The newest plush World of Warcraft Tauren from CreativeCritters on ArtFire.com

Well, I've finally finished my latest plush World of Warcraft Tauren.  This one is a hunter with a pet wolf.  The Tauren was made out of Cow Spot Velboe fabric, which has a short, soft nap.  He stands 14" tall and wears a genuine deerskin skirt.  This is the first time I've worked with deerskin, and I really like the soft smooth texture.  I stamped green leaves around the edges and an X pattern down the center front and back.  I wasn't sure how well the deerskin would take to stamping, so I practiced on a scrap piece first.  I think the final result is quite nice, and plan to have a lot of fun playing around with stamping and light colored leathers in the future.  This is my first WoW Tauren to have plastic safety joints, allowing him to be posed.  I got a great deal on dollmaking parts from BAKidagain2 on ArtFire, so now I can use the plastic joints, eyes, and noses for a variety of projects.  I used felt for the Tauren's large horns and hooves, and black faux fur for his hair and tail tuft.  His brown eyes were handpainted with fabric paint, something I think I'm getting much better at.

The wolf is actually attempt#2.  He stands 10" tall and 13 1/2" long.  He was handsewn from long gray faux fur fabric.  The first try (using a pattern I had for a dog) just didn't look "wolf-y" enough.  It can be frustrating to create something from bginning to end, only to have to start over again.  But for most projects there's no such thing as "good enough".  So I set my first try aside (he'll make a nice gift for one of my neices), and adapted my pattern to narrow and elongate the muzzle, shape the head more, make the ears larger and more pointed, and basically make it look more like a wolf.  After I cut the pattern pieces out, but before I sewed them together, I trimmed the fur to achieve the look I desired.  I did a little research on the internet to see just what a Tauren wolf pet looked like.  I used brown plastic safety eyes and a black plastic safety nose. as well as large fangs sculpted from polymer clay and sewn and glued on.  Both the Tauren and the wolf are stuffed firmly with polyester fiberfill.

This Tauren carries a staff made of a wooden dowel wrapped with polymer clay.  The top features wooden shapes topped with glass beads and decorated with embossing powder.  The staff measures 13 1/2" tall and has velcro on it in order to attach it to the Tauren's hand.  All in all, this project took about 80 hours.  These WoW characters may be time consuming, but I enjoy making them.  I like the characters, and the way they all end up with different personalities.  I've had a positive response from many WoW players.  Eventually I plan to try my hand at different characters.  I do a lot of research before creating something like this, so I'll have to study up quite a bit before I make a new character.  Below are some pictures of my Tauren Hunter and his pet wolf.  Click on the first picture to be taken to CreativeCritters studio and view the listing.  I'm also willing to take special orders, and can be contacted through my studio.  Thanks for looking!

 

 

-Michelle of CreativeCritters