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.
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| 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§ion_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.
