Yet another week has slipped by, but at least we've had some sunshine during the daytime - although at the moment we're being battered by very strong winds. Apparently, they're unusually strong for the time of year and it certainly makes taking photographs outside difficult - as Isobel found when she had to take some pics of two Baby Hedgehogs on Saturday afternoon (more about that later).
As the title of this week's post indicates - the Fantasy Bear Baby Mobile is finished -
All four now have a light aquamarine 7 mm (1/4 inch) satin ribbon around their necks and forming the hanging threads by which they will be strung to the main Mobile frame. The checked cotton ribbon which forms the hanging handle matches these ribbons, although in the photographs, the colour comes out showing the blue more than the green shade it is in "real life".
The polyester circular frame is 9 inches in diameter (22.86 cms) and it's been covered with white satin ribbon all round. When Isobel came to use the check ribbon, it became obvious that she didn't have enough to cover the entire frame. She suddenly remembered she'd used some already for a decorative bow for one of our Light Brown Teddy Bears (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/69778158/light-brown-bear-toy-teddy-bear-cuddly?ref=shop_home_active_4) before he left for his Forever Home last year, so there wasn't enough for this particular Baby Mobile.
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| The ribbon had been used on a previous version of these two Bears, which can have ribbons attached if wished. |
However, as the ribbon was aquamarine/white check, she decided to use the check ribbon as the handle and then use the white for the frame - there was just enough ribbon, with a small bit left over, from the 5 metres (16ft 4.8 inches) that Isobel had bought earlier when visiting one of our local habadashery stores recently - to be used in just such a circumstance.
Once the ribbon had firmly attached to the frame (it's usually an overnight job!) the rest of the 7 mm satin ribbon was cut into equal lengths, tied to the frame and attached to the ribbon sewn on each Fantasy Bear. (They now all have their full quota of ears - in last week's post, our Bear at the left front of this photo was sporting just one ear!) Now Isobel has chosen this method, because the knots used can be untied and the eventual user of the Mobile can adjust each Fanstasy Baby Bear - if that is what they'd like to do - so that the result now looks like this.
When the wind eventually dies down, Isobel intends to take some outside shots of the latest Baby Mobile, but meanwhile this does give you an idea of what the finished object looks like (and you can see the pretty pastel green shade of the hanging ribbons too).
During the week, we received an order for one of our Baby Hedgehogs. Isobel needed to take photos of the two Babies currently in stock. (A third is on display in one of the Kirkby in Ashfield Shops, which is currently closed for the month of August!) The reason was that we needed to establish a "Hedgehog Catwalk Display" so that the Buyer could choose which Toy she would like us to send next week.
We'll let you know which of these guys our Customer chooses, together with the usual formal Farewell Photograph with me, next week. We've still to hear from our Customer which one she actually wants. But, you can see from the way the fur is "moving" just how windy it was yesterday in the sheltered corner of our garden - where the wooden bench, on which the two Hedgehogs are sitting, is placed! (It's a lot windier today - these fellows would have been blown right across the garden had the photo session been going on today)
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| Hedgehog Babies - a side view |
So that's the news for this week folks. See you all - everything being equal - this time next week.
Your Friend, Cy Bear.
