Sticky's Fursuit Guide (WIP)

Got a fursuit to show off? Want advice on how to make one or where to get one? Feel the need to share pictures of your new wolf T-shirt? What about cute plushie or pair of fluffy ears? This is the place.

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Sticky_Fingers
Posts: 360
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:30 am
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Bi-mostly gay
Species: brown bear
Region: Western Cape

Sticky's Fursuit Guide (WIP)

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Post by Sticky_Fingers »

Well here is how I made my suit. I'll draw pictures later for this to help understand.

Materials and tools

3 meters of fur from "Fabric city" in Cape Town (always buy more, I am about 1.8 meters tall and of average build. Don't be shy to tell the person helping you that it’s for a costume.)
1 or more meter of foam (I bought it from a foam factory shop; depends on what kind of foam and how much you want...soft, hard, etc)
1 Costume pattern (buy them from "fabric" or "needle and thread" stores. A basic on will do just fine)
1 old black pantyhose.
1 permanent black marker
1 good pair of scissors
1 Black thread spool (use white if you’re using a light colour fur)
1 Long thick Needle (Ow! Used in the head)
1 Short thin Needle (used when I made the gloves and some of the head work)
1 roll of duct tape (most awesome tool ever)
3 Rolls of box tape (used with the furring process)
2 superglues (used in head construction)
1 meter by 1 meter of flexible plastic chicken wire (from a hardware store)
1 Crayola modeling putty/clay (for nose, mouth + teeth)
1 meter of medium to strong wire (It's going to define the muzzle shape so try to get it unbent if possible)
1 spool of soft bendable wire (you're going to use varying amounts)
2 bags of cable ties


Process
Body

I got some help from a friend of mine who is a fashion designer. The pattern lists different widths and heights with the important ones being the circumference of the waist, the arms circumference (taken under the armpit), the length from foot to waist and waist to shoulders, and a general check on how loose or tight I'd want to make it. Use a large sheet of paper and draw out the pattern using the measurements on the pattern. She helped cut out the pattern (it was essentially two sides of the torso and the arm tubes) Once the pattern was cut out she pinned up the seams and made me put it on again. She would take pins out and adjust it to my body type and preferences of how tight, loose I wanted.

Then she used a sewing machine and machined the material inside out and then flipped it inside out so the seams are inside. This way it’s harder to see where the seams are and gives a better look. You can also take a pin and pick the fur out from inbetween the seam to give it a smooth look.

The suit might feel a little heavy on the shoulders depending on the weight of the fabric used and you would never dream of making it heavier, trust me, you can handle it. You could proceed to sew in patches of foam on the inside to give a more rounded look to some of the areas (tummy, arms, legs) and this is only restricted by the fabric used...too thin and the areas will sag rather than bulge/bulk.


Head

The most important step in the entire build is unfortunately the first: making the basic structure the foam rests on. There are a variety of good methods to use to build a head. (Soft fursuit heads made entirely out of foam and material, hard heads made from wire and mesh, etc) The one that worked for me the most was a harder type of head. Start with you chicken wire and cut a long strip. Wrap this around your head horizontally so that it goes over your forehead like a headband. You want a slight looseness on the headband. It will get tighter later...trust me. I made that mistake.

Tie the first headband up but not permanently (you may have to shift it again soon) using your preferred medium but I recommend tie downs. String works quite well too. Cut two strips but this time it’s going to be going in a half oval from the "left" of your head and over to the "right" of the headband strip. The first strip will probably go right over or in front your crown so that it’s not inline your ears. You don’t want the strip poking the top of your ear. This also provides the main support of the helmet. The other strip comes right behind the curve of the back of your head. This is to keep the forehead pressed lightly against the headband part and prevents slipping.

Like you'd adjust headphones, make the length of the strip shorter or longer to have more or less of your head inside the headpiece. Try and find a comfort zone. Don’t worry if its scratchy or itchy, you will be padding it with foam later. Tie this all together when your satisfied that it’s comfortable and not too tight. You have now created a kind of skullcap. Ideally it should have a slight backwards slant if you imagine it from the side but comfort takes preference since this can’t really be changed later.

You are halfway done on the basic skeleton of the head.

Grab a piece of pretty stiff wire, if you can’t bend it with just your forefinger...then it’s probably okay. Start bending a rounded half-circle shape...your essentially creating a line of symmetry through the helmet. It’s going to come from the back of your head and attach to the headband part of the helmet and over the top and over your nose and forwards to form a muzzle where the point is right under the nose. The muzzle shape can be initially made to be like a box with the length and form up to you. Generally I recommend a fist length from the face. . IMPORTANT! Where the wire crosses above the bridge of your nose: you should leave a 2 cm gap (a finger length) as having a wire press on your nose hurts like F@#$ after a while...again...learned from experience.

You should now have a kind of silhouette of whatever animal you wanted to make the head for. Allow a little extra length of the hard wire for last minute adjustments and for tying onto the headpiece. Make sure to fold each end of the wire onto itself to prevent it having a sharp point to poke you with and makes it easier to tie (especially if you decided to use string). I suggest pushing the wire through the chicken mesh strips of the helmet to give it more rigidity. Align the curve of the helmet and the curve of the wire and put it on and check the comfort again. Try to get the wire as centered as possible, it will be an important guideline later. You should now have a helmet with a wire running though it now...not very impressive...yet.


The next step is much easier and fun as long as you remember a few fundamentals. At this stage you want to make the basic "form" of your head (thick, thin, etc) off the basic skeleton. Also the other important fundamental is working out the eye structure. You might have a big muzzle that if you didn't plan the eye structure might obstruct your view. Do note that you will have some limited vision with a fursuit. The last fundamental is also the toughest one: whether or not to have a movable muzzle or not. I decided not to have one on my suit.

My thoughts on fans and animatronics in fursuits: With a hard head fursuit heads you can put fans or motors in. I'm not that mechanically inclined so I decided to put simple air holes on my fursuit heads. Ideally you put the fans around the back of the head with some protective cover over it and a place to draw air though the fabric. Motors and electronics add weight and need to be anchored, plan these things properly into your head design. Also don’t forget to put the switch in an easy to reach place.

A good place to start is with the much softer wire. Run some wire vertically along the muzzle to create ribs that foam padding can go on. This is also where you can decide whether or not to make a mobile muzzle. I can't really explain a mobile jaw at the moment. A non-mobile muzzle is easy as you simply tie the lower jaw on or make a simple hinge. Make the vertical ribbing into big loops and press the lower parts up to form the roof of the mouth. You will later use a simple piece of wire and foam for the lower jaw.

Using more soft wire you can start to put ribbing on the helmet. Create a large loop from the corner of the muzzle and right around the head touching the back of the helmet preferably but you can lower it, just realize it might rub on the back of your neck if it’s too low. The other end of the loop should attach to the other corner of the muzzle. This loop of soft will probably be the lowest point the foam will reach on your fursuit head. The wire itself will probably fit somewhere below your ear. Make sure the loop gives your ears a little room to breathe; it’s horrible to have sweaty ears. This loop needs support to keep it away from your ear however so let a loop of soft wire come down from the helmet and just in front of your ears. Tie this up using the wire or if that doesn’t seem good enough; tie it with string and cable ties. You should have the basic helmet with wires jutting out of it for the muzzle and a few wires along the head to act as anchoring points for the foam padding.

Now for the most rewarding part of the build: attaching the foam to the head. Feel free to be liberal with your cuts of the foam but I recommend cutting large squares and folding them around the head before cutting them again to follow the curve of the helmet. Use the ribbing we made to attach the foam to. Don't worry about eye holes yet, cover everything with a base layer of foam. Here I went with a needle and thread to sew the foam onto the wire. I found using glue wouldn’t attach it very well and the foam doesn’t respond well to the cable ties as it more often than not rips the foam. The best solution I found was duct tape. WARNING! Duct tape is INSULATING. Try to use it along the ribbing to secure the foam. Too much and you will get hot fast.

Once you have put the foam all along what we can finally call "a head”, you can start putting in the important form making parts. Cheeks jut out, muzzles are rounded, and eyebrows stand out. You need to add slivers of foam to these areas to give the face a more realistic look and also to create the desired expression. You can also scoop out some of the foam inside where the ears go for even more airflow. Once you are happy that the profile of your head is right you can get to the next important step, planning the furring and cutting the eyeholes.


Get a black marker and start drawing out the following: the line of symmetry though the middle of the head, the position of both ears (don't be afraid to measure) as rounded shapes, the position of the eyes (don’t be afraid to ask others to help if you can), and if you can, mark out the direction of how you want the furs hairs to lie. (Also if you have two different types of fur, note that too)

Don't be too worried with perfection when you cut the eye holes for the fursuit, what matters is that when you put the fursuit head on that you can see comfortably. You should not have to shift the head about to see. Keep cutting till you can see out the head without too much difficulty (remember perfect vision is not going to be possible with a fursuit head).


With the eyeholes cut you can now start on the ears. Ears are a simple piece of square foam with a little bend in it. You can choose to glue this on with hot glue or sew it on like I did. Use a mirror to see if your ears look good from the front and side. Once attached to the head, you can tailor the ears to have the correct shape. Don’t be afraid to experiment with adding bits of foam or folding the edges to get the ears rim into shape.

Now for another important step...if you haven’t already done this...do it now. Check all your ties and sews for strength. Tug it a little, not heavy tugging. Make sure you have the important spaces above your noses ridge and by your (human) ears.

The lower jaw can easily be made with a square of foam and a simple loop of wire. The only difficulty is attaching it to the head. I used some elastic and sewed it on the inside of the mouth. You can also create hinges with string and wire. When it comes to mobile jaws you usually put an elastic on the hinge and have your mouth push down and part the jaw.


Furring

This is not as difficult as you might think, if you could make the fursuit body, you can do this. If you didn't then don't worry, all you need is a little logic and a pair of scissors. You will however have to decide whether you want to have the fur handing down in long pieces off the headpiece or having a neck sock. I prefer having a long hanging fur as it lets your neck get airflow.

Grab the box tape and start liberally applying it to the surface of the fursuit head. If you don't have box tape, use any light tape since we will be removing the tape again after it’s all over the head. You should now have a head that’s completely taped up. I do however recommend you leave the edges of the tape to hang over the head a fair way.

Once the head is taped up to a degree, put it on and check it against your neck and whether you require more or less length, a greater/smaller width for the neck piece, etc. I do recommend you keep some extra tape for the inside of the eye for better attachment of the eyes.

Once satisfied, begin to remove the tape from the head. You can cut it where the head bends to get a better flat piece. Don’t be afraid to have many sections. You only need to remember two important things before you remove the pieces: Where on the head the piece was and what direction the piece was facing. It is very easy to accidentally put you piece on backwards or worse, cut the piece upside-down so that the fur is on the wrong side. To avoid this, adopt a routine of taking off a piece and placing it onto the fur material. Never be afraid to double check.

This paragraph is purely here to make you remember: Check you fur direction, fur travels usually down the fursuit head. If you can’t tell, use real life photos or sketches.

Once all the pieces are firmly placed on the fur (you can either stick it on the back of the fur or onto the fur, depending on how you placed the fur.) you have to cut the pieces out. (Don’t forget to remove the tape...it makes horrible crackling sounds when u stroke it) You can start sewing or gluing the pieces on as you cut them out of the fur. I again recommend sewing when it comes to the edges of the fabric with a little glue in the center of the piece to hold it down. Pull the thread tightly when you sew the fur on except when you sew near the bottom of the head where the fabric hangs. It will have a tendency to pull the foam inwards.


Eyes and details

There are MANY methods to making fursuit eyes. Some people have custom made plastic eyes made for their suits. Others take some clear plastic sheets and make an eye with a hole in the pupil to see through. I prefer thin fabrics such as pantyhose. You can easily color on the pantyhose to make it white or you can cover it with a premade piece of printed cardboard or plastic for the iris while having the pantyhose as the pupil. You can even leave out the eyes and just look though the hole.

Any details you do on the head will greatly improve the look and character of the fursuit. Trace black marker along the sides of the eyes or even on the fur, bleach the fur, or add whiskers (use fishing gut).

The detail I added was the mouth and nose structures using modeling clay I bought. It is very easy to use and dries into a nice spongy rubber. I butchered some old vampire teeth for the canines. You can also use other materials like soft cloth covered in putty with a type of varnish over it to make it hard and glossy.


Paws

Paws are a simple design and can be a lot of fun, especially foot paws. We will start with hand paws. Take the marker and trace the palm of your hand on the back of the fur material and flip your hand over to trace it again. Allow for a little space around your fingers and palm for the sewing. Cut it out carefully; don't worry if the fingers look a little fat. If you have a sewing machine, sew the two pieces together with the fur facing inside. Then flip it inside-out so that the seams are inside. The process is similar with a needle and thread except it'll take longer.

For the foot paws you’re going to need a base to attach the foam padding too. For foot paws that are used for outside walking, I suggest using an old soft shoe you don’t use anymore. If you’re going to design a realistic foot paw (for inside or on carpets), then I suggest you use a stiff piece of foam as the base with some basic fabric or rubber sole inside to keep you from wearing the foam away.


To start a foot paw you bulk up pieces of foam to form the desired amount of toes and the shape of the foot. Use glue and stitching to keep things together. You can get away with sloppy measuring if you don't feel like using the tape method I used with the fursuit head to get the fur right. Just remember what direction you want the fur to go.

Now you can add details, like a paw pad. You can take some soft cotton and cut a paw shape before sewing it on or put some actual foam under it too. You can use the modeling clay again for making claws or salvage some plastic claws off of Halloween costumes.

Conclusion

Thanks everyone for reading this. I hope you find this useful to you guys.

Love Sticky_Fingers
Just your average internet denizen with a strange name and dreams of becoming a game developer. Catch me on FA: stickyfingers
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