Our Yellow Bear Friend has a Makeover.

Good Afternoon Everyone:

Cy Bear back once more and, this time, at the usual time for our post to get written and published!  We've been less hectic this week, and concentrating on the Shop and it's latest re-listing cycle.  Isobel has worked on new Titles for the items we've attended to this week - doing one a day, while keeping up with the daily Etsy promotional activities required to draw attention to the Shop and our products.  It's enabled us to carry out some remedial work on one of my Best Friends, Yellow Plush Bear. 

Regular readers of this blog may recall that last Autumn (2017) Isobel decided to give my Friend, Panda Bear a makeover.  He'd  been skulking in the Shop ( https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES ) for some time, and she wondered if the way he looked might have had something to do with his not attracting a Forever Friend.


Panda Bear became a Patient in the Stuffed Animal Restoration Clinic (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/589621523)  shortly after this thought had occurred, looking like this:

A couple of days later, after having his nose and mouth re-stitched, Panda Bear looked like this:  with a new nose, and a smiling face.

So, we were delighted when only a few weeks later, just before we attended WINTERFEST2017 at Thoresby Courtyard in November, Panda found a new home in Nottingham - just in time for Christmas.  This is the final photograph we have - taken in the car, on his way home, after the Christmas Bazaar, which he had been allowed to stay with us for - and which is how he came to have this red label on (he left us immediately after the Thoresby Show ended).

Whether or not the fact Panda had been given a new look played a part in this happy result may be just coincidence. but our Yellow Plush Bear(YPB) has also been waiting some time for His Forever Home, having found one once, and then his prospective Forever Friend changed her mind, and did not complete the transaction with us - an occupational hazard, alas!.

Isobel has often thought that YPB might be suffering a similar lack of interest on the part of potential Adopters, so this week she decided to do something about it - while giving her arthritic fingers some gentle sewing exercise to get them used to the idea of getting going once more.

When he was first made - for his original Adopter, she had requested that he didn't "look too cheerful", and as you know, Isobel does like to meet everyone's wishes as best she can.  So, YPB's mouth was sewn with a somewhat stern look.  When the make over was completed last week, YPB now looks like this:

His particular treatment consisted of his nose and mouth being cut out and completely re-designed, and I think he definitely looks a more cheerful and happy Bear.  (He's also still got the green spotted satin ribbon he had on for the Thoresby Courtyard Show).  Isobel  wielded her special scisssors, as well - purchased for shaping the faces of Cuddlies made with faux fur and thicker plushes, as YPB is, and cut carefully around both YPB's eyes.  He can now see his surroundings much better, and maybe more to the point, EVERYONE else can see his bright amber coloured eyes better too!

A side-ways view of  YPB's previous  "look

A close-up of how he faces the world now.

Isobel re-listed YPB earlier last week, and we now await developments with interest.  Meanwhile, we're deep into the latest re-listing session (which takes place every 3 months), so we've got plenty to occupy ourselves, as well as attend to developments on the Oscar Blue Rabbit front - to which I alluded last week as well.  That can keep for another post, so I'll close this week's bulletin now.

Have a good week, everyone!

Your Friend, Cy Bear.

Normal Service has resumed: sorry for the break in posting!

Well Hello there Everyone!  Cy Bear and Isobel back again, with some catch-up news and a new COLDHAMCUDDLIES product to tell you about.

Guess you've all just about given up on us, since it's well over a month since we last posted.  There are good reasons:  when Isobel is not sewing, and helping me write about her activities here, she is also the Secretary to the Old Chapel Close (OCC) Tenants' Association (which is where we live, as most of you know).  That duty has impinged on our lives somewhat since the beginning of February, but it has now hopefully been handled to the satisfaction of our Friends here at OCC.  It did however involve letter writing hither and yon, attending meetings called to deal with the subject matter of said letters, and setting up an agreement between our Landlord and us Tenants, which we hope will provide a framework for future collaboration.  Since several of our Friends here are house-bound, that meant Isobel having to visit these ladies and gentlemen, and once there, she couldn't really rush away, because we all like having visitors to speak to, especially if one is dependent on Carers (with little time to stop and talk during their visits)  as several of them are.  So ...... hopefully you'll see where the time has gone?  Besides, Isobel isn't averse to a good chat herself either!

In addition, as we mentioned in our January 28th  post, Isobel's arthritis really flared up, and the treatment took its time  (really just increasing her already strong pain killer medication - because the arthritic variety she suffers is the osteo kind, and being "lifetime wear and tear", there's precious little the medical fraternity seem to be able to do about it)   took its time.  took.The increased medication has finally begun to kick in, so sewing is once again being considered - it's been a bit painful until now though.   

Before it got too bad however, we were able to cut out, sew and complete that pair of Ladies Slippers that we'd had on our Order Book  since October last year.  So, here are some photos of the latest addition to the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Slipper collection.

The pair completed and ready to be fitted.

The original order came in as the result of our Customer - a fellow resident at OCC - seeing some Slippers during the October MacMillan Cancer Coffee Morning and asking if Isobel could make her a pair of Brown Plush Slippers, with a Yogi Bear type head on.  The Customer is not a fit person, and spends a lot of time in bed - so it was important for her measurements to be spot on.  She had feet that differed in size - both lengthwise at the foot, and around her ankles - but as all our Slippers are, "Custom Made" is one of our bench marks (as is "Made to Measure"). 

Keeping the Customer's feet warm and snug

During one of our visits, Isobel realised that it would actually be unsafe for the Yogi Bear Heads to be applied, as MrsPD-S favours long length clothing, and a Bear Head could actually become a tripping hazard.  That fact was accepted, and the production of the footwear commenced. 

As usual, we started off cutting out the insole to fit the measurements taken, and sewing on the leatherette cover - making an extra layer of covering for the final footwear.  Then the outside of the

slipper sides/uppers, together with the poodle fur lining we use for all our Slippers, gets sewn on, and the insole lining is attached.

Add caption

Isobel forgot to take a picture of this stage when making the Brown Plush pair, but we're showing you a photo taken when we were making our Snowy Owl Slippers a year ago - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/582081671/snowy-owl-slippers-white-owl-slippers?ref=shop_home_active_5 - because every pair of Slippers goes through the same procedure.  Once the insole is in, the front of the slipper is sewn together - lining first, and then the outer covering.  Isobel uses ladder stitch to do this, which results in an almost invisible seam for both layers - which makes it more comfortable the wearer.

Then the trimming is added - in this case, a crimson red satin ribbon one and elastic (cut to match the ankles of the wearer, plus a couple of inches - so that any future change in ankle circumference can be accommodated) is threaded through.  And there we are - the finished article.

It took Isobel 6 days to do the two slippers, not much longer than normal fortunately.

Before closing, some news about Oscar the Blue Rabbit and how the February 6th Launch of the film in which the original model, on which he is based, fared.   Apparently it went very well, and Oscar was much admired.  The specialist primary school teachers at which the presentation was aimed were duly impressed with both the film and it's model and several expressed interest in possibly purchasing some in the future.  As all teaching in the UK (and elsewhere too, of course) is planned well in advance, as are the budgets for the programmes involved, we're not expecting a deluge of orders - which is just as well, given Isobel's slower production pace.  

(We're hoping to get started on the Tulsa version of Oscar next week - on top of the painful hands, the weather here has prevented Isobel from accessing the fleece she wants to use for the future Blue Rabbits - as she wasn't entirely happy with the stuff she had in hand when making the first model.  As dyes rarely stay the same, she's planning on getting sufficient fabric for the future models too - because even if the order changes, she has enough alternative uses for Pale Blue Fleece for surplus supplies to be used in future.  With any luck, Oscar 2 will arrive in the USA around about Easter time!)

However, this week we learned that the Specialist Nurse attached to the OAC (Oxford Against Cutting) programme has declared she'd like to have 6 of them - with a May 1st dateline mentioned.  So, MsKA, our OAC liaison person, has now set out to fund-raise to be able to send us the order!  As the Nurse is part of the same organisation, the monies need to come from their supporters and friends.  We're hoping that the order will come in stages, so that we can fit them into Isobel's other production plans, as we do want to have a few new Cuddlies to offer this year, as usual.

More anon.   Hopefully, without too much more of a break in posts! 

Your Friend, Cy Bear.

Introducing Oscar Blue Rabbit - Mascot for a Very Important Cause

Hello there, Everyone - Cy Bear back again and fortunately - for this week at any rate - on time!

In last week's post, I alluded to Oscar Blue Rabbit and to his being a very Special Rabbit.  When the enquiry first came in from the MsKA, representing the Buyer,  in November 2017, we found out it was from a Charity based in Oxford, UK.   Isobel didn't realise the true significance of this particular Story until he was finished and almost ready to be dispatched.  So, this post is going to tell you ALL about Oscar Blue Rabbit  - and what it is hoped he will be able to do in future.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/575240082/oscar-rabbit-custom-order-toy-

First of all - as of yesterday -  this is now Oscar Blue Rabbit's official listing in our shop (www.COLDHAMCUDDLIES.etsy.com) - and  he is the official Mascot for the Charity,  OXFORD AGAINST CUTTING (OAC).  As such, he is currently a one-off - and so does not have the COLDHAMCUDDLIES label sewn anywhere on his torso.  He will not appear officially off line until next Tuesday, 6th February, when he will be launched as he is playing a prominent role in a film, specially created to be circulated to primary school teachers so that he can help OAC in their work - which is educating people about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and how wrong and unnecessary it is.  (MsKA gave Isobel  permission to publish the listing early - so here it is!)

Tuesday, 6th February is a Very Important Day - because it is the INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ZERO INTOLERANCE for FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM) and Oxford Against Cutting has created a toolkit for primary school teachers to talk to young children about bodily integrity.  The tool kit includes a lesson plan and film (Who Can You Tell: https://www.youtube.com/watch/v=DuGY bNfUmO) and Oscar takes a leading part in this film.   It's official launch is on that date - at one of the local schools in the Oxford Area.   Isobel got an official invitation to the event, but because of other commitments here at home (e.g. with her Dentist) she had to decline. 

For those of our readers unfamiliar with FGM, here is a brief description, provided for our listing by MsKA:  FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) involves the cutting of the female genitalia for cultural reasons and has no health benefit whatsoever. It can be extremely harmful, with many girls bleeding to death. FGM survivors are often left with life-long physical and emotional trauma. 

For further information about the work and ambitions of Oxford against Cutting (and the February 6th event) please click here - http://www.oxfordagainstcutting.org/

The left hand photograph below is of The Blue Rabbit - as he is called in the film.  "Oscar" is the name Isobel called him while she was making him, and it was accepted by MsKA from OAC, with whom we have regularly chatted throughout the process of this order.  It is the one on which Oscar Blue Rabbit has been based.

Designer's calculations are on the right of this picture

The original enquiry wanted to know  if  Isobel could make a cuddly Toy, using similar colour fleece to the photographed model.  Buoyed by the recent success we had enjoyed at the WINTERFEST Christmas Bazaar, she felt able to accept the challenge.  (Misgivings set in pretty fast once she'd done so!!)

(Much of this post will be based on the actual listing for Oscar in this Shop - there seems little point in my duplicating stuff when there is no need.  This will explain the difference in some of the  print fonts that follow as well!)

Everyone who knows Isobel,  knows she is hopeless without a pattern, even though the OAC provided us with a photograph,  So she appealed for help from Etsy Team Members with whom she regularly liaises, and also to a former customer/collaborater - Sean Smith, Puppeteer Extraordinaire, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.  A copy of the original photograph was sent to Tulsa (isn't technology great - when it works)?  He set to - and Sean Smith's calculations are shown alongside it - in this second photograph,  

The pattern pieces were then transferred to two sheets of printing paper, posted back to us - with the instruction that they should all be increased by 200%.  The instructions were followed - to the letter - and Oscar is the result, after several attempts on Isobel's part.  Creating a fabric toy model based on a photograph of a plastic/plasticine animation model evidently had it's challenges!  

As you may have observed, Oscar Blue Rabbit in his role as Mascot Toy for the Oxford Against Cutting's latest project doesn't have the whiskers the original designer had in mind.  They look splendid in the supplied  photograph - but not when Isobel had a go - 

Our own supply of Cat's Whiskers were too thin.  When our haberdashery supplier was consulted, the pipe cleaners (see in the above photo) in as near a colour match as we could find, were far too fat.  So, as Isobel is not keen on spiky appendages to Cuddly Toys as a rule, and in particular where Oscar is concerned, after discussion with MsKA, we did not progress any further along this route..  Whiskers, no matter how they are made, can't help but be spiky -  and we all think Oscar's chubby cheeks look great without them.  Do hope Oscar's prospective Forever Friends will agree.  They, of course, are at liberty to decorate THEIR Oscar Blue Rabbit in any way THEY choose, once he arrives home.

The following photos show how Oscar came into being:

The original pattern only allowed for two head pieces, and Isobel did think it might be easier if Oscar had a gusset joining them together (shown here)  The ears were tacked on, but he didn't look right, so two more head pieces were cut out, and we started all over again.  (The additional gusset fabric made the head even heavier than it already is)

This time around, Oscar's eyes were changed slightly, and his cheek pieces laid on his face before being finally attached.  Then Isobel went to work on his body, and that proved an exercise in itself.  The original photograph shows him with rather spindly arms and legs

 - which might well work for a plasticine animation model, but doesn't quite do the same when you make them with fabric, stuffed with polyester (meeting all international safety standards, by the way). The foot pattern template provided by Sean Smith was entirely inadequate to have any hope of Oscar standing on his own. (In messages between them, Sean Smith did admit to being somewhat concerned himself! He also made the template so that the legs were attached more as part of a hip, rather than directly to the body at its bottom - as in the original picture.)   However, with judicious fiddling around, Isobel did manage to get him to stand - by using the template for our Lady Dressed Toys'shoes, and shaping them to make them look like feet.  Each foot now also has a piece of cardboard on the base, which helps Oscar to stand better.  He also now has a head that will stay upright, by shortening it a little, and packing in the stuffing - to hold it in situ when attached to his body.  

By this time, you will see, Oscar has a mouth - in the original photo, you can see that it goes right across the face in one straight line.  Isobel felt that that gave him too severe a look, so shortened it - and when the photograph was sent to MsKA, she came back asking if we could make Oscar have more of a smile.  You can see in the first picture to this post, that this was achieved - but not before de-stuffing the head, before the head was attached to the body.

In all the excitement, and to-ing and froing, between Tulsa, Oxford and Kirkby in Ashfield, Oscar nearly appeared minus that vital appendage that no self-respecting Rabbit should be seen in public without  - his Fluffy White Tail.  Again, Isobel resorted to her Rabbit patterns, created a slightly larger one to match Oscar's own vital statistics, and the result is shown here.

The lighting for this photo is not right, but it does show the vital appendage.  There's something in the light blue fleece fabric that doesn't like being photographed under the electric lights in our flat.  It's not much better when we try to take photographs of our Rabbits in bright daylight either.  Isobel will have to ponder on how to get around this problem - if we are to offer many more Oscars (and other Light Blue Fleece Rabbits - Big or Small) in future. 

A second rabbit was also made - 

with similar colours to Oscar,  but based on our own pattern, used for Fleece Rabbits in the COLDHAMCUDDLIES Shop - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES - in case the original photograph did not result in a completed Toy.  Isobel made him Oxford Blue coloured paws and feet, and his facial features were sewn on in matching blue Double Knit Yarn. He also got a pair of Oxford Blue Ear linings made in fleece, rather than our usual satin lining fabric.   In the event, it was not required.  He therefore accompanied Oscar Blue Rabbit when he went to meet the Oxford Against Cutting Team for the first time.  He is COLDHAMCUDDLIES' first donation towards the Charity's fund-raising efforts and we hope it won't be the last.  (It would seem that having a black background does help the photographing conundrum referred to earlier!).  

Currently, Oscar is a one-off.  However, Isobel  retains the pattern templates (again with the agreement of Oxford Against Cutting - just in case anyone else would like to have their own Oscar.  She inadvertently omitted to send them with Oscar when he went to meet his Destiny earlier this Year.  Although based on the original pattern, future Oscar Blue Rabbits will not be an EXACT duplicate of the one we are looking at here.  Isobel finds it impossible to create an EXACT COPY of any Toy she makes - that is, after all, the point of "HAND MADE" and the difference between machine produced toys.  The more Oscars who are made, should result in a faster turn around, as well.   (Sean Smith has already indicated he would like one!!!)  

NB:  Every Oscar Blue Rabbit who gets adopted will result in 20% of his purchase price (£5.00:  circa $7.00 USD) being donated to Oxford Against Cutting (registered charity number 1161597) to assist the Charity in their important, demanding, and relatively unpublicised work in stopping this abuse of human rights against girls and young women.   (Any new Oscars will also have a COLDHAMCUDDLIES label attached under his Tail - as do all our Fleece Bunnies).

Here's a direct message from Isobel herself:

PLEASE BE AWARE;  Orders received for any COLDHAMCUDDLIES products are handled in order of receipt, and Oscar's potential adopters will receive EXACTLY the same treatment.  COLDHAMCUDDLIES, as well as being a handmade Toy Shop, is also a "prescribed" occupational therapy for myself - to assist in keeping increasing arthritis in my hands and other limbs at bay.  The current dispatch dates are therefore set to allow me reasonable time to make a new Oscar (or other COLDHAM Cuddly) from scratch, but also to take account of Work in Progress at the time any enquiry is received.  Dispatch dates are NORMALLY well within the set timetable, and any changes are notified via email and/or the Etsy convo system. Please take this situation into account when placing your order.  No one connected with this project wants YOU to be disappointed.

We'll be back in touch again soon - hopefully next week, but one never knows!!

Have a good week Everyone!  

Your Friend

Cy Bear