We started with lots of drawings going back and forth, until Sue & Jacquelyn approved the one above. You can see that we named the Otter "Boris", a name that will NOT be used, because they decided that the Otter is a female. They're having a naming contest to decide what she will be called.

Once we had the final drawing, it was time to get started on turning the drawing into three dimensional form. We printed the drawing out on a clear plastic transparency, and then projected it on the shop wall so Steve could draw the head the actual size that it would end up being carved.

Then we had to build the head out of Plasticine, a non-hardening clay over which we could do the papier maché

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Steve has now started to rough out the shape of the Otter's head.

Here's the final full size sculpt in Plasticine.

Now starts the first of seven layers of papier maché. Five layers were placed over the Plasticine, and after cutting it off the clay head, another two layers were added, one inside, and one outside.

Since the fur is quite expensive, we first cut cheap cotton muslin fabric to figure out the shape of the fur to be cut.

Once the papier maché was dry, the fur could be cut to fit on the head. The advantage of fitting the fur to the papier maché before removing the papier maché from the clay is that pins could be pushed into the head and held by the clay.

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