Progress Still Being Maintained - on all Fronts.

Good afternoon Everyone!

Cy Bear  back again - in case you thought I wasn't coming back. While it's been 3 weeks since we were last together, it has been for a reason:  Isobel has been so busy with one thing and another that I fear blogging has taken a back seat - and also as there was not much different to tell you about when our usual Sunday afternoon get-together takes place,  we decided we'd not blog just for the sake of it:  but only when there was some progress to report.

So, on the Clerical Bear Front: we now have two usable models - both of which appear in the photo below.  Our initial, trial bear (with a sewn nose - the other two have been given plastic noses!) is included, because he now has the final version of the "dog collar".  COLDHAMCUDDLIES has gone halves in the purchase of a laminating machine with daughter Clare- who has many uses for such a gizmo.  We followed the suggestion of laminating a piece of ordinary white paper - and cutting it to size for our trial Bear:  it worked:  and the results can be seen in the follow up models!  One sheet is going to last for quite a few more Bears - when they are officially announced (looking like the beginning of September).

We ended up our 8th July bulletin by telling you about an order for a Tiger Arm Puppet which we received from MrGG - based in Exeter, Pennsylvania, USA.  He was particularly interested in it looking like one of the Tiger Puppets which appeared in a well-known, much-loved childrens' programme series "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" which was followed by Isobel's daughters when the family lived in Canada.   After explaining that we wouldn't be able to make it EXACTLY like that character, but we would make one closely resembling it, the Custom Order was set up by Isobel and paid for by MrGG.   (As ever, our orders - particularly from the United Statees - seem to arrive on a Friday, making starting orders experiencing a little delay - helping Isobel to put the finishing touches to our Bishop/Cardinal Bear).  Thus, the Bishop/Cardinal Bear (name still to be finalised!) was finished last Saturday week, and the Tiger Arm Puppet cut out and sewing started on Monday afternoon - when Isobel was at the Cathedral Craft Group session, getting the members' approval for the Clerical Bears to date - as well as for her future plans for the Group.  

Start of the Grey Tiger Arm Puppet 

All our Arm Puppets, and our Hand Puppets too, are made with calico linings - because the canvas backing used with some of the plush fabrics can be a bit "scratchy".  The sheeting - being made with cotton - makes it more comfortable, but admittedly can add to the operators' hand/arm getting warmer than it might otherwise be.  No one has complained to date, however.

Isobel thus needs two pieces each of all the items involved with the body and arms of the Puppet.  The Head is just cut out with one layer, while it's ears have two.  Initially, Isobel used a matching grey lining for the ears, so that before getting the two bits together, the Tiger Puppet looked like this:

However, Isobel felt that this didn't achieve what she was looking for - trying to immitate the original picture sent to us by MrGG with the Custom Order:

To her eyes, the head looked too like a Teddy Bear, and not a Tiger, and the lining - which was a stiff satin, matching the grey plush well, was too stiff.  Therefore, she undid both ears, and cut out two more pieces of the grey plush fabric, and made them up again.  Resulting in a Tiger Head which was much more what she was hoping to achieve.

Followers, please forgive the quality of this particular shot - but these "blow-by-blow" shots, taken as Isobel is going along, can sometimes be when it is night time, and the LED bulbs in our electric lights in the flat do result in camera shots looking a trifle "jaundiced".  However, it illustrates what Isobel was doing at the time, and we feel it's appropriately shown here!

All that was then required was to get the nose filled in with the distinctive orange shade of double knit yarn, and then fix the head to the body.  That sounds to be quite a simple task, but it can be fiddly getting both the lining and body to fit together without too many wrinkles to make operating the final result difficult.  

The circular piece in this picture is a new departure for our Puppet-handling "mechanism", whether a hand or arm version.  All our previous Activity Toys have had a cardboard tube - covered with calico - fitted into the head, but that only allowed for one finger to be inserted for the operator to move the head around.  Isobel had one of her "flashes of inspiration" while making this latest Tiger Puppet, and decided to see if making this circular piece of fabric and creating a central hole in it would enable at least another finger to be inserted.  The gap has been "strengthened" with the addition of bias binding around the hole, and she found it worked quite well .  (She has always felt she had an extra digit getting in the way when she was trying the former COLDHAMCUDDLIES PUPPET out before shipping them to their Forever Homes).  She has asked MrGG for his feedback on the newly introduced item - which has been promised.

Finally, when the head and body were put together, our Grey Plush Tiger Arm Puppet - representing a Tiger who has "lost" his stripes - looked like this next evening, before he was packed up and left the UK for Exeter, Pennsylvania, yesterday morning:

You will see that while he looks quite like the original photograph shown above, he doesn't have black claws on his hands, nor the featured wrist watch or the whiskers.  Apart from not wanting to be EXACTLY the same, Isobel has a policy of not adding protruding items like whiskers (brittle or soft!) to any of her toys - for safety purposes.  In any case, she finds it quite impossible to get anything to look exactly like another Toy - whether she's making one for the first time, or when restoring old friends to look almost like they did when they first arrived in their Forever Home, after a Toy Animal Hospital treatment in our Clinic - (https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES?ref=seller-platform-mcnav&section_id=10242697).

Before posting, and because she was visiting a friend locally yesterday before calling in at the Post Office, Grey Tiger Puppet was shown to our Friend, who kindly agreed to be in photos of the new Cuddlies' offering - in motion as it were.  She has stiff fingers (even stiffer than Isobel's) but found the new neck opening was manageable - so we hope it will be the same for MrGG when his acquisition arrives - hopefully at the end of next week (or shortly thereafter).

Right, that's it Everyone:  except that we've heard from MrGG - that the Grey Tiger Puppet may become the latest COLDHAMCUDDLIES Toy to be given a life mission.  To quote MrGG himself - in one of the messages exchanged during last week, as the Puppet progressed:

"I have also been thinking recently that I may on occasion bring this puppet to my private mental health counseling practice. There may come a moment where he would be of good use." 

Isn't that exciting?  And he's also given Isobel permission to include this idea here, as well as providing some new Tags we can use to highlight this kind of assistance that can be offered by our other Puppet Activity Toys, present and in future!!  (Guess what Isobel is likely to be doing at some point next week?)

See you all next time - while Isobel gets back into the Clerical Bear project once more. Plans for a Sister Bear are progressing well, as is one for a Missionary Bear.   Have a good week, Everyone!

Your Friend, Cy Bear.

A week of Good Progress on the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Front to report

Good afternoon again, Everyone!

Cy Bear reporting on what has happened in the last week in the COLDHAMCUDDLIES' world - and it's one of progress too.

First of all - our Yellow Unicorn was completed after we posted our blog last week, and is now listed in the  COLDHAMCUDDLIES' Shop - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/625182921/yellow-unicorn

As  you can see, Yellow Unicorn is now fully decorated around his hooves, and the next photo shows him with his "necklace/collar" too.

The final shot - for this post anyway - is a full facial photograph:

Then we can report good progress, finally, on the Clerical Bears Project:  we finally managed to run to earth the right sized limb disks for our proposed Models, and they eventually arrived in the post  on Friday morning.  Ironically, while they were purchased via E-Bay (in slight desperation on Isobel's part), it turned out that if she'd been thinking straight, she could have got them RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING of this experimental stage from Mohair Bear Making Supplies Ltd - our supplier of choice for most of our furry fabrics for all the CUDDLIES that need such material - because that is where the initial packet of 3 sets (they come in threes you see) were sent from via our E-Bay order!  (One of the things Isobel will have to do this coming week, is to sort out with Mohair Bear Making Supplies that she has multiplied herself:  but needs them to put the two accounts in Isobel's name into one!!!)

It has enabled Isobel to finish the Prototype Padre Bear - which is pretty much how all the rest of them will look.   Basically, they're going to be made in three stages:  the body, head and arms, which will include fitting in the first disk part at the top of the arm.   Then we'll do the head and body and stuff it so that we get an idea of how the Ornamental Toy will look like when finished.  Then we can make the "cassock", which is quite fiddly, although once Isobel has "got it", she shouldn't have too much of a problem.  Hopefully, they'll all end up looking something like this:

The initial fit resulted in too much of  white collar, and it not holding it's shape too well.

Also, it became obvious that although we thought we had 8 matching black buttons, we actually ended up with five properly black ones, and three that "looked" black, but also had a reddish tinge to them.  

As this is still a prototype - and therefore not going to be part of the fund-raising gig for St. Barnabas Cathedral's Roof Maintenance - Isobel decided to carry on, carrying on, as she needed to get some market research done on progress to date (a.k.a. showing pics of the finished article to all and sundry before and after Mass this morning).  

Although this Model will not be on sale, Isobel  had a brilliant suggestion made as to what could happen to him - rather than sitting around in the flat, gathering dust.  The idea of us creating Padre Bears started several months ago, when we were having an early morning coffee before Mass one Sunday.  One of our Parishoner Friends, whose wife actually has an earlier version of one of our Light Brown Bears - (and called him "George", if memory serves):

suggested that Isobel try to make one, as he felt it would sell well - and not just here in Nottingham at the Cathedral.  Getting a pattern has been the main hold-up, but now we've got a template, we can bring it to fruition.  Isobel will indeed offer this original Padre Bear Model to our Friend - as a gesture of thanks for his suggestion, once he's done his work as our production "guinea pig"!!

As usual, we had to work out the order in which the different components of the new Coldham Cuddly would be put together - we think we've got that!   Then we had to fit them together, and add the arms - which did need to be taken apart at the arms shoulder so that the disks could be fitted in.

Then the cassock was fitted over the body, and holes made in the side seams - matching where there were already gaps in the Bear Body side-seams.  The disks were then fitted in, and closed with the plastic safety disc which comes as part of the set;  the already-made head was then added and the collar gathered to make a better fit  - giving the resulting look. 

The white piece bit of the "dog-collar" is currently made with pretty strong inter-facing, which would normally be ironed on - resulting in a less fragile fit.  At the moment, it's not quite what Isobel is looking for, as it tends to bend too easily when trying to sew the cassock around the Bear's neck, and so doesn't look too convincing - at least when one is close up!

Discussions during the "market research" resulted in a suggestion that an ordinary piece of white printing paper, laminated on both sides might well provide the answer, and this will be put to the test in subsequent days.  We think it will be hardy enough to remain in place once Isobel slots it into the collar (the current inter-facing gets very weak if handled too often!) and it will also provide the "shiny" look that a real "dog collar" has, while our Model's has a matte finish.  Meanwhile, here are two further photographs of the prototype as presently on offer:

See you all next week - and hopefully, we'll have a finished version of  Padre Bear - as he will be offered to the world, as well as a Bishop Bear - dressed in purple.  Isobel has somehow always thought of it as crimson, but again, our friends didn't think I'd got it right!  More research needed on that, methinks.  Plans are in Isobel's mind, as she types this, I know!

One thing though has emerged:  we're unlikely to be offering a white-robed "Deacon" Bear, as the general consensus was that once ordained, Deacons tend to dress in Black, and have a special white garment as their clerical robes.  However, one of the Parish Priests at St. Barnabas - who was pretty enthusiastic about our prototype - suggested that a white-robed priest might go down well in countries where hot temperatures are the norm (although if the weather carries on the way it is at the moment in the UK, they might have to go that route themselves here and our Clerics have to have "Tropical" outfits, as happened in the days of the British Raj all those years ago!).  They do wear white cassocks, like our priests wear black ones in places like South India (one of our present Priests does come from those parts, as it happens!).  So, we'll still offer a White-robed Padre Bear - and see what results!

As I said last week:  just watch this space Folks!  Exciting times ahead - especially, as we received a Custom Order for a Tiger Arm Puppet from a MrGGG, located in Exeter, Pa, USA on Friday.  It's based on this Tiger Arm Puppet in our Shop, but our client wants it made without stripes - 

so it's going to be made with our Silver Fox plush fabric, which looked like this in the photograph Isobel sent out to MrGGG on Friday afternoon.  

See you all again, next week - hopefully.

Your Friend

Cy Bear.

Progress Report(s) and Introducing a New Cuddly to the Ranks.

Good afternoon Everyone:

Cy Bear back again, after a week that has once more flown by, during which we've had some lovely, but extremely un-British weather conditions.  The sun has actually shone from morning till evening, and we've had a very welcome cool breeze, which has helped us all in our flat to manage the very unusual high temperatures (both day and night). 

Now for one of those updates, alluded to in the title for today's post:  regarding the potential Clerical Bear population in the COLDHAMCUDDLIES shop and family.  We referred in last week's post to the long time it took Isobel to unpick the fabric destined for the black cassocks:  - here's a photo, which hadn't been taken when I mentioned it last week - showing the fabric that wasn't any use for the project:  in the garbage pail, ready for transfer to the complex rubbish bins last week:

Next door to the pail is the current bag of stuffing which is used to fill all the Cuddlies after they've been sewn together, prior to listing in the Shop.  You can se that the discarded items almost fill the pail!!  The remainder of the black fabric is carefully ironed and folded ready to be used for the Padre Bears. 

Progress on the Clerical Bears has been slightly held up, although we have moved forward.  Isobel has sourced the buttons (8 for each cassock) that she'll be using when she gets going.  She went to two separate local sources - one in Kirkby in Ashfield, where we live:  the other in Mansfield, the nearest BIG local town, which requires a 30 minute 'bus journey each way.  While she got most of the required accessories from the latter this time around, she's found that our nearer location has the best size and colour matches - and (given the time factor!) she's going to use that once the current supply needs replenishment.  The price differential is marginal, and she may be able to negotiate a lower cost, if we buy in sufficient bulk!!  That has yet to be discussed!!

We're still waiting to find the right sized toy limb discs:  Isobel did order what she thought would be suitable (because she gets muddled when dealing in millimetres, rather than inches) they turned out to be far too big, so they had to be returned from one of our on-line sources of these items on Friday.  We can get them - buying 2 sets (needed for each Bear) from our local haberdashery store - but we're trying to establish somewhere we can buy them in bulk, if needed.  Our Manchester based haberdashery supplier (Fred Aldous & Co.) - from whence we order our stuffing (mentioned earlier in this post, and from whom we've ordered - and received - another 1.5 kg bag of the material) do sell toy limbs, but the sample Isobel ordered (which looked OK from the online picture) turned out to be the same size as the items we sent back on Friday.  As a result, progress on the Bears has not been great this week, although we haven't stayed still!

Instead, Isobel has finally managed to create the first member of the  COLDHAMCUDDLIES line of Unicorns.  Based on the Pink Unicorn she "rescued" from a local charity shop earlier this year, she managed to create the template for our latest offering - which still needs the finishing touches.  Here is what our Unicorn currently looks like - from different angles. 

(You can see what the original one was like - before it fell to pieces when Isobel undid the seams! - by referring to last week's post). That caused some difficulty for her in remembering how each piece of the body and (particularly) the head fitted into each other, but at last we've got almost the finished article.  When Isobel showed the partially completed toy to Philippa (during her recent visit to Kirkby for Isobel's Grandson's birthday celebrations) the Yellow Unicorn looked like this:

(It is the same body, but the above photo was taken at night time, and pictures under electric light do tend to look like this:  whereas the first photo, and the ones that follow, were taken in daylight earlier this afternoon.)

Philippa suggested that the finished article might well benefit from the addition of a little "bling", as Little People who are attracted to Unicorns - of so I am told - seem to like shiny embellishments to their equine toys!  So, we've sourced some gold metallic ric rac trimming, and you can see the first example of this - around the Unicorn's horn!

Isobel plans to put a ring of the gold ric rac around each hoof - after she's added a stitch or two to make the legs look straighter.

There will also be a "collar" of gold ric rac around our Unicorn's neck as well.

Once the final details have been added, and the finishing touches added, Yellow Unicorn will be listed in the shop - as the first of the "Christmas in July" offerings for 2018.  Once the Clerical Bears are under way, Isobel wants to make another Unicorn, this time in poplin (this one being made in Yellow Fleece):  she thinks she has just the thing, and it should be a really colourful addition to the Cuddlies Family.

That's it for this week, Folks!  Hope you have a lovely week in the coming days:  we're headed for another week of scorching temperatures here in the UK - so everyone of you, keep cool and hopefully I'll see all again next Sunday!

Your Friend, Cy Bear: