not a bird or rat

Recently my friend, one of the few people that I know that appreciates bats as much as me, was celebrating his birthday. After making bird heads, and getting some feedback on how weirded out some people were by disembodied bird heads, I had the idea to make a bat with a similar head, but a soft body as a gift.

I really loved working on this project. I got to sculpt, paint, sew, scrounge around to come up with parts that had the desired outcome and learn even more about bats! My apartment was scattered with bat books that I was reading closely to discover all the variations on bat colors, wing shapes and finger configurations and it was awesome!

I learned a great deal and would do some things differently next time, but that's always how it goes. This process has a lot of flexibility and possibility and I am sure I will make more of these or other animals!