Evolution of a T-Rex

Several months ago, I decided that it would be great to add dinosaurs to my line up of toys. While not strictly fantasy, they are not something you see every day since they are now extinct. My first attempt at making a dinosaur could be said to be the Nessie toy since I based it loosely on a Plesiosaur. The next one I worked on was the ever popular Tyrannosaurus Rex.

I spent some time looking at artist's renditions of the dinosaur. I looked at pictures of museum models and museum displays of skeletons. The T-Rex actually, according to the latest findings, keeps it's body balanced in an almost horizontal position rather than the almost upright position depicted in cartoons and even some plastic models.

With the position in mind and with the limitations of the felt, I attempted to create a simplistic T-Rex with a horizontal body. The first rendition was an epic fail. I didn't even finish stuffing it. Poor thing looks like road kill rather than a dinosaur at all. (bottom figure in the picture to the right)

Round two showed flaws in my ability to balance a toy on two legs as it promptly fell on its nose. (middle figure in the picture to the right) In the interest of keeping it balanced on the hind legs alone, I changed the body from horizontal to an even more upright, if not correct stance. This time, I filled the tail with salt. (top figure in the picture to the right) Now, I know that salt in the tail is not a good solution. I was looking for something to weight the tail. Even with the salt, it looks like it's about to fall over. These have been relegated to the reject box.




At this point, I came to the conclusion that a properly balanced T-Rex wasn't going to happen at only 4 or 5 inches tall and made out of felt. I took artistic license and redrew the pattern entirely, having the T-Rex in a seated position. And since T-Rex is all about the huge mouth full of teeth, I added them in felt. They are obviously too large. And seated, the tail is too long. (see picture to the left)




Back to the drawing board. This time, it was, I thought fairly easy to just shorten the tail. At this point I was out of the lovely green felt so switched to an orange one to continue the experiments. After I made this one up, I realized that when I shortened the tail I had the T-Rex balanced on it's heels and the tip of the tail. Not what I was looking for. And back to the pattern again to make adjustments to the T-Rex was actually seated, not hovering. (see picture to the right in orange)



I made one more version. The last 2 versions also ended up in the reject box. This time I got the version that I have made up for sale. (Soon to be in the Etsy shop) I got it seated and I got the teeth looking ok and not like having over-sized dentures. While I am disappointed I wasn't able to create a realistic pose. I am pleased with the final result.


Until next time...