Lily

Phew! Lily is finished. I spent a lot of time umming and ahhing about this one. After ages fiddling with the false eyelashes, I finally came up with what I think is quite a pretty bear. Believe you me, she looks nothing like the first 'Fag Ash Lil', who had the most amazingly aggressive, black eyelashes, coloured on in felt-tip.

I had felt that this was a failing in the first bear, and that I could improve upon it if I tried again, but the new eyelashes have changed the character of the bear entirely. This time I almost regretted the cigarette (sewn in before the lashes went on) and I seriously considered scrapping the tabard and head scarf, and going for something prettier and more frivolous.

I love the head shape though - it has something of the beehive above it - and the new eyelashes (although I don't know how durable they are going to be), and the feet are also a surprising success. The soles are not as attractive as they could be, but these feet actually allow her to stand unaided - a feat (tee hee!) previously only achieveable with the aid of foam board inserts and lots of steel shot. They also have a cute little kink in the end, where the toes start (visible, just about, in the last photo). The design needs a little work, but they are lovely.

On to the next job...

6. Sleepy, floppy bear, to hang over the back of an armchair.

The basic idea of this is that you have a loosely-stuffed, squashy body, and you add weight to both ends, so the bear drapes well over the back of an armchair. The draping thing is just for display - there are no advantages that I know of, to draping your bear, rather than sitting it on a shelf. Original display ideas are particularly welcome when I'm trying to keep the craft unit looking fresh though.

Talking of which, unit is looking quite sad and boring at the moment. Because I've been saving stock up, I haven't added anything new to the unit for a long time, and its all looking a bit old and uninspiring. I had second thoughts about waiting, but I would like to try adding new stock in a large bulk lot - just once - to see if it has any effect.

Anyway, the new bear may take quite a while unfortunately - since it will be a completely new design - but I will be back to post the results.