Saturday 21 May 2011

Talking about the Coyotes

Hello everyone:  Cy Bear back again (wondered when Isobel would let me get my nose in again!)

This is a picture of Charlie Coyote's replacement Chuck Coyote

So, taking up where Isobel left off yesterday - more about my friend Chuck Coyote (Etsy Listing: #61408931/www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com).  He's the American version of Charlie Coyote, who is now the Mascot for the Wylye Coyotes After School Club in a village called Codford, which is about two miles away from where we all live at The Hospital of St. John in Heytesbury, Wiltshire. England, UK - in case you didn't already know!

Apparently, Chuck is an "experiment" like me!  Charlie changed his name when he left the Family, which happened before I appeared on the scene.  But I am told that he started life as  a dressed Bear!  What on earth did Isobel think she was doing, I wonder?  Fancy having dressed bears!  Apparently, that chap's head did not work, so Isobel made a Foxy head, with a different colour plush fur and liked the final result.  So that  is how the Coyote collection began. 

The original Bear which was deemed "unacceptable"

Shortly after he was completed, Isobel saw an article in the local weekly newspaper, The Warminster Journal, about the After School Club and telephoned to see if they would like to have a Mascot.  They asked to meet him, and he changed his name (from Chuck  - Isobel did not realise that there were Coyotes of any kind in the United Kingdom - to Charlie, which is the English equivalent nickname) before he was introduced.  He was invited to become a fulltime member, and Isobel was about to leave, when one of the young members enquired why Charlie did not have a purple top like the Adult Helpers at the Club!  Isobel quickly offered to make him a coat, so honour was thus satisfied!  We do have a picture of Isobel handing Charlie over to the club, complete with his purple jacket which appeared in The Warminster Journal a few weeks later.  However, there are still some issues around permission being obtained from their parents for them to be included in a blog like this, so, instead, we'll include a picture of the Wylye Coyote's After School Club logo, which Isobel copied and embroidered on his coat - so that Charlie really would look like an Adult Helper!
The Coyotes Logo
I am also told that the Coyote Toys are made in a slightly different way from the other dressed toys in the Coldham Cuddlies collection.  Instead of their trousers being made to look like plus-fours or jodhpurs, their trousers are straight and they are made to look slightly less formal than their cousins the Foxes.  They also do not have separate bodies like the other dressed toys.  Their shirts and trousers are all made in one piece, whereas the other dressed toys are more complicated to make, having more pattern pieces to put together.

 
Chuck Coyote's rear view

   That's it for this post folks.  Good to be back talking to you again.  Bye for now - Cy Bear.