Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Well, glad he will work with you (grudgingly though, it seems!).  Did I go to school with this guy?   

Cheers,
Kelly

Isn't that crazy?  Just heard about that the other day myself.  What happened to the days of "META tags are everything!  All hail the META tags!".  Huh.  I blinked and they changed the rules on me.

 
Kelly

You are correct.  There is too much on the home page, and there is no good reason to include all that text on it.  That text belongs on another page in your site.

META tags, interestingly enough, are soon to be completely obsolete.  Search engines stopped relying on them in recent years, and I think only one "known" crawler (Inktomi) even takes them into consideration at all when ranking a site today.  Google never really used them (and given the success of Google, all of their competitors rushed to change the way their engines worked to match them).  So yes, have your META tags.  But they aren't important to your ranking anymore.  The content is of the utmost importance, and certainly not just on your home page.  The home page is not some magical entity that has 100x more importance than every other page.  Sorry, webbie!  (And don't let him talk you into 1-pixel tables or white-on-white text either, search engines are wise to those now, too!)

Cheers,
Kelly

While *personally* I like the grizzly best, many people do prefer lighter colored bears, and polar bears are pretty much always a favorite with people!  So I also vote for the polar bear as a submission!

Kelly

That made me ROFL!  We have supplies stacked in bins in the basement, and I have been known to say to my mother "I'm going to the warehouse, do you want anything?"

Come over and play anytime!
Kelly

I have pink matted KM16 from Schulte, but not sure if that's the look you're going for.  Let me know if so!

Kelly

Mohair. 

No... money.

No... money FOR mohair!

Yes, that would do nicely 

Kelly

<whew> I have a Sony, but it is not on the list!  Thanks Dilu, for posting this 

Kelly

I'm glad you mentioned that, it's something I was wondering about just the other day!  I've certainly found collectors online who definitely cannot attend shows (health problems, travel problems, pet-sitting problems), and I've certainly found collectors at shows who cannot or will not go online (no computer, no desire to learn it or no interest in owning one).  I was wondering what the percentages really were.  Thanks, that's very interesting!

Oh, and to stay on topic, I'm working on the Face Book entries for both myself and my mom 

Cheers,
Kelly

TeddyTyke, I think that's sniping software you're talking about.  And sorry to say, but it's perfectly legal.   

Kelly

Something that you need to remember about pre-Christmas bear sales on eBay is that the number of auctions skyrocket.  Last I looked, there were over 1000 artist bear auctions, significantly above where they normally are the rest of the year (~600-800).  More competition can = less sales, especially if you're dealing with roughly the same number of buyers as there were before.

I wouldn't take eBay too seriously in terms of success vs. failure with your bear auctions.  I've seen far too many exceptional bears sell for a pittance or not at all... and some very bad bears... well, the opposite.

Bear hugs,
Kelly

I think we all love the idea of being in a magical, beautiful place for a bear show, to highlight that bear artists can offer exquisite works of art. 

Then reality sets in 

I wonder perhaps if we are discussing two different things.  The "average" bear show vs. a star-studded spectacular bear show that would happen once a year.  Magical, beautiful venues always come with a high price tag.  Always.  If every "good" bear show were at such a high-priced setting, the majority of bear artists would either (1) never be able to attend (2) rarely be able to attend or (3) be able to attend, but perhaps only do a show or two a year.  Is that really the goal?

It really isn't all about the venue.  The most beautiful show venue that I've attended was in a drop-dead gorgeous ballroom at a hotel.  The collectors did not show up.  I think every artist went home with a loss for the day.  Compare this, for example, to this year's show at Bristol, CT, in a high school cafeteria.  It was bright, open and clean, and many enthusiastic collectors showed up.  Give me a cafeteria and a crowd any day over a pristine ballroom with nobody in it.   The venues definitely did NOT matter in these two cases, but everything else that goes into making a show a flop or a success did. 

The thought of an art gallery hosting a bear show scares the living daylights out of me.  Fine art galleries typically take a commission of 50-80% when a painting sells out of them.  I'd sell out of the trunk of my car first, in all honesty.

Best wishes,
Kelly

LOL!  I read the question as more of an "all other things being equal" question, not as a "would you rather exhibit in a clean, well-lit hotel, a dumpy tavern or a sewage treatment plant?".  Yes, of course, basic things like lighting and cleanliness WOULD affect my decision, that being the case.

OK, better skip the mall idea, too.  The thought of introducing that many people to the artist bear world was just too appealing, but I suppose that attacking the general bear-fondling public with Handi-wipes is not an option.

Kelly

I wouldn't make a decision to attend a show based on what building it was (or wasn't) in.  But I think the venues affect other things that are important... cost, security, ease of parking, local accommodations, and so on.  Obviously some venues will be less expensive than others for the promoter, and I would hope that savings would be passed to the artists.  And some venues offer security, while others do not... the artists can set up the night before, the door gets locked and everything is safe. 

I still love the thought of having a bear show in a mall, which would be completely insecure but have loads of parking and other advantages.  Think of all those wonderful masses of people walking by that could learn all about artist bears <drool>...

And do let me know when you set up a heavily advertised show an hour from my home 

Hugs,
Kelly

I think the Internet and shows can be made to work together very well.  I think eBay and shows cannot.  For one thing, if you used an eBay auction to mention that you would be selling bears at a show... it would be considered off-site sales solicitation and your listing could be removed.  Bit of a problem, that!

Cheers,
Kelly

Two predictions...
- Bear shows definitely will not disappear, there is no substitute for a bear show!
- Promoters who refuse to adapt to a changing marketplace will be the ones whose shows do not survive.

In my own experience... my mother and I are still fairly new artists.  In 2005, we decided to try the "little bit of everything" approach to selling.  We tried shows, our web site, eBay, stores, magazines, and anything else we could think of.  Hands down our best results came from shows, and our most inconsistent (or bad) results from eBay.  So we made the decision that this year, 2006, we would concentrate on what worked best "for us".  We participated in 11 in-person shows (last one this weekend then the 12th is online!).  Our sales ranged from acceptable to great at the majority of those shows.  We have not offered bears on eBay all year.  Certainly, I would rather have the convenience of sitting at home to make an eBay sale than making a tiring, costly, time-consuming trip somewhere... and we've spent all year sewing our hands off to keep up a constant stream of new stock for that many show tables!  But all of the benefits of doing shows have far outweighed the negatives "for us". 

You'll notice I'm saying "for us".  If there's one thing that I've learned, it's that everyone needs to find what works best FOR THEM.  Our bears aren't your bears, and vice versa, so should they be expected to sell equally well in the same venues?  They won't!  The best advice I can give is to try a little bit of as much as you can try... then analyze the results and do the best you can.

It's funny though, over this year and last year, we're starting to get a really lovely group of collectors.  And they came from just about all of those venues that we've tried at one time or another.  Some from shows, some from our web site, some from magazines, and even some from eBay.  They are all wonderful people, they mean a lot to us and it reminds us to keep trying different approaches in the future... you never know where your next collector is waiting to find you!

(And yes, it did occur to us that IF we try eBay again in the future, at least we will be approaching it with a larger established collector base.  It can't hurt.)

Hugs,
Kelly

Personally, I wouldn't have taken the commission. However, if you are going to make the bear, here are two suggestions...

Stuff the bear with the fancy black lingerie he bought you.

Change the words on the bear's paw to "Commissioned by Mr. Teensy Weensy".

This was the work of an intensely stupid white kid, not some fake Arab hacker squad.  Really people, don't believe everything you're told.  A great many crimes are committed in the world today in the name of Muslims, who have no involvement with those crimes.  I looked at the code on this site and seriously doubt, for a great many reasons, that this is anything more than the work of a friendless 14-year-old who thinks "Wingdings" is a cool font and calling himself Arab makes him look really "bad" so he can scare people.  Don't give him the pleasure of being taken seriously.  And Danni, find a more secure host.

Cheers,
Kelly

Last time I tried getting my digital photos printed at a photography store, I was very disappointed with the results as well.  I had this suggested to me by the manager of the store though have not had a chance to try it yet... see if they will agree to accept a scrap of the bear's fabric to use for color matching when they create your prints.  Otherwise they will correct colors, contrast, etc. to their "best guess"... and their best guess will depend on which employee you get on any given day.  Hope this helps!

Kelly

Excellent point!  Yes, dust inside the case can be a problem, absolutely.  One common problem is dust clogging fans that cool off important computer components... if the fan can't keep them cool, they fry.  Only thing to keep in mind any time you take the cover off your computer is to ground yourself before reaching in and touching anything inside.  Do this by touching a metal part of the cover (computer will still be plugged in but turned off), this disperses static charge in your body and keeps you from zapping something important inside the machine.

Clean cloths are the best thing to use to clean inside your computer, compressed air is also handy to blow dust outwards from the fans.  I would not recommend using a vacuum as they, too, create a static charge.

Happy computin'
Kelly

I would just make sure that your seam goes either completely one way or completely the other for a joint... if the seam shimmies partially between the body and partially under the disc in the same joint, the uneven distribution might tilt the joint itself.  I think ideally you would try to get all of the seam out from under the discs and towards the body.  But, if for some reason (like size of the disc not allowing for bulky seam allowance tucked in around it) that doesn't work, just tuck everything neatly the other way.  All one way or all the other on the same joint, and I don't think you'll have any problems.

Cheers,
Kelly

Seam towards the body if possible... however, if for some reason it seems happier the other way, then that's what I do.  As long as you are not aiming for the world's tightest joint where you would want everything totally flush and airtight and require a muscleman to turn it, and you don't have a problem with your cotterpin or bolt being a bit too short for the job if there is a little bulk under the disc as a result... I don't think it's too big a deal which way it goes.

Cheers,
Kelly

Jared is probably also working on pre-orders for his Schaumburg souvenir bear... if he's stocking up bears to have a table at the show as well, he must be working 20 hours a day at it!  Which is about what I should be doing as well...

Cheers,
Kelly

Yes, we use them!  We got the idea from someone else here on TT, think it may have been Laura?  We use a hole punch-type cutter (found in the scrapbooking aisle of a local craft store in various cute shapes).  Just hole punch a little hole at the top too before baking it so you can thread through them to tie on the bear, and then we write our business name, initials and copyright year on them.   Takes about 15 seconds to bake a batch in the toaster oven.  We've gotten 100% positive feedback on these shrinky dink tags from collectors, turns out that not everyone likes the fabric tags that stick out of a seam, particularly if the bear is a smaller size.  I use thin jewelry wire to attach the finished tag to the back of the bear (or back of one rear leg on an all-fours bear), it is thin enough that it can even be knotted. 

Best wishes,
Kelly

I'm in Rochester and we were insanely lucky... didn't even see a snowflake, though we're right beside Buffalo and the areas that got hit!  I needed to travel to CT for a bear show on Friday, we needed to get on the thruway at exit 45 and head east.  We had no problems at all, but turns out that the thruway was closed from exit 46 and everything west at the time!  As we drove down the interstate, we kept being passed by convoys of repair trucks headed west to Buffalo.  Talk about lucky, we are in glorious fall colors over here and no sight of snow (for now... though that will change soon enough).

Best wishes,
Kelly