A Tiny Giraffe

I have a ‘thing’ for giraffes, I’m not quite sure why…

In my earliest childhood when I was first discovering animals – and I couldn’t quite believe just how many species there were; as soon as I ‘discovered’ one and thought that was it, up popped another one! It made me dizzy with excitement! – I remember being fascinated at a photograph of a giraffe. As with all animals I studied it: the animal had spotty, patchy markings and a very long neck! How unusual that was, I thought. And beautiful. I drew them for a long while.

In Africa they are a symbol for love.

I made my little giraffe out of felt, embroidery threads for stitching together and green mane, real onyx beads for eyes, and sequins for the patches. He is stuffed with safe polyester toy stuffing and his felt skin is worked over a pipe-cleaner frame to give him some structure…to stop him from falling over. Perfect he isn’t: the pattern I designed isn’t quite right and his little tail is a little inverted… but he is unique as giraffes are and I love him.

~*~

If you’re looking for a good book, Tears of the Giraffe, a book from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, the warm, so-human and humourful series written by Alexander McCall Smith is a wonderful read.