A Squirrel is Next

My next felting project was a squirrel.  I just had to do one, given my history as a proud member of Sierra Wildlife Rescue's Squirrel Team.

 

It could be a Fox Squirrel or a Gray Squirrel, but I decided on a gray because the colors in a fox squirrel's coat are so complex.  That would be a project beyond my skills at this point.

 

The little fingers were tedious but worth it.  I'm still not good at wrapping those tiny tips and often have some of the underlying wire show through.  The wire for the fingers is 26 gauge cloth covered floral wire and it's white, so if any shows, it shows quite a bit against the black wool.  I used black wax on the tips, but it hardens with a bit of whitish translucence so isn't quite the best solution. I'll have to give further thought to that problem.

 

Despite making an armature that I thought pretty closely followed the squirrel skeleton images I found, the tail turned out to be too short.  So if I make another one, I'll plan to lengthen the tail armature by two inches or so.

 

But, all in all, pretty good.

 

An Albert's Squirrel would be fun to make with those long black ear tufts, or, now that I'm thinking about ear tufts, a linx.