2. Protect little creatures from dust & dirty hands. To preserve the fabric surface of the characters, try to keep your hands clean when handling thread and fabric and during the "making" of the projects, especially when making projects with pale colours.The wool fabric and chenille stems in time will absorb some dirt, dust, and oil from your hands. Take care to cover the characters or projects when you are not playing with or making them. Use a drop of dish washing liquid in warm water to flush the dirt from the surface, and dry out on a towel in sunny location. Some pipe cleaners may have wire that will react to water contact and may run colour into the pile, chenille stems seem not to be effected by this. Store characters or projects in some type of protective covering like a new plastic sandwich bag.