![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phosfateRaggedy's hair now contains ribbon and strips of velour, and could, conceivably, turn out fucking awesome.
So last night I hauled Brown Bear and White Bear out of the basement. I decided to do Brown first, since he's most in need of help and has the simplest construction. Whipped out an ex-acto knife and looked for his main seam.
Turns out he's held together with fishing line. Oh, Christ, I would like to find out who invented invisible thread and biff them in the nuts with a bolster. Anyway, I opened him up (carefully). Then it was time to remove the stuffing.
His stuffing was a perfectly revolting mixture of ground newsprint and mushrooms. Okay, actually it was styrofoam chips and...waste fiber? Kapok? Asbestos? When I start erupting in tumours, we'll know. Horrible, horrible stuff. Mercifully it was free of swarming insects, gobs of mold, petrified baby mice, or flesh-eating scarabs. But they were there in my mind, and that's really all that matters. It took an hour and three plastic grocery bags to get it all out. Brown looked desperately unhappy, but I can't imagine he's not glad to be rid of that stuff.
Then I took him down and put him in the washing machine, apologizing the whole time. He was very small without stuffing. I felt horribly guilty, the way that you do when you have to put an old and loyal friend to possible death. Like Darth Vader throttling an Admiral, except, y'know, not evil.
He made it through okay, I think. He's on a hanger in the laundry room. Some of the more strained seams are now holes, thanks to the invisible thread's garotting action on the wet fabric. On the other hand, the giant hard patch from where Tasha spent an hour licking him is completely gone, and he only whiffs faintly of Cheer with Color Guard.
White bear waits on a chair in the dining room, observing all the goings-on and probably terrified out of his little mind. Heh.
So last night I hauled Brown Bear and White Bear out of the basement. I decided to do Brown first, since he's most in need of help and has the simplest construction. Whipped out an ex-acto knife and looked for his main seam.
Turns out he's held together with fishing line. Oh, Christ, I would like to find out who invented invisible thread and biff them in the nuts with a bolster. Anyway, I opened him up (carefully). Then it was time to remove the stuffing.
His stuffing was a perfectly revolting mixture of ground newsprint and mushrooms. Okay, actually it was styrofoam chips and...waste fiber? Kapok? Asbestos? When I start erupting in tumours, we'll know. Horrible, horrible stuff. Mercifully it was free of swarming insects, gobs of mold, petrified baby mice, or flesh-eating scarabs. But they were there in my mind, and that's really all that matters. It took an hour and three plastic grocery bags to get it all out. Brown looked desperately unhappy, but I can't imagine he's not glad to be rid of that stuff.
Then I took him down and put him in the washing machine, apologizing the whole time. He was very small without stuffing. I felt horribly guilty, the way that you do when you have to put an old and loyal friend to possible death. Like Darth Vader throttling an Admiral, except, y'know, not evil.
He made it through okay, I think. He's on a hanger in the laundry room. Some of the more strained seams are now holes, thanks to the invisible thread's garotting action on the wet fabric. On the other hand, the giant hard patch from where Tasha spent an hour licking him is completely gone, and he only whiffs faintly of Cheer with Color Guard.
White bear waits on a chair in the dining room, observing all the goings-on and probably terrified out of his little mind. Heh.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 03:16 pm (UTC)*hides eyes*
Run, White bear, run while you can!
Stuffed Thingees
Date: 2004-11-09 03:16 pm (UTC)Also, I am still stalled on my Tarutaru (that thingee with the Samurai hat) plushie thingee. But, I thought of a way to get around my problem of making a pattern for the head: pin fabric around a styrofoam ball. I figure, if I can figure out the approximate shape needed for 2 - 4 strips of cloth, then I can sew them together, stuff them, and they'll somewhat resemble a round head.
Whattaya think?
Re: Stuffed Thingees
Re: Stuffed Thingees
Date: 2004-11-09 05:09 pm (UTC)Re: Stuffed Thingees
Date: 2004-11-09 05:16 pm (UTC)BUT! It is possible to do the styrofoam ball core thing. This book will show you how:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/087040556X/qid=1100020443/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-7489140-3508105?v=glance&s=books
Ms Yoneyama uses an excelsior core, but a styro ball with a stick in it works just as well. You can get it used for a couple of bucks.
Re: Stuffed Thingees
Date: 2004-11-09 06:06 pm (UTC)Adapting a snub-nosed Teddy head pattern occured to me, but I didn't know where to find one. And when I think of Teddy bears, I think of noses that look differently than Tarus. It really is like a spherical head with a teeny, tiny pyramid sticking out where the nose is.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 03:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 03:34 pm (UTC)I have a stuffed-friends-maintenance paranoia ever since a soaked through Luzie stared at me reproachfully from a cullender for two days! (Luzie is a stuffed gorilla and named after the brat in the icon, incidentally. And resentful, too)
Did you put brown bear in the washing machine inside a pillow cover?
(no subject)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 04:16 pm (UTC)But now that you say it, yes, it might help with protecting the washing machine from the evil bear entrails, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 05:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 03:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 03:51 pm (UTC)Poor White Bear. Wondering what horrors wait him.
(no subject)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 04:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 05:50 pm (UTC)You *like* scaring the stuffing out of your animals, don't you?
Not that that's a *bad* thing, mind.
And that quote button isn't as fun as italics.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 06:37 pm (UTC)True. I want a option to disable the use of the quote button on my journal. An unquote button maybe.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 06:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
(no subject)
Italics are way more fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-09 08:38 pm (UTC)I would like to watch, okay?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-10 02:31 pm (UTC)