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Past Time Bears - Artist bears designed and handcrafted by Sue Ann Holcomb
Shelli Makes - Teddy bears & other cheerful things by Shelli Quinn

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DebbieD Posts: 3,540

My first pattern for my first real fur bear was Bearnard.  He's 18 inches and nonjointed.  I stuffed him with polyfill and poly beads.  I do not know to this day how I managed it with him, but he's been my ideal weight that I shoot for each and everytime I do a larger bear.  He's the perfect 'child's weight' that Paula talks about.  There's just something utterly comforting about picking him up and cuddling him.  Anytime I have a friend in distress, Bearnard packs his suitcase, and comes to the rescue! 

As for the question....how long is a piece of string?  I don't feel the weight will really impact the quality of an artist's bear....its up to the quality present in the bear  bear_happy

Jodi Falk Bears by Jodi
Gahanna , Ohio USA
Posts: 3,463

When I made larger bears I would weight them every once in a while but I got to where I was afraid that 20 years from then if the fabric got older that they may leak beads or pellets . And that worried me . But I have always stuffed firm, and my mimi's today are still stuffed firm but I don't weight them. I have never had any one ask me to. But if I do again I will make a pouch of pellets in the tummy so they can never leak out in the future.

Little Bear Guy Little Bear Guy
Waterloo, Ontario
Posts: 1,395
Jodi Falk wrote:

When I made larger bears I would weight them every once in a while but I got to where I was afraid that 20 years from then if the fabric got older that they may leak beads or pellets . And that worried me . But I have always stuffed firm, and my mimi's today are still stuffed firm but I don't weight them. I have never had any one ask me to. But if I do again I will make a pouch of pellets in the tummy so they can never leak out in the future.

I always make a pouch when I put weight in my bears tummy, keeps it all in one nice spot and it's not spilling everywhere works like a dream.

hugs

Shane

Tami E Tami Eveslage Original Teddy Bears
Milford Ohio
Posts: 2,367

It comes to personal preference (both the artist's and the collector's), I think, just like so many aspects of bear making. I do like to weight my larger bears with plastic pellets and my smaller bears with glass pellets (it seems the smaller ones need a heavier stuffing to achieve that substantial feel). I once had a collector pick up a bear and say,"Oh, why do they all have to be so heavy these days? I want to hold them but my arthritis makes it hard when they are heavy." Most people do seem to like a bit of weight though. I personally don't care for super heavy bears, though. A collector friend of mine had one completely stuffed with sand and rather than that pleasant weight which reminds one of picking up a puppy, I felt like I was picking up a large rock. Another consideration when weighting your bears is shipping costs if you sell them.

Acipenser Bine-Teddies
Stockholm
Posts: 862

Very interesting thread! You all have put in words what I have been sensing somehow too. I weight some of my bears to balance them for sitting or standing or in anime bears to balance their huge heads  :crackup: I have also experienced that people are surprised when they discover the weight in a small artist bear and it seems ineed to help set the artist bear apart from a toy. Since I make mostly minis, the baby weight factor doesn't really apply, but its still a nice feeling with a bit of weight.
It all depends on the effect I'm after I guess, a firm more or less decorative bear or a cuddly squishy bear, which I wouldn't weight much, just heavy weight polyester perhaps, not too firmly stuffed.

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