Kea - the remake

As you may know, I often repeat animals. Bats and axolotls are frequently revisited species here at Cretur Fetur. But I've remade other things, like the hoatzin. I intend to make some awesome hyenas soon, too. Before them, though, I remade another bird.

Weighing in at about two pounds, it's the clever little New Zealand parrot, the clown of the mountains, the terror of sheep livers, the kea!

New and improved Nestor notabilis!

There's many things I did differently here. First, the embroidery. That was an adventure! I've never embroidered anything before, and I think sadly in some places it kinda shows.

Well, it's not too bad.

Second, the feet. I seem to have discovered the Terrible Secret of Bird Feet. I'm positively thrilled by the results!

LITTLE CLAWS AWW

Third, proportions. I seem to have a better grasp on that nowadays.

before

after

In summary, remakes are not always a bad idea. And it's always good to remember where you started and keep experimenting!

Bye, second hoatzin!

Three days ago, a hoatzin was commissioned by someone who expressed a lot of enthusiasm for good ol' Opisthocomus hoazin. So I, equally enthusiastic, made Hoatzin 2.0 for her:

More photos:

Bye kea!

The kea was not with me for long, which I consider a very good thing. Once I finish a cretur, I don't really do much with it until someone else buys it. I bet they get lonely. So today the kea had the good fortune in getting packed into a box and sent away to be loved, along with the obligatory cretur card.

I realize I've never really posted the cards I send, so I scanned this one in the brief window of free time that I had this morning before work:

Finished kea!

YES.

  

More photos and a quoll preview after the jump:

Birth of a kea, part 2

When we last saw our kea, he was a little blob with wings but no beak or legs. Let's move on then!

Some of the photos in this post are taken by my lovely assistant Stevan, and are therefore blurry and terrible, but well-intentioned!

Make and attach the tail in the same fashion as the wings; first I made a flat shape of the darkest color, then poked feather-shaped layers of different colors on top of it. Once it was constructed, I poked it onto the kea's body, adding a bit more of the dark-colored wool to the underside to better blend it.

Birth of a kea, part 1

HOW TO MAKE A KEA. In which I demonstrate my sew-free, sturdy and stable method of attaching non-wool beaks and legs to wool creturs!

First: make the body, out of core wool or batting (it is faster than roving, I think).

Finished hoatzin! And on to the next cretur..

Almost done with the hoatzin

His legs broke, gotta make him new ones.

A wealth of hyenas, two pigs, and a bird in progress