The flexible tube is half-full of mobile weights – brass finishing rivets and little pellets of lead – intended to balance the figure anywhere from chin-down to standing on his tail.

The concept would work, but this tube turned out to be too short and too heavy in itself – the metal bits don’t run far enough forward or far enough back to counterbalance the tube and the rest of the figure through the full range of motion planned.

In addition, the overall weight is too high for the wire in the legs to carry on its own, and even the reinforcement added after felting is not quite up to the job.