Shield Your Thumb on the Road to Building a Better Bear

HEY, THERE!

Week three of the Simple Bear Necessities series is upon us and we’re wrapping up the tools section.

If you’re new here, we’re digging into what it really takes to make a teddy bear with heart.

For a bear, simply being a bear, doesn’t make it magical.

Not without connection.

That, my friend, is the secret sauce of friendships that are people AND plushie-powered.

Next up in this issue:

• Imposter syndrome and lies that need a remix

• Thumb wars and the thimble. A shield hero.

• The 3 Ps: Pens, pencils and paper 

• In line with rulers, lint rollers and aprons 

• Teddy bears in grown-folks business 

First time reading? Sign up here. 

STOP LYING TO YOURSELF. YOU ARE CREATIVE.

Wow! They’re so good. 

They probably started young. Had all the tools.

Bet they don’t have kids. 

Well, stop. Just. STOP. 

As my gram would say, you need to get right with yourself and how you talk to yourself about creativity. 

The fact is, making something look easy takes work. More importantly, it takes practice. 

And creativity is artful practice. 

REMIXING YOUR LIFE

You probably do your own artful practice every day without thinking about it. 

Shortcuts, like:

• Making sure both socks come out the dryer. (Please share.)

• Nailing the secret to easy, peasy meal prep. 

• Creating the right, nighttime routine of Bath and Books so your kids sleep ‘til morning. 

Whatever the case, you remixed a task YOUR WAY so you can work smarter.

That requires creativity. Creative thinking, really. 

And work. 

It’s a fact you shouldn’t deny and the road that follows is littered with the scraps of trial and error. 

Along the way, you’ll learn failure . . . the thing we fear most . . . is not about you. 

It’s about CHOICES.

• Your choice of fabric

• The type of eyes 

• How you stuff the bear

It’s technique and knowing HOW to choose.

This series is building your muscle memory and our first set includes reps with the Thumb Shield Hero.

THUMB WARS

There WILL be blood. 

When you’re making a bear, you WILL stick yourself with a pin, a needle or both.

Even if you have advanced sewing skills. 

I’ve skewered myself plenty, closing up an arm, leg or the back of a bear.

I could say you get used to it, but does anyone get used to biting their tongue? 

Nope. 

So don’t be a human pin cushion. 

Use a thimble.

The name, derived from Middle English, means thumb shield. 

It’s an older than Old School tool with one job since the first known thimble, of bronze, was found in the ruins at Pompeii. 

But, the Etruscans would probably fight you over that. They pre-date the Romans and used bronze thimbles, too. They simply didn’t survive.

In fact, every known culture has used thimble in some form, be it bronze, bone or leather.

In 21st century dictionary-speak, the thimble is a metal or plastic cap with a closed end, worn to protect the finger and push the needle while sewing. 

Between you and me, it’s the equivalent of wearing a large pen top on your thumb. 

Awkward. 

Real awkward. 

But don’t sit in that feeling too long. Instead, keep the huggable end in mind: 

A heart-made teddy of your bear-y own. 

Ready to give hugs on demand. 

Cost: $1.99 and up for soft or flexible options. $3.99 and up for leather. $1.47 and up for metal. 

PENS, PENCILS AND PAPER 

Oh, my! 

We’ll do this bit rapid fire. 

Sharpie. Black, fine point.

Felt Tip. Black, fine point.

You’ll need both for tracing patterns on the fabric and the fur backing. 

Cost: $1.79 and up, depending on quantity.

Pencil. Unsharpened.

For pushing the stuffing into the hard to reach places.

Grab one from that dusty catch-all cup in your kitchen.

Copy paper. Blank.

For printing or tracing your pattern. 

Cost: $5.50 and up per pack of 500 sheets

Cardboard. Snag an old box.

Glue your pattern pieces to the cardboard and cut them out.

Your patterns will be sturdy and last longer.  

RULES ABOUT RULERS

One of these will do.  

How and when a ruler is used depends on where you are in the bear making process. 

TAPE MEASURE 

This is my favorite and a must-have.

It’s flexible for going around curves. Or taking measurements for ear and eye placement.

Cost: $3-$5 

CLEAR PLASTIC OR WOOD 

Either one is good for measuring the long lengths of thread you’ll need to attach the head.

The clear, plastic graph ruler also allows you to see the fabric while you’re marking it up. 

Borrow a wooden ruler from your kids rather than spend money on a clear one. 

My advice: Buy a tape measure. 

Cost: $3.99 and up for tape measure. $3.50 and up for clear, graph ruler.

LINT ROLLER

APRON? 

Yup. An apron. 

Artists wear smocks. Carpenters wear tool belts. 

We bear makers wear aprons.

Preferably one with lots of pockets for scissors, a tape measure and that tiny lint brush.

It also protects your clothes if you’re working with fur or other fabrics that shed when cut. 

DEEP DIVE
OF TEDDY BEARS AND GROWN-FOLKS BUSINESS

What makes you feel safe?

The question got me thinking. But not in the way my child-mind rambled.

Back then, I had All the Thoughts about Who or What might pop out of my closet. 

Or from under my bed. 

Or through my window that was taller than me and three times as wide.

What If was another question that skittered through my busy brain. 

What if I forgot to lock the sliding glass door?

What if we didn’t put away all the scissors?

What if I didn’t sleep with ALL of my stuffed animals every night?

Including that giant plaid horse of blue.

Would my animals take their revenge while I slept? 

As we get older, the What Ifs don’t stop. 

They take a different spin and the boogeymen shape-shift depending on work worries, creditors or elections. 

What if you don’t land that interview? 

What if you can’t pay your mortgage again this month?

What if a stranger threatens to kidnap your child for plantation work at a designated time in a brown van? 

Your rational self knows you can apply for another job and maybe work out something with your lender. 

That last one? 

You try to wrap your head around the reality of what appears in the screenshot your 18-year-old sent you from work. 

One day after an election season steeped in hate speech and racist rhetoric.

WHEN THE RHETORIC HAS YOUR NUMBER

I blinked at my phone with the speed of my digital camera stuck in continuous shooting mode.

Read it again. I had to.

I’ll spare you the Oscar-winning expletives.

I don’t have the room to share, and at that moment, I didn’t have time to waste.

In a crisis, my 20 years of reporting kicks in. 

I reverse searched the number. (Nothing.) 

I called family with friends in the District Attorney’s office to see where to report this and how. (Check)

I contacted reporter friends to see if this was an isolated incident. (Check)

I knew it couldn’t be. Even if I couldn’t prove it yet. 

Addressing someone by NAME with that vitriol? 

By text? 

That’s not a One-and-Done prank. 

It’s a Mass Casualty Event designed to:

NO ANSWERS, BUT SPACE REMAINS

Each of those two nights, I rested my head on my bears and prayed for their wisdom and the decades of our stored Comfort Capital to permeate. 

To give me the words to console my daughter AND myself. 

I never found them.

Some have called the incident a “slavery scam.” 

I worked at a museum for a decade that focused on ALL sides of the Civil War: black, white, women and immigrants.

Slavery was real and horrific back then and it’s still a crime today. 

What we’re seeing now is a high-tech repetition of history, years in the making. 

And no bear, heart-made or not, can fix this feeling trying to take root. 

A bear can, however, take the lead in holding space for the absolute ICK and anger we feel, but can’t articulate. 

Like when we’re grieving. 

According to the Childhood Bereavement Estimation model, 5.6 million U.S. children and teens will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18.

Increase the age to 25 and that number more than doubles to 13.9 million.

80 percent of those who lost a parent said it was the hardest thing they ever had to face and that it took more than six years to move forward.

In part, due to a lack of support. 

Nearly 60 percent of those who lost a parent said support from friends and family waned within the first three months. 

Again, this is where teddy bears use their superpowers to ease the pain of what isn’t said or done. 

For death, isn’t just a loss of life OR life as we hoped. 

It’s a loss of love. 

And comfort.

And security.

Each bear I make, or teach you how to make, is also designed to be a refuge for someone’s heart.

Sometimes broken, but eventually, something close to whole.