Stuffed Creature Design Part V

A hearty welcome from The Stuffed Animal Review, a publication dedicated to the analysis of stuffed creature design and their larger worlds.  Have you innocently stumbled onto this blog and are wondering where you are?  A fuller explanation of The Review’s purpose can be found on the “Philosophy” page.

We are in the thick of things: Part V of The Review’s guide to high-quality stuffed creature design.  We’ve considered basic fundamentals, which you can find archived on the “Core Principles” page, and last week we lamented the sad state of fur in the current stuffed animal world.

Today, The Review invites you to sink into Stuffed Creature Design Part V, a discussion of Softness and Smushability.
This is, or should be, one of the most pleasing aspects of your stuffed creature.  Hard stuffed creatures – the kind won at thousands of fairs and amusement parks throughout the country – should be banned.

But even attempts at soft stuffing can yield unsatisfactory results.  There is such a thing as an overstuffed and under-stuffed creature.

Stuffing should be sufficient for structural stability while allowing for physical contortions and bending, crucial to animation.  An overzealous stuffing job can result in a bloated creature for whom nodding, waving, and cavorting proves difficult.  And you do not want too little stuffing.  Something substantial is necessary to receive hugs and squeezes; otherwise, you might as well buy a puppet.  And you never know when you’ll need to use your stuffed creature as a pillow.

Preferred stuffing has two components; soft material which makes up 90% of the stuffed creature, and strategically placed beanbags in the bottom and paws.  Beanbags tend to indicate attention to design.  Beanbag bottoms act as a stabilizer, allowing your stuffed creature to sit upright without falling over.  They also can give your stuffed creature acrobatic tumbling qualities, depending on the aerodynamics of the animal.  Smaller beanbags found in the paws add balance as well as contributing a pleasing tactile experience.

Softness within the desirable range can become part of your stuffed creature’s personality.  Take Chubs, a Gund bear and Review staff member [Figure 1].  Chubs is stuffed at the high end of acceptable, giving him a filled in figure very different from his mates.  Note his bulging jowls and sturdy form.  Hence his name.  Chubs has a tendency to eat everything and anything in his sight – the goat of the bear kingdom if you will.  His personality naturally flowed from his stuffing.  [Stay tuned for Chub’s profile, this week’s Sunday through Friday Posts.]

Figure 1

Fudge, another Review staffer, is on the lower range of stuffing [Figure 2].  His floppiness accentuates the curved-back feature of this bear line, giving him the perfect posture for TV viewing.  Indeed, watching baseball double-headers is Fudge’s favorite pastime.  [For more on Fudge, click on "Staff Directory."]

Figure 2

To summarize the salient points.  Stuffing is no fluffy matter: there is an acceptable spectrum of stuffing ranging from full-bodied to floppy.  Beyond that range a stuffed creature becomes as cuddly as a concrete statue found on the front lawn, or as insubstantial as a throw rug.  At either extreme it becomes a strain to animate and impossible to enjoy a good squish.

Next Saturday: The Review sets parameters for size and explains why a stuffed creature the size of a small car might be a bad idea…