drzarron

As I reported earlier, Sabrina has really been wanted a Fursuit, particularly for Anthrocon. So after much begging and pleading and a little pushing from Diana, we leaped in to make her one. Once upon a time, I was a pretty decent costumer so wasn't too worried about the project, but there are certain things unique to making fursuits I hadn't tried before. Luckily, the fursuiters are a very open lot and there is a lot of information out on the web. This was a fun project and it gave Sabrina and I a great chance to work on something together. Yeah, I could have done better in places working alone, but that certainly wasn't the point of the project.

First up, design. I used an old trick of having Sabrina lay on a piece of paper and
traced her head, face up and profile. Then I could sketch out the outside of the
head and leaving, so I THOUGHT was enough foam to carve. More on that later.


Went to a local foam shop and found a small cell foam, two inches thick and solid
enough to carve nicely (There are pieces left over for the 4x8 sheet)


Based off the drawings I cut squares of the foam to stack up to make the head.
You can't see it here, but also in each square I cut out a circle to fit around
Sabrina's head. Seamed it would be much easier to cut out the space during
glue up rather than trying to carve it out accurately later.


..and here's the head space inside the new cube o'foam.


..and here is a second block for a special project that Sabrina wanted to do.
You can see that each square was numbered, to keep them in order and to
mark the front.


At first I tried to use good old 3M contact cement, a glue I'm well familiar with
but found it just didn't work with the foam well. I then moved to "3M Hi-Strength
90" spray glue and that did the trick very nicely.


From experience I knew the tool needed to carve foam was a electric carving
knife. Moved through it like butter.


Using an old carvers technique, drawing out the front and profile gives you a
nice place to start, but after the first few initial cuts, you just have to wing it.


Found that poke a Sharpie through the paper transfered the design to the
foam very nicely. Again, an old trick that still works.


WARNING: If you've never carved foam before, it is a VERY messy job.
Couple that with the nastiness of the glue, doing this in an open garage
was a very good idea.


Remember when I said I THOUGHT I'd left enough material to carve around
the head? Well I was wrong. Luckily, its just foam and it was very easy to
patch in another block then carve is back down to shape. (yeah, the garage
is a mess.. its on the list of summer projects)


Yes, doing fittings as you go along is important. There is breathing space
through the open mouth.. No, I'm NOT trying to suffocate my daughter.


As I was do a step, Sabrina would do that step on her solo project...
Making a tiny fursuit for Dolly.


The majority of the carving done. Diana wanted to try it on, and
it fits her too.


Hmm.. somehow I didn't shoot any pics while wrestling the fur
onto the head, so here is it furred and eared.

I found the fur the hardest part. Probably picked too cheap
a fur to work with, that didn't help. And having to play with
techniques to get it shaped and attached. Mistakes were
made, but the bottom line is Sabrina is THRILLED. If I
do another one I have a knowledge base to work with.


Here's the two suits together, still missing their eyes.

The ears were fun. I used a plastic mesh I found at the
fabric store the they used for types of needle point.
It's strong and flexible and the hot glue latches onto
it nicely. We left tabs at the bottom of the ears and
cut slots in the foam, then pulled the tabs through
and hang onto it while the glue set. Then trimmed
off the excess from the inside.


The eyes were next. We used a fine weave needlepoint
canvas glued to the inside of the eye openings then simply
used markers to draw in the eye details. The visibility
from the inside is fantastic and they look pretty good
from the outside.


Here's the final product. The nose is just cut out of
felt. I would have liked to use a piece of leather or
vinyl but this is Sabrina's project and that's how she
wanted it. Then to top it off, we added (with pins)
a nice wig Sabrina had and really wanted to use.


Tonight, I made the tail (not pictured). Sabrina has a tail that simply made like a stuff toy, and while nice, it has to action to it. Had a piece of pipe insulation, which I know other people have used to the core of tails, but its too stiff. So what I did was start with a nice piece of thick rope (which is TOO Flexible) the took the pipe insulation and cut it into four inch lengths and threaded them onto the rope and tied off the ends. Perfect. It has the thickness it needs and the stiffness not to just hang limp, yet is flexible enough to sway nicely when she walks. Then I sewed a tube of the white fur and pulled the "skeleton" into it and sewed off the ends. Oh, I also glued a tube through one end of the robe so I can attach it to a loop of leather which she can run through a belt. Simple.

All I need to do now is look into, PERHAPS, making paws.

Will I do this again? Probably. Its a great technique and I thought of several other costumes it would lend itself to. Would like to find a coating I could spray onto the foam to seal it and make a smooth surface.