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bears by beesley TMHi guys! Well I have found myself today asking what is at the root of teddy bear artistry and teddy bear collecting for so many of us?
I was trying to think back to the day I decided teddy bears were my true love and passion and that I would start designing and creating them. I believe it was about 14 years ago and I had just lost my Mom to emphysema and 10 years before that, my Dad to to heart disease. I had this big ol empty hole in my heart and I must have been searching for something to fill it.
I have come to the conclusion that this was indeed when teddy bears became a huge part of my life. I was oh so bad at designing and oh my gosh even worse at creating the poor little creatures.
Over time my teqniques have improved but I still ask myself why I have this passion. This need? Is it because I felt alone and abadndoned? Or was I trying to fill a childhood need for love and comfort? It really does not matter why, but I do have this need to create them and I must say that I truly feel each one carries with it a wee soul and I learn something from each one when completed (however small that may be). Do We all feel this way?
And why do so many people collect them? Is it also to fill a missing piece in their lives? Does a bear take them back to their childhood when they felt safe and secure? I know I have collected teddies over the years and tend to buy when I least can afford too but feel down in the dumps and need a pick me up or a tender teddy to hug.
Anyway, I just have been trying to understand the passion and the need to create them. I have a disability which I have had for 6 years which worsens with time and I will have to face the day when I will no longer be able to continue to make bears. I am asking myself what I will do to fill this need when that time comes? Merlot? (just kidding of course)
So I put the question out to you the artists or you the collectors what is the need behind these wonderful creatures and what keeps you so intrigued with the passion? I have found today a day of reflection for me. But a good day none the less. I am trying to learn to be gracious with life.
No I am not depressed, just reflecting and curious what fuels the fire under our butts towards these little creatures! If you look deep inside as to why you create bears or why you collect them I think you may be surprised at the the answer!
Hugs Louise
I think I make bears to hide from the real world Louise! It gives me control over my life and satisfies my creative instincts. Wherever I worked in the big wide world before, I always felt restricted in some way or other, so for me, bear-making offers a real sense of self. That's the bear-making side of things, but for the collecting side I think there are probably completely separate reasons, most hinging on that childhood sense of security a special teddy bear offered.
Louise, I wish you many more years of fulfilling bear-making x :hug:
Hello Dear Louise!!!
First, I wish to agree with Paula and wish you MANY more years of fufilling bear making!!!!
Why do I collect teddies? Well, I did not have bears as a child... I had bunnies 
(as does my daughter... go figure LOL!) I collect bears because I like how they look... and how I feel when I look at them. I think of my bears as works of art that I enjoy viewing.... but these works of art can also be cuddled!!!! I have several displays within my home and it gives me so much pleasure to look at them.
Why do I CREATE teddies? Because I get grouchy if I DON'T :crackup: . Seriously .... I do!!
I've always been a creative person. As a kid I was always drawing or making SOMEthing. As an adult I was a photographer for a long time... and I would get SUCH a thrill when my photographic art turned out as I hoped... or even better! I also enjoyed using my photo art in my home.
When I couldn't do photography.... I'd work on some type of needlework... or sew dresses for my little daughter. (A few anyways....)
I guess I create bears because I MUST create something!!! I've found my creative passion in teddy bears (and other soft sculpture art!) If I couldn't create bears anymore.... I'd find SOMEthing that I could create!
I enjoy it because it's creative..inspiring ....it brings home the bacon...I can be my own boss..and one bear always leads to another so I don't get sick of it...
Why do people colllect bears...?Amongst many other reasons I think it has something to do with the childhood thing..and the nuturing instinct too....Many sweet faced bears and tatty old teddies have faces that look like they need mothering and so I think that does fill a gap in some folks lives. The terminology used is very telling too...'adoption fee'....'looking for a new home'...it's all designed to tug at the heartstrings. Basically we're all suckers for poor old tatty ted or anything that looks like it needs a cuddle!!!
I never really had bears, or at least they weren't a focus in my life, as a child. I think the draw for me in making them and collecting them is both the sweetness of them and the dimensional, tactile qualities they possess; they're soft and fuzzy and there's something really conforting in that. I like soft, fuzzy things I can grasp, sink into, or run my fingers through. Every night I climb under a polarfleece blanket for some sofa time with my husband before we go to bed. My husband is also soft and fuzzy, by the way; I fell in love with his warm eyes and graying beard even before I knew much about him.
I love that I get to spend my days playing with mohair and ribbon and stuffing, making really sweet-faced animals, while sitting in a comfy, pillow-backed chair in my pretty, floral guest room. It's a blessing and a gift, and I couldn't have that anywhere or any way else.
Burlison BearsHi Louise
First off I'd like to say I hope you are always able to create bears because you do beautiful work.
Now this is a very interesting question you've posed. There are probably lots of reasons why I create teddy bears and why I am drawn to them in the first place. I can definitely list a few reasons...some good and some very sad.
For one I've always been a creative person. Since I was little I've been writing and drawing and creating little children's books, I experimented with painting and cross stiching, and by the time I was a teenager I made my first mini bear and other stuffed animals every few months over the years...until last year when I actually "learned" how to make teddy bears and started selling them.
My reason for selling them is that I needed to contribute money to our bills. I have an extremely difficult time working in what I call "the real world" due to severe social anxiety disorder. If I know I have to go out to a social event with my husband I have to first take Xanax to calm my nerves. I do not do well in places where I'm faced with a lot of people and confrontation. The confrontation thing is based upon being faced with that all throughout my childhood. I don't handle stress very well or crowds. I was never good at answering phones at some of my jobs either because I found that people are harsher toward you on the phone as opposed to being there in person with you. Okay, so the truth is I kind of live in my own fantasy world where I feel safe. This is the first time in my life when I've ever felt truly safe and happy. I can be creative, I can be my own boss, and I can bring in a bit of cash to help out with our living expenses. I love solitude, however, somedays I get extremely lonely and sometimes feel that I'm the loneliest person in the world. 
As for that deep down soul-searching reason as to why I make teddies...would have to stem from my childhood. My childhood was nothing short of tragedy. I came from an abusive and neglectful home. My parents did not love me and I knew it. I have memories of trying to hug my mom at age 4 and her pushing me away. Even as a little kid I collected more stuffed animals than any other kind of toy. Something I could hug and love. I was absolutely starving for love (actually still am). I eventually got a huge Mickey Mouse and I would cuddle up in his lap and hold on to him...because I wanted to know what that might feel like with a grownup. I had never been held or cuddled by a grownup. 
Okay, so now I'm starting to get emotional because my childhood is still so fresh and painful to me. All I can say is that teddies and other stuffed animals have always been there for me, and I'm still just as attached to them today as I was back then. So why not create my own teddies?
-Eliza
Wild Thyme OriginalsI love this topic Louise!!! Thanks for bringing it up! I've though a whole lot about this stuff too! I can tell you this about my own journey into bear making....
As a child, my dolls, bears, and other stuffed animals were friends to me. I was a quiet and shy little thing. I loved my "friends" like they were real... and they were real. Why? Because I had had made them so. How? It's a process that I like to call emotional investment. My bears took on how a felt about the person who had given it to me. I used my bears and dolls to literally give life to all my own emotions, fears and inner thoughts. I held them when I cried. I acted out weddings, celebrations, and ballet recitals with them. It's a personification process. They became real because I wanted them to be.
I think that many, many children do this... whether it's a blankie, or a bear, a potholder (my oldest had a Cookie Monster potholder that he slept with and took everywhere :crackup: !!!!!) whatever the "object" is... you emotionally invest in the object.... you personify it... it becomes a vehicle for expressing your own feelings.
As an adult, I view the bears that I make in the same way. I emotionally invest in them, and they are a vehicle for my own creative expression. When I think about the power of a whispered word, or the way that rain slides down a pane of glass on a stormy day, or anything else that sparks my creativity, I can try to translate that into a bear. I try to give them their own little personalities the same way I did when I was a child. For me it's the same process. Rather than grafting the emotion onto an already completed object... I am creating the object from scratch and endowing them as best as I can with those emotions through the creation process.
I know that some adult collectors see the bears in their collections simply as beautiful objects, and I can certainly appreciate bears in that way as well; but I think for a whole lot of folks they are something that is just a bit more than that.
Kim Basta
Terries BearsWhy do I CREATE teddies? Because I get grouchy if I DON'T . Seriously .... I do!!
Me too Laura Lynn! For me it is all about creating. I have no idea why I am driven to be creative, I just HAVE to 
I love to make bears because I love the way that their sweet little faces look at you as you are working on them and how just a tiny stitch here or there can completely change their whole expression. I love the idea that you can take a flat piece of fabric and create an object that evokes emotion in others.
Past Time BearsIt's a really hard question for me to answer because it involves a dark and low time in my life. Everyone has touched on parts of the reason I started making and continue to make bears . . . but if I am honest, I have to say that I'm pretty sure they helped save my life 10 or so years ago. So, I don't take the therapy they provide for me lightly.
Aww what a lovely thread, and what lovely and sad stories, it has been nice to read them all.
My being drawn to collecting teddies was probably due to the fact that my lovely teddy was given away by my mum and dad when I was about 11 years old, along with most of my other toys, to a poor family who could not afford to buy things for their kids one Christmas (the husband worked with my Dad). I came home from school and most things were gone, including my record collection, jigsaws, most things really except my doll "black Elizabeth"whom my mum loved and dressed for me every Christmas)and was told that as I was an only child I was in the position to get more later. I was a little upset but more so because of my bear - maybe I will make one that looks like him one day.
Like most of you I was always artistic from being a child, sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, and just somehow after making my first bear, all the other things have taken a back seat as now I am addicted to making these little characters and think I always will be.
Warm wishes
Pauline
Burlison BearsPauline,
Wow...what you just said really hit home with me. My toys were taken away and given away all the time too...but not for any good reason....not like giving to the poor. My mother was a very cruel woman who from time to time would clean out my room throwing away my very favorite things...just to hurt me. I would come home from school and my entire box of Disney records were taken to the dump (because she hated the sound of children singing) and my favorite stuffed animals and other toys would be gone as well. I would receive no explanation from my mother. It was just one of those things. She would purposely leave the things that I wasn't attatched to and get rid of the things she knew for certain that I loved.
-Eliza
I remember always wanting a REAL Winnie the Pooh. My mom bought the knock-off. At 5 I was extremely disappointed. It took me until I was 30 years old to buy a bona-fide Pooh Bear which now sits on my bookcase of fabric.
As a kid I kept EVERYTHING. I still have my Fisher Price toys, crayons, barbies, Breyer horse collection (over 150 pieces), Hagen Renaker, Hot Wheels, Tonka trucks, Mama baby dolls...I could go on. I cherished all of it. So I think I really enjoy well-made toys as they are a reminder of my happy childhood and I can see after 40 years that well-made toys do make the journey. So I like to make and purchase things that will bring and provide memories.
On the flipside my husbands mom was not so nice. She threw out his prized Pez and comic book collections just to be mean. Which still pains me to think how awful she was to him. He has nothing to show for his childhood, not even photos. However, he is the most generous and loving dad I could ever dream of for our children. So, I guess we make lemonade out of lemons.
Geez, I am going back and reading all of your posts and I am getting sad...really sad. These are some really crummy things to hear.
Aww Eliza I do feel for you.
You don't ever forget these things, your mum must have had some real bad problems within herself, she must have been really mixed up. If only she knew what you are feeling because of it now!
I still have that picture of my bear in my head and still look out for it today and I think because of what mum and dad did (and I know they didn't mean to be cruel) I have a loft full of my daughter's things and she is 29 now, I can not throw them away and it will have to be up to her, but the clutter drives me mad sometime and I just remember I don't want her to blame me for missing something precious to her.
Warm wishes
Pauline
Burlison BearsHey Pauline,
I totally understand you wanting to keep your daughter's things. (Wow. She's just a year older than I am! I just turned 28) I'm sure I will be keeping most of my future children's things! And I will be making their teddy bears! Don't have any kids yet...but I feel that my mission in life is to adopt unwanted children and give them love. I feel that very strongly...because I was so unwanted, and I wasn't even an orphan!
As for what you said about if only my mother knew how everything she did to me made me feel....she did know, she does know, and has told me time and again over the years with both her words and her actions that she just doesn't care how I feel. Gosh, if all she'd ever done to me was throw away my teddies and toys I could have still had a happy childhood. But she did way more to me and my big sister than that...and our horrible stepdad as well. The first 20 years of my life was just hell, and I wouldn't want to depress anyone here with details. Now that I'm out of that household and moved hundreds of miles away things have been going much better in my life, and I'm truly happy for the first time ever. The last eight years have been soooo different for me. And I have a wonderful husband who has been my best friend since I was 16. I honestly don't think I would be on earth if it hadn't been for him. And I surround myself with happy childlike things in my apartment...stuffed animals and old-fashioned toys and a statue of Peter Pan. I know it sounds weird but I basically feel like I'm just now getting to experience a childhood and a happy freedom...and making teddy bears brings me lots of joy. And I'm so happy I found this wonderful teddy-talk site to share my bears and thoughts with all you wonderful teddy people!
-Eliza
bears by beesley TMOh wow! What awesome comments and points of view. Thank you so much for the feedback.
I think we all have a common thread going here. Bears make us feel better. They give us comfort and love we may feel we lack in other areas. They provide us as artists with an escape from the hum drum of life.
All I can say is thank God for small blessings!
Hugs Louise
Yes I think I also turned to bear making to fill a gap in my life. I was at my shrink and she drew a triangle, Childhood- one corner the persecutor, the rescurer, the victim (me) how did you cope, you withdrew, you wanted people to like you, etc ,
Adult- the persecutor,the rescurer-my career-which now is BEAR MAKING-the victim- how am I coping- still hiding, still wanting to be liked etc.
then to compound the issue, I have a disability which will also in time not improve, it will still allow me hopefully to make bears, I lost a child, I was at death's door 3 times and only survived after having blood transfusions, hence me having my speed wobbles when the wheels come off .
So now I GRAB life when the good times are here, and its my bear making that has given me so much, hence me giving so much back to the bear making industry when I can however way I can.
Collecting Bears- well I think people are mad- but thank heavens for them otherwise none of us would be in business. I collect bears , maybe because I just love animals, I talk to my dogs, I kiss them, I hug them, so I can relate to a bear in the same way. Maybe this is the same for other collectors.
Long live the bear world, both the furry types and the wild ones
Lynette
Jellybelly BearsMe too...so many of us have turned to bears in times of misery or needing to fill a hole in our lives, isn't that amazing. I've always been into craft, but bears just hit me...I think because I never wanted to give up being a kid, using my imagination to create but also to make belive...magical things can still happen and you don't have to give up that innocent quality when you are playing with your bears... bears fit me perfectly. I love them and making them so much, feel it so much as to say that I was meant to become ill to make bears and feel lucky because I found my calling 
It also feeds the creative need in me...and never stopping learning, being able to build and build some more and use so many creative techniques and other crafts in the process...then there is the photography, website...friends! so much to give in the package of the little teddy bear...love it!!
PS, regarding disability...dont' think about the future, just the day and how much you can enjoy it...things may never happen. When bad times hit think about what good times are waiting round the corner...if your down you know an up time is lurking nearby 
:hug:
Dearest Louise, 
Why do I collect bears? If I didn't collect bears, bunnies and other fancies I'd have a house full of 100 cats!! There is not enough cat litter in the world for a house with 100 cats. I'd be scooping from morning til night!
:crackup: :crackup:
Warmest bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
Terries BearsIf I didn't collect bears, bunnies and other fancies I'd have a house full of 100 cats!! There is not enough cat litter in the world for a house with 100 cats. I'd be scooping from morning til night!
Aleta that is too funny!! :crackup: :crackup: and probably the best reason that I have ever heard for collecting ANYTHING!
Gold Coast QLDAs a child I always loved fantasy, my childhood toys, creating etc and over the last 4 years, as a stay at home mum, I have had a chance to find that part of me again with my painting and crafts.
But then came along bears and they just captured my heart. I thought my creative nature was just a play but Louise you have made me think about really why.
Around the time I made my first bear my youngest started pre-school and I realised that I wouldn't be having any more babies that I would never again feel that wonderful sensation of a baby tumbling in my tummy or meeting my baby for the very first time. I know I am tremendously blessed with the 3 children I have but I guess I did grieve a bit and bears helped fill that void, so even though I won't be having any more human babies there are plenty of furry babies to be made.
I haven't started collecting yet but I am most attracted to the sad sorry looking teds that look like they need a good hug - I guess that sums me up :crackup:
Kirsty
Posts: 8,574Ahhh darling Louise,
I love collecting the little dickens, but my passion is making and dressing dolls.
I think they do help us when we are low, sick or depressed. But i think the real root is this desire, in a throw away world, to create something substantial, lasting, significant, fun, and it is no mistake we went for soft and cuddly...to fill a need for something soft and cuddly in our lives.
It is an interesting world right now-more full of uncertainty, lack of civility and lack of kindness. We are lied to constantly, by the media, politicians and even so called friends, why even here sometimes, thankfully not often.
when one's world is full of rude people who lie, unkindness, uncertainlty, a little bear can transport us to a world where life is a little kinder, I think Mr. Rogers lives there now, and, well, has anyone here really had ,ever, a teddy be rude to them?
Perhaps we are searching not only for a creativity outlet but also a best friend that will never let us down. Ever.
Even the gollies have been known to tell secrets.
Nice topic, hon, and there is nothing like Merlot for that warm fuzzy.....
Nicynicegollyslobberkissesandhugs
dilu
Bears by EdieI really think some people are just born collectors. If I wasn't collecting teddy bears I'd be collecting something else - oh wait, I am collecting something else - in fact quite a few other categories! But really teddies are my favorite! Life is a constant treasure hunt as you just never know when or where you are going to come across another darling bear that you just have to add to your collection. It makes life so exciting and I love the research of trying to track down the history and identity if it is an antique bear. I've been a collector of one thing or another my whole life and just can't imagine any other way of living.
As far as making bears, it is just so rewarding to create something that brings so much joy into the lives of others. Again I've been a crafter and creator my whole life as well, having tried almost every medium there is, but nothing else has given me the same thrill that creating bears has, or afforded me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people as in the world of bears. There is just no life like it!
Posts: 2,203I collect Bears because it reminds me to use my imagination. Toys where much more simple when I was a kid! I am also a sucker for a cute face! When it comes to making them though I am always up for a challenge and this one is taking more time to conquer than I thought.
