Simon Graham's
Tube Raccoon Bunnies feature Finn Raccoon zonker tails and zonker-collared bodies for the foundation and go on from there. I'm really impressed with them and chose to try that style with my new raccoon zonkers. I thought "saltwater squid" and since his work was my inspiration, decided on "Simon's Squid". [Update: check out
Simon's own squid versions on
Striper SurfTalk, or his blog for
version 1,
version 2, as well as a neat way to
thin raccoon collars without sacrificing fullness. Simon also drew my attention to this
video about tying collars without the hide in a dubbing loop].
Starting with a
Eumer large orange tube over a small clear tube insert, I tied on a length of Eumer's orange raccoon zonker for the tail. Over that went a dozen or so long slender purple saddles (Ken Abrames' RLS saddles). Then 2 more slender saddles- off-white and mottled to hint at the squid's "grabbers". Over that went a small bunch of Christmas tinsel, pearl and holo silver. OK, tail section completed.
For the body, I started with small pieces of orange, purple, and red raccoon tied around the shank and covering the tail tie-ins. Then came the palmered orange raccoon collar, followed by purple arctic fox as a contrasting head. The nose is finished off with a Eumer large orange cone.
Thank you, Simon. Thank you, Eumer.
