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:
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| 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
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
ColdhamCuddliescalling: Just looking in......
ColdhamCuddliescalling: Just looking in......: "No time for blogging for a few days - working on a new version of Brown Hairy Bear (heard today that there might be an order for him in a da..."
Just looking in......
No time for blogging for a few days - working on a new version of Brown Hairy Bear (heard today that there might be an order for him in a day or two: a gratifying surprise), getting ready to entertain friends from the village to lunch and still trying to get the details of blogging properly sorted. Cannot seem to get the hang of moving from this site to other blogs and back again - but will persevere and hopefully, soon, the penny will drop.
At the suggestion of son-in-law Alan, moved my browser to Google Chrome, because he said the whole thing was less cluttered. Problem is, have got used to clutter when surfing etc, so have returned to Mozilla Firefox, because for some reason or another, my dealings with Etsy started to fail. So, with the prospect of an order in the offing, have moved back almost to the previous settings. That's my problem, I have a little knowledge: and there is an old "saying" that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In my case, it sure can be. I click on invitations to do this and that, and find myself in a whole new world - which may (and in many cases is not) be what I'm trying to achieve!
Have today also managed to link my Windows Live site to RSS Atom feeds, which I've noticed a lot of folks have on their blogsites, so must be something I should be involved with, and while I'm inputting here I notice on the computer's edge something about "transferring data from ssl.gstatic.com" - now, I'm finding that anything with a "g" in front of it usually has a Google connection, and as this blog also has one, hopefully, that too will end up positively affecting my future activities.
So, rather than ramble on any more, thought I'd end up with a picture showing a view of part of the garden here at The Hospital of St. John - where Peter and I live - and within which most of the current photographs of the ColdhamCuddlies (http://www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.) have been taken. The buildings in the background consist of the Residents' Hall (where jollies take place) and some of the flat (apartments). We live on the top floor of another wing, built at the same times as these were - 1972 (and they are referred to as "the New Building"! When other parts of the complex were existing since 1672, I suppose they can be!!
Hope to be back again with, or without, Cy Bear, soon.
At the suggestion of son-in-law Alan, moved my browser to Google Chrome, because he said the whole thing was less cluttered. Problem is, have got used to clutter when surfing etc, so have returned to Mozilla Firefox, because for some reason or another, my dealings with Etsy started to fail. So, with the prospect of an order in the offing, have moved back almost to the previous settings. That's my problem, I have a little knowledge: and there is an old "saying" that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In my case, it sure can be. I click on invitations to do this and that, and find myself in a whole new world - which may (and in many cases is not) be what I'm trying to achieve!
Have today also managed to link my Windows Live site to RSS Atom feeds, which I've noticed a lot of folks have on their blogsites, so must be something I should be involved with, and while I'm inputting here I notice on the computer's edge something about "transferring data from ssl.gstatic.com" - now, I'm finding that anything with a "g" in front of it usually has a Google connection, and as this blog also has one, hopefully, that too will end up positively affecting my future activities.
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| Mulberry trees have been mentioned in earlier posts. This is the oldest one, which might be almost 400 years old |
Hope to be back again with, or without, Cy Bear, soon.
Friday, 6 May 2011
ColdhamCuddliescalling: Now for the next project.......?
ColdhamCuddliescalling: Now for the next project.......?: "The Red Teds before leaving for their destination As has become customary since my arrival at Coldham Cuddlies ( http://www.coldhamcud..."
Now for the next project.......?
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| The Red Teds before leaving for their destination |
As has become customary since my arrival at Coldham Cuddlies (http://www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com/.) and becoming the official mascot, one of my duties is to say goodbye to those destined for pastures new. In this case, for Little Red Ted it was going Home: Big Red Ted was the new boy! Needless to say I'm thrilled that they seem to be happily ensconsed and now look forward to what happens next - especially after the mistake involving Little Red Ted's eyes and ears! After all the poor little chap had gone through, too!
Isobel has just cut out the pattern pieces for the next version of Hairy Brown Bear - replacing Edmonton Hairy Bear and the room is floating in bits of fur left over
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| A Bunny Tree, perhaps? |
from the cutting out process! Bit uncomfortable for folks with breathing problems, which is why most of the sewing involved in the Cuddlies' production gets done in the second bedroom, rather than in the living-room where Peter spends a lot of time. Then, next on the horizon, in between Isobel trying to fathom how to get other sites' "buttons" set up on this blog - something that is driving her stir-crazy, for reasons I do not understand (nor want to) - are two new Foxes (a Mr and a Mrs - to be named when their final costumes are selected), a replacement Koala (for the one that also went to Edmonton, Alberta) and then, just maybe, another Teddy Bear rejuvenation project. That's under discussion, so time will tell.
Meanwhile, it's nice to be able to talk to you all again. Here's another picture with me and the Little Baby Rabbits. Plans call for me to be pictured with all the other Cuddlies shown on http://www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com/ (one at a time) but that's going to have to wait - as the weather seems to be breaking and the light may not allow for the photo-shoots to take place. Then between us, Isobel and I will introduce them to you in this blog - incorporating the information already included in their Shop descriptions and, where needbe, adding more.
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