Good morning! I seem to have taken over the dinner table again.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
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!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)