I continue to add more items of interest to Relic in both terms of visual and historical importance. A wile back I had thought of the idea of creating a “tatoo” for Relic’s back to commemorate my time in the NAVY, but until now had never gotten a start on it, there were too many other things that needed my attention to be able to take him to the public scene. More recently in order to honor a small bit of my Native American heritage I adopted the Mohawk name Ata'kenhróhkwa which is the Mohawk word for Grey, for some reason it just seemed to fit.
Of course I had to decide on the style of anchor to work from and Navy tradition in thought it didn’t take long to settle on the proper look. Then of course the issue of how large to make it became an issue that took me even longer to work out, but once the decision was made I charged ahead once all the other tweaks I had been working on were finished. With template in hand the work began.
A Critical Note Of Concern: Be sure you pay attention to the direction the fur lays in! A little attention here can save a remake!
As with any other cuts made in Faux Fur a good sharp razor cutting from the back is the best way, only cut through the material don’t try to cut the strands of fur as well… that does not look good when that happens, its why you don’t use shears!
The accuracy of your cuts should be as close as possible to the lines but really the overlap of the fur will hide mistakes really well.
What you make in one color, you will also need in the color you want for the inlay, white for me in this case. Again keep in mind the direction the fur lays.
Once you confirm the two pieces fit to your liking the sewing can start. As with all the hand sewing I have done on Relic I rely most always on Blanket Stitches. They are self tightening and do not take up much extra material. With sewing finished you may have areas of the work that look like they “bunch up” a bit, it can’t really be helped but like I said before, the fur hides things very well and once in place its ok, this material does stretch some so really no issues.
Totally happy with the finished product!
Although I am actually uncertain if I truly want to cut into Relic’s back and sew this in permanently. I will need to put some time into thought before committing to the task. I may utilize the system of magnets like I did to hold his tufts of hair on his head, it will require some experiments, but no irreversible changes needed for that.
