THE PROCESS
SELECTION
First of all we decide what animal we are going to produce. A lot of effort goes into working out exactly what pose to place the animal in. The criteria we use for this decision is a) what looks most realistic b) can it be carved in this position c) how will the wood grain line up if carved in this position. It is important when carving to ensure that enough wood grain "joins" up throughout the figure, otherwise it will be too fragile.
DESIGN
Once we have decided on the animal to be carved, the design sketches are made. These are then assessed against inages of the real animal and changes are made to ensure that we are as true as possible to the original animal.
CARVING
Once the design has been finalised we move on to carving. At this point we can ensure that the details can be carved as required and that the shape will work with the grain of the wood.
PAINTING
When we are happy with the carving, we move on to painting. The animal will be first painted and then checked against archive pictures and updated if necessary.
DRAFT APPROVAL
After all updates have been made, we can finally approve the finished animal. There is only one more stage now before the animal can go into production - testing.........
TESTING & FINAL APPROVAL
The final stage of development is the sending of the animal to an independent testing laboratory. Here it will be tested for its' suitability as a toy under the stringent rules of EN71 (Europe) / UKCA (UK)/ AS/NZS 8124 (Australia & New Zealand / ASTM F963 (USA).
Once the animal has passed all the tests, it can then receive the Lion Mark of the British Toy & Hobby Association) and can be submitted to the independent Good Toy Guide for consumer testing.
Once all of these stages are gone through, production of the animal is finally approved.
PRODUCTION
Once all the steps have been gone through, we can finally produce the animal in bulk, from sustainable wood and to the standard and quality we demand for a true and original Wudimals®.
It doesn't end there. Once produced, our animals are packed and shipped using the least amount of resources possible. Wudimals® is a brand member of 1% for the Planet, which means that 1% of all global turnover is donated to active, approved environmental and social justice charities who support the maintenance of the habitats in which our Wudimals® live.
We hope you enjoy!
