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:
