Soft Sculpture
[All photos c) Allison R. Sly etc.]

Austin's Badger

I made the pattern up for this out of my head, which worked well for some parts and not for others. He's an American badger, thus the complicated striping on his face. The fur is synthetic and his paws are cotton, and he's entirely hand-stitched. The paws took the most time as I embroidered the pads. I toyed briefly with the idea of putting real badger claws on him, but decided against it as he was intended to be cuddly. He's a little larger than life-sized, being a bit over two feet long. The eyes are glass, the backs of which I painted gold with Testor's. He's stuffed more solidly than the wolf, as badgers are pretty chunky to begin with.

Badger - Head shot

Badger - Three-Quarter view

Grey's Wolf

This was the first stuffed animal I made, and yet another that I made the pattern up out of my head. This one actually got drawn on paper and cut out, though. I took some ideas for the body structure from one of my stuffed horses. I was looking for a different color combination than the gray and white that every stuffed wolf seems to come in, so I went with dark brown and cream. The eyes are brown plastic safety eyes, and the paw pads are embroidered. I did the first one, and Austin did the rest. His ears are a little off-kilter, but I think it gives him character. He's also hand-stitched, and stuffed relatively lightly, as he's big enough that stuffing him fully would make him very heavy and not too easy to snuggle with.

Wolf - Side shot

Wolf - Face