Old Friends Renewed - and the latest from the COLDHAMCUDDLIES world.

Hello Everyone!
Happy New Year to all our Followers!  This is Cy Bear signing in for my first post for 2015!

Newly relisted Baby Kolas sending New Year greetings too!

Well, the snow has all gone - but not before it apparently caused a lot of problems in and around the grounds of where we Cuddlies now reside and the surrounding streets.  Being a public holiday (what ever that is) no gritting crews came out to put de-frosting stuff on the roads, and as a result lot of people slipped around and some hurt themselves.  Isobel was firmly told NOT to walk to get her daily paper, once the shops opened after the Christmas holiday, and it was delivered to her by Alan and Dotty, who took their early morning walk in a direction which made it feasible for them to pick the paper up en route homewards.  

Theoretically that should have given Isobel a bit more time to do more things, but somehow it seems that she finds ever more things that need to be done, with even less time to achieve them.  She gives the impression of chasing her tail - if she had one, that is.  Having seen Dotty do that sometimes, I think it's a very good illustration of how Isobel can behave sometimes!  I observe these actions from my perch on her very comfortable bed, where I am allowed to sit for the day time hours.
Anyway, some news on the Smith Puppet front.  To everyone's astonishment, in the first postal delivery after Christmas, the felt and pattern for the Hands that Isobel has been asked to make arrived from Tulsa, USA.  They were only posted on Christmas Eve - so for the second time in our relationship with the Tulsa based Puppet emporium, it would appear that it is faster for them to post stuff to us than it is for us to service them!  
The dry run for Puppet Bodies - using some of the recently acquired Black Fleece fabric was successfully accomplished last week-end.  

The reason that this will only be a dry-run is that Isobel is not satisfied with the thickness of the black fleece.  It is not as fluffy as will the White bodies be, and as there is also a need for experimentation on a Cat Head down the road, it was mutually agreed between JS  and Isobel that she would use the black fleece now so she can see how the bodies will work.  The experimental body will not be wasted, as once the Cat Head is made, it will be attached to this body and become a new Cuddly in our Etsy Shop - https://www,Etsy.com/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES.  (The thicker black fleece, together with further supplies of the white fleece needed for the other three white Puppet bodies and one Blue Body, have been ordered, and we hope will arrive fairly early this coming week. The factory from which we get the material are normally very fast suppliers, but they only open for business after the Christmas season on Monday, January 5.)
The Tulsa White Puppet Bodies (outer skins and linings) are ready to be sewn together, following the pattern established here, and once the new Black fleece materials has arrived, the black outer skin will be cut out and sewn (the lining is already made).  This is what the finished dry-run puppet body looks like - with Alan's  hand and  arm in  the operating position.

The Tulsa puppets' heads are ceramic ones and the idea of the drawstring at the neck is that the bodies will fit around the necks of the ceramic models and they can then be operated by the Puppeteer.  
The dry run Cat Head on the other hand is going to be sewn on to this body's neck - and at the moment Isobel is working at creating a neck - using the patterns she used for the two Harry Ginger Sitting Cats we wrote about in a recent post.  The head bit is looking quite promising: but it is currently looking a bit weird because of the missing neck!  Isobel has created a template, and hopes to work with it later today, or tomorrow.  She's hoping it will look something like Harry here - but in black and white plush.

During correspondence this week Isobel requested permission to use the puppet body pattern being used at the moment for all future Coldham Cuddlies puppets - both hand and arm versions.  It looks so much more comfortable to operate in this format than the current and former Puppets.  I'm pleased to tell you that JS has agreed,  so henceforth my Puppet friends will have their arms/hands in this position, rather than as they are now.  They are perfectly workable in their current format, but these just look a lot more professional - and comfortable to manipulate too.
In between all this sewing, there have been a lot of renewals and relisting going on in the Shop, and I'm expecting to be telling you all about these in a day or so's time.  Meanwhile, I'll end this post for now and hope that everyone had a really great Festive Season and that you are all ready for what 2015 will bring us all.
Good Night and God Bless!  Your friend.  Cy Bear.