Duckling Toy Production - Part 2

Greetings to you all!  Cy Bear here again, on a beautiful sunny afternoon - with temperatures in this part of the UK at summer time ones today.

We've been very busy here in the ColdhamCuddlies Shop this week, with Isobel spending a lot of time marketing us Toys (that's what she calls all the time she spends on the computer!) as well as sewing new Poultry Toys.  

We've now got 3 more Chickens in the Coop, and  3 new Ducklings - and I'm delighted to say that the Chicken and Duckling promised to our Friend, MrsSF (who provided Isobel with the original patterns for the toys - as I told you last week) were sent off on Friday.  They arrived in Worcester, in the UK West Midlands (we live in the East Midlands!) on Saturday.  We received a very nice message from MrsSF to the effect that she was pleased with the way they'd turned out!!

Here's one of the farewell photos that Isobel took before the pair left for Worcester.  We've found that these Ducklings and Chickens really do need a dark back ground if they are going to show up on any pictures!!


Now to the second phase of making the Ducklings - having left off last week, where I told you that Isobel likes to begin her toy-making by sewing up the "peripherals" - the beak, and feet - for the Ducklings, in this case.

She's now made three more Ducklings since these photos were taken.  The pictures were used for the listing in our Toy Shop (COLDHAMCUDDLIES.etsy.co) - 

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/508463030/baby-duckling-toys-yellow-duck-toys-baby?ref=shop_home_feat_1

and has now got the production process down to just over 2.5 hours from beginning with the beak, then doing the feet and wings, sewing up the body and finally attaching the feet and wings.


The process is as follows:


Once the feet are sewn and turned inside out, Isobel stuffs them lightly, and creates a "web-look" by sewing through the stuffing on each foot.  Then having sewn the beak and turned it inside out, she rolls the beak and attaches it to the spot on the Duck's head where that should be.  She then sews the eyes in place.


To make the eyes, Isobel makes a knot at the end of a piece of Black Double Knit Yarn.  She decides the spot on the head (on each side) where the eyes should be placed, and then using a darning needle, she pulls the knotted piece of wool through, with the knot on the right side of the Duck's head. (The process is repeated on the opposite side of the body/head piece).  She then fiddles with the knot, gets it into place, and then - using matching black cotton - she stitches the knotted wool into an eye shape, and finishes off the whole process (on the wrong side of each body-piece) to make sure the knot/eye remains in place.  Choosing the right spot is helped, in the case of the Duckling Toys at least, because when the beak is in the right spot, the tip is pretty well where the eye needs to be!


Then the body pieces are sewn together.  Over the week, she's found it's best to sew the body sides to the body front - from under the beak to the tail, first.  She sometimes then sews the body back half-way to the tail, leaving an opening through which the stuffing is pushed. (MrsSF suggested we left the gap under the tail area, but Isobel found it easier - with her arthritic fingers - to do it via the back).   Then the whole Duck's body is turned inside out and the stuffing pushed through and manipulated into place to produce a Duck Toy that looks like the middle one in the photograph below.

The two feet are then sewn in place onto the body of each Duckling and then the COLDHAMCUDDLIES label is sewn under what looks like the tail of the Toy Bird.  That helps to make sure that the Toys stay more or less upright.  They can also be "persuaded" to stay that way by some pressure being applied from on top of the body!!


Then the wings - you can see them on the right of the middle toy in the picture above - are each lightly stuffed and sewn into place on each side of the body, and you are left with the completed Toy - ready to take "wing" to wherever.....

Here are the completed original three Ducklings.  One, as I've said already, has been sent to MrsSF (the one in the middle of this photograph, actually.)  The one on the right of the picture was the one selected by AB, son of MrsHB - who lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada -  and is the lady who ordered one of the Ducklings almost immediately it was first listed in our Shop a week ago, yesterday.  The third one, who was provisionally booked by one of Isobel's friends at Mass last week, is still with us.  but has been joined by two more fully-fledged Duckling toys, with another in the process of being made.


Here's how they look in our Etsy Shop (link given earlier in this post) - beginning with the one just above us.  Then:-

A side view of the Duckling Toys

The Ducklings from the rear

The Duckling Alberta-bound.

And finally, the Duckling on the left of this final photograph is the one that has now landed in Worcester, UK.

We also received an order, early last week, for one of our Fox Hand Puppets this week - see below

A similar Hand Puppet Toy to this Coyote, but with a  Fox Head instead.

The one chosen from the Shop had recently found a Forever Home, and what with Ducklings and Chickens, Isobel had not had time to replace it.  So the Order will be fulfilled and sent off after Easter.  It will still reach it's intended destination in good time - and well before the official dispatch date on the Order itself (which is not until the end of April).


 Isobel is due to spend the Easter week-end in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire,  with her daughter, Philippa.  This time - as she's only going to be away for 5 days, and has a busy schedule of activities already fixed down there - she's not taking the computer with her.  Thus, there will be NO BULLETIN from here next Sunday.  I shall be in charge of the Shop - supervising the Toys from my spot on Isobel's bed.


So I'll close this post by wishing you ALL a very Happy Easter, and look forward to telling you about the Fox Hand Puppet and the preparatoons for its final destination - Santa Cruz, California, U.S.A. - in two weeks' time.


Until then, have a wonderful holiday Everyone.


Cy Bear, Your Furry Friend.

Introducing our Easter Ducklings as well as News of Old Friends.

Hello Everyone:

Cy Bear being allowed to chat with you again!  Once Isobel gets going, there's no stopping her, and I never know if - or WHEN, for that matter - I'll get the chance to chat with you all again!!!

Our post last week concentrated on the Baby Chickens made during the previous week:  one of them, the one in the middle of this photograph, was bought by a family friend when the Chicks, and our new Ducklings, were being shown to friends and fellow Mass attenders at St.Barnabas Cathedral in Nottingham, during the coffee session this morning.

I'm very pleased to tell you that we now have three Yellow Fleece Ducklings, made with the same fabrics used for the Chickens last week, and they were listed in the Shop (www.COLDHAMCUDDLIES.etsy.com) last evening.  Here they are, together with a link to them if any of our Followers feel similarly inclined!  You can see, although the same pattern was used for all of them, none of them look exactly alike!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/508463030/baby-duckling-toys-yellow-duck-toys-baby?ref=shop_home_active_1

Isobel opened up the computer just now and found that an order has already been placed for one of them - by Mrs HB, best friend of her daughter Clare, who is one of the best customers we have.  (This will be her fourth order since we opened the Shop in 2010).  Thus, as they are "in stock", one of the Ducklings shown here - MrsHB has been asked to let us know if she has a preference - will be winging (pun intended!) its way to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada just as soon as the money transaction has been completed  (I gather that means just as soon as the funds reach the Shop's Bank Account.  So I guess the departing Duckling will be posted on Wednesday afternoon, when Isobel does part of her weekly shop and can post the parcel while she is in Kirkby in Ashfield Town Centre.)

I'm told, too, that one of the Ducklings was "booked" by a family friend during the Coffee Session in the Cathedral Hall today, but wasn't actually purchased.  (Neither Isobel nor the potential Buyer had sufficient change for the transaction!).  That will take place next Sunday, other things being equal - or that is the current plan!  Looks like Isobel is going to have to cut out some more of each Poultry species, in case there is a sudden rush for them before Easter - both on line, or in real life!

There is good news too of my young Friend, PuffinDR - made as a dry run model for PuffinR who returned home to Rhode Island, NY at the end of February.  PuffinDR has found himself a Forever Home too! 

During the Heart Attack session Isobel told you about in last week's post, we received an order for PuffinDR from a former team member (on another Etsy Team, of which Isobel no longer is a part) with whom she has kept in touch via Facebook.  MrsLLS has recently become a Grandmother for the first time, to a little Boy - and she and her daughter picked PuffinDR to become BabyM's Best Friend.  So, as PuffinDR was in stock, once the payment had been completed (see above for that procedure!), a package was assembled.  After the usual Farewell Ceremony that I supervise had taken place, off PuffinDR went - headed for Marysville, Washington State, U.S.A

The photograph below was actually taken before PuffinR (originally our Patient in the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/79124185/stuffed-toy-animal-restoration-clinic?ref=shop_home_active_1 ) was dispatched.  But Isobel felt that it was nice that it should be used now - celebrating the fact that the two COLDHAMCUDDLIES Puffin Toys will shortly be effectively "straddling" the United States of America!  Now we've got to see if we can fill some of the spaces in between on that huge Continent - with more Puffins from our Bird Colony, as well as any other COLDHAMCUDDLIES Toy lucky enough to find a Forever Home too!  But that's going to mean Isobel sewing up  a storm - not only with the Poultry Toys, but also some replacement Puffins pretty darn fast too!

Puffin DR is on the left of the picture

Incidentally, we received a 5 Star Review for the work done on PuffinR this week: DadR kindly said in it

james rhodes on 30 Mar, 2017

5 out of 5 stars

Puffin made it back sooner than anticipated, fully restored and wholly loved by his forever friend.

The plan for today's post was originally intended to be a story as to how the Ducklings came to be made.  However, like all good plans, they can be changed if necessary - so I'm  now going to START the Duckling Production saga, and finish it off next week.

A couple of posts ago, Isobel told you that the pattern for the Ducklings, as with the Chickens, were provided by MrsSF - fellow member of a Facebook Group on which Isobel is very active these days (as well as the Teams on Etsy).   This is all part of the necessary online sales activity to try to attract Buyers for the Cuddlies from all over the world.  MrsSF provided the patterns free of charge - for which naturally we were very grateful.  Last evening, after the Ducklings were listed, Etsy Shop links for both the Chickens and Ducklings were sent to MrsSF (together with good wishes for her New Home - she was due to move in on Saturday, 1st April!) inviting her to choose which Chicken and Duckling she would like for her children in return.  (Another reason why Isobel is going to have to do some rapid sewing this week too, methinks!)

Isobel likes to start any Toys off by sewing the "peripherals" - be they beaks, feet, wings or arms and legs.  So in the Ducklings' case, she began with the beaks and feet - shown here, cut out and ready for action!  The Beaks have been sewn together, but the feet (three pairs) have yet to have that attention.

Sewing the body of the Duckling did not prove to be a problem.  Nor did the feet, this time around.

Here are the relevant pieces waiting to be sewn together for the first Duckling.  However, even at this stage, the Beak did seem somewhat large and out of proportion to the rest of the Duckling Toy's body and wings!

Isobel tacked the first beak into place, and alas our suspicions were confirmed.  You can see how very "top heavy" - if that is the description - the beak does look.  So, she took the beak out of the Duckling's face and parted the two layers.  She then only fitted the lower beak, having cut off the narrow end of the pattern piece and folded the sides together.  This is the resulting Duckling "look" with which Isobel was much happier.  The Toy's eyes are constructed by tying a knot at the end of a piece of Black Double Knit Yarn, and then sewing it into shape and place with matching black cotton thread.

The feet were just being sewn in place when the photograph above was taken, but I think you will agree that the protruding beak looks very much more comfortable with only the lower part of the original pattern being used.  (Isobel has kept the upper layers - just in case she decides to make use of them at a later date.  NOTHING goes to waste in this Shop!).  

Think this week's bulletin has now gone on long enough, so I'll close it - and we'll bring you the full Duckling Listing details - and any updates on the fortunes of both our Chickens and Baby Ducks  -next week. Until then, wishing you a really good week - and hoping all the children breaking up for their Easter Breaks/Vacations  have a great time too.

Your Friend,

Cy Bear.

Cuddlies' Poultry Production - Update

Hello again Everyone - as usual this week has rushed by:

Cy Bear is still off-duty, as it's better that I take over when any explanations of how COLDHAM CUDDLIES Toys are produced (or Patients are treated), than leaving it to Cyril Bear (in case you'd forgotten that is is REAL name!  He was named that by Peter when I made him shortly after opening up our Shop - www.COLDHAMCUDDLIES.etsy.com, because he reminded him of a really good friend of the family!).

Well, as promised in last week's post in which our Baby Chicken Toy was introduced, developments during the week are shown here.

Our Baby Chicken Toy has just been completed - yes, as an Easter Toy - but also as one that can be purchased (and played with) all year round.  In other words, it is an ANY TIME TOY!

The Fleece Baby Chickens' dimensions are

Height:  2.5 inches (  6.4 cms) - from "floor" to tip of tail

Length:  6.5 inches (10.6 cms) - around middle, under the wings.

Weight:  Very light, they barely register on the weigh scale!

The three Chickens are shown "standing" on their Orange Felt legs which are sewn to the base of their bodies.  Each Chicken illustrated has a different beak - being the first to be produced for our Shop, they are still somewhat "experimental"!  Buyers are welcome to let me know (via Notes to Sellers in the Etsy Check Out Form, at time of ordering,  convo here,  or by email at coldhamcuddlies@tiscali.co.uk) as to which one they would like, or which they consider should be the "norm" for the future.  Two models have felt beaks, the third Stuffed Baby Chicken has an embroidered Orange Beak.  Their eyes have been created with a knot at the end of a piece of Black DK Knitting Yarn and tied firmly through the stuffing of each Chicken Toy, before the final closing seam is done.  The stuffing is polyester meeting all international safety standards, and all three Baby Fleece Chickens have been made in totally animal and smoke free surroundings - as are all COLDHAMCUDDLIES Toys.  Each Baby Chicken Toy is "topped off" with a Red Felt Crop, sewn firmly into the head seams of each Chicken Toy.

NB:  The Eggs in the pictures - wrapped in paper and/or acting as "nests" are purely for pictorial purposes.  They are not included in the purchase price.

The Stuffed Baby Chickens can be purchased singly or as a job lot - but, where multiple orders are made, the base price of £5.00 each (6.25 USD)  will be REDUCED by .50 GBP each (.65 USD) until 4 extra chickens are ordered over the initial single chicken (making up to 5 in total = £20.50 per 5 pack:  25.59 USD per pack of 5).

These are not the first fleece Bird Toys we have introduced to our Flock of Birds in our Shop: our first was this Puffin Toy, who joined us at the end of February, 2017, after being used as the "dry run" model for a Patient in our Stuffed Animal Toy Restoration Clinic - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/79124185/stuffed-toy-animal-restoration-clinic?ref=shop_home_active_1

Just to remind you what Our Puffin looks like!

They are undoubtedly the smallest to date, however.  They each take about 2-3 hours in total to make (usually over two evenings, which is when I tend to do my toy-making.)  The shipping time quoted in our listing for this toy type is set to allow for any projects in hand when your order is received.  Orders are dealt with strictly in order of their arrival.

These Yellow Baby Chickens are now  listed in the Bird Plush Toy section of our Shop - click here to see our Owls and Penguin as well.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES?ref=hdr_shop_menu&section_id=18803266

Listing on Etsy can take some time, and it's been pretty time-consuming lately with lots of changes being introduced to the content of  EVERY toy listing in our Shop (now totalling 107!).  While engaged in this undertaking, I've changed some of the previous content, and added some extra information - which hopefully will result in many more Cuddlies finding Forever Homes in 2017. 

Another view of our Three Chicks with their Different "Beaks"

The first paragraph is inviting potential buyers to visit the link below - which allows them to see what previous Customers have said about their experience(s) visiting the Shop. 

"Meanwhile, you might be interested in seeing what other folk have to say about the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Toys that have become members of their household - click here to see the reviews received to date.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES?ref=hdr_shop_menu&section_id=18803266#reviews

Then this final paragraph occurred to me while I was involved in PuffinR's treatment recently.   The FamilyR were brilliant at responding to hints in this blog!!  However, I don't always use this route to communicate while a transaction is under way!!

Recently, while working on orders received, I've really needed to get in touch with my customers while the production process was in progress. This can be because I need to check their actual requirements (individual measurements, for example), or give them a choice of  Toys - when I have more than ONE in stock. Those who leave an email do respond- because their ever-present smart phones tell them when a NEW message comes in!!!  There are therefore few delays in their Toy, Slipper or Golf Club Cover order leaving our Shop on time.  There have been times though when I've had to send the finished item, based on what I THINK the Buyer wants - not always a satisfactory outcome.  Which is why I "cooked up" this request which has been added to EVERY Listing in the Shop.    It will be interesting to see if this helps when answers are invaluable - and I'm hoping no potential Customer will be put off!

"NB: On line purchasing while undoubtedly convenient, can be somewhat impersonal. At COLDHAMCUDDLIES, we do want to ensure Buyers' total satisfaction with the eventual outcome of our contacts. There can be times when I need to get in touch after your order has been confirmed - particularly when a "made to measure" situation is involved. So, please leave a link by which we can ALWAYS communicate at reasonable times. Thank you!"

Right Folks:  that's it for this week.  Have cut out 3 Ducklings, and am well underway with the sewing of one of them.  Aim to have all three done by next week-end.  

Will now end because I'm deeply involved in another of the Monthly Heart Attack sessions on the Etsy FriendsRUs Team (#EtsyFRU) - which usually begin in Israel where one of the Team Leaders   https://www.etsy.com/uk/people/Viyoli starts off the Thread, to be closely followed by another Leader - who lives in Bucharest - https://www.etsy.com/uk/people/cristinatoys ).  Both then "hold the fort" until the Captain  ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MoreFriendsAndCo and other Team Leaders join in (they all live in the USA!) - and team members drop in (and out) during the next 12 hours, with the Thread closing at 0900 EST in the USA on Monday.   I join in usually around 1400 hours BST (our clocks went forward at 0200 hours today - so we're all lacking an hours sleep in the UK!).  But this is a truly international team game, in real time, and it does result in plenty of sales for many members.  Today, our esteemed Leader, actually woke up to 4 sales - and one of them she'd only posted a few minutes after joining in!!  (Anyone interested in seeing how it works, and the international locations of the participants can click on this link - and see how it's going!  https://www.etsy.com/uk/teams/24793/etsy-friendsrus/discuss/18293583/page/9?post_id=373978603&prior_page=8    All hearts very welcome - for whomever, wherever!)

Until next week then!   Isobel