More Developments on the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Public Relations' Front

Good afternoon everyone. I'm giving Cy Bear a rest for today - he's been hogging the limelight here for a few weeks now, and we don't want him to get too used to the idea!!  Besides, he's a little sad this week, as one of his long time friends, Jasper Teddy Bear has left the COLDHAMCUDDLIES store for his own Forever Home. 

We always have a tinge of regret when one of our own leaves us, and Jasper has been waiting for a niche ever since he was made. However, we're delighted to say that he's moved to a Forever Home where he could be more than just a Playmate for his new Forever Friend.  I'm going to refer to this COLDHAMCUDDLIES customer as JFF (Jasper's Forever Friend) because to type it out every time would take more time that I currently have at my disposal. JFF, who is still a Toddler,  has some potential developmental problems, which can cause him to get very wound up emotionally at times, and his parents thought they'd like to see if a Big Teddy (larger, as well as heavier and furrier than those JFF already has in his collection of cuddly Bears) might help him calm down when the world threatens to overwhelm him.  Professionals with whom the parents deal, as well as information from the many other channels available to them, suggest that a "tool" Toy such as Jasper can be very helpful in stormy situations, and we look forward to hearing how the new Friendship carries on.   Initial findings are encouraging! There are plans, if required, to make Jasper an even heavier Bear - by sending him back to the Stuffed Animal Toy Hospital  (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/589621523/animal-toy-hospital) so that I can perform an operation on him and add suitably wrapped-up weights into either his paws or his tummy to make him even more comforting for JFF.   We'll keep you posted as to developments, as we at COLDHAM CUDDLIES would love to help youngsters with special needs to fit into their surroundings more happily - and we believe we can provide other Bears,

a Big Blue (or any other Colour) Whale or two -

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/566375716/bertie-blue-whale

or even a New Cuddly Toy - yet to be made -  to serve in this therapeutic capacity.   Meanwhile, Oscar 2, the second version of the Blue Fleece Rabbit Mascot for the Charity - Oxford Against Cutting (OAC) - has been completed.  We told you about developments on that front last week, and here's a photograph of Oscar 2, before he was wrapped up (in chemical free tissue paper, followed by being rolled up in bubble-wrap - to protect his ears in particular - against the rigours of international postal service treatment!) and then placed in a plastic AIR MAIL envelope ready for his journey to Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.  

Oscar 2 was handed in to our local Post Office in Kirkby in Ashfield yesterday morning at 1015 GMT:   (I've just checked on the Royal Mail tracker site - and Oscar 2 has been "handed over to the Overseas Postal Service for delivery to the United States...")

Just so you, our Followers, can compare the new version against the original, here's another copy of Oscar 1:

The latest version has also resulted in a "fuller" white chested body (hopefully making it more cuddly - as requested by MsKA).  Oscar 2's ears have been stiffened with the addition of some interfacing - similar to the stuff used in stiffening collars in any dress-making project.  His ears are more pricked as a result - and do seem to stand more erectly those of Oscar 1.  Oscar 2's neck has also been shortened, and fits lower on his shoulders, and as a result he's not as top-heavy as his predecessor.  We think, if MsKA of the OAC decides to keep with the original pattern, future Blue Rabbits will need to have slightly sturdier legs (near his feet in particular!) to make sure he's even steadier on "his pins".  
I heard back from MsKA last Monday that she leaves the choice of the eventual pattern to Me!  So, during the last week, I've managed to get the patterns shown in our post last week enlarged - so that, for comparison purposes, the resulting Rabbit Toys will be a similar size to the Oscar Blue Rabbits, and my next task is to cut, fit together the pieces and then stick them onto cardboard to provide me with long-term templates for the alternative Blue Rabbit "look".  I'm not prepared to be the final arbiter for the Charity's Cuddly Blue Rabbit Toys (they have to be "just right" in my view for their important task), so the current arrangement is that the first New Blue Rabbit will be sent to OAC.  Then MsKA and the Charity's Nurse will decide which version they consider to be the cuddlier Rabbit Toy.  Then, every future OAC Blue Rabbit will be made in the chosen pattern. Watch this space, Everyone!
On the Public Relations/Publicity front, there have also been developments.  Our Yell.com advertisement (mentioned last week) went "live" mid-week last week.  Developments, if any, are awaited - but meanwhile, I've been building up the site filling in the blank spots with text and photographs.  The latter still need to be increased - when time allows.  (I think this is the link to the site!  =  https://www.yell.com/0040562964/60)


Then, I've also dipped my toes into the water with a Facebook advertising boost. I'm not sure how this will pan out either, but since Facebook were kind enough to give me a £30.00 advertising coupon, I decided to give it a go!  Have booked a space until April 29th, (and co-inciding with an Etsy.com-wide sale as well) potentially spending £29.00 in total in this "campaign" (advertising a 20% discount on ALL items in our Shop).  Again, developments (if any) are awaited - with interest:  here's that link for you: https://www.facebook.com/ColdhamCuddliesStore/photos/a.374270566005652.81723.235481409884569/1495753120524052/?type=3 Another site to check out as the days go by!!   As it's a "freebie", and this is a FIRST for us, there's NOTHING to lose!! Cy Bear (or I) will be back next week - all things being equal!

COLDHAMCUDDLIES Near Future is RABBITS - Lots of Blue Rabbits in particular!

Hello Everyone - Cy Bear back with you once again, with some updates.

Isobel has been busy continuing the re-tagging and re-titling that is an every day (seemingly) chore when one has an Etsy.com Shop like ours - in case you need reminding, ours is www.COLDHAMCUDDLIES.etsy.com. - but there have been two particular developments this week that we feel Our Readers may find interesting.

The first, some further news on the Oscar Blue Rabbit front:  our contact at Oxford Against Cutting (OAC)) - MsKA - sent an email last Friday afternoon, saying she had been able to identify funding for the 6 Blue Rabbits her Charity's Nurse hopes to use in her educational presentations to school children from May 2018 onwards.  We've been asked to make them "fatter" and "more cuddly" than the original prototype Mascot Rabbit Toy we created - and told you about in our post dated February 4th, 2018 ("Introducing Oscar Blue Rabbit......").  Here's a picture  - just to remind you what Oscar looks like:

 Isobel has also been asked to make his neck "thicker" too - but we're not absolutely sure that changing the templates we've got for Oscar will actually convert well into the kind of Toy MsKA is seeking:  something that little - and not so little - girls will want to hug and cuddle. 

To overcome this potential difficulty, we asked our Friend, SS - puppeteer extraoradinaire from Tulsa, Okalahoma for his thoughts (as he designed the original Oscar template for us).  Just to be sure, he suggested two other Rabbit patterns which might fit the bill better.  They've been sent to MsKA for her thoughts - because Isobel is not actually going to begin the OAC commission until the week-beginning 26th March, 2018. 

Pattern 1

Pattern 2

We think by using the pricked ears from one of the patterns (Pattern 1), and the body, head and limbs from other, rounder pattern (Pattern 22), we'll achieve what MsKA is looking for.  The original request from MsKA was for a toy that closely resembled their design for The Blue Rabbit - star of the film promoting their Charity's work in the field of  Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)  (You'll be told the results of this consultation as and when we know the answer!) 

Isobel is actually making Oscar No2. at the moment - and we're hoping that he will be en route to Tulsa by the end of next week, so that the OAC Order can be started.  Isobel is incorporating the suggested amended "looks" into this latest version, just to see if they WILL work, or if they could be improved by using the new pattern.

Meanwhile, because Oscar No1 used most of the existing fleece in our stock - Isobel has purchased another batch - which, needless to say, looks almost the same colour, (but not exactly the same) - but feels somewhat softer and cuddlier.  OscarNo2 is being made with the new supply, as will the proposed Batch of Six!

Here's a photograph, taken on our dining room table of the fabrics we will be using:

You'll see that we've got two different fabrics in the darker blue colour:  a length in Dark Blue Fleece, and a smaller amount in a matching polyester material.  All future Oscars' noses will all be made with the Blue Fleece, as it was with Oscar No1 and  we used that fabric for his ear linings as well, because we hoped that it would help them to stay pricked up!  We're not sure that is going to be a really long-term solution though (and may well suggest that Oscar be returned to our Toy Animal Restoration Clinic- for a free Make Over as a result). Oscar No2's ears, as well as having Blue Fleece linings are also being stiffened with a layer of inter-facing - which looks as though it will provide a longer-term answer to the floppy tendencies caused by fleece fabric in all cases.  (The loppy ears shown in Pattern 2 shows the "look" that Oscar No1's ears could end up with, if left as they currently are!)

In addition, all COLDHAMCUDDLIES Rabbits, whether dressed or otherwise, or whether made with fleece or plushes, have ears made with polyester or satin-type linings.  We're going to give MsKA the option to choose, once we've got a response about the patterns.  In the end, it's a question of "feel", as well as "look" as to which way the decision will go, we suspect.

Talking about Makeovers, which we wrote about in our last post, we've embarked on a new path - in particular to do with the Toy Animal Restoration Clinic, (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/589621523/animal-toys-mended-toy-bear-special-care?ref=shop_home_active_1 ) whose services have long been a part of the Shop's activities.  Since moving to Nottinghamshire, we've not had as many Patients visiting as we would like, so Isobel began to research how we could make these services better known to the "Great British Public" - in a way that is different, but much the same, as we attempt to do via the Etsy.com route.  We had our sewing machine repaired earlier this month, and while she "googled" to find out where our local Sewing Machine Repair Shop was located (in the next Town, as it happened - Sutton in Ashfield), she noticed an advert for yell.com (the on line version of that long running publication "Yellow Pages").  She telephoned the number on the site, and actually met a Consultant to discuss her options last Friday. (Co-incidentally, he was with us when Isobel received the news about the 6 Further Oscar Models!)

The result of this is that we are trialling - for an initial 3 month period (of an annual offer) for an advertisement site for the Restoration Clinic.  There will also be a link to our Etsy Shop on there, and we can include up to 25 pictures there too, plus that old on-going bugbear "keywords"!!  It's going to be aimed at customers living in "London Central" and "Nottingham" areas for which there will be a monthly fee (which can be covered by our existing funds currently, as well as from the results of the OAC Order).  In addition, we will be getting coverage - for free during the same period - in the Chesterfield, Derbyshire and Mansfield, Nottinghamshire areas (both larger Towns located near to where we live).  If nothing materialises in the first 3 months, the contract can be cancelled.  If business does arrive, we will have the option to continue the advertisement for the specified 1 year period, or upgrade the site to a full website.  Isobel feels that after 8 years trading, COLDHAMCUDDLIES needs to expand it's borders - so please wish us luck (we already do have a suitable domain name that we can use). The site is due to "go live" sometime during this coming week (beginning 19th March, 2018). 

Interestingly, the yell.com Consultant was kind enough to suggest that our services can be regarded as somewhat of a "niche" one! Saleman's "talk", may be, but looking at their existing classifications, there didn't seem to be THAT many others offering such a service, and given that many of those have their titles beginning with "T" = Teddy Bears", the fact that ours is going to be labelled COLDHAMCUDDLIES,  and "keywords" will incorporate "Animal" in them,  might (we say just MIGHT!) end up with our services being seen higher "up the page", than many of the others UK-wide, not just in the areas we're paying for!  It's true:  after all, we've had Dinosaurs, (see below)  Dragons, as well as Puffins and multiple Teddy Bears admittedly, as Patients since we started out in 2011!

Here's hoping!   See you all next week, hopefully!

Your Friend, Cy Bear.

Our Yellow Bear Friend has a Makeover.

Good Afternoon Everyone:

Cy Bear back once more and, this time, at the usual time for our post to get written and published!  We've been less hectic this week, and concentrating on the Shop and it's latest re-listing cycle.  Isobel has worked on new Titles for the items we've attended to this week - doing one a day, while keeping up with the daily Etsy promotional activities required to draw attention to the Shop and our products.  It's enabled us to carry out some remedial work on one of my Best Friends, Yellow Plush Bear. 

Regular readers of this blog may recall that last Autumn (2017) Isobel decided to give my Friend, Panda Bear a makeover.  He'd  been skulking in the Shop ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES ) for some time, and she wondered if the way he looked might have had something to do with his not attracting a Forever Friend.


Panda Bear became a Patient in the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/589621523)  shortly after this thought had occurred, looking like this:

A couple of days later, after having his nose and mouth re-stitched, Panda Bear looked like this:  with a new nose, and a smiling face.

So, we were delighted when only a few weeks later, just before we attended WINTERFEST2017 at Thoresby Courtyard in November, Panda found a new home in Nottingham - just in time for Christmas.  This is the final photograph we have - taken in the car, on his way home, after the Christmas Bazaar, which he had been allowed to stay with us for - and which is how he came to have this red label on (he left us immediately after the Thoresby Show ended).

Whether or not the fact Panda had been given a new look played a part in this happy result may be just coincidence. but our Yellow Plush Bear(YPB) has also been waiting some time for His Forever Home, having found one once, and then his prospective Forever Friend changed her mind, and did not complete the transaction with us - an occupational hazard, alas!.

Isobel has often thought that YPB might be suffering a similar lack of interest on the part of potential Adopters, so this week she decided to do something about it - while giving her arthritic fingers some gentle sewing exercise to get them used to the idea of getting going once more.

When he was first made - for his original Adopter, she had requested that he didn't "look too cheerful", and as you know, Isobel does like to meet everyone's wishes as best she can.  So, YPB's mouth was sewn with a somewhat stern look.  When the make over was completed last week, YPB now looks like this:

His particular treatment consisted of his nose and mouth being cut out and completely re-designed, and I think he definitely looks a more cheerful and happy Bear.  (He's also still got the green spotted satin ribbon he had on for the Thoresby Courtyard Show).  Isobel  wielded her special scisssors, as well - purchased for shaping the faces of Cuddlies made with faux fur and thicker plushes, as YPB is, and cut carefully around both YPB's eyes.  He can now see his surroundings much better, and maybe more to the point, EVERYONE else can see his bright amber coloured eyes better too!

A side-ways view of  YPB's previous  "look

A close-up of how he faces the world now.

Isobel re-listed YPB earlier last week, and we now await developments with interest.  Meanwhile, we're deep into the latest re-listing session (which takes place every 3 months), so we've got plenty to occupy ourselves, as well as attend to developments on the Oscar Blue Rabbit front - to which I alluded last week as well.  That can keep for another post, so I'll close this week's bulletin now.

Have a good week, everyone!

Your Friend, Cy Bear.

Normal Service has resumed: sorry for the break in posting!

Well Hello there Everyone!  Cy Bear and Isobel back again, with some catch-up news and a new COLDHAMCUDDLIES product to tell you about.

Guess you've all just about given up on us, since it's well over a month since we last posted.  There are good reasons:  when Isobel is not sewing, and helping me write about her activities here, she is also the Secretary to the Old Chapel Close (OCC) Tenants' Association (which is where we live, as most of you know).  That duty has impinged on our lives somewhat since the beginning of February, but it has now hopefully been handled to the satisfaction of our Friends here at OCC.  It did however involve letter writing hither and yon, attending meetings called to deal with the subject matter of said letters, and setting up an agreement between our Landlord and us Tenants, which we hope will provide a framework for future collaboration.  Since several of our Friends here are house-bound, that meant Isobel having to visit these ladies and gentlemen, and once there, she couldn't really rush away, because we all like having visitors to speak to, especially if one is dependent on Carers (with little time to stop and talk during their visits)  as several of them are.  So ...... hopefully you'll see where the time has gone?  Besides, Isobel isn't averse to a good chat herself either!

In addition, as we mentioned in our January 28th  post, Isobel's arthritis really flared up, and the treatment took its time  (really just increasing her already strong pain killer medication - because the arthritic variety she suffers is the osteo kind, and being "lifetime wear and tear", there's precious little the medical fraternity seem to be able to do about it)   took its time.  took.The increased medication has finally begun to kick in, so sewing is once again being considered - it's been a bit painful until now though.   

Before it got too bad however, we were able to cut out, sew and complete that pair of Ladies Slippers that we'd had on our Order Book  since October last year.  So, here are some photos of the latest addition to the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Slipper collection.

The pair completed and ready to be fitted.

The original order came in as the result of our Customer - a fellow resident at OCC - seeing some Slippers during the October MacMillan Cancer Coffee Morning and asking if Isobel could make her a pair of Brown Plush Slippers, with a Yogi Bear type head on.  The Customer is not a fit person, and spends a lot of time in bed - so it was important for her measurements to be spot on.  She had feet that differed in size - both lengthwise at the foot, and around her ankles - but as all our Slippers are, "Custom Made" is one of our bench marks (as is "Made to Measure"). 

Keeping the Customer's feet warm and snug

During one of our visits, Isobel realised that it would actually be unsafe for the Yogi Bear Heads to be applied, as MrsPD-S favours long length clothing, and a Bear Head could actually become a tripping hazard.  That fact was accepted, and the production of the footwear commenced. 

As usual, we started off cutting out the insole to fit the measurements taken, and sewing on the leatherette cover - making an extra layer of covering for the final footwear.  Then the outside of the

slipper sides/uppers, together with the poodle fur lining we use for all our Slippers, gets sewn on, and the insole lining is attached.

Add caption

Isobel forgot to take a picture of this stage when making the Brown Plush pair, but we're showing you a photo taken when we were making our Snowy Owl Slippers a year ago - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/582081671/snowy-owl-slippers-white-owl-slippers?ref=shop_home_active_5 - because every pair of Slippers goes through the same procedure.  Once the insole is in, the front of the slipper is sewn together - lining first, and then the outer covering.  Isobel uses ladder stitch to do this, which results in an almost invisible seam for both layers - which makes it more comfortable the wearer.

Then the trimming is added - in this case, a crimson red satin ribbon one and elastic (cut to match the ankles of the wearer, plus a couple of inches - so that any future change in ankle circumference can be accommodated) is threaded through.  And there we are - the finished article.

It took Isobel 6 days to do the two slippers, not much longer than normal fortunately.

Before closing, some news about Oscar the Blue Rabbit and how the February 6th Launch of the film in which the original model, on which he is based, fared.   Apparently it went very well, and Oscar was much admired.  The specialist primary school teachers at which the presentation was aimed were duly impressed with both the film and it's model and several expressed interest in possibly purchasing some in the future.  As all teaching in the UK (and elsewhere too, of course) is planned well in advance, as are the budgets for the programmes involved, we're not expecting a deluge of orders - which is just as well, given Isobel's slower production pace.  

(We're hoping to get started on the Tulsa version of Oscar next week - on top of the painful hands, the weather here has prevented Isobel from accessing the fleece she wants to use for the future Blue Rabbits - as she wasn't entirely happy with the stuff she had in hand when making the first model.  As dyes rarely stay the same, she's planning on getting sufficient fabric for the future models too - because even if the order changes, she has enough alternative uses for Pale Blue Fleece for surplus supplies to be used in future.  With any luck, Oscar 2 will arrive in the USA around about Easter time!)

However, this week we learned that the Specialist Nurse attached to the OAC (Oxford Against Cutting) programme has declared she'd like to have 6 of them - with a May 1st dateline mentioned.  So, MsKA, our OAC liaison person, has now set out to fund-raise to be able to send us the order!  As the Nurse is part of the same organisation, the monies need to come from their supporters and friends.  We're hoping that the order will come in stages, so that we can fit them into Isobel's other production plans, as we do want to have a few new Cuddlies to offer this year, as usual.

More anon.   Hopefully, without too much more of a break in posts! 

Your Friend, Cy Bear.