Great idea to use the armatures for the tail and fingers.  I have to admit like Chris that I had never thought of doing this.

Very nice find. Thanks for taking the time to share your pictures.  I never remember to take any.

You are welcome. Most of the time I forget as well. 

I will try to post more photos today.

I thought I had the top arms complete.  I tried using a purse magnet to secure the arm rooms inside the writs.  It seemed to hold quite well, but when I covered the hand and tried the rod, the angle at which the rod had to be moved and tilted was precisely the angle that Mede the snap release.  Hade to open up the hand for surgery and go back to the snap method.

Practiced some airbrushing yesterday as well. I believe It will work great to help blend the transition between the two colors of fur. 

One bit of interesting information, the armature is actually industrial coolant hose.  Who would of thought.  I spoke with the manager of  CR'S Crafts about the possibility of getting it in a smaller size.  To give the tail more thickness and cushion you will notice in the photos above that I first covered it with headliner, but in the photos I will post later I only covered it with fabric.  I think it might be a bit bulky for human fingers, but if they cant't get a smaller size I might try it on the next human caractures.

I thought the armature was something manufactured for doll making.  Hmm... you learn something new every day. Their national site list a lot more sizes so I bet they can get it for you. http://www.crscraft.com  They have 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/8 inch.  They also have something called Flexlimb listed under pre-assembled armatures that is 8" x 1/2" that looks interesting.

For the doll industry they just don't put the whole through the center.  The 1/8 is not really 1/8" that is the inner diameter if their was a whole running through the center.  The actual width is more like 1/4".  The manufacture makes as 3/32, but that also is the inner diameter, CRS don't know what the outer diameter would be. They are going to see if they can get a sample for me to see the outer diameter.

Julie

Alrighty, moving on to the fingers.

The fingers are about 6 links of armature covered in antron fleece.  I then secured the fingers to sintra by drilling small holes on either side of the fingers then used twist tie (like bread twisty only plastic coated) to secure them in place.  Then a lot of hot glue.


Any questions?

I wanted to also include this photo.  Hand Surgery.  After all the work in the top photos I discovered that the magnetic snap that I used for attach the rods was not holding well enough so......hand surgery.  I included this so everyone will know that if you make a mistake, not all is lost. Took it apart and added the normal snap assembly I use and reattached everything good as before.
  

Just LOVE my job.

Julie

I like em! Yep stuff happens... one reason I always hate using glue gun on some elements. It can be so hard to remove.   Then again that does say something for it's holding power.

They look great and I'm assuming that they hold their positions quite well?
I really need to learn about removable rods!
Chris

This is so beautiful!