The Last Post - of 2010!

And it's a tiger post! This time she got a lovely fluffy neck, what a throat ...



The neck is made from four pieces of striped fur, and four of the long white polar fur. Matching stripes is like a fluffy jigsaw!



Then our tiger got some teeth - no more gummy smile ...



Teddy bear makers often create pulled-toes, and here I have created - pulled teeth! Not the fangs, they are cones of foam covered in PVC, but the little teeth all in a row ...



Just want to say Fang you very much for reading my blog this year, HAPPY NEW YEAR! cat XXX

tiger tiger ....WIP - eyes!

cutting irises from acetate... cut the pupil hole first!



polish your baubles (thats my glasses cloth) and grab some UHU glue ...



delicate work ... leave to dry away from small curious people ...



and dear old grandma-tiger ... there she is!



she gazes out of the window and wonders when the sun will shine on her hand-painted orbs!



next, her neck covering! But then, the sun did come out and showed the eyes at their best ...

And here is the Nose!

to create this nose i covered thin sheet foam in fleece, sewed it in place then tinted the tiger head around it with copic markers. The nostrils are given depth by needle felting some black wool roving in place...

whose nose do you suppose?

i like t o draw things so that i really get to know them ...



a double layer of dense sheet foam provides the innards for a tiger's nose ...



there he is! and the nose seems to be the right size and shape ...



i use my copic markers to colour the nose, working on some beige fleece fabric ...



the next stage will be to wrap the pink fleece around the foam and stitch in place, before adding it to the tiger's muzzle ...

3D modelling .... in real 3D!

I have been given the challenge of bringing Umphy the Umgum to life ... I made these sketches from some of the illustrations in the book.



now working on my third costume head, i devised a method of translating the shape to fur, using old curtains, pins pens and some colourful language ... so here, appearing in my hand, is Umphy!



the back of his head, Mohawk (red pencil line), and the size of his ear ...



shaping a tiny muzzle and seeing how his eye looks for size ...



and no one is going to put their head inside this little fellow!

tiger tiger ....WIP - furring!

tiger by numbers, Mary watches me at work ...
this is the third time I have used this method to make a pattern for furring, but the tiger head is the hardest one yet ...



so Mary knows its supposed to be a tiger head, but she doesn't think it's very tigery. So she pretends to be a frog ...
I must not loose any pieces ...



i carefully start to cut shapes from four different kinds of fur and begin to sew then together. Matty parks cars on her drawing of children playing in our street ...



Behind You! This is beginning to work, esp when the fur is pulled tight as it will be when all stitched down ... I like to do an much sewing as possible and avoid glueing which is not as strong in many ways ...



and here, using some very careful hand sewing on account of the curves, the muzzle and cheek fur is starting to take shape ...



this is hard work, and requires thought, but the result is making me happy ... i am not an airbrush artist, but this shows you how you can create a tiger head using only commercial printed furs ...

rat feet ... WIP

big ones!

WIP - fursuit tiger head getting ready to fur ....

a sketch of tiger feelings - markings, teeth, colours ...



old curtains again - pattern making as I go!



drawing areas for add different furs to ...



the long fur in the ears and on the bottom jaw will need trimming and shaping ...

tiger tiger ....WIP - better shaping - ready for fur?

tiger with a toupee, that's not right ...



I dig this little toy from Mary's animal tin, he looks a bit cheesey but he helped me with the head shape ...



better?



although, after looking at it again ...



i had to lift up the ears a bit!



better!
ear furring next, perhaps!

tiger tiger ....WIP

the foam dome is covered in fabric here
this helps me in marking symmetry ...



but it doesn't really look very tigery to me - more like a bear!
or chip and dale?



so i changed the forehead and shortened the muzzle ...



and also the slope of the nose ... and the angle of those ears ...



and Daisy, loves him ....

WIP - fursuit tiger head is my next project ....

snip snip ....



not used a green balaclava before, here I am using paper to make sure the head us symmetrical ...



building the foam dome!

Patterns for furring my BIG RAT HEAD ....

symmetry in heads is important - i used the same pattern for both sides ... the pattern in turn helps me place the cheeks level on both sides, and the ears of course !



here is the Pattern for the Cheeks and Muzzle ... this is both sides, but folded ... some times i make a cut too far, and repair with tape! I have marked out the white and grey areas with marker pen...



hey wait a minute - who is that little blue guy? Not seen him around here before...