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Posts: 4Hello every one Im Belinda Im married and have 4 chidren of which 2 are grown and with kiddos of there own I have 2 boys at home 9 and 15 and I home school them.I also sculptOOAK babies from polymer clay but I have always loved bears and stubbled into this forum Im so excited I want to learn to make OOak bears could some one tell me a good book or tutoral to begain with I sure would be pleased thank you so much ill be waiting to her from yall Thanks:D
Belinda
Delartful BearsG'day from Australia!!!!! Best advice would be jump in feet first and give it a try!!! Get a book if you want, but I think kits are good places to start also.. There are loads of good books out there, other people are probably a little more knowledgable than me in that area, just have fun, it is great fun after all...right guys? 
Fool's Gold BearsHI Belinda,
Welcome to our little corner of the great big wonderful world of teddy bears.
Ooh, you make dollies!!! Do you have any pictures you could show us? I for one would love to see your babies.:D
I'm so glad you stumbled upon us. You've come to a good place if you want to make bears. You will find us to be a bear-loving, people-loving, fun-loving, group, with a lot of gifted help available for the asking, and spirited sharing between bear makers of many skill levels.
I think a good place to start would be with an instruction book, and go from there if you have questions, or want to share about your experiences. I just did a book search on Amazon.com for 'teddy bear making' and they gave me 29,112 choices of teddy bear making books!!!:o:o:o I'm not sure how you can choose the best ones, but my guess would be that the most popular ones are listed first.
there are also online bear-making classes. There is one at http://www.northcountryteddybears.com/ under 'Online Workshops", called E-Bearz University. There is even a self-directed class there for a beginner bear.
Happy bear making! Be sure to get back to us with any questions or comments.:)
Bear Hugs,
Back Road BearsHi Belinda,
Yes, we'd love to see pictures of your babies!
I've been making bears for 5+ years. The first book I bought that was helpful was by Jennifer Laing "The Art of Making Teddy Bears" (that was THE book at the time!). I've bought many more over the years but kept going back to Jennifer's. (She put out a video by the same title - could also be helpful to SEE the steps if you are a visual kind of person.)
There is another, much newer, book out by Nancy Tilberg called "101 Bears to Make". The link to one of Nancy's websites (North Country Teddy Bears) is in Laure's post above here. It is an amazing book and I highly recommend it!!
OK, these are my favorites, recommended to me by experienced artists. I'm sure others will have suggestions too! We're here to help answer questions as you start out (or 10 years later!!) There are some very talented, award winning artists here who are very willing to share their knowledge.
Welcome!!
Bear Hugs,
Daphne
Baird'sBearsHi Belinda! :)
Welcome from another beginner. You'll love it here.
I second Daphne's book recommendations. Both are clear and full of wonderful, helpful info, and Nancy Tillberg's is a work of genius--just what you need to know when you need to know it!
Eileen
Posts: 8,574Yea Belinda!
It's about time you got here! Please show us your babies-
I'm betting that there is much in your doll making that will translate beautifully into bears. Like sculpting bear faces and then covering with the mohair....etc....
Welcome
Dilu
Hi Belinda!
I have found that collecting bear making books can be just as addicting as making bears! Everyone has a slightly different way that they do things. I try different techniques and add what works for me!
And by the way, there's no way you can absorb all the information in one book all at once. I'll often pick up a bear making book in the evenings and browse thru it... and then say "Hey, I never saw THAT before!" and try it out.
I am a very visual person. I made my first bear in an adult education class at our park district. Now the things in the book make perfect sense! But if you are like me... maybe you'd like to actually "see" someone do the joints, eyes, etc..... Although I have not seen the Jennifer Laing video myself, I'm sure it would be a wonderful help! I have 3 of Jennifer's books and would LOVE to be able to go to CA to take one of her classes! Don't think that's in the near future... so I'll just stick with her books for now :)
I wanted to edit this to add....
To help keep my bear making book addiction affordable.. I'll often get my books on Amazon.com. They have lots of used books there at great prices!!!!! When I'm looking for something I'll check there, but also Overstock.com sometimes has marvelous deals... and of course ~ eBay!
Welcome!
Wisdom BearsI agree with Shelli, A good book for beginners is a book by Jennifer Laing as the instructions are quite clear. I only used a book for 3 bears and then got hooked on designing and creating my own bears,its much more fun. We will watch this space then for an up and coming new bear artist. Good Luck with your first bear.
Hugs Rita xx;)
Past Time BearsWelcome, Belinda! Yes, there is a myriad of great books on teddy bear making out there. I have all of Jenny Laing's books, the Nancy Tillberg book, and MANY others! And yes, they all have a slightly different approach, but ALL contain valuable tips and methods of doing things that can be very helpful. More titles are Making Traditional Teddy Bears by Brian and Donna Gibbs, Teddy Bear Studio by Ted Menten, Bearmaking 101 by Carol Lyyn Rossel Waugh, Teddy Bear Magic by Anita Louise Crane, The ABCs of making Teddy Bears, by Linda Mead, and all of Linda Mullins' bearmaking books!! Quite a treasure trove of information!! Happy teddy making and we look forward to your first.
Posts: 4Hello every one thank you so much for the warm welcome and all the information on the books Im going to order me some books and I may take one of the on line bear making classes they look fun Here is a link to some of my dolls that I made last year.Im still learning how to sculpt so there a little ugly these are my mini babies i make the life size babies to but I havent put them in my album yet and again thanks for all the good information
http://photobucket.com/albums/y238/lbjnflower/
Past Time BearsOh my goodness, Belinda . . . they look like REAL newborns!! How wonderful they are - you will make wonderful bears, too, no doubt!
Posts: 8,574Belinda!
What are you doing with my son? Just teasing....he is 30...yikes! But one of your babies looked just like him, back when he was sooooo cute, and sooooo little. Such a great talant has got to cross over, there have to be many techniques that will be a great benifit to you....hmmm....and us too.
Dilu
Fool's Gold BearsBelinda!! Oh, My!!! Those are the tewtest tweetest wittle babies!!! Look at those belly-button clips! that is just tooo much!! Infant bears?? I can see it all now. Can't wait to see how it goes.
Winneybears and FriendsAbsolutly adorable babies ! We just had twins in our family....babies are often kind of homely ...that they are cute, these are very real looking darlings...wonderful sculpting...Winney
bears by beesley TMBelinda Belinda Belinda!!! I have never seen anything like those absolutely beautiful babies that you create. I am so impressed with your wonderful talent. Like the ladies said, you will make a marvelous bear making Mom. You are so talented. You should be so very proud of yourself. Thank you sooooooo much for sharing them with us.
Love and kisses
Louise
Oh wow! Yes, I have to agree with the ladies here... your babies are fantastic!
Baird'sBearsWhat great baby faces. Wow. Very realistically scrunched up. And those little clenched fingers. Sigh. If I weren't past it . . . :rolleyes:
Eileen
Posts: 4Hello all AAww!!! thank you so much I enjoy making them .
I think im going to enjoy making bears just an much Im so excited I already Have a few ideas rolling around in my head !! I Was so lucky last night I was looking around on ebay for some teddy bear books and to my surprize there it was Making BEARS!!! 101 
9.99 plus 3.00shipping well Its mine now and I cant wait !!! to get it lol Im ready to get stared I have been looking at all you ladies web site and all of your bear are just adorable I could just look at them all day:D Thanks for having me here Belinda
