My Bunny Puff needed a new look

Sometimes, you love a piece when you finish it. Sometimes you don’t. I was looking at the Bunny Puff I made a while back and thought it could use a refresh.

The Bunny Puff is a free YouTube tutorial from Sarafina Fiber Art. I purchased the supply pack for it. Both have recently been updated. The original used angora (rabbit) fiber for the “puff”. One of the unforgettable lessons I learned from the Bunny Puff is that straight angora fiber is VERY difficult to needle felt. The new supply pack uses a DHG blend instead. I suspect that makes it much easier to complete.

Here’s a detailed look at my original Bunny Puff.

Assessing the bunny and what to update

Since I tend to alter tutorials, I chose to add glass amber colored eyes instead of making needle felted ones. I don’t regret that decision. And I am mostly happy with the bunny’s head, but not the ears. They are sort of shooting out of his skull at a weird angle and appear awkwardly attached. Need to do something about that.

The body is luxuriously soft but too small for the head. You can see how short the body is in the work in progress photos of the original Bunny Puff below.

The front and back legs are simple but that’s ok. They are the right size and match the ears.

When I bought the supply pack, I purchased some extra angora fiber. Luckily, I still have some. I will have enough angora even if I make the body longer. I do not have any of the yarn that the was used to secure the tufts of angora. I’ll need to come up with an alternative way to deal with attaching the fur.

Jumping right in

I started by removing the fur coat and the ears. Then, I used core wool to make the body longer and reattached the arms and legs. I decided to change the position of the ears and make this a lop-eared bunny. Since I didn’t want to go through the agony of attaching straight angora fiber again, I decided to mix it with some wool. I mixed Sarafina’s Grit topcoat (no longer available) with the angora to soften its bright white color. This was a better fit with the colors in the bunny’s face, ears and limbs.

I was able to save some of the pieces of yarn when pulling out the old angora topcoat. I used these to attach straight white angora to the chest and added a white tail. The original bunny puff did not have a tail. Admittedly, I may have gone a little overboard on the tail. If I was going for a more realistic look, I’d probably downsize it. But who doesn’t love a soft, fluffy tail? I think it’s also nice throwback to the original Bunny Puff’s coat.

Here’s the reveal of the revamped Bunny Puff!

And another photo of the new longer body with the updated fur. I love the way it turned out. While this is a fantasy bunny design, it does feel more cohesive and cuddly. And it still has sections of that luxurious white angora. So cute, right?