The upper rim of the tube has a stiff black band sewn onto it to keep it open. That whole thing was then stuck into the lion inside the foamed rubber tube, and secured to the bottom of the lion skin in the front and the back.
Then, a bit of the polywool filling went back in, at the front and at the sides of the little guy, to get him back into his rotundish shape.
As a final step, I sewed a band to the sides of the opening for easy carrying, and then stitched the fleece to the outer fabric in the front and to the pocket lining in the back. Two press buttons to close the top of the head when not in use as a bouldering bag, a bit of rubber string that helps the pocket lining to fold when closing the bag, and voilà - a very unique chalkbag:
When closed, it almost looks like before; the only difference is that the forehead is more receding now than it was originally - but that cannot be helped.
Can you tell I had a lot of fun making this?