New Year, New Bear!

I'm so sorry I didn't photograph this large Wendy Boston style bear before I worked on him, it's a first for me but I really didn't expect the camera would see much difference.

However, now he's all washed and cared for there really is a big difference in him, not just for the camera but in the fur too.

I have cleaned him, re-stuffed him and tended to a torn muzzle. His owner will be meeting him tomorrow and I hope she is as surprised as I am with his new found lease of life!

Happy New Birthday Ginger Bear! :0)

Ready To Face The Next 60 Years

Another patient is ready to leave my Teddy Bear Hospital today.  

He's a Chiltern bear (always such handsome bears) approximately 60 years old and arrived looking rather worse for wear.

He's had some therapeutic treatments whilst under my care including . . . 

• A complete re-stuffing
  
• New wool felt paw and foot pads
  
• Replacement amber glass eyes
  
• An over all cleaning
  
• Re-stitching of nose, mouth and claw features
  
• Darning of all fragile areas
  
• Re-jointing of all limbs and head
  
• Repaired Ting-a-Ling sound
  

I also inserted a small cotton pouch of Cotswold lavender grains into his tummy.  This helps to ward off any insects and keeps his fresh, clean after-bath fragrance . . . I guarantee he'll be attracting those girly bears wherever he goes! :0)  Well a bear feels good if he smells good!

He can now look forward to another 60 years with the right care.

Here he is before and after . . .

A Tight Squeeze

I received a request for a bear to be repaired as a gift for a birthday coming up very soon. Although usually I'd have asked for more time to restore him I didn't want to let him or his owner down. I find it difficult to refuse a bear and when I discovered he's not a very large bear I thought with a little concentrated effort I could fit him in between current repairs.  I set to work on him as soon as he arrived and when I removed the fabric covering his pads I discovered his original pads were a red imitation velvet fabric (see picture above) they were also a distinctively pointed shape at the toe so I replaced them with red velvety paw fabric and copied their original shape.

I also completely re-stuffed him, re-jointed him, replaced his eyes, tidied his nose and mouth stitching and cleaned him.  His owner remembers he used to growl so I gave him a new growl too.

So here he is, after his treatments . . . ready to wish his owner a very Happy Birthday with his new found growl! :0)