured.  :')  Wow.

-- Thomas Adam

Awww.  Woops, that was my failing ability to read which lead to that mistake.  Scrappy -- I will go back and make corrections.

Hehehehe.

-- Thomas Adam

Hello all,

Finally, English Customs (who spent over a week holding my teddy bears) released Claude to me, and he was delivered at work.  I giggled a little as I could hear the growler in Claude making a noise as a colleague carried the box up the stairs to my desk.  I knew it was Claude before seeing the box.

The postal box was huge -- certainly a lot bigger than the teddy bear I was expecting.  That's because unbeknown to me, Claude had a friend with him in the form of Scruffy -- which is almost identical to Dangerbear's avatar teddy.

Needless to say I was over the moon -- and what an unexpected and very very kind thing to do -- two beautiful teddies.  I was so chuffed, I took them both out of the box, and carefully removed their tissue paper.  Just through luck I happened to unwrap Claude first.  I picked him up, held him at arms length and looked into his eyes, then gave him the biggest cuddle I could, then kissed his forehead, and tipped him forward then back so I could hear him growl, hehe.  Aww, he's adorable.

Then I did the same thing with Scrappy.  I sat them both on my desk at work alongside my other teddies (somewhere on there is a computer so I can do my job), and spent the day beaming at them, occasionally picking both Claude and Scrappy up to make them growl -- much to the amusement and no doubt batty bewilderment to my surrounding colleagues.  :D  Not that I care though.

Since Scrappy's arrival was unknown, I am now rearranging my hug to accommodate him.  I try and keep artists' bears together, so since I now have four of Dangerbear's teddies, I will have to rearrange things a little, but that's all part of the fun.

Here's some photos...

First, of all Claude:

Now, Scrappy:

And here they are both together:

Not only that but I also have "portfolio" material for both teddies.  :D

I think you'll agree they're lovely teddies, Claude is gorgeous, and Scrappy is a great bonus.

Becky, thank you so much, I can't tell you enough how much you've made my hug enjoyable.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

I have to say I don't know what you're asking here -- to me, no teddy bear has ever looked sad.  Some look stern, even arrogant, but never sad.  They seem to default to looking "happyy" to me -- and with most teddy bear "expressions", I think that part of their charm is making them look natural; adding a smile to them might give him a personality that was unintended.

For example, of the artist teddy bears I have, their "happiness" is determined by how their eyes twinkle, the shape of their nose, the shape of their head, etc.  To add a deliberate smile might serve to augment that, or it might not.

But the question you're asking is one only you can answer -- if adding a deliberate smile to your bears to really enforce they're happy -- and if that in turn makes you happy, then you should do it -- there will always be people who like it -- so that shouldn't be a problem.  :)

Yes -- they do.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

See:

http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?id=32719

My sister used to collect Ty bears -- and/or beanie babies.  Part of my hug does contain some "huggable bears" -- that is to say, some beanie teddies, "from me to you bears", etc., as gifts from friends and family, and I tend to go to sleep cuddling "hippo" -- a hippo from Build-a-bear, before their teddy bear range went to shit.  He wears red pyjamas.  See:

... albeit an old photo graph.  :)

This is always the right way to do it -- a teddy bear need not be expensive or of a particular type for it to be any less or more valid -- it's your decision, you do what you like.  :)

I have lots of artists teddy bears, but then the style of the bears I like usually is only found by people making specific types of teddy bear -- like the bears dangerbears makes.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

Hehe, "dad" indeed.  :)  I prefer the term "owner".  The idea of anything children-like scares me.  :)

I am over the moon, thank you so much, Becky.  You've made Claude beautifully, he fits the profile for my idea of a teddy bear perfectly.  I hope you're proud of him, I know I can't wait to receive him into my hug -- perhaps Leo, Buddy, and my other teddies will throw a picnic for him when he gets here.  :D

Thank you once again, Becky.  I have no doubt that next year will see more commissions from me to you.  :D

Happily,

Thomas

Well, I've been wondering whether or not I should start one.  I don't make teddy bears, of course, but I do lots with my teddy bears... although I am not sure it would make interesting reading.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Pah!  Educate them.  :)  Artists Bears are worth more than any Build-a-bear.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Yes, toads are nice like that.  :)  I live in Hampshire, and even then, they're so rare round here it's still a miracle to see them.  Then again, they do prefer the south of UK due to the climate.

But, I have to say, comparing Nat to a real life Natterlack toad is interesting, he's very similar, and real life Natterjack toads really do have those oval bumps on them.

They also make the oddest noise.  :)

You've done a good job.  And I know Becky is pleased.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

Hehehehe.  Cute.

The Natterjack toad is rare here in the UK, but I was fortunate enough to see one recently, but it wasn't quite as plushy as yours.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Thanks all for the replies so far.  :)

It's really interesting to read the replies, as it tells me something almost all of you artists have in common -- visualisation.  That's not uncommon, or surprising to be honest, not when you consider that's vital when creating a teddy bear.

Thanks -- keep the replies coming, they're interesting.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Do.  :)  That's why Buddy and Leo can cuddle up together so well.  :D  And in some circumstances a bent-arm looks like he's keeping a stern eye on his fellow teddies.  :)

-- Thomas Adam

Awwwww.

She's lovely!  I love her paws and the shape of them.  :D  And she has such a nice shape.  Awww.

Sigh.  Another one to keep an eye on.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

Hello all,

I am curious -- and this is one of the things I meant to ask all those at Hugglets, but never got the chance, how do you go from fabric (i.e., a sheet of mohair, or schultze) to teddy bear?

There were a few stands at Hugglets selling just fabric, and as I wandered past, there were several people going bonkers over a particular piece of mohair and I would have dearly loved to ask why.   Do most of you teddy bear artists "see" a teddy bear in a piece of fabric?  Does that process of visualisation make  it easier to make a teddy bear?

When I looked at this piece of mohair, it was just that -- dense fur -- but is it often something more to those of you who make teddies?

I am just curious -- it's not the first time I have heard a lot of you mention it to me in person, more as a throwaway comment, and I've never really thought about it until now.

-- Thomas Adam

Err, woah there.  Flash has nothing to do with XSS, anymore than using a fork means you can prang yourself if you're not careful -- just like the same thing can happen if you're using a spoon.  And as it happens, XXS is much more likely through bad JS validation than it is anything else.  Please don't dare confuse the two, or dare suggest there's some inherent correlation.  I spend my livelihood as a security consultant.

Confer XSS.  Flash is nothing more than a container anyway, so using something like gnash, or some other tool to extract the content, were you that paranoid would be the way to go.

But all of this is completely and utterly orthogonal to what the original post was about --- and I do not want your (perhaps unintended) FUD post to put people off viewing the content --- you're entitled to your opinion about not *liking* flash, but that's all it is.

This is not the first time, perhaps rather annoyingly I've seen you try and promote your own services here through FUD -- I wouldn't want to take you on as a consultant for anything I've done, based on what you've written here, and to pray on those people here who're trying to do good through no other reason other than "because you can" continues to annoy me.

-- Thomas Adam

No idea, nor do I know if what you're referring to is even related to the English version.  You could always check at bbc.co.uk

-- Thomas Adam

Awwwww,

Did anyone else see Antiques Roadshow today (Sunday 4th October)?  The teddy puppet from Andy Pandy was on it -- he's so sweet.  :D  I wanted to reach into the screen and cuddle him.

I am too young to remember Andy Pandy, but the teddy was so cute.  :D

-- Thomas Adam

Pah.  Same difference.  :)