Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Hi, This is 'Jack', a bear I made during the summer.
Jack is made of a very soft faux fur which makes him very cuddly. He can be seen at 'Inspirations' in Swansea if anyone would like to see him in the fur or to give him a new home.   His waistcoat has the famous Swansea and Mumbles Train on it, taken from a painting I did a few years ago, and on his feet are images of a ticket from the railway. I have included the address of the shop below. Hope you like him?

Inspirations
10 Castle St
Swansea, SA1 1JF
01792 455772

Thank you all for your kinds words. When I have completed my other bears I will post them up. I am currently working on a Jane Austen Bear which is lots of fun.

Thanks Becky...I treated the canvas before I painted on it in the same way I do for all my other paintings, it has a primed layer which is treated several times and then the paint applied ontop. When finished the painting also has many layers of varnish to protect it and give it a lovely deep sheen. The paint wont flake and is surprisingly flexible, it will last as long as any other painting. I have used Daler Rowney acrylic paints which give a lovely rich colour. As to stitching I stitch all my bears by hand so I just use a very small sharp needle and have no problems at all. Thanks for looking

I would just like to present Wordsworth, my first 'Bear Bellies' bear. Wordsworth is made of sparse mohair, is fully cotterpin jointed with ultrasuede paw pads and stands approx. 35cm high. Wordsworth was inspired from a favourite poem of mine 'The Daffodils', by William Wordsworth. He has a handpainted canvas belly and footpads based on an original design of mine.
Hope you like him
I have been busy working on my 'Bear Bellies' and have a selection of paintings ready to be made into bears very soon....

He's fabulous Joy, loads of personality and the fur makes him a real one off! Lots of luck with Bart at the auction, I'm sure he'll soon find a loving home.  :clap:

Thanks Carolyn, hope you enjoy using them and good luck with the glue Margaret, I found it was a lot easier than the foam pads as you can squash the glue down to whatever thickness you want, plus you can't see the white foam pad sticking out of the back! 

Thank you Margaret, I'm glad you like them and I hope you enjoy making them.  Please feel free to pass the designs on to anyone in your craft club if they would like them.
I tried not to make them too complicated to cut out, I know when went to make some 3D cards I bought, there were so many tiny fiddly pieces to cut out, I landed up cheating and leaving them out!
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Just to let everyone know I have added a link on the 3D card page which will take you to a page with a normal flat version of these cards which print out A5 size.

Hi Jane,
The bears are all drawn by hand, outlined in ink and then filled using watercolour. I like to set my bears up in a scene and then draw from 'life' as it were. I then scan them and manipulate the text etc on the computer. Glad you like them!

Thank you Marlys, you're very kind. Perhaps further up the road I will produce a series of cards to sell, but at the moment I'd rather share them with Teddy Bear friends. 

Hi Everyone,

I have just designed a new series of 3D Decoupage Teddy Bear Cards from Bears of Bath and thought that you might like to have a look and use them. 
Hope you like them and have fun making them.

Here's an example of one that's online. They can be found at:

http://www.bearsofbath.co.uk/cards.html

Happy Card and Bear making.

Nice one Sarah    that made me smile!! and I can understand you tug of war Wendy, it must be very hard to let your wonderful creations go.

I'm so sorry Marylin,
you must have been heartbroken, I can totally understand you not wanting to part with this bear, good for you for holding onto him. 
Money isn't everything, how you feel is much more important.

Very good point Jenny! You have to be realistic, it's so difficult to earn money, and it must be amazing to be able to do it from bear making.  You all make such wonderful bears and it must be very rewarding when you see them going to someone that really wants them.
Thanks Melanie and Dilu....hope the needle work goes well I'm itching to get another started!

Thank you all  , Yes.. I did the embroidery on her Judi, it's one of my hobbies that I love to do, I find it VERY relaxing and it's great when I can combine bear making with it. 
It's good to know others feel the same way when they sell their bears, but it must be very satisfying to know that your creations are all going to a loving home 

'ADORABLE' Jodi    Thank you for sharing your pictures of Jolene with us. They are lovely to see.

Is it just me or do others feel really guilty when they put a bear they have lovingly created up for sale????

I have just put my first bear up on EBay, 'Pollyanna', it's taken me a couple of years to finally part with one, I thought that it was about time I let them go out on their own into the big wide world!  I'm hoping that she'll find a loving home.

Anyone else feel the same way?

If anyone would like to have a peek, please follow the link below.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? … :IT&ih=019

Many congrats Kim,  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:  its so special when you get to see your baby for the first time.

  Cloe, I can sympathise with you totaly, I too had to study 'Emma' for my A-Levels and had to endure months of study and crit.  I think if you are forced to read certain books then you automatically have a dislike for them.  We were all forced to read Chaucer as well....never again, they took us off it in the end and put us onto Shakespeare's Macbeth!

I must admit I really enjoyed the first Harry Potter, my six year old nagged me to get it out of the library one day in the summer and we read it from cover to cover every bedtime, it was great.

Hi Everyone.
I was just curious as to what fellow TT'ers love to read after all the bears have been tucked up in bed. 
I have to admit I'm a sucker for the classics, my favourite author is Charles Dickens with my favourite novel being Great Expectations, I'm currently reading The Pickwick Papers, but if I want some lighter reading, Douglas Adams does the trick.  What does everyone else like to read?.... apart from all the great Teddy Bear magazines of course!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Anne, All the best for the 9th, hope you do well.  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

CONGRATULATIONS Chloe, Marmite is fantastic. Best of luck for the 9th.

Hi Sue, I've just popped by to have a look at your website...it's great.  Loved the idea of the open book and especially liked the gallery.  Hamish was my favourite  Please don't feel down, your bears are fabulous.

CONGRATULATIONS Vicki  Fantastic Bear.  Good luck for the 9th December, hope you do well. :clap:  :clap:  :clap:

CONGRATULATIONS Lisa, see you in Hove