Hello Everyone!
Despite our promise to be back again soon, I'm afraid that yet another weekly post date has passed and we've not got back to you. Life still seems to be getting in Isobel's way, and as you know I'm not much of an author without her behind me. However, there seems to be a chance for us to get the computer switched on this afternoon, without all the usual Etsy daily administration to be taken care of, so we're going to tell you about our latest (and newest, in this location at any rate) patient in the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic https://www.etsy.com/listing/79124185/stuffed-toy-animal-restoration-clinic?
He, for it is a he as far as this post is concerned, is a Spider. He used to be a toy that Alan (Clare's husband) played with when he was a small boy. It was made for him by his elder sister, who is a very clever seamstress in her own right, and has been responsible for the originals of several Cuddlies who have also been patients in the Clinic (the Black and White Kittens for example https://www.etsy.com/listing/110444487/cuddly-furry-kittens-black-and-white-art? and not to mention our Yellow Plush Sleepy Teddy Bear https://www.etsy.com/listing/107350815/sleepy-teddy-art-doll-yellow-plush-furry?)
This what Spider looked like after he'd been taken to pieces and given a clean-up. This is his rear view. (We forgot to take blow-by-blow pictures of his therapy - but it took the usual course of :
(1) The seams being unpicked and his stuffing - which looked like an accumulation of nylon make-up remover balls - mixed with nylon rusty-colour stuffing. This was discarded, needless to say - as these days such material is unacceptable for us toys due to it's inflammability)
(2) Spider's pieces being given a bath in lukewarm soapy water - so the accumulated dust from many decades of living an an attic could be washed away.
(3) Then Isobel took a template because she decided he would make a great addition to the COLDHAMCUDDLIES family - especially with Halloween coming up.
(4) Then Spider was sewn up again, re-stuffed and had some new facial features added - two round black felt eyes and an orange felt mouth.
He now looks like this:
These pictures were taken with Spider sitting on the back of Isobel's armchair in our living room - he looks good against her woollen rug, doesn't he? That rug has a history of its own by the way. It's been with Isobel since she was a school girl in the 1950's, and has travelled to and from Canada and all around the UK! Apparently, it's especially good at keeping legs warm during the colder evenings.
Here's another photograph of Spider, showing how his legs are made - so that his New Friend will be able to make his legs work. Although having said that, it may be sometime before a Little Person's fingers will fit in the finger slots - because they have been made so that a grown-up can operate him and keep a Little Person entertained. Never mind, because he's an ideal first Toy for any little Boy or Girl, because he can be cuddled quite safely - there's not a spiky edge on him!
The next couple of shots show Spider at different angles, so that you can see what he looks like from both sides.
The template Isobel made before re-sewing Spider back together and returning him to Clare and Alan has already been put to good use. There are now three COLDHAMCUDDLIES Spiders available in our Shop and we'll be telling you (with step by step photographs of how they came to produced) in our next blog. I hesitate to say when that will be - suffice to say, we will do our best to not leave it too long. (Spider meanwhile has been put away in what is destined to become a Little Person's "Quiet Bag" - for use when the prospective Adoptive Little Person arrives and gets big enough to need one - when the family go to Mass, for instance)
Isobel is now deeply involved in making a prototype Arm/Glove Puppet - to meet a Custom Order from a puppeteer somewhere in the United States, who is anxious to have three new ones with which to "play"! (See what I mean about "life getting in the way! ?
Never having made puppets as big as this, she's taken the templates for one of my Teddy Bear Friends' body and arms and the head from our Tiger Golf Club Cover https://www.etsy.com/listing/168592299/golf-club-cover-tiger-head-animal-print? - because it's at least two different Tigers that are required.
Although this version is not exactly what our Buyer now has in mind, Isobel is continuing with it to its conclusion, so she can satisfy herself that she can offer our customer exactly what it is he is looking for. The prototype should be completed later today - and work will commence on the first of the actual puppets over the week-end. We've had to wait until some special Green Cat Eyes arrived - and apparently Isobel has actually used some (of another colour) she ordered for her own use at the same time from a fellow Etsian, Clara from https://www.etsy.com/shop/6060 for the prototype Tiger Puppet.
We'll be telling you about those too. So until then, Good Bye and Good Night!
Your Friend, Cy Bear.
