#beetlebedo

starting from the beginning here is the initial sketch for this scrungly guy :,^)

spent a (disproportionate) amount of time sculpting the head

it's not my first time shaping foam into organic shapes, but I wanted practice making a Creature and I had a very specific on the anatomical structure of the rat (in terms of puppet efficiency, this? is silly. this man has a v detailed, anatomical head. you can't tell. this part is literally just for me.)

draped it with muslin to create a pattern, simplified it later on bc it's overkill faux fur is incredibly forgiving and i wanted to be fair to my wrist (✨hand sewing✨)

aforementioned pattern

putting rat barber front and center on my resume

used pipe cleaners and pink felt for the hands, then bound them (and the tail) in thread people either adored or abhorred the hands (i.e. it was a "aww how scrungly!!" vs "oh my god that's disgusting") def need to figure out a more efficient way of affixing the hands into the arm sockets because i was anchor and whip stitching heinously

was very bad at taking WIP shots/it was more noticeable in person/could've made a second rat out of the cut off fur, but: before/after

prior to this entire endeavor i looked into different methods of distressing faux fur that wouldn't crust/gum up the fabric albeit looking back i kinda wish i did for added grime, but since it's a gift I wanted to minimize bleeding or shedding

faux fur is difficult to dye (it's plastic), so one of the methods was soaking sharpies in alcohol and using it as a spray and since most copics/prismacolors are alcohol based i used those instead and it worked pretty well!

going forward, i honestly had no idea what to do for the eyes until the very last minute. i was going to use tufting buttons and maybe draw a design on them but decided against it

instead i cut circles of felt and stitched around the outside, pulled them taut into half spheres.

this option fit better form and function wise; it weighed less than my initial idea (sculpting the eyes from epoxy clay) and was more secure / had more points of contact than the tufting buttons / was generally more secure than either prev. idea his whiskers are just embroidery thread run through his snout. I dabbed the ends in super glue to prevent fraying long term, then added a dab on the snout to keep them secure

a star is born

so it's the morning of the concert and i decide this guy needs his own carrying pouch

i use scrap fabric and the take the handles off a reuseable target bag, split them down the middle, and create a drawstring "trash bag" traveling pouch

here they are on the subway to see the narcissist cookbook!

they grow up so fast :,^)

i love reading about other people's creative processes and have had it drilled into my head to take constant photos for my portfolio etc. etc. so here's me giving it a go!