I am super geeked about this; is it okay that I'm geeked about something I myself made? I hope so.
The ears are quite floppy right now, and I really like that aspect. I'm so happy that I was able to get a good shape on them too! The third layer of cheek padding went on well enough, and the trunk came out better than I was expecting; to create a nice, natural shape for it, I cut out a bunch of foam segments that either had a convex or concave curve on their ends, then rolled these pieces up into their own little tubes, which I glued together and adjusted as need be.

I'm excited to finish this project. I've actually had a lot of fun these past couple days just watching the figure emerge.

To do:

• Fleece it over; I may need to sew some pieces together (especially over the ears) in order to prevent weird seams, but I'm hoping that just plain old glue will work for most of it. I'm just glad I don't have to deal with any faux fur this time.
• Add eyes. I want to try using paint this time instead of markers.
• Plug up the trunk. I'm not yet sure if this will work, but here's my idea: grab some of the plastic mesh material that I'll be using for the eyes, paint it black, and cover most of it with the white fleece, then glue that piece into the end of the trunk. The mesh will support the fleece, hide the green interior of the trunk, and be a lot easier to work with than foam; the fleece will be cut in such a way as to leave two nostrils. I only hope that this doesn't obstruct ventilation, seeing as the wearer's breathing has to funnel straight through the trunk. If it does block things up too much, then I may have to cut a hidden hole at the base of the trunk. ___ When I showed this to my mother, she pointed out that the head looks a bit thin once you get past the cheek padding. What do you guys think? I'd like to say that it looks fine as is, but that might be the extra work and heat-trapping layers talking.