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Delartful Bears Sep 4, 2005

Hi Rita,

YES!! YOu do have a look.  Even though you do different styles, and have quite different looking bears from time to time, I can always tell on the message board and Bear Pile that they are YOUR bears!!!

So, even though many look different from eachother, they all have your look, which is cute, and quite inquisitive!!

Danni

Black Forest Bears Sep 4, 2005

Hi Danni,

Thanks for your reply.
I really never thought that my Bears could be identyfied as "Black Forest Bears"

I try and try to do something "original", sometimes I have 10 different Heads made, and to me, they all look like the same old, plain ordinary bears you can find everywhere else.
Maybe someday a lightbulb goes off in my Head, and I do create something different and original

Rita

matilda Sep 4, 2005

Rita stop trying & just BE.........that's when the magic happens. Is'nt it ladies?

Delartful Bears Sep 4, 2005

Oh Rita, you need more confidence!!!!!!  They are all special bears, and you see them no-where else... they are your look!

I agree with Matilda, do your thing !!!!!!!!
Danni

shantell Sep 4, 2005

Thanks for all the great responses.  I instinctively knew really creating comes from within...you just know when it's right.  My problem is I like to second guess myself...and I know that I should always go with what I feel or think first and not look back.  I think each and everyone of you has your own look.  I'm sure in time I will find mine as well...but for now I, like Rita, I feel like mine look like every other bear you see on a store shelf.  Sigh...

At some point I hope to adopt at least one little darling from each of you...I love them all for very different reasons.

Shantell

Laura Lynn Banner SponsorSep 4, 2005

When I first started designing my own patterns... I tried several very different types of bears.  Then I designed one that just seemed "me" if you know what I mean.

After the bear was born, I'd look at him or her and try to decide what did I want to change... (longer neck, higher forhead, wider nose, longer arms,....) and made a slight change to the pattern, and I did that again and again till I got where I am now.  I'm still making slight changes here and there.  I guess that's how my bears are evolving, yet still look similar.

I'm also working on a totally different look for me... cause I'm ready for a change   I'll STILL be making my "original" look... but looking forward to evolving a new pattern too

Jill Sep 4, 2005

Laura Lynn,

I love your look.

Jill

Shana Sep 4, 2005

I think our bears  all have a certain look.  But if you dont I think that it takes alot of creativity to make each one different.  I think mine have a certain look .  I agree you can tell who made what by their style or look.  But if you dont have a  look its okay. It just means you are very very creative and versatile...(Is that the way to spell versitile..Im a bad speller!!)  Dont worry you are all doing something some of us cant do.  Big Hugs....Shana

Laura Lynn Banner SponsorSep 4, 2005

Awww~ Thanks Jill!

And I forgot to say.... I can usually recognize a Teddy Talk member's bear when I see one on eBay before I even know whose it is

Judi Sep 4, 2005

Rita, I think your bears certainly are recognizable.  And aren't we all ever evolving?

I think we should all remember this:

It is not about being better than anyone else,
it is about being better than you used to be.
Don't die with your music still in you.   (Dr. Wayne Dyer)

doodlebears Celebration AmbassadorSep 5, 2005

Jenny said

When I visited Japan many collectors commented that my bears look like me (

Oh oogey googley! I hope my bears don't look like me or else nobody will be buying from me at my next show...poor little bears! ;)

Jane.

Christine Sep 5, 2005

It took me years to get my open-mouthed bears to look the way they looked in my head!:D:D:D
I made the first ones back in '95/'96 and they have certainly changed over the years.  I feel my bears have evolved - but collectors have always said they can spot a Christine Pike bear, whatever style I 'think' I have created!!  These days I have learned to go with the flow and see what happens - forcing a bear to turn out a certain way always ends in tears (for me, anyway).
As others have already said, I find it fascinating that so many people can create bears that look so different - even though the pattern is roughly the same.  Creativity and individuality rock!!:D:D

Bear hugs,
Chris

Christine Sep 5, 2005

I forgot to mention - the little guy in my previous post was only 4 1/2" high.  I was going through a masochistic phase, haha!:D

This panda is one of my more recent, larger open-mouthed designs.  They have surely changed and developed since my first bears!!

Hugs,
Chris

doodlebears Celebration AmbassadorSep 5, 2005

Hey everyone, I met Chris yesterday at Hugglets bear fair in London and I must say her bears are gorgeous and even better in the fur. Nice chatting with you Chris.

Jane.

rufnut Sep 5, 2005

Wow, some of you girls have your look down pat, even I can pick some of them now.  Love your work too Chris.

Well I was beginning to worry about this very topic and the "Look", glad to hear I should keep dabbling and eventually it may just happen, thanks for starting this thread Shantell.

Christine Sep 5, 2005

Thanks Jane & Karen for your kind words!:))
Nice to catch up with you at Hugglets yesterday, Jane.

Having a day off today as I am exhausted from the show!!
Hugs,
Chris

Shana Sep 5, 2005

I think it is very creative if you can make all kinds of "looks".  It takes special planning and some of us make the same look all the time.  Just think of yourself as having a talent that is very unique.  Thats what makes each and every one of our bears special.  Some have a style that everyone will look at and there is no doubt its so and so's bear.  But you do have a style in there that is the same even though you dont think so.  To all who think its not good, its really a gifted talent from God!!
Shana

Delartful Bears Sep 6, 2005

Oooh I want the bear!!!!!!!!!  The little 4.5" bear sooo cute!

You are such a talented artist Chris!

Danni

Marie_ Sep 6, 2005

Hello, I'm still searching my look and I think I still have long way to go ......however, I'm creating a new pattern now and after a month past , still nothing coming up !!!! I have this *LOOK* in my head  but it's so hard to write down on paper.....  I think I will
create a white-fabric bear(test bear) and see what will come up.

As Laura said, I can recognize a Teddy Talk member's bear too !!

Louise, bears by beesley has own style and I think you can't hide it !!!
I love your sweet face bears and realistic bear very much !

Jane, you bear has warm heart with smiling face and I think it's coming from you. and I think your bear fan would like to see
Jane-look bear!   he he

Rita! you do have your own style !! I know you make different face
all the time but all of your bear has your style ! If I was rich girl,
I would love to collect your bears.

Chris,  I love the Panda bear with open mouth ! he is so adorable and
he has the 100% of your look ! great work ♪

Hugs/Marie

Jellybelly Bears Sep 7, 2005

hmmm..do all of you think it is harder to achieve a 'look' when you make different patterns?
I make different patterns for most of my bears and wonder if that takes away from them looking like my bears.
I think they still do coz they are what I like and my personality comes out in them.  I love colour and make lots of colourful bears.  I suppose I always stick to what I like in shapes of limbs body and head, just change little things for each bear like positions of limbs or different expression etc..
very interesting reading all your thoughts tho..

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorSep 7, 2005

That's an interesting quetsion, Sarah.  I think if you alter the head shape dramatically from bear to bear, that's where your "look" might end up getting shifted, as well.  I tend to design heads with roughly the same proportions.  By that I mean, the angle at which the muzzle juts out from the side head piece; the width of the gusset relative to the size of the side head pattern.  And so on.

If you've stumbled upon a particularly signature thing -- like Christine's nose, for example, of the proportion Sue Ann has found between eye size and nose size (which, if you look closely, you'll see doesn't really shift much from critter to critter, no matter what size) -- then I think your style follows.

If you're still playing around with those kinds of things, though, like the relative size of your chosen eyes compared to the relative size of your nose... or if you sew one nose as an oval, one as a rectangle, and one as a triangle... then you'll probably take longer to find a "style."  Or so I would imagine; there's not really much science to this.

When I started out I found it fascinating to visit particular artist sites and try to discover just exactly what that quality WAS, that determined their particular style.  Sometimes it's quite obvious; others, it's just an elusive, elusive study.  It can be very difficult to pinpoint precisely how, for example, both Jane Perala and Rita Diesling (of RidiBears) both use small black eyes and big black noses, but end up with such incredibly different looking bears.  So it's the study of what's NOT similar -- the distance of eye to muzzle tip; the finish of the fur -- that helps inform about personal "style."

Anyway, I'm not sure I'm contributing anything meaningful here; just rambling and musing.  It's an interesting question, and it applies not just to bearmaking, but to dollmaking, and to interior design, and to clothing design, and to any artistic endeavor.  "What makes personal style," I mean. 

Life is endlessly fascinating.

Visit Jane's bears here:  www.janeperalateddies.com
Visit Rita's bears here:  www.ridibears.de

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner SponsorSep 7, 2005

Yes, that is an interesting question and Shelli is very perceptive!  I design lots of different patterns, but the expression in the face is what makes a definite "look" or "style", in my opinion.  I once had a collector say that my bears didn't all look exactly alike, but that there was a family resemblance . . . which I thought nailed the essence of "a style".

teddy_bears_org Sep 7, 2005

I, as a collector would like to add to this... Personally, I like defined bears. Bears that you can look at and say, "Oh, this artist made that". I think I am probably stating the obvious, just my personal thoughts.

kbonsall Sep 7, 2005

I have noticed that now that I have been making bears for a while, I am definetly starting to have a look, and it wasnt really intentional, it just kind of came about... my earlier bears, Scruffy, Hannah, MacIntosh look a more I dont know what word to use but my newer bears, Oscar, Shanna, Lexi, Lil' Wooh are a lot different, But I think people can probably tell that they are all Kim-Bee Bears.... I'll have to post my newest bear, if I remember tonight... My skills are getting better and learning to improve things and new techniques and things....

jenny Sep 7, 2005

I wish I had the answer to it ...because if we knew why certain artists create the designs they do..be it teddy bears or fashion or furniture...we could also easily work out why people buy what they buy..and I guess it would all be simple ...but not so much fun. 
I guess lifestyle has a lot to do with it. It's why I have Tibetan terriers and someone else chooses a Doberman....why some folks make realistic bears and I go for baby faced bears.  Vive la difference!!

I am also rambling...had a bad day.....

Jenny