Crocheted Orangutan

I love orangutans (blame Terry Pratchett!), but I've never found any toys that look like a real orang. I've been wanting to make a life-sized realistic baby orang for years, and I was lucky enough to find the perfect yarn to use for the fur! I crocheted my orang freeform, with various armatures inside (pipe cleaners, plastic bead armature, and wires - see the photos to give you an idea) to make him totally poseable.

The hardest part was getting the face right - it took me three attempts to strike the right balance. The first was too cartoonish, and the second was more realistic, but really ugly! I finally crocheted and sculpted a face that I hope captures the 'soul' I was aiming for.

Comments

[meangreenfrog]

where are the instructions? I clicked on download and it showed the forum. was wanting to make this for my granddaughter.

[SylvieM16]

Bonjour, existe t'il un tuto du gorille s'il vous plaît ?

[GeekCrafterGirlz432]

Make more!!! =•>

[shascho]

June, Hi- fancy meeting you here!

Thank you very much for posting these construction details;

I couldn't imagine what sort of skeleton this guy has.

Thanks, too, for the link to AT-

I have a quadriplegic son who might make great use of this product line.

I suspect that the reason realistic toy orangs are rarely available

is that their peculiar anatomy is difficult to imitate convincingly.

You've captured their essence with this project.

[Makeit with love]

What is the point of the pdf if it's not an instructable to follow? Not at pro level and don't want to pay if there is no reason to. He is totally adorable, that doll armature just brought him to life!

[planetjune]

Thanks, I'm so glad you like him!

The PDF is automatically generated from the project content by Instructables; that feature didn't exist at the time I posted this art project. So there's certainly no point in paying in this case - the PDF doesn't include any additional info.

I've summarised all the info about this project at www.planetjune.com/orang if you'd like to know more about him, but no pattern or detailed instructions exist, I'm afraid, as he was made as a one-of-a-kind art piece.

i posted this project as a jumping-off point to show that it's possible to do things with crochet that go beyond the usual soft toy/amigurumi...

[acosully]

holy goodness, its the librarian! i am so happy right now!

[yiyita]

art ! i want one

[JRPautos]

that is so precious! can you please tell me what that is that is making up his spine? i have seen it before but i cant remember what it is called.

[planetjune]

Thank you!

It's called doll armature - you can get it from places that sell dollmaking supplies. But it's exactly the same stuff as Loc-Line (http://www.modularhose.com/) which is sold for industrial purposes and also used in fish aquariums, so you could also look for it at those sorts of shops!

[Mina000]

this is really cute, but he looks angry, like it wants to beat you up lol

[Nynaeve]

 Absolutely lovely guy you have there! Thanks for including the pics of the internal structure coming together with the crocheted parts. And congratulations! 

[Luv2Dzin]

AMAZING! I am a huge fan of primates and I think you did an awesome job capturing their likeness and spirit. I hope you win :)

[rouen1913]

 Looks awesome- good luck June!

[ghost_of_anja]

June, you're for sure my crochet hero.  And you have impeccable literary taste. :D

[sweetdollymom]

I really like this but where do I find the instructable.

[planetjune]

Hi sweetdollymum, this is just a slideshow - there isn't a full instructable for it. I was just showing part of my process in case it inspires you to make something too! It was crocheted freeform as an art piece, so there's no pattern, I'm afraid.

[Seleziona]

NICE

[rmatch]

 This is amazing!  I'm voting for you (against myself!)

[outoftheframe]

wow! awesome, I love it :)