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No Sew Hedgehog Finger Puppet



No Sew Hedgehog Finger Puppet
No Sew Hedgehog Finger Puppet
Marshall McLuhan said invention is the mother of necessity. While I don't think anyone needs a hedgehog finger puppet, this little guy was invented as the result of a failed experiment / realization I have a lot of this dollar store fake fur trim - and I like the results! By adding white tips to the "spines" in the final steps, they really are reminiscent of my mother's childhood Steiff toy "Joggi". Here is how I make them (no sew version) :

Supplies:
  • white/ or grey/ or brown felt for the body (different colours for different regions Europe / Africa / Asia)
  • tan felt for the face ears and limbs
  • black felt for the eyes
  • micro pompoms (3-5mm), or you can cover the tip of the face piece with dark brown
  • white acrylic paint (optional)
  • glue gun glue
Tools:
  • small craft glue gun (an industrial one will be too hot and will hard to control on such a small piece)
  • scissors
1) cut out all of your pieces
2) starting with the main body piece, fold the felt over so it overlaps slightly, and secure the base with a thin line of hot glue as seen below

3) now fold over the top cone so it overlaps slightly, and secure with a thin line of glue
4) staying with the cone, add a little dab of glue on the inside at the base, and fold over the cone so it sticks to the main body.
5) take the "tummy" piece, line it up to the front of the center of the body. Working in segments (side, bottom, other side) add a thin line of glue and secure the the main body (you don't need to add glue to the top part). Set aside.

6) take the face piece and add glue to the "nose area", then fold it over. The idea is to add enough glue to sandwich this part together completely. If glue squeezes out, allow to completely dry and remove with scissors.

7) add a thin line of glue around the inside of the face piece, and, with your finger inside the main body, slip over the head as sown below. if you prefer to do this in sections, start by adding glue to the base of the face piece, attach it to the body, and work you way up on both sides.
8) add a small amount of glue to the bottom center of each ear piece, and fold over. Allow to dry.







9) slightly flatten out an ear piece and add glue to the base, and attach to the main body, just behind the head fold/ flap as shown. Repeat for the other side.







10) take your fur piece and add a small amount of glue to the flaps, as shown in the green dots below. Position on the main body, so the flaps curve around the base of the ears, and secure in place. Then lift up the fur on the forehead add a small amount of glue (yellow dot) to secure to the main body







11) lift up the fur at the lower part of the body, and glue the "arms" to the felt body under the fur. Once they are positioned and glued to where you want them, doing a section at a time, secure the sides and back bottom of the fur to the body.







12) add the eyes and pom pom for the nose. At this pint he may look more like a porcupine than a hedgehog. If this is the case, give it a haircut. 













13) below is an image of a hedgehog with white tips (screen left) on the fur verses one without the painted white tips (screen right).







14) to add white tips to the fur, mix a small amount of white acrylic paint with water (it should be pretty thin) and dip your middle finger, index finger and thumb in there. With a pinching type movement, pinch clumps of the tips of the fur (careful about the ears!). Repeat as may times as you'd like.








15) allow the paint to dry, and give it another haircut if you need to. All done!







Note about the felt - I found the stiffer/ cheaper dollar store felt easier to work with and (obviously) kept it's shape better, but made for a stiffer finger puppet to animate and play with.

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