Bear trails

Those of you that read my January 12 posting saw all kinds of bear parts. I am happy to report that five of the six piles of parts are now finished bears and one of them was adopted at the Phoenix Teddy Bear Show on March 17.


I actually finished the bears the week before I had to leave but I was still busy getting paperwork together along with all the show stuff. I’m sure glad I was organized enough several years ago that I put together a checklist of all the stuff I need for a show.

My table

I did this show because it is the closest one to home. I have skipped all the recent shows in Albuquerque because they are mainly doll shows with only one or two bear artists. Some of the people attending the shows don’t seem to appreciate that my bears are one of a kind and handmade, they wanted to bargain for a lower price. Phoenix is a 7 hour drive from home. I found a good book at the library and listened to a 10 hour book for my 14 hours of driving. It was 60° or so when I left Albq., around noon and by the time I got to Phoenix it was 91. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Phoenix, when I got to the edge of town I thought ‘I should be downtown in about 20 minutes’. Well 30 minutes later I was still a good 10 minutes from downtown. Traffic was full speed ahead so the long time was not due to slow traffic.

My table, another view

There were 9 artists at the show. I knew a few of them from previous shows and I had the opportunity to meet a few of the others so we had a nice time visiting when the crowds slowed down. They all suggest that I get on Facebook and start promoting on the web. I am not a Facebook fan at this point. I joined so I could join a few other groups I am interested in but up until this point I go to my Facebook page once a month whether I need to or not.

Once the show was over I got packed up in about 20 minutes and was back on the road for my 7 hour trip to Albq. It was only upper 80’s when I got in the car but the temperature dropped nicely as I started to climb back into the high desert just south of Flagstaff, low 70’s, much better! I got home around midnight and was up and off to work at 800 on Monday.

I did fairly well at the show, and I am planning on going again next year. In the mean time I have to get my name out on FB and who knows where else. The artists I spoke with have offered to provide information on what they did and how it works so I believe I will be on this computer even more than normal getting my name outon the web. I hope to have some time left to make some more bears and needle felted animals.

Stay tuned for the latest bears.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark