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Eat Cake! bears and vintageI got my first Teddy Bear related injury this weekend. I split my lip and right below to where I thought I might have had to get a couple of stitches! How? Pliers and a stubborn cotter pin! At first I thought, "oh was that hard enough to make it bleed?" Pressed my hand to my lip/chin area and sure enough some blood. Then I thought, "oh no was it hard enough for stitches?" Thankfully it didn't look too bad after it stop bleeding. Only other thing I was thinking, "no blood on the mohair!"
q.D.paToOtieSAh, the ol' stubborn cotter pin/plier accident. I had one of those too. The pliers slipped and I nailed myself right between the eyes (so that's what's wrong with me :wacko:). It was hard enough to knock me off my chair and give me a big goose egg. My hubby said he didn't know that bear making was so dangerous!
Anyway, glad you're okay and no stitches were required!
Dolls N DreamsOUCH, glad your ok, I'm like you, I'm always more worried to see if I got blood on the mohair 
Posts: 8,574Now there's a TeddiArtiste.....worrying about blood on the mohair!
Hydrogen peroxide takes it right out without fading the colors. info for the next time!
:hug:
FenBeary FolkGreat tip Dilu 
Tami if I prick my finger the magnifier comes out :pray:
Barbette, Sorry to hear of your accident, hope its better soon 
XXfingers hubby does the pins :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: though he would tell people that I had beat him up 
Back Road BearsOuch!!! I'm glad it didn't require stitches!!
May I caution against the use of TEETH as pliers while we're on this subject??? They CHIP!!! Yup.... couldn't get a doll needle to come out and I couldn't reach my pliers so figured my teeth were handy enough (heck, I used to open beer ca... I mean SODA cans with them LOL!) but I guess even my teeth aren't as strong as they once were cause I chipped both the upper and lower teeth.... right in front! 
Past Time BearsI tried cotter pins/pliers when I first started making bears and decided very soon that I wasn't meant to use that kind of hardware to joint bears. It's been nuts/bolts ever since for me and means only twisting my wrists. Hope your injury heals soon.
Pumpkin & Pickle BearsOuch, that sounds painful!! 
. Hope it didn't hurt TOO much.
I've stabbed myself in the leg with my doll needle on more than one occassion and have had to pull out my sewing needle from underneath my fingernail LOTS of times.....on nearly every bear i make! I was also pulling the dolls needle through a bears head while inserting the eyes and the eye of the needle was obviously stuck on the stuffing but I kept pulling as hard as I could until my hand slipped off the end of it and in the process it sliced the back of my knuckle open.....that was painful!
May I caution against the use of TEETH as pliers while we're on this subject??? They CHIP!!!
Oh, I learned that one the hard way!! 
:crackup:
Little Bear GuyDaphne Didn't I see you opening beer ca.. I mean soda cans with your teeth in Maryland last yr at the wine and cheese get together :crackup: :crackup: .
I hate using cotter pins as well Sue Anne, I only use them on the tiny bears and those ones are much easier to turn lol.
big hugs
Shane
Hobart BearsAt my house we call the many poked fingers "A sacrifice to the bear goddess".
Karen
Back Road BearsWell then, Karen.... I think I've sacraficed every inch of me over the years!!! Fingers mostly!
When stitching the nose and trying to pull the needle out when it really doesn't want to budge I've come SOOO close to stabbing myself in the chest. Anyone else do this? I keep envisioning my hubby coming home from work to find me laying on the floor of my studio, dead from impaling myself in the heart!!! :doh:
Shane.... yup that was me! Didn't ya see me dancing on the tables?? :crackup:
I did the same thing once Daphne. I was pulling really hard on a large doll needle and it pulled through and stabbed me really hard in the boob!!! I often think if I had breast implants they would have gone "POP". I was pretty sore for a while. I think we need to design a range of "bear armour" to wear whilst we are sewing.
Nice to know I'm not the only one..
I almost took out an eye with my pliers trying to turn a cotter pin...bought myself a pair of safety glasses...haven't worn them once...heehee...
Dropped a needle while sewing....my catching instincts took over and before I knew it I caught my needle in my leg....OUCH! ....At least I saved it from falling on the floor!! 
And my personal favorite is when I sew a piece of fabric to my finger.....it's a good thing I'm not a bleeder!!
Kristina
Newcastle, OntarioOuch, that must have hurt - hope it heals quickly! It's always fun explaining these injuries to non-bear people!
My worst was when I dropped my small Fiskar scissors and my instinct was to quickly close my knees. Yep, imbedded them in my leg about 1/2 inch and still have a nasty scar. Wow - we could have a contest for the nastiest bear related injury! :crackup:
hugs,
Brenda
Laurie Lou BearsI have lost count how many times that I have stabbed myself but the worst was when I was using a doll needle and it was stuck so I pulled it really hard and it ended up being embedded about an inch in my leg 
It is surprising how dangerous this bear making can be
Laurie :hug:
OMG I feel quite faint!.... 
.......haven't had some of these injuries....so now I'm nervous!....I am nursing a sore needle-under-the-nail though! .....and blood on the mohair....thanks for the tip Dilu
Lynne :hug:
My worst was when I dropped my small Fiskar scissors and my instinct was to quickly close my knees. Yep, imbedded them in my leg about 1/2 inch and still have a nasty scar. Wow - we could have a contest for the nastiest bear related injury! :crackup:
yep, been there, done that. . . them fiskars can be some nasty suckers. . . other things to avoid catching in your lap in this manner. . . bundles of 100 felting needles. . . hot glue guns. . .x-acto knives. . . indeed, knives of any sort. and those Clover mini-irons can be deadly.
other tips from the voice of experience
. . .if your hot iron is falling, it's probably best to just let it fall and not try and catch it. ditto knives & scissors.
Visine and some types of crazy glue come in remarkably similar bottles. you shouldn't keep both on your workbench
don't try and connect sections of loc-line with a pliers. you'd be amazed by the amount of flesh a pliers can plough up when it slips
working in a sitting postion with a hot melt glue gun while wearing shorts in probably a bad idea, even if you don't drop the gun in your lap.
a sewing machine that will sew through 6 layers of leather can sew through your fingernail, too - or your thumb. *
*(an x-acto knife & tiny vise-grip pliers are essential tools for the removal of sewing-machine needles embedded in fingernails. you'll have about one minute before it really starts hurting, so you'll have to move fast. and there's no point in grabbing your pliers and running into the street for help. people just shudder and tell you that you should go to the emergency room)
Eat Cake! bears and vintageWow, there should be a monument to teddy bear injuries. Some of these I wouldn't have even thought possible! :crackup:
