09-12-2015

So a couple of weeks ago, I was carrying my project bag and a cup of tea upstairs, and dripped a drop of tea on the prince’s hand. It made a stain, of course, so I had to wash him. Overall he is no worse for wear, but now his neck is very wobbly. I had toyed with the idea of inserting some kind of stiffener, but I know my kids didn’t like feeling hard stuff inside their soft toys, and I just felt it wasn’t worth it. And I’m glad there weren’t any pipe cleaners inside him to get rusty from his bath. I’m going to try using a fine crochet hook to pull stuffing from his head and chest back into his neck. And I’m going to make a tight neck on his jumpsuit to help hold his head upright.

12-15-2015

So, no amount of manipulation made the prince’s neck any stronger, and he’s been resting and watching me from his berth in a surprisingly large project bag (lots of bits and bobs required) for many weeks. Was finally inspired with a possible solution to his neck problem. I’ve wet felted a wool “cigar” and I’m going to conduct a crainectomy to unstuff his head, neck, and a significant portion of his chest to insert it. Here’s wishing the little guy luck!

The cigar weighs 9g, but it’s still slightly wet. Also, I’m afraid it’s a bit big for the job, but we’ll see. As best I can measure, it’s 5/8” in diameter.

One thing I am NOT going to do is rip back past the eyes. So the thing has to slide into place. If it won’t, I’ll just make a smaller one.

03-07-2016

Finally got up the nerve to perform the crainectomy and it looks like the cigar implant is going to work exactly as I had hoped. It really fills up the neck cavity. I didn’t remove much stuffing from his chest, just shoved the thing in there. Since I took the photos, I’ve managed to shove it in another half inch. It seems nice and firm and his head is no longer floppy at all. SUCCESS!!