Red Heart Elephant
Elephant was well loved for many years. So well loved, that when his person outgrew him, his person's mom put him in a box of keepsakes and stored him safely away in... an attic. And he became mostly a memory in his person's mind. Fast forward almost 6 decades and his person was going through boxes of her mom's things and found Elephant! As she said, he'd seen better days, but she had fond memories of their time together and hoped he could be restored and/or rejuvenated. Here are a couple of the diagnosis photos she sent:
As you can see, Elephant had lost his hearing, and had vision issues in one eye. He was a bit discolored from age, had a bit of a slump from stuffing compression, and had lost his tail. He also had a bit of balding, some small wounds, and his internal wire structure was bent out of shape.
His person wanted to think about the treatment options (spa, transplants, etc). She eventually opted to give him new ears, new felt around his original eyes, a new tail, new spa, a small heart transplant for his largest bald spot, a new tongue tip, wound repair, and wire adjustment.
She found this image of one of his relatives, as a reference, but didn't want the red tail with a bell. She opted for a tail to match his torso, and with a string tip.
She also wanted a bit more decorative ears, and so found a nice red minky with white hearts that she sent with him to be used for his inner ears.
So Elephant flew in from Texas, and started, as many patients do, with his spa:
His old eyes were out for the spa not so he could hide, but because, as you can see, the old felt had bled onto his fur (that just happens over time). You can also see he's losing a bit of the antique browning he had gotten from his time in the attic.
Next was restuffing him (once he dried) and of course he got a little heart. I used a lighter fabric because to match his lighter fur.
Next was choosing the fabric for his outer ears and tail. There were many options, because he was kind of a creamy, tan, gray color... his original color was probably a pale gray.
His person made her choice, and surgery proceeded. Hearing restored with new ears, a new tail, new red felt for his eyes to match his inner ears, a small heart patch for his bald spot.
Once he was better, and feeling himself again, he was ready to fly home:
He flew home to Texas and his person was so happy! She sent me his whole story (turns out his name wasn't Elephant, it was "Lel-Ephant") and he hadn't just been a childhood playmate, but also a companion purchased to keep her company during a hospital stay, who then proceeded to be carried everywhere until she started school. He would be left in the rain, and at neighbors, but always came home.
Now both he and his person have survived many years apart, and their own additional challenges, but can finally share their lives together again.
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Honk honk🤡🎉
I've finally created a Tumblr for all my tattoo adventures!
For those that don't know me yet-
I'm Allyson (he/him, 31)
A clown tattoo artist at Midgard Tattoo Company in Dallas, TX
I specialize in full color vintage toys/nostalgia/clowncore!
My absolute favorite thing to tattoo is people's childhood toys 🧸
My books are open for flash and customs, and I've got tons of available flash that I will work on posting here, but you can currently find on my instagram
(@ Littlestbigtop ) 🎪
You can find my booking form here:
Thanks for looking!!
💖🎪💖
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Did you know that somewhere in the late 80s (1987-1989,) there was supposed to be one more official Care Bear cousin?
The Care Bear artist at the time “Elena Kucharik” was tasked by the “American Greetings” company to make one more Care Bear cousin, she ended up making a koala character, which had no symbol and was most likely female.
This character must have been well received because a prototype plush was made for the character,
Despite this however, the character never got to see the light of day, and was never released, it’s still unknown what happened to this toy product of the character,
However, eventually after many years the character was uncovered along with other unreleased material for many to see, including fans of the franchise,
the Care Bear related fandom taking notice of this character having no name, decided to give the new name “Glow Heart,” which much of the fandom still calls this character by.
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Frisbee the Morgan Dog
Morgan style dogs were around in the late 50s through the 70s (at least). They were very popular in the 60s. My mom has one that was brown from the 60s, and when I was little I had my own pink Morgan dog. There's a photo somewhere of me sitting on it as a baby. So I have lots of references when a Morgan comes to the hospital, because both of those dogs are still around.
Frisbee's person wrote several years ago asking for help. At the time, he was about 60 years old, which dated him to the 50s. Here's his first diagnosis photo. His person was hoping to have him cleaned and rejuvenated:
The plan for Frisbee was a spa (color separation required), Fully recovering his brown areas), stitching up wounds and new eyes.
He started with a spa (no photo because he was a bit embarrassed that his muzzle wasn't on for safety).
Next, we had to decide on his new fur for his brown bits. There were a couple of good options:
His person opted for the longer fur. Once recovered, he got restuffed with new, modern stuffing and a heart of his original stuffing included:
You can see why he'd lost weight by how compressed the old stuffing was.
Next were his eyes. Unfortunately, there weren't good young Frisbee photos, and Morgan dog eyes vary a lot! First, I tried using his existing eye remnants as a reference:
Not quite right (although his new fur was a hit!)... he needed plastic pupils, and a different shape. So we went through many options:
That first photo (which was the last try) was the one! Finally, Frisbee's vision was restored to 20/20 and he was ready to go home:
"Perfect!!!!" said his person!
Frisbee's person actually drove up to pick him up. He's been home over a year now, and is happily ensconced at home:
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