When I’ve been working on something for a little while and then, all of a sudden, it’s finished, it can be difficult to shift immediately to making something else.

My brain doesn’t seem to have an “off” switch that I can just flip and then move on to the next make. I keep picking up the recently finished creation, putting it in different places. Wondering whether to add some other little detail. Staring at it on the mantelpiece. Looking for faults, analysing what went well and what didn’t.

I suppose it’s a bit like saying goodbye to someone very close that you know has to go away; your thoughts remain with the object of your affections, even though you know that you are only resisting the inevitable.

So it has been with the clog girls I’ve been working on recently. I got thoroughly caught up in the tiny details of their outfits, rummaging endlessly in boxes of bits for the perfect things to make their miniature accessories. Changing my mind and rummaging again.Eventually, however, for even the most captivating creations there comes a time when they are quite definitely done.

And it’s time to think about the next thing.

However, post-clog girls I just couldn’t seem to get excited about anything that I had in mind. There are no more clogs left, so I had to move on. I’d thought of a few ideas, but their time hadn’t quite come yet. In my experience, trying to force an idea onwards too soon is like leading a horse to water, only to watch it take a bath instead of a drink.

I even asked for suggestions on my Facebook page. There were a few, but none of them quite lit my fire.

So I did a few online jigsaw puzzles, which I find very useful for taking my mind to it’s happy place, whilst my partner was cooking dinner. And inspiration, fickle thing that it is, struck – as usual – when I least expected it. I found myself doodling an idea for a new bear’s head on the back of a phone bill envelope.

And then, of course, I just had to see if it would work.

Cotton is both easier and cheaper to experiment with than any kind of furry stuff. I also thought I’d give myself an easy ride by making the pattern a little bit bigger than my usual minuscule efforts. No point in going oh-so-tiny if the whole concept was flawed anyway.

But it wasn’t flawed – it worked! So well in fact, that instead of putting my experiment aside and getting the furry stuff out to make a bear, I finished off my cotton one and gave him all the frills and furbelows he demanded.

So here he is, the result of my latest potterings…His trousers are made from the skirt of one of those old (I’m guessing 1960s or 70s?) plastic national costume dolls people used to always buy at the airport on foreign holidays – this was a Spanish one. She was bought (pre-pandemic) for £1 from the bargain box of a local charity shop and was very much the worse for wear, but I didn’t care (callous, I know!) as I only coveted her stripy skirt fabric. (The rest of her outfit didn’t go to waste though – her blouse ended up on this doll!)

His fez was made a little while ago and was just awaiting the right bonce to come along and wear it. His shirt is made from some crushed velvet, once the lining of a wooden box that I acquired to make into a shadowbox frame. His scarf is silk (what else?)

And of course, he just demanded a silver monocle. The devil!My new bear’s nose is long, which to me is a definite asset rather than a liability, but it causes him to doubt himself. He is an unusual and strong-willed bear of many talents, perhaps a little eccentric. In addition to being a remarkable duelist, he is a gifted, joyful poet and also a musical artist.

His name could only be… Cyrano.

P.S. Cyrano will be available in my next Etsy shop update – date TBA. To be first to know when, subscribe to my mailing list.