Turning to the old grey donkey.

Today was supposed to be a busy, buzzy day, but after escaping it at Christmas, a revolting snotty cold bug snuck up and climbed into bed with me last night. It's not easy to feel busy and buzzy when you've been awake half the night wondering whether to go downstairs and make a hot Lemsip to sup, or whether to lay in bed feeling sorry for yourself while you sniffle and snuffle for oxygen. The Lemsip won the toss, so at 2.30 am, I was bumbling around my kitchen in robe and fluffy slippers, trying to clear my muffly head. Needless to say, I couldn't get back to sleep. Hmph.

And despite having become a snotty slug overnight, I knew I would have a flurry of insistent 'British Bears on the Net' emails to face this frosty morning. They were inevitable after my decision to raise the question of reviewing the viability of our old BBN email chat group which has been run through Yahoo for the past ten years. On the one hand, it has been great to hear from old members long since quiet, at last pleading their case for the retention of our now flagging email voice, but on the other hand, I am left wondering what the point of a chat group can possibly be, when it patently no longer chats? It's a tricky problem! I am the sole custodian of the original British Bears on the Net group, established a decade ago to support and inform those interested in the development of the UK teddy bear world. I have worked hard over the years to keep things focused and moving forward, but I must admit, as regards the BBN email chat group, I feel as though I've been banging my head on a very lonely wall for quite a while; which is what led me to set up the new BBN forum last year - a modern format for BBN in 2008 designed to bring it bang up to-date. On the whole, the forum has been very well received and I believe in this day and age, is a far more useful resource than our old email based system ever could be; however, it sure is tough trying to convince some of the old timers change can be a positive thing; nostalgia, it appears, can prove a determined adversary!

Our new BBN forum

So instead of being a busy, buzzy kind of day, today is rather a snuffly, breathless, muffly headed kind of day - which leads me to recall a quote from one of our greatest philosophers ...

"The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about."

AA Milne/Winnie the Pooh - as pertinent today as ever!

Delphinium, a panda bear challenge

One of the beauties of the internet is that by some mysterious technological magic way beyond the limits of my comprehension, bear makers have now been provided with a gateway to connect. Working away from the nine to five world as self-employed artisans can be extremely isolating wherever your work is based, but since the arrival of the internet, thankfully things have changed! These days lasting friendships evolve internationally at the simple tap of a keyboard, as bear artists come together to promote the teddy bear as art. As in our 'real' world, meeting places have formed online to accommodate groups of artists - a bit like the internet equivalent of the coffee house, famed throughout history for providing meeting places for intellectuals and artists alike. Nowadays, we make our own coffee in our favourite mugs to sip thoughtfully at our desks (often with a side order of cake or chocolate!) while we log on to meet our colleagues and friends, in bear related forums contrived to welcome those with an interest in bear crafting, from all four corners of the globe.

Teddy Talk forum

'Teddy Talk' is one such international meeting place. A highly successful forum with a membership of over 1600, it is chock full of freely shared bear crafting information, new works, support and fun. If you would like to visit Teddy Talk to join in the chat, please pop along by clicking the link above.

'Delphinium', the result of my TT forum 'pandamania' challenge!

I am currently in the process of hosting a bear-making challenge on Teddy Talk. My project is designed to encourage other bear artists, both novice and more experienced, to engage in the process of creating new works, by offering an inspirational focus to share. This particular challenge is for panda bears and after several weeks, I am delighted to say we have achieved a most edifying gallery of panda bears, truly diverse in design. If you happen to visit Teddy Talk, please take a moment to visit the 'Challenge Gallery' at the top of the page, to see the fruits of our inspiration.

17" Delphinium, will make her debut at the Teddies 2008 show in London

As I initiated the challenge, it is only fair that I 'walk the walk,' as well as 'talk the talk', so this week I have created 17" 'Delphinium', a rather whimsical, not to mention colourful, panda bear, as my contribution to the TT 'Pandamania' Challenge. Delphinium will be making her debut at the 'Teddies 2008' show in London with me on September 14th.

British Bears on the Net, community forum

If you are interested in bear craft and would like to share time with like-minded people online, you are very welcome to pour yourself a mug of coffee and join in the fun on Teddy Talk. Alternatively, if you have a particular interest in the Great British teddy bear and would feel more at home in a cosy, friendly UK meeting place, please check out the British Bears on the Net link above and stop by our virtual 'Coffee Shop' to say hello - you are assured of a warm reception, we'd love to hear from you!

British Bears on the Net gets a makeover!

I must apologise for being a little lax with my blog updates this week, but inbetween working on my bears, I have also had another project to contend with: I don't think I've mentioned to you that aside from my bear making, blog writing, website maintaining, Jack of All Trades life, in my spare time (!) I also run an online community group called 'British Bears on the Net' and this week, I took the plunge and gave dear old BBN a fairly extensive makeover.

British Bears on the Net logo

I have been responsible for BBN for quite a few years now and as with all such groups, it has its peaks and troughs in terms of membership activity, but over the past couple of years I've been a bit concerned that there have been slightly more troughs than peaks. At its best, BBN is an energetic chat group providing a sense of community to many bear artists who, like myself, work pretty much in isolation. (It isn't limited to bear artists, we also have many collectors, makers, suppliers, shops, magazines and so on ... in fact, all the colours of a beary rainbow make up our membership and many friendships have been formed between members) However, we have been in existence for so many years, I think maybe we've been suffering a degree of complacency, with more lurkers than active contributors of late.

New BBN Coffee Shop logo

Rather than let sleeping dogs lie, I took the decision this week to give BBN a shake-up with a simple, yet smart forum. I'm not sure whether or not this decision will be well received by all BBN'ners, but as BBN does a terrific job sharing information, friendship and support, as far as I am concerned as list owner, it needed revitalising to enable the group to continue to maintain its valuable role within our British teddy bear scene.

To say the past 48 hours have been a learning curve for me, would be the understatement of the decade! I have never been on the administrative side of forum creation before and there is a heap of detail to be absorbed ... not so easy for my fluff fuddled forty something grey matter! Anyway, I've battled through and astonishingly have managed to pull something resembling a forum together. I've aimed to make it friendly and inviting, even incorporating our very own 'Coffee Shop' for informal chat; so far so good! I can't tell you how nervous I was hitting the 'send' button to inform the BBN membership of this significant change to their group, via email, but the deed is now done and I am so relieved to be able to tell you many of our forward-thinking loyal members have already signed up for their new BBN forum membership! Phew!

Here's to a very bright future for British Bears on the Net!