Several people have asked about the fennec fox's size. I tried to make him tiny, like a
real-life fennec fox. His body is 5.25" long and 2" tall. What a heart melter!
It's been so nice to have you all along on this finishing-adventure for the fennec fox. Honestly, without the public oversight, I think he still might be languishing in the dark WIP drawer. He wasn't an easy project, by any stretch of the imagination.
I tried lots of under-bumps. Even stacks of terraced felt that looked like a topographic map. No matter what I tried, the tail just didn't look right. Finally, I decided to try just cutting the fur ribbon into the 2-D shape I was trying to make in 3-D.
For most felt stuffie pieces, you use pattern pieces and trace them onto the felt. But for small details, that won't work. Felt is bumpy and fuzzy and any outlines you trace are imprecise. That just won't do when you're making circular eyes or curvy nose detailing.
Not much to say except ... awwwwwww ...
When I found this ribbon on the notions wall at the local fabric store, I about died. This was about a year ago when I last had a bee in my bonnet to finish up the fox. I had worried about the tail. I've used feather boas for tails in the past, but I thought that might be too fluffy for the fox. This ribbon is perfect.
Fennec foxes have very dark eyes with a hint of glowing brown-gold. I wanted to add a little color, but not too much. Their eyes are very shiny, too, so there's a tiny white glint in each eye.
I maintain that the word "face" is tied in first place with "pickle bucket" for funniest word in the English language. For a demonstration of the funniness of the word face you can watch the first 30 seconds of the
trailer for movie The Good Girl. "It's called Cirque du Face, which means circus of the face. It's all the range with the Frenchies." Ha! I love that I have something to say when we see someone covered in ridiculous makeup walking down the street.
Talk about a long term project. I've been working on the fennec fox for over a year. I'm not sure when I started it exactly, but I do remember I was
feeling really really guilty about not having it done last November.