[Leovenous]

I think beveling is the way to go.

I made a disc, and flattened it on the bottom like a dog claw.

Then I beveled it a bunch of times, watching the top view.

When any of the points crossed, I just welded them together.

Then when I get to the tip, I made one more bevel and welded all the points to each, other to make a tip. I had to center it.

Then I started selecting groups of points and moved/rotated them.

I added a UV color and bump map I made in Photoshop.

Thats it. If you want the file, PM me and I could zip it and send it to you, or upload it.

JD

I had forgot to mention. It is subpatched and the surface is smoothed.