Today I spent the morning cutting out quite a few critters, including: puffins, ducks, dodos, and raccoons. As he's one of my all time favorites who has come back (from the extinct!), I thought I'd share some recent production photos of the humble dodo.
Here he is in progress. He comes from tiny pieces of felt--flat felt, not wool roving--and is hand sewn and stuffed into a tiny plush.
Many people make the mistake of thinking my tiny animals are needle felted. I suppose that's because there are a lot of such products out there, and needle felting is currently quite popular. I, however, use a number of techniques on my critters, mainly sewing.
When I set out to make a new tiny animal, I always research the real animal first. This proved somewhat difficult where the dodo was concerned! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the most accurate resemblances we have this extinct bird come from scientific sketches and some taxidermy.
Still, inspired by The Eyre Affair, and my crazy sense of humor, I pressed on, doodling my best tiny dodo shape (I can't draw for the life of me) for a pattern, and planning the colours and finer details. And thus the tiny do was born.
Here is the finished creature:
Not so very extinct after all! You can buy a tiny dodo here: Moss Mountain shop.
By sheer luck, it would seem, most of my tiny animals "come out right" the first time around, and I have never met an animal I couldn't make, tiny dodo being no exception. He is one of my tinies that I am the most proud of.
What is your favorite extinct animal?
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