First you need a deer. The best time to get an animated Christmas deer is right after Christmas when the stores are having a clearance sale. You can pick them up between $5-$10. Or you can look at yard sales. The deer with the head moving side to side is what I used, but you can use the one whose head goes up and down if it suits your haunt better.
You need a couple yards of furry fabric. The faux fur works best. Look for sales at places like Joanne Fabrics. The color is up to you. I already had a brown mask so I wanted brown fur.
You will need a wolf mask. Make sure it fits over your deer head. You will want the full mask. It works better than the type that only covers the front of the face.
Safety pins or glue gun.
1. Depending on which deer you are using (male or female), remove the antlers, ears and tail. You will have to take the lights off the male antlers. If you want to use your deer again at Christmas, as I do, remove them carefully.
2. It is hard to cut the fur into the correct shape in one piece. I ended up cutting mine into segments to make it easier to work with. Play with it and see if you can fit yours more easily in less pieces. There is no one right way to build this. I do not have photos taken during the process, and don't think it would have helped much anyway. This photo shows which parts I wrapped individually. Each color represents a different piece of fabric. Notice, I made sure to overlap each piece.
Since I still use my deer at Christmas I did not want to permanently attach my fabric. Using safety pins I attached the pieces to each other as I placed it on the deer, being sure to hide the pins as I went along. If you have thick fur like I did this is no problem. If you want to make it permanent you can use a glue gun.
I started with the legs and wrapped a piece of fur around each leg, making sure I went up far enough so it overlaps with the chest and rump fur. I also left enough at the bottom to cover each foot and make it "poof out" a little like a paw. Pin or glue each piece closed as you apply it.
Next I wrapped the back, rump, and tummy area. I started and ended underneath the tummy, again, being sure to overlap. Pin or glue the tummy shut. On the rump I made a flap that went between the rear legs and was tucked into the tummy. Pin or glue the flap to the tummy. Make sure you have overlapped each leg by a couple inches. Now pin, or glue this piece to the leg fur.
The last piece of fur simply goes around the neck. It overlaps the back and comes down to the front legs. Wrap it around and pin or glue it shut at the chest. Again, I created a flap that goes between the front legs. Pin or glue front flap to chest. Make sure you have made this neck piece long enough to go up inside your mask after it is placed on your deer (now wolf). Pin or glue the neck piece to the back and chest area.
Place the mask on your wolf and if necessary, pin or glue. I did not need to. You may want to add some stuffing to the inside of the mask to fill it out. You may also wish to add plastic claws to each foot. Now plug it in and stand back and admire it with a satisfied grin on your face.
Note: Some of these look very realistic. At this point you may want to introduce your children and pets to your new "dog". Our dog had just recently passed away, and I kept thinking it was him whenever I would walk into the room. It is kind of creepy, which of course is a good thing.
Wolf from an animated Christmas deer
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