How to knit or make a base for this gnome?

[margaritasbythesea]

I've made a few of these and keep getting requests but I am never happy with the way the bottom sits. It's made just like a tube you see up with lots of increases to start and it always goes back to looking like a bag rather than sitting nicely. I'd like to reinforce it somehow but I am not sure how. Beans will just collect. Cardboard will bend. I thought about knitting the increases section with yarn held double but I am not sure.

I'd be really grateful for any ideas.

Here

Make a small beanbag to sit in the base when the rest of it has been stuffed? I’ve done that with amigurumi in the past.

I've made a couple of nativities that use a weighted pouch at the bottom to add weight and stability. It's a fabric circle, gathered round the edge and filled with plastic pellets similar to the ones used in weighted blankets. These might work but you'd need a fair amount of them. DD2 made a doorstop at a sewing workshop a few years ago and they used a small bag of rice.

Could you use cardboard circles covered in duct tape to reinforce them? Maybe cork circles would be more substantial than cardboard?

How big are the bases? Amazon have a set of 10cm blanks for coasters - 20 precut plywood circles plus self adhesive cork bases for £10.

Both good ideas. Thanks. Do you think ceramic baking beans would work?

You definitely need a bean bag or equivalent in the base. I've stopped using beans/rice when a toy got damp and sprouted. Plastic pellets, fine washed gravel or baking beans all sound fine.

Thanks