I Otter Be Better Constructed

 Initially I was going to create some deep sea creatures for this theme, but then I saw the awesome work of Bryony Rose Jennings, so then I wanted to try a 3D creature myself.  But nothing too complicated!  

We have very occasional visits from river otters, and that seemed like an easy animal to make.

An otter in our pond, in 2011.

I wanted to capture its spiky fuzz, and I would have loved to use fabric and lace bits like Bryony does, but I had limited time.  So I made a basic soft toy, then stitched loops of recycled sari silk yarn to long thin strips of fabric, and arranged those around the otter's body. (I am now thinking I may have been influenced by the header image on this blog!)

A very basic otter body made out of batik fabric.

A colorful otter on the shoreline.

No careers of animal sculptors were in any way threatened during my execution of this challenge.

 

Beautiful recycled silk yarn.

Technically this is not in any way quilted!  I wanted to make a little quilt pond for the otter to rest in, but then my mom broke her leg and my sister got covid and life in general kept occurring!  Most of the projects that I do for this group are ones that I consider maquettes or rough drafts, as IF I were going to complete a piece for a show.  This otter is even more of a practice piece than most.  But I am just glad to have my creature finished, and he is a very cheerful companion in the studio.  And I hope you check the links on Bryony Rose Jennings and get some inspiration there!