She's not very tiny, 39 inches and some change from her nose to her butt (That's WITHOUT the hind legs). Anything over 39" is an XL, but she hasn't completely dried, which will likely put her in the 'Large' grading size on NAFA's scale afterwards. Not that it matters - we're not selling this baby:
The toughest part was skinning out the feet and leaving the claws attached. I took a few pics to show how I did it. (Right way, likely not - but it seemed to work out) First thing I did was skin down each foot until I got to the last knuckle on each toe...and you end up with a sickle-shaped thing, that is the claw/sheath, attached to a ball joint:
The knife blade is pointing at the claw in this pic:
A cut needs to be made right at where the ball joint meets the claw sheath:
And then it is free!
Inside out, the foot looks like this:
And then you have to push the claws through so that they find their way back out on the fur side.
Four toes on each back foot, and then four toes and a dewclaw on each front foot. There is a LOT of cutting on those pads and feet - took me almost two hours to skin her out. Those feet really require a smaller, finer knife like the Havalon Piranta to make things a little easier - That thing is Awesome for skinning/caping and the small work, creatures big and small! But man oh man do the feet look COOL when they are done!!!!!!
Also interesting is the front leg cuts that are necessary to let them hang free on the finished product. But, it's all learning, and the next one will go better. The pelt has a really cool silver and gold appearance and is unbelieveably fluffy - the guard hairs are about four inches long all over, and maybe a bit longer on the belly. This is the fur along the back...stick your fingers in and they'll get lost...
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