What Happens Next?

Now we have your order we will schedule for production.

The steps involved in the handcrafting of your animal are:

1. Pattern marking and cutting

The pattern for your animal is marked out by hand on top grain cowhide leather tanned specifically for our purposes. As the markings, stretch, thickness etc on each hide vary we are careful to select the area of leather we feel best suits your animal.  Once the hide has been fully marked out with a range of animals, the pieces are cut out by hand and passed through for sewing.

2. Sewing Room

Our animal shapes and individual complexities require experienced machinists who are careful in their work. Each machinist completes an animal from start to finish.

3. Assembly Room

Once sewn, it is here the transformation of your animal takes place. The interior cavity of the leather is filled with a metal and wooden frame around which finely cut woodwool (made from Pine)  is moulded and sculpted. The woodwool is compressed tightly into the body cavity using hand tools and physical strength. There is no mechanical process to lighten the load. This is the lengthiest stage of the production cycle.

4. Staining Room

Our leather is termed “unfinished” which means it has not been dyed and coated with an acrylic finish which can hide imperfections. The unfinished state allows us to hand stain our animals using a water soluble stain, typically mahogany brown. A waterproofing wax  (water based) is applied to “antique” the colour and seal in the stain. The final stage is to attach the eyes so your animal can see and apply a final coat of polish to give a nice shine.

5. Quality Inspection

Checks on quality are carried out at each stage of the production process. The final check is made prior to dispatch ensuring the overall appearance of the animal meets our expectations. We attempt to avoid unslightly scarring at the pattern marking stage; natural markings however are all considered to be part of the animals character.