And that’s that. I’ve finished off attaching the wiring and I’m done with the frame. It’ll be onto papering soon. I must say, the whole process of making the frame including the wiring did not feel as tedious as it did in the past. I finished it fairly quickly and easily too. Some new things I’ve experimented with the process- rather than just cutting the bamboo pieces to length, I sized up each bamboo strip to where I was going to attach it on the frame to make sure the natural curve of the bamboo fit well. I utilised a lot more rattan cane than in the past. I also soaked the strips of cane I was going to turn into rings. This made bending the cane incredibly easy and none of them snapped in the process. I used a combination of micropore tape (for lightness) bind the strips together and used a small strip of rigid brown sports tape right at the end to secure the micropore tape. I think the adhesive on the sports tape is superior and hopefully will last for the ages. Overall, the lion feels light and sturdy and the shape is less lopsided that previous.

In preparation for the next part of the build, I’ve already put an order in on taobao for the bristle fur. I’ve already bought the pom poms from a previous buy so hopefully it all arrives on time. If you’re interested, on using Taobao, use this Taobao guide to help you get set up. They are shipping overseas to a few overseas countries including Australia. Once you’re in, I bought a set of white bristle fur from here and my black set from here. The pom poms I bought from this shop.  Eyes, and mirrors here. Once you’re in, use google translate to help you navigate the shop and if you need customisation, the shops will communicate with a program called Aliwangwang. If you can’t read or write Hanzi, get someone who can or again use google translate.