Ed Ted's therapy - Construction process Part 3

Hello again - Cy Bear here:  did you think we'd disappeared?  I have been beginning to wonder just when we'd get round to telling you where we are at!

Progress in rejuvenating Ed Ted has been going on apace, but alas, today we've been halted because Isobel finds herself needing a vital joint bit which will join his head to his body.  So, early tomorrow she will be on the telephone to Susan at Bear Basics in Wincanton (down the road from home) in the hope that she can once again come to our rescue.  It's only a small piece missing, but it is vital.  Without it, Ed Ted's head may be wobbly (like mine was) and if Isobel had, had it in stock, maybe I'd have had a head that moved instead of being firmly stitched in one position.

In the interim, it is pleasing to be able to report that Ed Ted now has arms fixed to his body and Isobel is in the process of stuffing his legs before attaching them to his body too.  They proved a bit of a problem in that when making us Coldham Cuddlies bears, Isobel has usually stuffed our legs from the hip downwards.  But, because Ed Ted's original legs were the furriest bit of him - as demonstrated by the pictures we've already posted - the pieces did not lie evenly on his new covering, so instead of having the furry side face down on the new mohair, she had to place the calico side face down on each piece.  It's worked out fine, but it also means she is having to stuff the legs from the foot upwards.  Because we've got the delay in getting Ed Ted's head on, she's not rushing that bit.  It may be stating the obvious, but the body is not stuffed until all the limbs and head are attached.

However, we do have a couple more pictures to show you - and here they are:

Here is Ed Ted's head resting against the pile of all the other bits of him which are waiting to be sewn together. Isobel has not embroidered his nose nor mouth yet - that is best done once the head is attached to the body and it has been stuffed.  Otherwise, the final expression could be affected. The brown bits are suedette which Isobel is going to use for his paw and leg pads.

In the background, you can see the envelope in which the cardboard templates Isobel used to cut out Ed Ted's new fur coat are going to be kept. Despite the delays, Isobel has enjoyed making him, so might well do another using some of the fabric she already has in stock - but it will not be mohair - this is the first time she has used this fabric, and it's been a great experience she tells me.

This picture was taken this morning - and shows all Ed Ted's pieces turned the right side out and ready to be stuffed.  The paw pads still remain to be attached and will be done when the limbs are attached to the body, which can be seen in the background.  The picture is not as clear as it might be, but it's been raining "cats and dogs" all day, and what daylight there has been, has not been that bright.  However, think the picture is clear enough to show how Ed Ted is looking at this moment in time, although not quite clear enough to show the thread-marks indicating where the limbs will be attached once they are stuffed.

The next post about Ed Ted should be the last one (about him!) - and will have to wait until the missing joint piece arrives.  Hopefully, if Royal Mail co-operates and Susan has it in stock, that should be another couple of days' time.  In the meantime, I'll say good-night.  Cy Bear

Ed Ted's Therapy - Construction process Part 2

Good evening, everyone:  Cy Bear back again - with the latest news on Ed Ted's progress.

Here are some pictures of the tacking process, ready for the proper "building of Ed Ted" to begin:

Isobel used red cotton yarn to tack the pieces together, so it would be easy to remove once the bits were assembled together.

All pieces having been cut out and tacked onto their corresponding original bits of Ed Ted, Isobel decided to begin work on his head.  This she hand-sewed, as it's such a business getting out the machine, and she can make sure that everything gets sewn in better that way.  Some of Ed Ted's original body that we could save  was smaller than it's corresponding side, especially in the case of his head, so it was better for hand-sewing to be carried out.  To make sure that all the bits stayed tight, Isobel hand tacked the loose bits before stuffing began.

Isobel then spent quite a long time before getting on with the next bit - putting in his eyes.  Now, these are Ed Ted's original ones, and we felt it was important to try and get them as near as possible to the same location on the new head, as they were on the original one (which is, of course, under the new fur).  Its terribly easy, I imagine to get the eyes wrong, and then the whole facial features won't look right.  However, after tidying up boxes of toys joints - a job Isobel has been putting off ever since she was given them by an elderly lady next door who used to make Bears until her fingers gave out - she took a deep breath, switched on her digital camera so that she could look at Ed Ted's original photograph (the one with all the bandages on) and made the necessary holes in either side of his face.  (To see what I mean, please refer to  our earlier post at www.ColdhamCuddliescalling.blogspot.com/07/25/2011/First Bulletin on Ed Ted's treatment)

After a bit of a struggle - we're sewing through three layers of material on each piece now - a small hole was made and Isobel managed to "persuade" the wire loops on which the glass eyes are fixed, through.  She then made sure they were firmly fixed on the wrong side of the head.  She threaded strong cotton (strong enough for sewing jeans) through each wire loop, then once they penetrated the material layers, she individually wrapped threads round each loop and tied the two pieces of yarn together, very firmly.  Hopefully, Ed Ted will not undergo quite the same treatment in future as he has undergone heretofore!  Then the head was stuffed and it now resides on the ironing board (which is where most of the recent photography sessions have been based) ready for the ears to be sewn on and the facial features to be embroidered on.  We've used one of the bigger joints for the head, which hopefully will mean that it won't wobble when fixed to the body.

(When Isobel made me, she had not sorted the joints out - so she used some she had in for the smaller toys and bears.  So, my head initially was very wobbly - which is why she sewed it onto my body - rather than having a swivelling one!  Now I'm used to it, I think prefer it!)

However - the facial features are better left until the head is fixed onto the body - and that only happens once all the limbs are sewn up and stuffed.  That's the next stage, and as we are off to the seaside tomorrow for the day, it may be a couple of days before we're in a position to show you how things are progressing.

Meanwhile, listing on the Groove Press site is almost finished and then Isobel will be activating all the Cuddlies family.  It will be interesting to see what, if any, reaction there is to their appearance on the new shop site.

I'll end now ....  hope everyone reading this blog is enjoying the suspense of Ed Ted's emergence as much as I am watching it!  Cy Bear

Ed Ted's Therapy: destruction ended: re-construction begins

Greetings once again Friends:  Cy Bear back again, this time with the good news that Ed Ted's destruction has ended, and Isobel is now beginning to get him back together again.

First of all, let's begin from where we left - which was Isobel telling you all about some of her future plans and some trials connected with the Shop (www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com).  She's relisted all the entries in the shop, filling in a new bit of the form about which she was not aware.  That's because she's been so involved with Ed Ted and blogging about him too!  She's also started to list on the new website, the address for which she will reveal when she's got all the Rabbits, Foxes, Coyotes and Bears - except me, included.  The process is a little different to the www.Etsy.com/shop/coldhamcuddlies requirements, so it's taking her a bit longer to do than she had bargained for

The business cards may already have resulted in a new restoration project.  This time from what Isobel has been told by the Bears Friend, it's a case of replacing blue eyes in a brown bear and probably the replacement of the stuffing. Isobel is also going to look into replacing his growler - which now no longer works.  That will be a first for Isobel.  Life is exciting, isn't it?  We won't know what we're facing until the end of July, when the new Bear's friend is coming to the Summer Fete which is being organised here at The Hospital of St. John on July 30th.

However, we do know that Burr Bear, as he is called, will  not  be such a total repair job as Ed Ted has proved to be - and in the process Ed Ted has turned out to be bigger bear than we had both thought!  I'm going to have mind my p's and q's!  He may turn out to be bigger than me!

Here are all the appliqued pieces of Ed Ted ready for the next stage - which means that Isobel spent yesterday drawing round each one onto cardboard. She uses breakfast cereal packets for this purpose - saves the whole packet going to landfill:  so preserving her claim that the Coldham Cuddlies are as environmentally friendly as possible.  Once they are cut out, then she draws round each piece on the mohair fabric piece.

Silly Isobel:  guess what she didn't do before she took Ed Ted to pieces?  She didn't measure him, did she?  So, when it came to ordering the fabric, she did not order sufficient.  Fortunately, Susan from Bear Basics in Wincanton, Somerset (who says she stocks "the largest selection of Stieff Schulte mohair in the UK - and she's only 30 miles down the road from here!) still had enough to meet Isobel's needs.  The mohair that has been supplied is described as "17mm Dense Distressed Spring Gold" and I must say matches Ed Ted very well.  When he's finished, he really will be quite something!  I shall be more than happy to be photographed alongside him.

Once all the pieces had been drawn onto the fabric, Isobel cut them out and then spent most of yesterday evening tacking each piece of Ed Ted's original body and head onto the matching pattern piece using the new fabric.  Here are pictures showing where Ed Ted's reconstruction process has currently reached and been photographed.

Crown and Leg pieces ready to be drawn on new fabric

And here is another picture of Ed Ted's head ready to be drawn onto the mohair fabric.  After that, I'll end, so that Isobel can do some more listing on the new shop site, and also to do some more sewing on Ed Ted.  We've probably got another two or three posts to do before we will be able to present a new, handsome Ed Ted to the world!  Can't wait;  hope you're all interested too!

And finally, here are all the pieces together - with the mohair material waiting to be drawn on.  Cheers for today.  Cy Bear