One of my favourite creations is my Niffler ... I saw the first Fantastic Beasts movie and exited the cinema knowing I had to have one!!! I then paid to see the movie three more times LOL 

For anyone interested I do have a time lapse of a baby niffler on my YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/mumsmakery

Creating my Niffler was quite a challenge as there was no "how to" and only a spattering of reference pictures available online but with quite a bit of perseverance I think I got there :) 

A recent post on facebook as prompted me to create this blog post as I thought it would be a nice idea to share a few WIP's of how I made this guy and maybe it might help some of you see how it all went together. 

So lock up your shiney things as I let out .. The Niffler :) 

I usually start with the most prominent feature of a any creature I make and in the Niffler case this was his beak.  

This took several attempts as I kept making it larger and wider to look more realistic?! 

Here are some measurements .. this was my best guess at lifesize lol

 

Once I was happy with the beak I formed the rest of the head...

(note to self ... don't put long fur on something until the VERY end lol)

Next I started making the feet (I tend to make parts then add them to a whole) that way if one part goes wrong you haven't got to work out how to detach it from a main frame. 

The feet were used making the Mum's Makery Armature Assistant which really does help you make very consistent replications of armatures. There is also a video on my YouTube Channel on making ratty feet .. same principle just different size toes hehe

This is a wax & wool technique .. the ratty feet tutorial shows how to sculpt and shape for really realistic results... again this was using Felters Wax  

 

Once all the feet were made it was time for body creation

I don't have any pics of the body armature but I joined the head to a central spine wire then added leg wires attaching the feet ... the nice thing about making it in parts is you can always detach / re-attach. 

I then wrapped him in a dark grey core wool. 

Then I added the eyes and waxed the beak .. again using Felters Wax

More videos can be seen on my YouTube channel on waxing various parts from feet, to flower stems, noses to claws there are lots of tips in each of the videos so do have a look and subscribe to the channel :) 

All the wrapping in core and waxing the beak did mess up all the long fur I put on the head so a word from the wise ... do that last LOL. 

He was then ready for the long fur .... 

This.... took .... ages..... lol

I gave him a tail .. then for the long fur started at the belly and underneath then worked up the legs and finally over the back.

.. I was nearing the end of the project and had one of those "I will stay up until I finish this" drives but around 2:30am I couldn't keep my eyes from going crossed so I fell into bed .... 

The next morning... bright and breezy ... I awoke ... the sun was shining .. it was a beautiful morning ... I threw back the covers to discover .. it looked like I had murdered a care bear in my sleep !! 

I was covered in fluff from all the snipping and shaping the night before and didn't realise LOL ... so after going through about 20 lint rollers I finished the niffer :) 

.. so there we have it .. the making of my Niffler .. he has also been on some adventures as often at a show or event he gets loose and causes mayhem.

Here he is on the Cogworts Steamtrain journey 2018 .. Oh no something shiney!!! 

.. and here is in finally back in his suitcase with his friend Picket the Bowtruckle 

Thank you for visiting my blog :) 

(Picket also has a time lapse overview on how I made him on my YouTube Channel)