Pick on a penguin part 1

Penguin - pattern by Fuzzy Mittens

As many of you know Pickle-Lily's favourite animals are penguins, and this year we have decided to have a bit of a penguin theme for Christmas. I know it's only August, but most fellow crafters have made a start on preparations! With Mr P-L on a week's holiday, I roped him in with testing the new knitted toy - a penguin of course!

Toys now must be tested for safety, and I am saying here that I am not an expert, but have been using the excellent pack from Conformance. It takes me a while to complete each test but with Mr P-L's help it was much quicker this week, so I thought I'd share some of it.

Firstly, I will introduce the very cute penguin toy P chose. It is one of Barbara Prime's patterns from Fuzzy Mittens . She is very generous in allowing you to sell her designs, as long as you acknowledge her design. I did try and design my own pattern, but I was told it wasn't cute enough!




Choke testing cylinder

The first part of the EN-71 testing is based on mechanical and physical properties. That is how clean it is, how it must be washable, the labelling, testing it as a choke hazard and the torque testing. The pack is very clear on how to do all these things and provides a clear checklist for recording all your results. For all my teaching friends, it's like an early years profile or APP with all the paperwork to accompany it!
Choke testing is done using a cylinder made from card to exact measurements. I was originally surprised by how big the cylinder was, and it has since been a guide to my making.
The torque testing is testing all your seams by taking the toy and twisting it by 180 degrees. This is the part where P decided I was the cruellest mother, by torturing the poor penguin in a such way. We videoed this test as part of the evidence. She decided at this point she couldn't bear watching me and that's where Mr P-L had to help! You really do need two people to do this as one person needs to take pictures or film your evidence.

After the torque test, it was the tension test. This involved 7.2kg of weight hanging from a clamp to test the strength of the seams.

 

Peppa Pig



A hug from Peppa Pig!

 Last week-end was spent at the Walled Gardens of Cannington where they had a garden festival over the two days. P came with me as one of her bff's (best friends forever) was there as well.
What a lovely week-end we had! My stall was next to the the lovely Beekeeping Ladies who supplied Mr P with three jars of their delicious honey marmalade and I also treated myself to a beeswax moisturising bar.
P had two goes at making a pot on Leigh's potters wheel ..

Throwing a pot

as did Peppa Pig on Sunday afternoon!

Peppa throws a pot ...



George squashed it!

 We had great fun meeting Peppa Pig who made a beautiful pot, but then George naughtily squashed it! I had a walk around the green houses very early Sunday morning, which is rather like a mini Eden Project and found all sorts of inspiration.
I have lots of new ideas buzzing around in my head at the moment, but I need to make lots of the favourites ready for two events this week-end!

 

My next major project is CE self-certification for my toys, and I am hoping to chart my progress on this blog as I go, and hopefully help any others who are going down this path, or maybe you might be able to help me! So the first part of my journey starts with these sites that I have found very helpful

• Odds and Soxlets published a really clear post here
• They recommended a company called Conformance who have published a Self-Certification pack for knitted toys which I am now reading through.
• I was recommended a Facebook support group that I have joined, and it is already providing help as well as food for thought.

So a lot to read and think about over the coming weeks!