Pen and paper at the ready, it was time to draw up a design. Duckee (his new name) was going to be placed at the entrance to the restaurant, which is located in a basement. So I imagined him inviting guests with open arms, or in this case, wings, to join him to dine and party. You can see from my original drawing that one wing is stretched open, which would be pointing to the staircase and could be an ideal spot to stand for a great Duckee selfie.
A big duck needs big feet in order to support the entire weight. The face also needed to be happy and comical, and I added a little hat as Martin was very keen to include the Chinese element in the design. I absolutely love the logo for this brand, like yin and yang with two duck heads and beaks that double as cocktail glasses. I definitely wanted to include it somewhere in my design, hence the pendant around Duckee’s neck. The drawing was sent for approval and just came back with one request to dress Duckee in a gown so that the yellow wouldn’t be so overpowering.
There’s lots to think about when you have to make a 175cm tall crochet structure. First and foremost, how will it stand and remain sturdy and safe? Secondly, what to make it out of? All I knew for sure was that the yarn would need to be fat as there was no way I was going to make it on a 4mm hook!
Time to hit the online yarn shops to hunt for the right type of material. I wanted cotton and lots of it. The only requirement was that it had to be yellow, which proved quite difficult to find. As most of us know, bright duck yellow isn’t the most popular shade amongst us crafters. However, Hobbii’s Ribbon 100% cotton in the perfect duck yellow along with orange for his feet and beak would be ideal. I could get away with using an 8mm hook, so 25 balls of yellow and 12 of orange were added to the cart.
Now to move onto the inside structure. This is where I enlisted the help of my clever engineer husband Alex. He instantly thought of using piping inside as this would be the most feasible and easiest of solutions. You can see from the picture he drew me how it would need to be constructed. Next he gave me a list of bits to go and find, which included 4” plastic piping, T-pieces, elbow, end caps and a hacksaw. Typical crochet materials…not!
Now I had a structural plan and an approved artist’s impression but no crochet pattern to follow. I was going to have to rely on every stitch of my crochet experience to bring this idea to life.
