Tag Archives: panda kindergarten

The Year in Review Part 2

Before we dive in to our Year in Review encore presentation, can I just say OH MY FRIGGING GOD!!!! The tiny panda (Hold me closer tiny panda) Kickstarter reached its goal amount 13 minutes after launching. I am astounded with gratitude for this response. It also was listed as a Kickstarter Project We Love most of the day on Friday. Needless (or needle-less) to say, I have a lot of felting to do over the coming months. If you are afraid you missed your favorite panda, check back at the project, because I added some more reward categories!

Thank you again, from deep within my heart. I can’t wait to get these pandas to you! (After I make them of course!) This has the added benefit of getting to visit the Abundant Earth Fiber store again, which may now be called my happy place!

But now, on with the Year in Review for April, May, and June (Wherein we are reminded of why we need emotional support pandas!)

it was a total coincidence that Babette’s ‘toon should run today.

Moove over! You’re crowding me!

Look who’s here!

On to May!

If you go out in the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise!

Irony is dead:

Who could have done this????

Did I just see what I thought I saw?

June is in ‘toon…

Bwahahahaha!

Frank and Mikey make another return appearance!

So, Mikey…how was the Grand Ol’ Opry?

And let’s not forget Six and Sebben!

Will these two ever get along?

Well, that’s it for today’s wrap up! See ya real soon!

Panda on!
Bob T Panda

Day 31 ~ 31 Days of Pandas

Oh my goodness! It’s Day 31!!!! It’s New year’s Eve in my time zone. for some of you, it’s already next year! What ever time zone you are in, take a deep breath, sleep in, if you can, and think about how you are going to combat authoritarianism this year!

I’m going to do it by speaking out here, and in the real world, and keep drawing my ‘toons that speak my truth!

Keep being the bear!

WE need to do better in 2020! What can possibly go wrong?

Panda on!
Bob T Panda

Have the Happiest New Year that you can!

Day 30 ~ 31 Days of Pandas!

It’s Day 30 of 31 Days of Pandas! Thank you for joining me for this month-long Pandapalooza! It is always fun dipping into the archives to see what floats to the surface!

We are looking at a very stressful year ahead. HWMNBN is not going to go quietly into the night like Nixon did. He is going to go kicking and screaming and saying UNFAIR WITCH HUNT all the way. We need to be very brave and stand up for the Constitution and for Democracy. We need all the pandas and frosting that we can get!

To that end, let me leave you with some of my all time favorite ‘toons from over the years!

2011

Ever wondered where all these pandas came from?

2012

The panda kindergaten knows where you live.

2013

An explorer’s work is never done.

2014

deleted footage from press conference

Pinky answers difficult questions from the press in her own way.

2015

Thanks a lot, Leslie. I think you gave Pinky this idea.

2016

Oh those red pandas! They are such characters!

2017

international woman's day

…and due to the International women’s day strike of 2017

2018

Well *bleep* and take your *bleep* and stick it *bleep*!!!!

2019- We introduced Frank and Mikey late in 2018 (when they allegedly ate Supreme Court nominee Bart Kravenclaw) and I think these (non-panda) bears are here to stay!

Ruh Roh….

I hope you enjoyed this look back at panda satire through the years since we started this blog! Tune in tomorrow for the 31st day of 31 Days of Pandas, and all next month as we do our Year in Review on Sundays!

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Day 29 ~ 31 Days of Pandas

We are so close to the end of 31 Days of Pandas that I can almost taste the cuppycakes that I get to have once I get done setting up all of these posts! I’m hard at work, thinking about what the pandas are going to get up to next year! These little bears keep me on my tippy toes!

Which reminds me…

are you SURE it’s not “carbonated”?

I’m sure Greta Thunberg would applaud Bob’s efforts to reduce his carbonated foot print.

well, what if I….

but…WeREndangered!

Pandas LOVE science! They are also very good at literature!

What do you mean by “was?”

Bob’s first foray into the realms of literature …

is it….

…time for….

…a little something?

be the bear
Bob T Panda

By the way, I am hard at work inventing the reward levels for the felty panda project, which I am calling Hold Me Closer Tiny Panda! I’m very excited, as I have always felt that the only way you get good at something is to do it a lot! To that end, even though the project hasn’t started yet (look for it to start around the 9th of January, for Kickstarter’s #Make100 initiative) I am already making pandas! I keep designating ones I want to keep, as well as refining my panda felting techniques. Stay tuned! as soon as I have a bit more done on the project page, I’ll share it with you here so you can follow along and be ready for the launch!

Day 28 ~ 31 Days of Pandas

Oh my. We are almost at the end of the 2019 edition of 31 Days of Pandas. Recently, one of my readers asked how 31 Days of Pandas got started. Maybe what they actually asked was “What the heck were you THINKING!!!!????”

As I recall, the first year I did this, it was in November, and an illustrator friend had just completed A Monster a Day during the month of October. Another popular one-a-day art project for artists is Inktober, where people post a drawing a day during the month of October. While I have not participated, I’ve seen some great drawings posted for Inktober, and I think for those looking for a kick in the pants to do some regular drawing, I think it is a fine thing. Since making art is my day job, there is less of an incentive, and it feels like another thing on my lengthy “to do” list. Don’t let my attitude stop you from trying this!

My original 30 Days of Pandas was to create a drawing that every day, in honor of Po’s Birthday! I added a new panda to the drawing every day for a month. This turned out to be more work than I thought, as I had to re-scan the drawing every time I added a panda. It did turn out to be a really fun drawing, though!

Days one and two!

Day nine!

I think I need to have the ballon panda as something on Redbubble!

18 pandas

Day 18

day 25 -30 days of pandas

30 pandas day 28

Day 28

And the final image…

30 days of pandas - day 30

30 Days of Pandas!

I hope you enjoyed this look back at the origins of 31 days of Pandas!

Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda

Day 27 ~ 31 Days of Pandas

Yesterday’s ‘toon made me think about all the other occasions that Mei Xiang delivered some resolutions for Pinky, so I thought that today’s ‘toon round up could feature those ‘toons! (Pinky: I don’t know why! I’m already perfect!)

Is Pinky perfect? You be the judge!

Princess Pinky helps with new years resolutions

You say you want a resolution, well, you know, it is hard to change a bear….

resolution

Once again proving the intransigence of Pinky, and the omnipotence of Mommy Mei

resolutions

Pinky: “rules are for other pandas.”

Bubba: my resolution was just to chew my food more, an’ mebbee not eat so much frosting.
Ping: ping!

This one is not “resolution” based, but is one of my all time favorites!

See? I told you it was broken!

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

 

Day 23 ~ 31 Days of Pandas

It is Day 23 of 31 Days of Pandas, and that means it’s Christmas Eve EVE!!! I bet you didn’t know that was a thing? Egg nog and cookies all around! Meanwhile, You Know Who is STILL impeached, even if he doesn’t accept it, and if anyone was going to get coal in their Christmas stocking, it would be him.

But now! let’s watch the final episodes of Bears Under the Big Top! Huzzah!

episode 13

episode 14

episode 15

…and it all ends with Mr Wu’s Birthday party! Huzzah!

See? I TOLD you it would all be okay in the end!

Panda On!
Bob T I’ve been very, very good Panda

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the final installment of Mei Xiang’s Nightmare Before Christmas!

Day 22 ~ 31 Days of Pandas

We are past the solstice! Is it getting lighter yet? Well, not really! It has been raining like mad, trying to catch up on the rather dry November we had. I’m sure the trees are thirsty, and really, I’d rather have rain than snow. This time last year, I was was stuck at home, because it snowed I couldn’t get down the hill, my power was out, and my car was in the shop because I had hit a deer a week earlier. So a little rain? Meh!

Meanwhile, it’s time for the next episodes of…

Bears Under the Big Top (starring the Wu Self!)

Episode 9

episode 10

episode 11

episode 12

Happy Day 22 of 31 Days of Pandas!
Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Day 21 ~ 31 Days of Pandas

Happy Solstice, everyone! It’s day 21 of 31 Days of Pandas, and the end of the days getting darker and shorter, could not have come at a better time. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it is raining buckets and dark by 4:15. Now that we have reached the Solstice, the days will slowly start to get longer and longer. Huzzah!

45 has been impeached, Chrispmoss is coming, and Mr. Wu has run away with the panda kindergarten to join the circus! What could possibly go wrong? Read on after the ‘toons for a brief announcement about the felty emotional support panda project coming in January on Kickstarter!

But now…it’s time for …Bears Under the Bigtop!

episode 5

episode 6

episode 7

episode 8

So…About those felted Pandas…

In early January, I am going to do one of Kickstarter’s January projects called “Make 100”, the idea being that you make a limited offering of something and agree to have no more than 100 backers. Within those guidelines, I have a bit of leeway, I started making these needle felted pandas a couple of months ago, because I felt (get it?) the need to take on a new activity to deal with all the nervous energy the current political climate engendered.

I’ve been thinking about how to structure this project, and what specifically to offer. I decided that in order to be responsive to which versions of pandas are the most requested, I would roll the rewards out in small groups. This will be a fairly fast and furious funding period, and I am going to keep the initial funding goal fairly low, because it really doesn’t matter how many people (up to 100) want one of these pandas, since there is no minimum order that I need to make as with the pins and patches.

The first group will get posted on the opening day (projected as Thursday, January 9th) and then on both Mondays, I will post new, more complex offerings, and all will be available till the project closes on January 24th. (If they haven’t sold out!)

Now, you CAN change your reward choice, and Kickstarter makes that fairly easy to do. Because of the limited nature of the rewards, it’s important that you change your choice within the Kickstarter website, so that someone else has a chance to get what you no longer have selected.  I will help walk anyone through the process if they are having a hard time figuring it out. I will have step by step instructions on my project page as well. It will be way too confusing if I get half a dozen requests outside of Kickstarter for off the record changes.

Not to sound all hey you kids get off my lawn about this but because of the way people pledge on Kickstarter, I can’t take requests for changes on other platforms (like Facebook, email, or here) and change them for you on Kickstarter. I mean, if I could change things within someone’s pledge, I could make them all say you pledged $1000, and head off to the south of France before you saw your credit card had been charged.

To this end, it is important that you use an email address that you regularly check when you sign up to pledge, as that is the best way to communicate right from the Kickstarter website.

It seems like there are always 2 or 3 people who don’t respond to messages or requests for information and I really want you to get your panda! And when you want to make changes, it’s really important that I know you’ve gotten messages from me.

So! Get ready to welcome a little felt panda into your life! Huzzah!

Panda On!
Bob T Panda

Day 20 ~ 31 Days of Pandas

Day 20! We are just about in the home stretch! I hope you have been enjoying our deep dive into panda satire this December. I mean, we really did need something not take our minds off…um…other things (IMPEEEEEAAAAACCCCCHHHHMENT!) not that anything particularly comes to mind.

Today, and through the weekend, I thought we would re-visit the story of Mr. Wu as a young cubbies, running away to join the circus with the panda kindergarten! It’s one of my favorite Mr. Wu tales, although when I wrote it, a number of you were very worried about Mr. Wu, and let me know that you were not happy! Well, if you are reading this for the first time, I will assure you that all ends well. If you prefer a little dramatic tension in your stories, then forget I said anything! So, with no further ado about nothing, The Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire presents…

Bears Under the Big Top! (Starring the Wu Self!)

Fanmail from some Flounder?

Voices in the night, a ladder, a letter…adios…

“Are we there, yet?”

This is a case for…Inspector Panda!

Tune in through the weekend and then on Tuesday for the finale of Mei Xiang’s Nightmare Before Christmas!

Tune in tomorrow for our next exciting installment of Bears Under the Big Top!

Panda On!
Bob T Panda