Customizing Plush Snakes: Recent Nine-Foot, Green/Yellow King Cobra Example

[Ssssnake]

Hello, all! I do customization of plush snakes. They are lighter than models, are more flexible and even life size. One of my more recent projects was further detailing of a nine-foot King Cobra.

In its "stock form," it had a bright-green topside and a bright-yellow underside. Although it lacked the chevron pattern common to such King Cobras I've known, I found a way to have a darker shade on top -- as King Cobras tend to have -- while still retaining the underneath patterning. In lower lighting, I got the darker shading I was seeking. In brighter light, especially sunlight, I was able to "bring out" that green underside with good hints of its stock patterning. This is especially prominent when the plush is manipulated and bent.

This one was treated to a topside coat of "bold black" using an oil-based marker. The same was used for detailing the scales, both above and below. For the underside, I used a yellow, oil-based marker to "downplay" the stock brighter yellow color.  After that layer cured, I applied another underside coat using a white oil-based marker, with that "whitish tinge" accent color being more prominent in brighter light.

After the paint cures and "sets" for a few days, I do the buffing tasks. Not only does this remove any excess paint residue -- which I get -- it blends the elements together to give a more realistic appearance. Uniformity. While providing that glean real snake skin has. For this example, I accented the head area with some orange, which I've seen in male King Cobra examples. The rear-hood monocle and the eyes were also done in orange, to provide an accent distinctive from the green-and-yellow main coloring.

Note I always cut off those ridiculous oversized, extruding tongues most of these plush snakes have, along with the tags.

Below are photos of the above described: