Memory Bears, Memory Mouse

Here are three lovely big bears, who were gifted yesterday…

One pair of skinny size 8 jeans made one bear. As you can see, I also made 2 bears which are the reverse of each other. 

My mothers house-coat became three tiny mice. One can be found nestled in among my youngest child’s plush. I don’t know if they have a name yet, but one of my twins called her mouse Jenny, almost immediately! I was reminded of my 50 for 50 last year. I hadn’t made a mouse since then … well not one like these! 

Memory Bears

A bear made from T-shirts lined with white fleece, gifted on a wedding day this summer. 

This year, rather sadly, I’ve slipped into making a few memory bears. It’s not completely sad, because it’s also about remembering, and being able to keep clothing of a loved one in a special way. Many years ago I wore my Dad’s jumper for as long as I was able, and then made a set of Christmas stockings for the family which are brought out every year and filled with bits and bobs. And earlier this year, my sister made a bear for my Mother’s widow and gave it to him for his birthday. 

These two bears will be gifted to little girls this Christmas, and are made from shirts worn by a beloved Gramps. If you look you will see that I’ve carefully set the fabrics to mirror each other in the teddies. 

Finally, and just in time for Christmas, I am creating a small number of bears from jeans, inspired by the families love of Charlie bears. 

All the bears shared here are about size of Charlie bears, lovely, big and cuddly. Quite a task to stuff too. But all very important and it’s a great honour to work on them. And my sister has given me a little of my Mother’s house coat, so watch this space. I’m going to make something very, very small. 

Illustrator again!

Happy to see my name in lights today, in the Publishers brochure. I’m a published illustrator for the second time. 

Meanwhile I’m an agented author with picture books out on submission. People think my talent is endless. Well it’s not. I really can’t knit 🧶 

This is Susan, completed!

It was time to put Susan back together, and a double thickness of towel was spread out on the table. 

My visit to Ellie’s Doll Workshop was so helpful. I came away with some beautiful new elastic and some good advice. When you see the elastics side by side it is a great wonder Susan stayed together at all. I think she wore knitted leggings for some years to keep her legs on! The old elastic is so delightful though, and very much part of Susan. So if you are reading this in the future, let me assure you it still is part of her!

I secured the elastic inside a pouch of soft white fleece, just an off cut from making my Edward Tulane Dolls. This I have slipped inside Susan’s torso, and my Raggyrat lable identifies her too! Stringing involved getting loose wires and hooks (they are not joined to Susan) all places and threaded onto the elastic. Below, I’m using my forceps to keep a little tension on, stopping the wire inside her head from slipping. The crack on Susan’s back might break if moved so it was strengthened with epoxy and a piece of sugru, which had plenty of time to cure. 

Here is a close up of Susan’s right hip, showing the roughly cast pottery, and another sugru repair. It also looks like wear and tear has removed quite a bit of her paint. 

Once Susan’s head and legs were all connected it was time to tighten them. I asked Mike for help, and he pulled the elastic tight so I could tie three knots. It was a two handed job, because I wanted to avoid using forceps against the ceramic too much. After my repairs I used the metal ring insert and the elastic to add her voice box back. I tipped Susan back and forth, despite her having no arms yet, but the mama-voice-box never even squeaked! I removed it for safe keeping, and used the new one from Ellie’s Doll Workshop. It was all pink, so I painted the top with Culture Hussle / Stuart Semple’s Black Gold. Just a couple of thin coats made it look way more authentic. Susan speaks! 

Looking through Susan’s right arm socket you can see the voice box resting on the elastic. 

Previously the arms were simply hooked onto the one piece of elastic, but I cut a second piece, and used tension again as the wire and hooks kept slipping back down inside the limb! I had to try a few times to get everything lined up and connected, then clamp with forceps before asking Mike to help me get everything tight. This is so different to jointing the soft toys I’ve made, where I use disks or threads that don’t stretch. 

But we did it. Susan can safely sit again. And stand, if she’s leaning safely! Susan, I think this repair has taken years off you! 

She will be wearing the clothes my Nan knitted later in life, because these too are unique and part of the doll’s story. 

My children didn’t much care for susan when she arrived in 2010, a little worse for wear. They still say her face is a little strange, but that she’s quite nice to pick up and carry on your hip, and yes, she really fits! It takes me back to having my babies, just a little. 

I must say though, for a girl in your sixties (at least) you have lovely legs Susan …

This is Susan, too …

 After carefully taking poor Susan apart and visiting the Doll Workshop in Kinson, it was cleanup time. I washed all her clothes in cool water and used some Vanish for some stain spots, before a cool rinse and spin in the machine. This items were handmade by Nana many years before her death in 2010 so I’m having to replace the elastic on her knitted knickers too. 

And Susan needed a bath too, but being low fire ceramic, and pretty porous, soap and water really isn’t on the cards for her. I found an older paintbrush (not hard for an artist of many years) and also one of my soft, ostrich feather dusters. Ostrich feathers pick up dust using static, then you can shake them off outside. The paint brush loosened a lot of dust. I did wonder who’s skin cells were in there! 

Inside her newly dusted head you can see the eye mechanism. The gentle duster was good to use around her eyes and teeth area. 

The teeth are glued onto a piece of felt, and were poorly attached. Someone got glue all over her teeth but I decided that to try and clean them up might damage the old plastic so I brushed them dry, and used UHU to fix them back behind her bright red lips. 

I think Susan’s face is in great condition, and her colouring very unusual, more like one of my chickens brown eggs than any of the white dolls I’ve seen online. Her eyes seem to be dark grey, not blue or brown. 

Now at  Elllie’s Doll Workshop I bought some new elastic and a new voice. I met another pot doll who was in the shop for a re-string too. I also got Mike’s help to open the old Mama voice and see if we could perhaps hear it again. You can see how I got on in this video on YouTube. I really would like to put her old voice back in! 

This is Susan

Susan is in her 60s and wears aged six-month clothes. She’s been staying with us for a few years. But this year we both became orphans when my mother died of cancer, in March. 

She belonged to my mother, but lived most of her life at my Nana’s house, where sometimes I might be able to reverently hold her. I remember her wearing a pink dress but she came to me some years ago, in this set hand knitted by Nana. Her old head injury was caused by a drop in her early years. It’s got a nice patina on it now. 

Poor Susan was simply made, a post war pot doll. That’s a low fire clay if you are wondering. All of her limbs were held together by elastic which being over 60 years old hadn’t been very elastic for some time, and poor Susan gained a few chips around her joints. One piece of elastic held in everything including making a platform for her voice box, which you can see in the photo below. 

The voice box didn’t work. But I remember Nana tipping her upside down for me when I was a little girl. In her 20s, Susan would still meow like a Cat. But now the little device only goes ‘clunk’. 

So I’m going to do right by Susan. I feel confident to do it now. But I’m heading to Ellie’s Doll Workshop just to check a couple of things, and buy a new voice box and some new elastic. 

Of Serpents …

I’ve loved Ragged Bears since having children and beginning to bring books into the house again. And my first child is now 24! And living in Dorset I’ve kinda made friends with them, I even have a ‘pass’ from them for one of my picture books!

So it’s nice to be able to share some of their books with my teens and with you too. My 16 is currently reading both books. I read them quite quickly, because I really wanted to know how the stories would resolve. Both books are full of beautiful imagery, scents, flavours and rituals, and both have a lot of mystery. The dreams book is the most exciting as it has so much more at stake, but you do need to read both books. I was so glad Ragged Bears sent me both! 

Read these if you like girls coming of age books. 

Prayer flags at the Music festival

Prayers for our time, a lockdown project, are having a surprise outing. As I snuggled down on the sofa on Friday night with a book and my iPad I had a quick look at social media. I was glad I did. Stuart Semple posted that his sister was urgently in need of artwork, after some local artists had to pull out. 

So I emailed right away, just really felt lead to. After finding out it was in the Priory itself, and not say, a church hall, I knew I had to show her my lockdown project. 

We arranged to meet and hubby was only too keen to help out. At the priory, it was he who suggested we use the window bars to hang the pieces using our twine and fishing line. 

Here are the remaining 18 pieces from the full set of 20. And me! 

And my blurb, printed before 8am on a Saturday morning and stitched to a pretty piece of paper! Lastly, here is the leaflet if you fancy some culture this weekend.  Art will be on display on Sunday too. 

I would like to do some more assembled pieces. Looking for inspiration. And time! 

Snuggle Time Easter Stories, and plush rabbits

 It’s always good to have a special friend. And so for my friend Glenys Nellist’s brand new book I felt I ought to suggest she had both of the bunnies that feature on every page of the book. 

I made the little patched rabbit first and hand coloured the markings. 

When they were both completed I told them they were off to meet Glenys, in Michigan and as you can see they were very excited. They have big ears, to listen to the author sharing her stories. 

The book is available in all the usual places and of course it’s perfect for sharing now, during lent. 

Both rabbits popped up in Instagram recently, keep an eye out for them. I love making rabbits and these two are really rather special. Hey, I wonder if they met little Mole? 

Want plush for your book events? Just drop me a line … 

January is cold and dark ...

But in the darkness, hope can always be found. 

And on a cold, cold day you can always put on your warm hat and coat and go outside...

I decided to create in plush Little Mole, because he’s such a dear little character, dreamed up by Glenys Nellist, and drawn so sweetly by Sally Garland.

Interesting to discover that Glenys is Lancashire Lass, like yours truly, and that Sally and I both attended Edinburgh College of Art. Small world? 

I think he likes his book, don’t you? 

I’m going to make something else from a picture book now ...