Now it's Brown Bear's turn to be treated - Part 3 in our Story of Pooh and Brown Bear

This time, Cy Bear is having a well-deserved rest and I'm taking over.  However, being Cy Bear, he's not far away, and he will be appearing before the end of the story!

However, just to start this report, here is a front view of Brown Bear on the day he arrived in the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185) at the end of May - just after I had come back from my wonderful holiday in Normandy.

You can see that he has a large hole where his right eye should be, is missing his mouth and his nose is not as pronounced as a healthy Bear's should be.  His arms were dangling at the seams, as were his legs and he was totally unable to stand up unless propped against the back of the chair - as he is in the next photograph.

Brown Bear's fur coat was not as soft as Pooh Bear's original one was, and although he looks almost as though he was made from the same pattern, and it is a sort of Poodle Fur, when one got close up that was not the case.  The texture was a much harsher one, but it has lasted well nevertheless.  The slit in the back of his head which is clearly visible, looks as though a razor had been applied to it - it was such a clean cut and bore no relation to any seam. Goodness knows what event was taking place when that wound first appeared! So, when the time came for it to be treated, I used a small ladder stitch to sew the gap up, and it didn't show when completed - or, rather it looked like it was a proper seam, and therefore meant to be there!

He needed to be re-stuffed, because he too was filled with Kapok, but he didn't need to be immersed in my usual lukewarm, soapy bath treatment after being taken to pieces and before being re-stuffed.  Like Pooh Bear before him, he had travelled to school with his Forever Friend, AndrewA-B - as he too had a name-tag on his left foot.  I didn't have to remove that when re-stuffing him and attaching the legs back to his body.  Despite the head wound,  he certainly had not suffered as much as Pooh Bear during his younger, adventurous life.

All Brown Bear's limbs were attached at the very end of their seams, which resulted in them appearing to be very floppy - which was not entirely due to the need for fresh stuffing.  So when the time came for me to re-attach them to his body, I sewed his legs in firmly into the seam where he sat down.  As for his arms, I sewed them in such a way that the top of the arms were attached on either side of his side seam (if there had been one).  His body had actually been made with just  one seam - in the front.  That is a different way of Bear-making in my fairly limited experience.  Alas, there was no makers' label anywhere on, or within him, for me to find out where, how or when he was made.   So, he now looks like this - and is actually easier to cuddle now - because, before,  both arms formed part of the cuddle, as it were!

When I replaced his eyes (he does have two, although the one on his right has disappeared into the poodle fur with which he is made - just where his cream furry muzzle meets his face).  However, the hole was such that I had to create a seam in order to keep the new eye and its safety backing in place.  So, when I put in a matching eye for the left one, I created a similar seam there;   and to make him look a little like Pooh Bear, gave him a pair of eye brows as well.  (I did clear that addition with Mrs PA-B before I did it, mind you!).  I also gave him a more appropriate nose and embroidered a mouth that looked like Pooh Bear too.  

I found it easier to do the facial features without anything in the head.  He was then stuffed from the bottom up to his head!  MrsPA-B had specifically requested that both bears not be stuffed too firmly, but Brown  Bear actually feels firmer to the touch, because his material is so much firmer than Pooh's new coat now is (or, indeed, was before the treatment commenced).  Both should now stand up to "reasonable" wear and tear on the part of their new Forever Friends, though, I am pretty sure - especially as their original Friends are well aware of the consequences of not doing so now!

Here are the two Bear Friends ready to be returned to MrsPA-B last week-end.

And, as is the custom whenever any Cuddly - or Associate Cuddly, as these fellow can now call themselves - leaves us, an official farewell photograph was taken with Cy Bear performing the farewell duties.

I'm now very pleased to be able to tell you that Bernard Bear, who arrived in the Clinic at much the same time as these two Bear Patients, is likely to be getting his therapy in the next week or so.  His Forever Friend, after due consideration as to whether he should get the whole body treatment, or merely a thorough patch up, has plumped for the latter.  The matching mohair is currently on order - but our supplier is away on a well-earned holiday at the moment, and no orders are being dispatched from his premises until after July 29.  Once that arrives, I can progress - and hopefully meet a possible deadline of August 15 to get him back home to Bognor Regis in Sussex, where he has been living with his Forever Friend, MrGS for many, many years.  If we can do it in time, it will mean Bernard will travel in comfort in a car with some friends living down the road from us in Heytesbury, who are going to stay for a few days with MrGS.  That would be infinitely more comfortable for him that being parcelled up and sent via the "tender" mercies of Royal Mail.  It would also be a whole lot cheaper too - as Bernard is a Big Bear.

You can see Bernard has been well loved!  He, too, is missing his right eye, has a nasty hole where the left arm joint has rubbed his original fur coat and needs to have new pads on all his paws as well as two new ears!  His stuffing is, I suspect, wood chippings or something similar, because he is not presently a very cuddly Bear.  That problem, though, is easily handled!  Some of the others could be more problematical!  It should form an interesting post - or two.

Right that is that for this evening.  There are a couple of craft bazaars coming up over the next two week-ends, and I'll be telling you something about them as and when (or, indeed, if) anything happens at them!  If photographs emanate from MrsPA-B covering the re-unions between Pooh and Brown Bears and their respective Forever Friends, then they can always be included in another post - can they not?  I felt it was inappropriate to leave the final part of the trilogy too long before it was completed.

Good bye for the time being.  Have a great week-end - wherever you are.   By the way, the number of those who read this blog are going up - and up.   I'm very pleased to say they're over 19,320 now - and that's despite the recent computer hiccups!

 Thanks so much for your support!  Isobel.

Continuing the story of Pooh and Brown Bears' Treatment

Hello there Everyone!

 As promised a few days ago, here is the next installment of the recent treatment provided in the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (Etsy Listing #79124185) to Pooh and Brown Bears, Forever Friends of  MrsPA-B's two sons, James and Andrew.  Both of them were taken by MrDA-B when he met at least one of his sons in London at the week-end.   We're hopeful that when the re-union(s) take place, some photographs will result and when received, MrsPA-B has said she will send them to us for use in this blog!  That should be great fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Just to refresh your memory, and because we didn't include this one in our last post, this is how Pooh Bear looked - from the front! - when he first arrived.

Once Isobel had separated all the Kapok stuffing from Pooh Bear and his limbs - which is where I left you when we were together last time - she decided to give him an overnight soak.  Not that he was in any way dusty or dirty - as some of our previous Bear patients have been - but in order to see if we could get his new coat to not look quite such a contrast to his existing one.  Before immersing him in luke-warm soap-suddy water, she removed his left eye using pliers to take off the metal safety backing, which had by this time become very rusty.

The next morning, all the bits were gathered in a towel, squeezed as dry as Isobel could get them and were then pegged out on our clothes airer to dry throughout the day.

All the remaining wetness began to gather at the bottom end of the heaviest pieces (his head and old body - which Isobel decided she would "raid" so she could patch the holes we'd discovered in his arms and legs).

 Normally, when a new coat is provided for our Patients, the old pieces are tacked on the back of the new coat.  But Pooh was originally made in such a way that this could not be done this time).  

 So, half way through the day, Isobel turned them upside down, so they looked like this:

By the next morning, things were ready for the treatment to begin.  The missing eyes were replaced with a pair of matching ones - as near in size and colour as the one that had been taken out. They are actually a little smaller than his original one, but it was either the new size, or enormous ones.  Seemingly in the intervening years, Bears' eye sizes have been re-measured!   Isobel decided the smaller ones looked better - the bigger ones would have made Pooh Bear look terribly surprised!  Then Pooh's nose was re-stitched and his eyebrows and mouth returned to his face.  The original lines for his mouth and eyebrows were easy to follow.  Then the new back of Pooh's head and new body were stitched together and his old face added on.  He then looked like this:

We were a little concerned as to how the overall look would be, but were definitely re-assured by this picture.   We feel that he looks as though he's had a new coat over his existing body - which is just the look Isobel was aiming for.  The limbs were then gathered together, the holes (which were mostly in the area where the seams had previously been attached to his old body) were patched, thus creating a  much stronger fabric with which to attach them to the body.  Then the arms and legs were all stuffed and sewn to the body.  Pooh Bear now looks like this. 

While Isobel was undoing Pooh Bear, and getting out his stuffing she discovered his original label lurking in the depths of the stuffing.  It was a little scruffy and worn at the edges, but it was clear that he had originally been made in "The Republic of Ireland" for a company called The Alresford Craft Company.  Now all ColdhamCuddlies - when we are brand new - all have a label somewhere on us before we go to our Forever Homes, so Isobel decided to applique the old label onto some white seam binding, and sew the new label on just where Pooh Bear sits down!  Thus everyone now knows where his origins are, but no one needs to receive confirmation of it - unless they look very hard!  

You'll also notice that there is a label on his left foot - that's Pooh Bear's Forever Friend, James's name tag when they were both at school.  Isobel removed that while he was being washed and dried, and re-applied it, in about the same place, when the whole treatment was complete.

Now, I'm ending for this evening.  We will wait to complete the trilogy of posts about my Friends' treatment for another evening, when hopefully we'll also be able to include pictures of the reunion of at least Pooh Bear, and maybe even Brown Bear as well.

Until then, do hope you are all having a great week - whether you are at work, at home or on holiday:  or a combination of both. 

 Good night!  Cy Bear.

Two Bear Patients - both with a story to tell!

Hello there Everybody -

Cy Bear back again to tell you about two friends of mine who have been Patients in the ColdhamCuddlies Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (Esty Listing #79124185) since Isobel came back from France at the end of May!  It's already past mid-July, but Isobel has just finished treating both of them, and delivered them home this morning.  However, if you've been reading our recent posts, you'll have seen that we've been somewhat involved in creating new Cuddlies in the form of Plush Furry Slipppers for Ladies and Children, so Isobel has been otherwise engaged!

However, while doing the slippers Isobel did not neglect Pooh Bear - who is 38 years old and Brown Bear - who is four years younger and admits to being 32 years old.  She was trying to find the right kind of material with which to re-cover Pooh Bear.  Here is a picture of them when they first arrived - with my friend Bernard Bear in between them.  He's still waiting for his treatment to be decided, so remains sitting in the Lloyd Loom chair in Isobel's bedroom, next to me when I'm guarding the flat.

Interestingly, all three of the Patients have their right eyes missing!  I'd just love to know why that happened, but obviously, that problem was among the most important things for Pooh and Brown Bears to have treated.  Both of them had got a little soft, and it was decided that given their age, the stuffing was probably not safety tested, likely to be Kapok (which Isobel does not like) and so both of them would have their existing stuffing removed and replaced with our internationally approved, safe polyester fibre.

Both Bears belong to the sons of MrsPA-B, a lady who lives in Heytesbury, near where us, and whose husband kindly helped us in the provision of a golf club model on which Isobel can display her Golf Club Head Covers (Etsy Listing(s) #107240612 - Golden Bear;  #107242111 - Yogi-Bear look-alike;  and #107241362 - Panda Bear.)  When MrsPA-B brought the Bears along to be assessed, we learned their stories.

Pooh Bear was (and still is) a much loved Forever Friend of  MrsPA-B's oldest son, James.  When they were first Forever Friends, Pooh Bear went everywhere with him even to the point that when he had to have an operation (sounds painful, but I don't really understand what that is), when James woke up, Pooh Bear had stitches in exactly the same place on his body, that his Forever Friend did.  (When Isobel was working on him, she did wonder why there were some stitches in that odd place!)  One day,when he was about two years' old - so that is 36 years ago,  apparently, James decided as it was a very cold day, he  would warm Pooh Bear up, so put him on to a 2-Bar Electric Fire.  You can imagine the result - and after
MrsPA-B and James's Granny had found some material to cover up the wound, this is what he's looked like ever since, allowing for wear and tear in between-whiles!

After all these years, we've had some difficulty in finding any fabric to match his current coat, so in the end Isobel decided to go with a complete contrast.  It was also difficult to locate the Poodle Fur from which Pooh Bear is made, because our usual Bear fabric supplier did not stock it and the small amount we needed to make Pooh Bear better wasn't worth his while to supply.  Eventually, we found it at the source we use for most of our Plush fur (that doesn't come from our Furry fabric supplier in Frome, Somerset, Fine Quality Feather Company Ltd).  Having purchased what Isobel decided she needed, she decided that she would make Pooh Bear a completely new body and back of his head.   She would keep his limbs and face as they were - while patching and darning the holes that were over his limbs, and embroider back his nose, eyebrows and mouth, as well as replacing his missing eye, with two new matching ones.  Having checked with MrsPA-B that she was agreeable to this course of action, Pooh Bear's treatment began:

The existing material on Pooh Bear's back was removed - exposing the rather nasty wound, which I'll show a close up of in a minute.  Isobel then removed the legs, and found some nasty holes in both of them - as you can see on the right of the picture.

Having removed the arms, after the legs,

 it was easy enough to then get hold of the stuffing because the hole was big enough to get it out without any difficulties.  You can see the material which covered Pooh Bear's burn wound all these years - it was certainly good quality fabric in the beginning!

Rather extraordinarily, in Isobel's experience to date anyway, the whole body (and the stuffing in each limb too) came out all in one piece!

Right:  I think this post has gone on long enough, so I'll close the story for tonight.  The second installment, in which Pooh Bear is reconstructed will follow along shortly, and then we'll finish off with Brown Bear's story and the happy ending for both Bears in a third post a few days after that.

Meanwhile, it's lovely to be back chatting with you all again.  Isobel is off to cut out some Mens' Slippers - using some super new furry material she collected from our Frome, Somerset suppliers earlier this week.  She's over the moon with them, and you can expect to see some unusual Cuddlies appearing in our shop at www.coldhamcuddlies.Etsy.com very shortly.

Goodnight - and God Bless!  Have a lovely week-end everyone!  Cy Bear.