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Baird'sBearsHi all, :D
Please, please! I need some expert advice for a puzzled beginner.
Have any of you had experience with limited editions?
As I prepare to get my bear biz going, I'm wondering whether I should go with one or the other? Or both? Or one under certain circumstances and the other under other circumstances?
Eileen
Posts: 1,153Eileen....when I first started in the original porcelain dolls, I made limited editions of 100 on each of my first 5 dolls. After a shop picked them up and started to advertise the dolls, I had to make good the hundreds of dolls...over and over and over. 
I was soooooooo (and there are not enough o's for this) sick of those dolls by the time I was done. I quickly went to an edition of 5 
and I was still sick of making the same doll.
If you love to create new and don't like repetition, then do the one-of's.
If you don't like to constantly come up with new ideas and don't mind creating the same thing over a number of times, then limited ed's are for you.
I don't know if there is a big difference in the realized prices of the work unless you are a highly sought after artist.
Sometimes, I prefer to buy limited editions because the secondary market seems to be higher than a one of a kind. The demand for a certain design edition can sometimes drive the market up...where as if you own a one of, there is no comparison....unless of course it happens to be a one of from someone like Annette Himstead and then it is solely left up to the market demand.
My viewpoint only!
Nanc.....
Baird'sBearsGreat info, Nance and Lisa--Thanks!
I don't think I could stand doing more than 3 or 5 of anything. Chances are, each would be an improvement over the other anyway!
I think your experience with the porcelain dolls is a warning about the perils of success, Nance!
Eileen
I've also heard from a number of bearmakers that even very small editions can wear thin quickly, as the repetition and lack of novelty combine to form a deadly, "trapped" feeling each workday. Often, one-person bearmakers tire of retail/wholesale connections as well, because the stress of performing for a contract, or any entity outside the bearmaker him/herself, makes the motivation to produce less intrinsic, and more extrinsic... meaning, less satisfying. So many a bearmaker has stopped taking commissions, selling wholesale, and doing contract work of any kind, just to keep in a happy place.
I'm pretty committed to doing only one of a kinds but lately have been toying with the idea of doing pairs or duos. Not limited editions, per se, but a matched set (brother/sister, black/white, peanut butter/jelly, you get the idea.)
Great question.
Country BearsI only do 'One of a Kinds'. I think it's more personal for the collector, and as a collector I like the fact that I have the 'only one' like this!!
I too would get BORED:o if I had to repeat the process over and over again. Besides I've more ideas than I can fit into a lifetime anyway..............I must start writing them down!!!:lol:
Back Road BearsI have done it both ways and am with everyone else.... more than 3-5 and it's a CHORE to make them. What is the point in that?
I've done LE's of 3 and by the time I've finished the second I don't want to do any more.
Also, each is truly a one of a kind (OOAK) any way as they are handmade and cannot be indetical. I always state this to the buyer or on my site or where ever necessary. This also relieves a teentsy bit of the pressure to make it look exactly the same as the other. I'd be pulling my hair out other wise!!
I like to use the same patterns but never the same fur or accssories. I now only have a small handful of bears that are LE's. Going forward, I'll have only one or two bears that are LE's of 2-3. No more.
My once a year repetitive work is for the annual holiday ornament I make 36 of. Even then, I start them in the summer so I can space the work out over time so as not to HATE them by the holidays! Yes, I've already started on this year's.
Daphne
Lisa LOL!!! "I got more than I bargained for...my pair are alive!!! " :lol:
Eileen ~ I go back and forth on doing limited editions. They are ususally editions of 3-5 bears. Nice thing is... if you DO get tired of them... you can take them off your website for a while! "Bunny" who was just pictured in Teddy Bear Review is actually #1 of an edition of 5! That's how I sold him... but I didn't feel like making any right after him.. so I did not put him up on my website for orders. Now I'm glad.... cause I'll definitely make a few for the upcoming October show!
So that's how I do it... do a few (it's nice to open your email and have orders!) and when you get tired of it... back off for a bit.
I've even ended an edition early. Had an edition of 5... but closed it after 4.
Back Road BearsWell, it's not like we're car manufacturers promising to make 1000 of a special edition Mustang or something and then stopping at 900. (Boy, would some customers be unhappy... my hubby for instance! HA!) It's teddy bears and there are no time frames to the editions ... not like having to make cars for one model year. I think Laura Lynn has a good thing going!!:D
Daphne
Posts: 1,153Eileen, I think that 'anytime something is expected of you, it ceases to be fun' and certainly an edition number is expected of one...YUK!!
nanc....
Delartful BearsHi Everyone,
I have decided not to do Limited Editions. I just can't make a second bear to look similar, let alone close enough to call the teddy by the same name. Too much hassel and stress. I put it down to the needle sculpting I do in the face - I can never replica the look again.
Good luck with whatever you decide!
Danni
Country BearsI made all my heads first, then did all the noses then all the eyes etc.......
I was making them all for the same person so didn't have to break in between making them, I think I would have found it hard too if I hadn't done them all together.:/
I was never so pleased to get a job done!!!:o
Well... there are always differences since they ARE hand made. I tell my bear mom & dads that.... and that also I'll email them photos when done for final approval ~ no obligation.
Wisdom BearsHi Gals and Guys,
I did 25 of each little boys and little girls wearing duffel coats for Teddy Bears of Witney in Oxford.They were 5" tall, but I kept the 1st Edition of each one and used it as a prototype for the rest. As i Got to number 24 ,I knew I had 25 in each of my editions ,by using the 1st as the last if that makes sense. The shop took them in 2 lots of 8 and then 9, so it was not so bad , but I have not done another one since.
Hugs Rita xxx
Baird'sBears:DThanks, everyone for all your thoughts. :D
I guess it just depends. I can see going one or both ways, depending on circumstances. Right now I've got a head and one notebook full ideas and sketches, and can't get to the new ones fast enough.
I'm not sure I've got enough self-discipline to keep making the same design over and over again if it really bored me, but then again . . . if there's something good on TV, I've been known to IRON SHIRTS for up to an hour at a time. Honest.
There's also the question of money. If the price were right, I'd give it a try.
Eileen
LuxembearsI agree with many of you ladies about becoming bored and tired of repeating the same bear.
I fly by the seat of my pants and for a bear to truly emerge from my soul it has to be when a bear is ready to show him/her self. HAVING to make abear does not flow with me well. so I usually stick with one-ofs.
Elieen, I have such a hard time pricing my bears...that's why I like ebay so much.
Posts: 8,574Eileen my situation is so much easier than yours. My gollys refuse to be duplicated- even the twins insist on something being different!
You just don't know how hard it would be, they gang up on you, they lie in wait in the dark and try and trip you, they hide, they jump out and try and scare you, they steal your best scissors, they leave cookie crumbs everywhere!
Its not a pretty picture.
My cats love whipped cream in a can-They hear that sound and stumble all over themselves getting from the work room to the kitchen- (I found the lid to the can on the floor last night.) I think the Gollies had something to do with this.
Everyone else in the family denies knowledge......hmmmmmm :/
On a slightly more serious note, how do they ( the creators of limited editions of 500) get the exact same expression each and every time?
I can't do it.
I agree with many of you ladies about becoming bored and tired of repeating the same bear.
I fly by the seat of my pants and for a bear to truly emerge from my soul it has to be when a bear is ready to show him/her self. HAVING to make abear does not flow with me well. so I usually stick with one-ofs.Elieen, I have such a hard time pricing my bears...that's why I like ebay so much.
Beautifully, poetically said... and ditto to every sentiment!
Baird'sBearsAt heart I think I'm with the one-offs. I'm remaking my Ugly Duckling Bear in a 'for sale' version, and I can't for the life of me stop tinkering with the pattern. It's not the same duck at all. Definitely improved, but not the same.
I think if I tried even a limited edition, I'd get into trouble for false advertising. Always got to try something new!
Eileen
