So a couple of weeks ago I met this woman (I’ll call her Sue) who makes teddy bears and other small animal sculptures. Sue has built a very successful small business out of it – besides several “limited edition” bears, she does custom “memorial” stuffed animals. If little Fido or Kitty takes the dirt sleep, you can send her a bunch of good pics and a wad of money, and she’ll make you a stuffed animal that looks just like it. I had no idea you could do such a thing, but it’s not surprising when you think about it. Her customers are generally very wealthy pampered women, and frankly she is not terribly respectful of her own clientele. She starts telling stories at the party where I met her (it was her sister’s 60th birthday, and the birthday girl is my co-worker), and I learn lots about the small world of custom… er, one of the things I DIDN’T learn is if the industry has a name, but I guess doll making is close enough. She makes all cloth-bodied animals, so she doesn’t do much in the way of human figures.
Sue drums up business by going to sales conventions all over the world. Some are “Bear” conventions and some are “Doll” conventions. And the doll people are WEIRD! Apparently, many of the Doll Women, among those who make them but especially among those who buy them, treat them like real infants or small children. They furnish entire rooms for the dolls, and get strollers to walk them in.
The Bear customers aren’t exactly firing on all cylinders either. Her last commission was a custom teddy bear which will serve as, of all things, a vaccuum cleaner cover. Her client has a vaccuum cleaner and no storage cubboard for it where she wants to keep it. So she had the bright idea that, while it wasn’t in use, she could stick it up a teddy bear’s ass and hide it away. BRILLIANT! :dubious:
Sue discussed the possible costs with the woman, but didn’t choose to point out that, for what this bear was going to cost, the client could hire a good cabinet maker to come in and build a cupboard. She starts to work, and the first thing she has to do is buy the same vaccuum cleaner so she can design around it. Of course this expense is going right onto the bill, thereby already guaranteeing the machine cover will be more expensive than the machine. Anyway, her client was apparently delighted, and while Sue appreciated haveing a nice new Dyson vaccuum cleaner on someone else’s dime, she thought it was aesthetically her worst ever project. Basically she did indeed have to stick the cleaner up the bear’s ass, as the other option of putting it into a leg would result in too big a bear. She ended up making a bear with a HUGE tail. She thinks it’s ridiculous, but that just means she charges extra.
I would just add that one of the world’s foremost authorities on teddy bears was none other than Peter Bull, best known as the Soviet ambassador who almosts breaks out laughing watching Peter Sellers’ antics as Dr. Strangelove. Bull even appeared on an episode of the 1980s series “Believe It or Not,” hosted by Jack Palance, talking about teddy bears. (It’s not listed in his filmography, and since I can’t locate the specific ep, I can’t add it.)
I was worried from that name that those dolls were copies of stillborn infants sold to grieving parents. Fortunately, from at least the three links I checked, that’s not the case, cause THAT would have been weird. Yes, I imagine the women who buy those “reborn” dolls are just the kind of women Sue was talking about. Her bears are also considered collectables.
Well, I must say I had a few porcelain dolls when I was a bit younger; some craft magazines advertised them and if I liked them, Mum would send away for them. I didn’t treat them like babies, they sat on a cabinet and acted as decorations. I just thought they were examples of fine craftsmanship (damnit, it’s a word.) and very beautiful. However, I would never be the crazy teddy/doll lady, I just like pretty things. I never got more than four dolls (I was so sad to lose them in a housefire - they would have gone to my kids/grandkids) though and only one was on display at a time.
I don’t pay a lot of money for a stuffed animal. In fact, much of my collection was acquired serendipitously. I’ve found animals in parking lots/garages, at yard sales, in bargain bins, and so forth. The idea of “rescuing” a stuffed animal that would otherwise have ended up in the trash gives me a lot more satisfaction than paying through the nose for a specialty.
Some others are promotional items that I’ve kept long past the time when most other people have probably tossed theirs out or lost them. I have the Little Caesar’s guy, for instance. And Ninja Bunny was part of a McD’s promotion last summer. I do have a soft spot for the Starbucks Bearistas, and they’re not cheap, but I don’t collect every single one: just the ones that appeal to me. The latest is Enrique, the Los Angeles-themed bear, complete with cargo pants, a hoodie, and a “Los Angeles” t-shirt.
Two exceptions, though. Once, I got it into my head that I had to have a bear wearing desert camo. I finally found one, and named him Adam Crumpler, after a Lance Corporal Marine from West Virginia who was killed when his jeep went over a land mine. (I informed his family of this via the memorial website, and they were touched that a small bit of him survives in this way.) And the Union Army bear that I got at the Boyds Bear warehouse outside of Gettysburg cost more than I care to admit, but if you saw him, you’d realize why I thought he was worth it.
Otherwise, though, I don’t normally go looking for animals; I wait for them to find me.
Jesus, that would depress the hell out of me! I have my cats’ ashes in little wooden boxes with their photos on the front, on a bookshelf, and I thought that was morbid! But curling up with a stuffed replica of my dead cats is just a little too Norman Bates.
Boyo, since my wife is crafty AND fundementally unable to work for ANY other people for any length of time I will tell her of this. Yeah, I’ll have to stay working to provide insurance but ANYTHING that keeps a 53-yr-old woman bringing in income for more than a few has to be good.
I just learned of Sue’s latest commission. One of her customers had just lost her infant child to illness, and mom had her cremated and the ashes out into a heart-shaped ceramic urn. So she had Sue create a teddy bear with a pocket in the chest cavity to hold the urn. She also specified that the teddy’s arms be extra-long so they could wrap entirely around the woman’s body.
It’s less morbid than I initially thought as the story came out – I was afraid she was going to describe modeling the dead baby. Still – pretty weird.
dropzone, Google “custom teddy bears” to see what kind of industry (and competition) is out there.
Wow. People never cease to amaze, do they?
You know, I was talking to a buddy at work about those Vermont Teddy Bears, and I came up witht he idea for a Revenge Bear. Instead of a Valentine’s bear, or a “Thinking of you at work” bear, it’s a Break-Up Bear. Imagine it. You send the bear to your soon-to-be ex, and it tells the story for you after she realizes the bear’s name is “She’s-Got-Bigger-Tits-Than-You” bear. Of course, a guy could get the “Your-Brother-Has-A-Bigger-Cock” bear. Imagine a bear with giant knockers or a long tube running down a pant leg.
She starts telling stories at the party where I met her (it was her sister’s 60th birthday, and the birthday girl is my co-worker), and I learn lots about the small world of custom… er, one of the things I DIDN’T learn is if the industry has a name, but I guess doll making is close enough. She makes all cloth-bodied animals, so she doesn’t do much in the way of human figures.