Everything people ask, including the awkward ones.

A microwavable, gently weighted plush fruit with butterfly wings, made for adults — for winding down at the end of the day, and for cramps.

Yes. Four of them, in fact. The alternative was another bear, and the world has enough bears. It also solves a real problem: a plain round object is hard to make distinctive at a glance, and the wings are where the craft goes — appliquéd and embroidered fruit-slice artwork, seeds and rind and all.

Both go in the microwave, so let's be precise about the difference. Ours is weighted rather than light, the filling is glass micro-beads rather than grain so it can't ever go rancid or mouldy, and the cover unzips off and goes in the washing machine. Warmies is cheaper, on a shelf near you right now, and holds heat longer because grain holds heat better than glass. We've written the whole comparison out properly.

A blanket is heavier, covers everything, traps your own heat, and is a nuisance to wash. This is a held object rather than a covering: much smaller intervention, much less effort, and it moves with you from the sofa to the bed.

About 25 cm tall and 30 cm from wingtip to wingtip, weighing about 1.5 kg. Roughly a small cat, with a flattened back so it lies against you rather than rolling off.

Watermelon. Partly because it's the most graphic of the four and the best thumbnail, and mostly because it's the one with a finished, dimensioned spec sheet in front of a supplier — which makes it the only one that could realistically be sampled this quarter.

USD $55–75. That's a real intention rather than a placeholder. It's two to three times a gift-aisle microwavable plush, and the product page explains where the money goes — mostly fabric, embroidered wings, and safety testing that costs the same whether we make three hundred or thirty thousand.

No. Nothing has been manufactured. The first production run will be funded through a crowdfunding or pre-order campaign, and the waitlist is offered it first.

Neither. It's an email address. Nothing is charged, nothing is reserved, and you can leave in one click with no login.

We don't have a date, and anyone in our position who gives you one is guessing. There's a dimensioned spec sheet, a fabric shortlist and a first quote. Every step is written up in The Warm-Up as it happens, including the steps that go badly.

Undecided, and it depends partly on where the list turns out to be. That's one of the reasons the signup asks so little and the analytics are so plain — we'd rather find out than assume.

There is nothing in it that can keep heating — no battery, no element, no socket — so it leaves the microwave at its hottest and cools from there. That removes the failure mode worth worrying about. The remaining rule is the one that applies to any warm object: heat it to warm rather than hot, and keep a layer of clothing between it and your skin. The safety page has the temperature data behind that.

Heat has decent evidence behind it for menstrual pain — a randomised trial found continuous low-level heat performed comparably to ibuprofen. That's about heat generally, not about our product specifically, and it is not a treatment for whatever is causing the pain.

It may help you feel more comfortable. The evidence for deep pressure is promising and thinner than the marketing in this category suggests, and we say so on the science page. If anxiety is seriously affecting your life, that's a doctor conversation, not a shopping one.

The cover, yes — it unzips off in one piece and goes in the machine. The core stays out and never needs washing, because the filling is sealed inside its own pouch and nothing ever gets to it.

One confirmation email you have to click, then The Warm-Up roughly twice a week: what got built, what broke, what it cost. Plus one email when there's something to buy.

It is, and it isn't for everyone. Every email footer has a one-click switch to a weekly digest instead — no login, no form, no 'are you sure'.

One click in any email, or the unsubscribe page. No login and no questions. Suppression is permanent unless you sign up again yourself.

We store it, we send you the emails you asked for, and we don't sell or share it. The privacy page says exactly what's collected and how to have it deleted. If you'd rather ask a person: hello@ruhplush.com.