How to Make a Pom Pom Skunk : 14 Steps

A fun and easy craft for absolutely anyone to do.
Follow these simple steps to make your very own Pom Pom skunk!

Supplies

A ball of Black yarn
A ball of White yarn
Scissors
A large fork - metal -
A measuring tape
All purpose glue
Some sort of bead eyes
Two cut out ears -I used card stock and coloured over it with sharpie-
A black Pom Pom -you can get them at the dollar store-
A small piece of craft wire

Step 1: Cutting Your Yarn

First your going to cut 12 inches of either black or white yarn
Next your going to cut 48 inches of both black AND white yarn
And than your going to cut another 48 inches of black yarn

Step 2: Finding Proper Position

Once you have all your yarn cut, place the 12 inch piece of yarn in between the tines of the fork (the middle). Your going to pick up the fork and hold it as if you were giving someone a sideways thumbs up. Than take one pile of black yarn (with your free-hand) and with your sideways thumbs up, press your thumb against the yarn so that It stays securely in place. Pull the yarn a little over the edge of the fork so that when you begin wrapping you’ll be able to make a perfect wrap. Once you’ve got a good grasp on the yarn you can slowly begin to wrap the yarn all the way around the fork. Continue until you have about an inch of yarn left. When you have an inch or about that much left, find a looser part of your wrap and weave it under so that it stays in place. I strongly advise looking closely at the pictures as this step is quite confusing.

Step 3: Adding Your Second Layer

Once you’ve finished wrapping your yarn around the fork and have secured the loose end you’ll push the yarn down to the bottom of the fork. *If your having trouble with this it may be because you wrapped your yarn to tightly around the fork. The best thing to do in this situation is to just be patient and try again, don’t fret, it happens all the time!!* Once you’ve pushed the black yarn to the bottom of the fork, you’ll do the exact same thing you just did only with white yarn. Then after you’ve added your white yarn you’ll add the black.
Pushing the yarn down makes sure that there will be enough room for all the yarn to fit on the fork.

Step 4: Tying It Off

Now that you have completed the basic steps it time to put that 12 inch piece of yarn to use. Pull the yarn out from behind the fork -not off the the fork, but so that you can see it come out from the top-. Your than going to pull the both pieces up in the air, making sure it between the middle tines, tying the yarn in a knot while pulling your wrap of yarn off the fork. Once it’s off the fork -you’ll want to do this quickly so nothing comes undone- tie it again two more times to make sure your knot is going to stay in place.

Step 5: Cutting Out the Pom Pom

Now that your wrap is off the fork it’s time to make it actually look like a real Pom Pom! What your going to do is cut along the edge of your wrap -yes all the way around- till you reach the spot you started at. You will probably look at your creation now and think “what the heck is this?!” Well, to get the fluffy Pom Pom shape that you want you have to roll the it in your hand like a little ball. Be carful not to completely squish it!

Step 6: Trimming It

As you can tell your Pom Pom is pretty rugged and well, let’s face it, it looks nothing like what you hoped it would I bet. So to make it look better trim it to your liking and remember it’s not supposed to be perfect, after all, it is a skunk we’re making. Don’t forget to cut the two bottom pieces of yarn off, because they’re no longer important.
Now that your first Pom Pom is done, you’ll do everything you just did following the same steps, creating a second Pom Pom. But look at it this way, you perfecting your skills by making more!

Step 7: Making the Tail

If your at this step you should have a head a body for your skunk, they should both be about the same size.
Using a smaller measuring tape -you absolutely don’t have to switch measuring tapes, it’s usually a comfort thing for most people-.
Cut 12 inches of either black or white yarn. Next you want to cut 24 inches of both black and white yarn. If you recall what you just did while making the regular size than that’s perfect because mini Pompoms are made the exact same way -just minus one colour-.

Step 8:

Step 9:

Once you’ve finished cutting out your Pom Pom -Don’t trim it!!!!- since this is a tail you’ll want it to look ruffled and messy.

Step 10:

Repeat the tail step to make the second half of your skunk’s tail.

Step 11: Connecting the Body

Now the creation of our skunk really begins! For this step you’ll use a metal wire and connect the head to the body. Try to find the center of the Pom Pom without ruining it. Put the second Pom Pom on and push both of them up till there is about 5 or so centimeters left. Than fold the wire over on itself and you can than push both Pompoms up leaving just the tip of the wire out, the puffed up yarn is sure to hide it.

Step 12:

Next find the center of the small Pompoms and push them up. Leave about 5 or so centimeters left and if you have any left over wire cut it off. Fold the wire over on itself, and than fold the tail up so it can stand on it’s own.

Step 13: The Face

Congratulations on making it this far!!!! This has been a fun and... kinda long journey - not to mention a little confusing at times.
For the face, it all mostly up to how you see your skunk. For depth you can use glass bead eyes or googly eyes if you want something more fun. For the ears I used black card stock and coloured over top of it with sharpie -legs of course are optional-. For the nose -ironically enough- you can use a pre made Pompoms which you can get at the dollar store. I put a sparkly heart on top of it.