Boy is faux fur a mess to work with. Worse than having a shedding cat. Nice that it hides a lot of flaws though. This fur is a 2 1/2"nap. I used 2 1/2 styrofoam balls for eyes wrapped in polar fleece. The nose is a door stop from Home Depot wrapped in fleece. Had to trim around the mouth because it was just to long and use hair spray to keep it in check.  Don't know if I would ever do a long hair fur again just to messy but had fun and learned a lot. The mouth plate took the longest to make. Used 1/4" poplar with fleece wrapped rubber gasket material made for the left hand, really is comfortable. I did a video invitation for a work function and used a store bought puppet the difference between the mouth plates where night and day (especially since it took 20 takes to do it).

I like him!  Love the extra fur you used on the eyes, really adds character to the Roly pattern.  I agree on the fur, but while tough and messy, they sure turn out great

I need to learn how to make the fur 'distressed''

I need to learn how to make the fur 'distressed''

Do you mean like some of the muppets? Where it is like is a little curly or worn by a monster?
I read that boiling Faux fur gives it the kinds worn monster look.

Great puppet. He has real character. Well done!

Fur is messy, but you can keep the fuzz down a bit with practice. None the less, there will be fuzz flying about. I love the style and placement of the eyes. Haven't tried gasket rubber yet.  What they sold me at O'Reily's Auto Supply just seems flimsy.

Great job!

Looks great! Love the eyes. Using the door stopper and covering it with fleece was a brilliant choice. Daryl uses Model Magic to make noses and other face features and then covers them in fleece which is a great idea if you can't find the shape you want.

Here is a tip for working with fur. Cut from the back with the tips of your scissors. Small scissors work the best. Get just the back base fabric and don't cut into the fur itself. Helps cut down on some of the flying fur. When sewing brush the fur away from the edge of the fabric. This keeps it from getting caught in the seam. You can always pick the fur out of the seam if you do catch some in it with a brush, comb or the tip of our seam ripper.

John Arnold is correct you can "boil" your fur to get it to look matted and distressed. You can dry brush acrylic color into it with some success in small areas. I normally keep some old tooth brushes around for this purpose. Start at the base of the fur and work your way up unless you want the color just on the tips of the fur.

Fantastic. Really love it, the eyes add so much to it (am just making (badly) my first Roly!)

interesting concept with the toothbrush and acrylic Shawn. Does it stay in, or does it tend to wear off?

interesting concept with the toothbrush and acrylic Shawn. Does it stay in, or does it tend to wear off?

It stays on fine. You don't want to "gob" it on think though. That is why I kind of like the tooth brush it distributes it nicely into the fur.  You can't really get a solid coloring with this but does nicely to give texture and variation in the color.