Am I 'fur' real?

Yes I am and I offer no apology for the terrible puns! XD

This week has seen the project stagnate somewhat and yet, at the same time, come on leaps and bounds. As of today, all Mr Unicorn needs is a mane and a muzzle and he'll be ready to mount up on a plaque! (which I still need to make, argh)

Annoyingly I neglected to take any photos of the horn prior to hot-gluing it in so apologies! I sculpted it from Super-Sculpey around a tinfoil core to give it both stability and to make it lighter than if I'd made it solid. I painted it with Games Workshop acrylics and though the photos make it look incredibly dark, it does actually have many different colours in it with some nice highlights too.



Narwhal tusks were the original inspiration for the Unicorns of the tapestries and paintings and while I liked the history behind them, I wanted my Unicorn to have a slightly different look so I based the horn of mine on that of antelope and the like. I took some photos when I was volunteering the other week which came in very handy for sculpting reference.

I made up the patterns for the fur from some paper towels taped together with masking tape as it was considerably easier to do and wasted less material than doing the same with fabric.

 

Although the neck pieces fitted perfectly, the head was off in a few places so I used this as another test piece and added in some extra bits with tape so I could use it as an improved template. I was pretty much making it up as I went along with no real idea of what I was doing. XD

 I painted the muzzle and around the eyes with flesh toned paint to simulate the skin and then made up some eyelids from painted glove leather. At first I made both lids pink but later repainted the top one a creamy white colour as it suited the fur more and looked more natural.

Then it was just a matter of  gluing on the fur...

 

...

Or so I thought!

I'd managed to glue the left side on squint so I had to carefully peel it all off without taking half the plaster and foam with it and start again! Luckily I had plenty of spare fabric so I was able to catch up pretty quickly.

 

I did my best to avoid really obvious seam lines but as I'll be giving him a beard, mane and probably a bit of an extended beard/chest hair combo I should be able to disguise any really ugly bits!
If I can get some flocking powder tomorrow at Hobbycraft I'll be able to blend the muzzle into the fur much more naturally - if not I'll have to attempt to make my own flock  - fun.

One of the things I'd always really wanted to make for this was a really fancy collar - as seen in the 'Unicorn in Captivity' tapestry.



I didn't think I'd have enough time to even think about it but when I realised how far ahead I was, I decided to go for it. With some fantastically coloured blue corduroy fabric from the fabric boxes in the room downstairs (thanks Jack!) and the thread, bias binding and beads from my own collection, I spent the entire day yesterday putting it together. It isn't exactly accurate to the tapestry as I couldn't find a buckle quite as fancy and it's difficult to make out all the details so this was more of a homage to the thing than an exact replica. I measured where the buckleholes should be with nothing more than a bit of thread so I was amazed (and seriously relieved) when I found to my delight this morning that it fitted perfectly despite having not had the chance to test fit it before I put in the eyelets! It will hopefully provide a good way to disguise any joins between the neck and whatever I end up using as the base which was part of the reason I decided to make it in the first place.



The buckle was a lucky find at Mandors the fabric shop and at only £1.50 was an absolute bargain! I dread to think how many hours I sat sewing it yesterday but I got through Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, an episode of Stargate: SG1, Star Trek: Enterprise, Law and Order: SVU, NCIS and the news whilst working on it so that's at LEAST eight hours I reckon! XD
Stupidly I didn't sort out how many beads I'd need for it all before I started so I ran a little short on some - the pearls were a nightmare as some of them looked identical to others...but cracked and broke in two whenever I tried to thread them onto a needle. Arrrghhhh!
(The collar has had some extra beads sewn on since that photo - see below.)

So yeah, that's where I stand with him at the moment! I'm just hoping that Hobbycraft actually has some of the flock stuff tomorrow or...well, I'll be flocked. D:



EG out! :D