Giles....Cassowary!

Today I am pleased to present Giles! He is my newest creation! I absolutely love strange and interesting wildlife, and I think Cassowaries are awesome! In the real world, they are 4 foot 11 to 5 foot 11! And they can be quite dangerous, but they are also quite cool looking. I've wanted to make one for quite some time, and my original thought was to make one about 4 foot tall, which of course would've been crazy! But, I decided it would take me much too long of a time to crochet something that large, and I have so many other projects I want to make, so I made Giles a bot smaller. He is about 2 1/2 feet tall. Still quite large as crocheted animals go. I sketched out on several pieces of paper how I basically wanted him to look, then followed that "pattern" as I crocheted along. I also originally thought I would just brush out the body to make it look fluffy and furry… like they look in real life. But then I decided, in for a penny in for a pound, and so I added small strips of yarn to almost every stitch in his body to make him have long feathers. This took me several days and several hours each day… But I absolutely love the result. I thought I was finished and then I thought...hmmm... And I added a couple of little extra touches with acrylic paint pens to make his face look more realistic. I'm so pleased with the result.