First bit of progress on the hyena alebrije

Good morning! I seem to have taken over the dinner table again.

Spring hare for sale!

Gorsh this guy took for freaking ever!

Etsy listing: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38859541

Yaaay, Springhaas is done!

I'll take some more pictures tomorrow morning in the sunlight.

Springhaas mishaps

Right! So, since you last saw our hero, he was armless and adorable. Trouble is, springhares don't really look like that. They look more like this:

So I made him less vertical, made his ears shorter, his eyes a little less wide, his face flatter and wider, and his feet longer. And gave him little T-Rex arms. Voila!

Then there was the matter of color. I decided to try dyeing him directly. So I applied the dye (Culinary Colors) with a foam brush, and stuck him in the microwave. I was nervous because I wasn't sure hot glue, which I had used for his eyes, was microwave-safe, so I probably didn't bake him as much as I should've.

The result was a sad, soggy, overly fuzzy, blotchy little dude. I gave him another coat and another ride in the microwave, but that didn't really help matters.

Evidently this would not do (or I was just going about it the wrong way, but the microwave-safeness of it made me nervous). So I went and bought myself some nice Corriedale top wool, and dyed it. No hot glue to worry about there, so it came out much nicer colors.

Then I set about applying it to the Springhaas, and learned that applying a top coat of wool is actually much less of a hassle when the under-wool is dyed a similar color, as opposed to white. Less top is required to make it look decent, which means less hours of work and less distortion of the core shape.

And that's where I'm at right now, woo!

Next up: Springhaas

He still needs arms and some color, but I am so happy with the way he looks so far. I'm really hoping the dye job that awaits him doesn't ruin anything. He's already been subjected to a couple of experimental techniques just in the structural side of things.

Pedetes capensis

Bye, axolotl!

Yesterday the axolotl was bought! And today, after work, I scrambled to put together the corresponding card in time for the post office's dropoff time. Buuuut I didn't quite make it. It is now 9 PM, and I just finished composing the text for it. Tomorrow morning it is.

edit: It is now 11 PM, and I finally finished it. No natural lighting at this ungodly hour, so my desktop lamp will have to do:

Bye, first hyena!

Yesterday, November 24, I had my first sale. And today I bade adieu to one of my favorite hyenas:
.

It was an extra-rush order for someone whose birthday was today, so getting the card ready in a few hours was a challenge. Writing it made me realize that, by golly, I have fallen disgracefully out of practice in composing wads of informative text. Fortunately, after a hot wings and video art break, I managed to mold it into something coherent.

I then drew til way after midnight. I enjoyed the heck out of that. I don't draw very often these days, and getting back into it was exhilarating. I ended up pretty pleased with the results, and not just because I was half-delirious from sleep deprivation.

Bye, little yeener!

Ah, and today, I had a second sale already! I am beginning to suspect I should maybe be preparing these things in advance. But that would be too simple.

Pink thing status: saccharine

I generally try, at least in theory, not to go for "cute". I am trying to go for something at least somewhat scientific. The process of making creturs makes me familiar with their structure and details, and I want to transmit to the viewer some of the learning experience of it. The hyenas are kind of forcedly cute because they are so small; details like toes get blurred out in the scale and details like sex organs (fascinating as hyenas' sex organs are) are kind of censored in the spirit of a G rating. But then there's critters like the axolotl, around the cuteness of which there is no way.

Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) 

Almost there!

This one should be done by tonight, I think. Oh dear I'm late for work.

Further progress on the pink thing.

Can you guess what it is? ENNHH?