Lamb Soft Sculpture - Part 8

Now that I'm back from the mountains I have started putting in some significant time on the Folk Art Lamb.  It has been a challenging project.  I have been time challenged for sure, but this project has presented a number of difficulties.  Let's just say there have been some more revisions to the pattern.  I cannot leave well enough along sometimes.  But overall, I think the project now looks very lamb like.  It looks a little leggy, but then newborn lambs have not gained all their weight yet so they do tend to have that gawky long leg look.  It won't look quite as leggy when it is finished. 

I first started out with the idea for the lamb thinking that I would connect the legs using the button method.  I had already remade the legs once because the forelegs were so thin that I was having trouble turning and stuffing them.  When I sized the legs up, the upper leg was too large.  The fabric filled out so much that it made the upper leg very fat.  I did have the legs on attached with button joints, but it looked hilariously out of proportion.  I ended up taking the legs off and sewing the legs onto the body in order to control the amount of polyester fiberfill that went into the leg.  And to think I had decided to go with the button method to save time.  That is what I get for thinking. 

When I attached the head to the body, I fount that the neck was too long.  It looked more like a pony than a lamb.  I had to take that apart and reduce the length of the neck.  When I put it back together and started investigating the placement of the legs, I found that the body needed to be reduced in length as well.  I was amazed at the amount of stuffing that I removed from the lamb.  After a couple of days, I had the head and torso right.   After all the revisions, I felt the need to give the entire lamb a second set of seams.  The first set was done on a sewing machine, but the second set had to be done by hand.  It took about a day and a half to get that completed.  At least I am confident that nothing will be coming apart.

Although it was frustrating, I enjoyed the challenge of creating my own pattern for the lamb.  When I have created something from the concept to the finished piece, I really feel as if I have created something that is my own.  If I were to use a pattern created by someone else it would not feel like it was my creation.  As long as this project has taken, there were times that I really wished I had used a pattern.  But things are moving along now, so I feel that I am on the right track.

These are my first photos of the lamb standing.  It does not have its ears and tail yet, but that will be next.  I was just very excited to finally see it all together. It stands on its own.  The legs are tightly stuffed with polyester fiberfill to make them strong enough to hold the weight of the body.    There are no hard internal supports in the leg to help keep them rigid.  It would have been easy enough to have added internal supports, but I wanted this to be made in such a way that it did not have anything hard or sharp that could harm somebody. 

Although I do not plan on this being used as a toy, I want it made in such a way that if a child did get hold of it that it would be something that could be handled safely.  Sometimes things are made to be art objects and they are only meant to be looked at not handled so materials are used that may not be safe.  And sometimes things are made as toys.  Sometimes things are meant to be art, but end up being handled as a toy.  I try to keep that in mind when I make something.  I try to make something that is art that is also safe to handle.  It is sometimes more difficult to do that, and it may take longer, but I breath easier that way.  You never know how or where an object is going to end up when it is no longer in your possession.  

The lamb is very plain at this point.  It is only a muslin body.  That is about to change.  Check back on Sunday for a look at the next step in the process of making this lamb.