"idk my bff jill"

Last summer I received this email:

Recently on my podcast I was talking about my beloved childhood bestie, Benny Bunny. My dog got him many years ago and chewed some of his face. Plus he’s missing an ear.

A listener had you restore something for her and she shared your info!

He’s a vintage Gund. I would LOVE more than anything to have him restored.

This is the first time (that I know of) that someone found me through a podcast! :-)

Here are the original diagnosis photos she sent. Benny, btw, is over 50 years old!

We agreed on a treatment plan that included: a spa, facial reconstruction, recovering his cotton areas (torso, limbs,inner ears), replacing his missing ear, repairing the surviving ear, stitching other wounds, a new pompom nose, reinstalling his original eye, and a new vest.

So Benny flew in last fall and started his treatment with the spa. It's always first, especially if there will be transplants, because I want to match the furs as close as possible to the clean and fluffed fur.

You can see he needed the bath!

Next up was choosing a new cotton fabric. We knew there wouldn't be a match for the original, and Benny's person had seen lots of his relatives, all with different fabrics, so that wasn't an issue. The realm of options was wide open. Here are some I sent:

I was looking for ones that were a bit funky, maybe a bit seventies like Benny himself. His person chose those last flowers, which were actually my favorites for him too. I'd had that fabric a while, and he was the perfect patient for it. So, surgery proceeded.

Soon, Benny was getting his heart installed:

That little bit of green was from a repair done by his person's grandma way back when her brother had ripped his leg!

Benny was coming along nicely. New clothes, face wound repaired, eye reinstalled, ears treated. And we were up to the nose. We went through several options (both before and after his eye was installed):

In the end, Benny just wasn't Benny with any of them, so his person decided to leave the nose off. So all that was left was his new vest. It should be a color that looked nice with his clothes... his person opted for an orange velour. Here he is, healthy and happy and ready to fly home:

Benny Bunny flew back cross country to his home in NY and his person wrote:

Omg Beth!!

I’m so happy. He looks and feels so good. I can’t thank you enough for giving me back this special friend.

What you do brings so much joy.

Thank you!!

You're both very welcome! :-)

************