Paper Mâché Carousel Animals - Tiger and Rabbit - Part 22

I made some progress this week on my carousel animals.  The tiger has his tail attached to the body, and the rabbit has received additional coats of paper mâché and most of its first coat of cotton fur.

The tiger's tail came out a little larger than I hoped, and it still needs some more texture, to make it look more like its fur, but at least it is on the animal now. I still have to add one more layer of cotton fur to make it a little fluffier.  There is more texture there than this picture shows.  

 It came out a little wider than I had hoped.  I had initially planned to use a wire as the support for the tail, but it proved to be too heavy and the paper mâché took so many layers that it became too large.  

For my second attempt, I used twisted aluminum foil as the substrate for the tail.  That worked better, but I had difficulty getting it to keep its shape while I was adding the layers of paper mâché.  It developed a bit of a kink about mid-center.  If it proves to be too much of a distraction after the next layer of cotton, I will have to add some decorations on the tail to hide it.  I will cross that bridge when the time comes.

Most of the rabbit has received its additional layers of paper mâché and its first coat of the cotton fur.  The top, bottom, and Romance side of the creature are covered.  I had to sit it out to dry in front of a fan for several hours, so the final side is not covered yet.  I will be working on the far side of the rabbit today.  The second coat of cotton fur will get put on later this week.

I also added its cotton tail and a little bump on the face to further develop the nose.  You cannot see it from this angle.  

I first blogged about starting this project on March 10th of this year and I have been working on this project and my pumpkin project ever since.  I completed the pumpkin in October in time for Halloween.  The carousel project will be ongoing into the next year.  I think I at least hit my target of having the animal's forms completed by the end of the year.  (Just barely, but still, it is nice to know that I was able to keep to some sort of timeline.)

My next post will be on Monday or Tuesday in the New Year.  I wish all my readers a Happy New Year.