Have been having a few bad days recently and not feeling like blogging - largely because I was having trouble getting the word out in the internet world about this blog and the Etsy shop (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.) However, having just received SundayAfternoonHousewife's book, The Blogging Adventure, and starting to read it, have followed up her suggestion of reading some of the blogs I already follow, commenting on them and then drawing their attention to ColdhamCuddliescalling. Wonder what effect it will have?
I was also recommended to read other blogs and comment on them (have done so - on the Inside Etsy: Storeowner Interview blog by MamaMellyMartin: she included me in one of her interviews on April 13, just after I'd begun this blog and I was very grateful for the leg-up.)
Another blog I've followed (but never commented on before) is Louise Knits: think she's very clever with her patterns, but gave up knitting and crocheting some while ago - because it involved too much counting and remembering where I was along a row! My husband always commented on something requiring an answer from me - and I'd lose my way and have to start again! Result - project took too long! But I did ask Louise if she knew of anyone who might be able to create a pattern for an Otter for me to make. Probably the wrong place to ask, but had to start somewhere, now that there isn't an Alchemy spot on the Etsy site.
Reason I want to add an Otter to my collection in the Coldham Cuddlies family (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.) is that I visited my principal source of material offcuts yesterday. In addition to a whole lot of fur fabric used to make my Koalas and Light Brown Bears, I was given some lovely brown suedette/leather type fabric which I think could make a super Otter. However, although I'm reasonably good at making toys from an existing pattern, am absolutely hopeless at creating one from scratch. Don't know how much it will cost - but should think something up to 8USD might be a reasonable start? Anyone out there who could help? I'd be very grateful.
Right ... as I blog at night (as well as toy-make then too) .... it's getting late, and I need my "beauty" sleep. Cheers - and hope to hear from you soon. Isobel
After 50 years making Toys, describing how they are made and sold on www.Etsy.com/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES; plus histories of toys owned, met with or restored: plus odds and ends, as they occur.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Saturday, 14 May 2011
ColdhamCuddliescalling: An order from Saudi Arabia: for delivery to Port...
ColdhamCuddliescalling: An order from Saudi Arabia: for delivery to Port...: "Hello everyone - Cy Bear calling you, as Isobel has been caught out - and she's not unhappy about it either! Earlier in the week, she'd b..."
An order from Saudi Arabia: for delivery to Portsmouth, England
Hello everyone - Cy Bear calling you, as Isobel has been caught out - and she's not unhappy about it either!
Earlier in the week, she'd been busy making Hairy Bear III, as a replacement for the one sent to Edmonton, Alberta in April this year. Well, she got another order - this time from someone living in Saudi Arabia asking for her version of Hairy Bear to go to a young nephew living in Portsmouth, England. We do like the whole international flavour of being involved with Etsy - it makes everything that much more exciting!
So, as she was mid-way in the production process,we thought we would tell you how Isobel makes us Bears, and she took this picture of the current Hairy Bear, sending it to Yvonne B-P to illustrate her
Bear's progress:
Then the stuffing process began, with head and limbs being filled first. Then the joints were applied and the limbs attached to the unfilled body piece. Ears were attached to the head and the facial features (nose and mouth) embroidered with black double knitting wool. The next stage is to gather up the neck space of the body prior to stuffing the body with the limbs already attached. Bears can have joints so that the heads move around like the limbs, but Isobel finds that often the finished toy can have a wobbly head - and she doesn't like that. So, all her heads are firmly attached and we all feel (and look) a lot more secure.
Once the body is filled, the lower apperture between the legs is sewn up and then comes the difficult bit - attaching the head to the body and making sure it is straight and firm. Sometimes Isobel can do this first time: with Yvonne's Hairy Bear it took her three trys before she was satisfied. Here is what he looks like - with me sitting beside him!
Believe it or not - both Hairy Bear and I are made from the same pattern: it's just that real Beaver Lamb Fur makes a bigger (more handsome - in my opinion, anyway -) Bear than the fur fabric from which Hairy Bear is made. The fabric used comes from one of Isobel's sources - a soft furnishing factory in a town called Frome, about 10 miles from Heytesbury. It is an off-cut (from making chair coverings) and if not used to make Hairy Bears, would end up on the local dump. So you could say, we are environmentally friendly as a shop at www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.
That's all for today folks: see you again soon. Cy Bear
Earlier in the week, she'd been busy making Hairy Bear III, as a replacement for the one sent to Edmonton, Alberta in April this year. Well, she got another order - this time from someone living in Saudi Arabia asking for her version of Hairy Bear to go to a young nephew living in Portsmouth, England. We do like the whole international flavour of being involved with Etsy - it makes everything that much more exciting!
So, as she was mid-way in the production process,we thought we would tell you how Isobel makes us Bears, and she took this picture of the current Hairy Bear, sending it to Yvonne B-P to illustrate her
Bear's progress:
 | |||||||
| Ears bottom left: arms upper left; head, minus facial features centre; the legs upper right and the body, minus limbs centre right taken on the ironing board. |
Then the stuffing process began, with head and limbs being filled first. Then the joints were applied and the limbs attached to the unfilled body piece. Ears were attached to the head and the facial features (nose and mouth) embroidered with black double knitting wool. The next stage is to gather up the neck space of the body prior to stuffing the body with the limbs already attached. Bears can have joints so that the heads move around like the limbs, but Isobel finds that often the finished toy can have a wobbly head - and she doesn't like that. So, all her heads are firmly attached and we all feel (and look) a lot more secure.
Once the body is filled, the lower apperture between the legs is sewn up and then comes the difficult bit - attaching the head to the body and making sure it is straight and firm. Sometimes Isobel can do this first time: with Yvonne's Hairy Bear it took her three trys before she was satisfied. Here is what he looks like - with me sitting beside him!
 |
Believe it or not - both Hairy Bear and I are made from the same pattern: it's just that real Beaver Lamb Fur makes a bigger (more handsome - in my opinion, anyway -) Bear than the fur fabric from which Hairy Bear is made. The fabric used comes from one of Isobel's sources - a soft furnishing factory in a town called Frome, about 10 miles from Heytesbury. It is an off-cut (from making chair coverings) and if not used to make Hairy Bears, would end up on the local dump. So you could say, we are environmentally friendly as a shop at www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.
That's all for today folks: see you again soon. Cy Bear
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