ZA Furries

I made an aluminium foil armature for the horns, they will be covered with that same putty stuff I've been using. I also finished the hand hooves. This is what they'll look like, if you imagine the fur.

Yay, I found a fur supplier!!!
Now to find a good excuse to go to Cape Town for the day...

Sev wrote:Are you really planning on making the cow a ginger?

whats that supposed to mean *eyes suspiciously cuz i'm a ginger in both furdom and real life...*

Interesting that you should mention this now... I've been trying out some slightly different colour schemes and I think I'm going to settle on something with black, white, and dark chocolate red-brown, the head-hair being white. I love ginger and auburn hair, but I think it would look more natural as a body colour.

I kept forgetting to tell you that I found a place in Wineberg (sp?) that sells fur.

The place I found is on the waterfront so Wynberg is just as much of a drive for me, but I'd be happy to get the details from you though, just in case I don't find what I want at "my" place.

Been a long time since I visited this thread and as usual, great progress

I like the new planned colour scheme and agree that it would appear more natural

One suggestion though, you might want to line the hand hoof pockets with a moisture moving fabric of sorts, otherwise it might get a little shwetty and manky

Thanks Dredge! I was actually thinking of using a pair of plain cotton gloves as a base to attach the hooves, and put the fur on top. That would also avoid the sweaty hands scenario, I think.

Could work, only issue is that cotton won't necessarily breath very well, so it will basically just absorb all the sweat and hold it against your skin anyway. Perhaps see what cheap thin synthetic gloves are on the market? Normally a polyester of sorts would be ideal.

Maybe the international guys could give you some pointers?

The place that had the faux fur is Fabric World in Wineberg.

Dredge wrote:Could work, only issue is that cotton won't necessarily breath very well, so it will basically just absorb all the sweat and hold it against your skin anyway. Perhaps see what cheap thin synthetic gloves are on the market? Normally a polyester of sorts would be ideal.

That doesn't sound right... from what I know synthetics will tend to let the sweat straight through without absorbing any and irritate the skin, whereas cotton will allow it to dry off as well as let the skin breathe. There's a reason why good underwear is made of cotton.

Sev wrote:The place that had the faux fur is Fabric World in Wineberg.

Awesome, thank you.

Leeward wrote: That doesn't sound right... from what I know synthetics will tend to let the sweat straight through without absorbing any and irritate the skin, whereas cotton will allow it to dry off as well as let the skin breathe. There's a reason why good underwear is made of cotton.

The real good stuff is made from either a merino wool or polyester weave, the lifestyle and casual market just can't justify the price that their ridiculous margins would leave their products costing if they use the stuff

Basically synthetics will absorb virtually no moisture, but used in the correct weave actually pulls it to an outer layer/surface and spreads it so it can evaporate significantly faster (while holding it off the skin), hence it's heavy use in outdoor apparel.

However thinking about this here, cotton might be better purely because I doubt the hooves will even allow that moisture to evaporate, since it's probably about as breathable as a ceramic tile, so you want it to hold on to the sweat?

I must say, this is cluttering up the thread a bit, so I'll stop with the undies debate

Sounds like you know your stuff, but those types of synthetics are kind of out of scope for this project. Thanks for the info though, that was interesting.

Leeward wrote:Sounds like you know your stuff, but those types of synthetics are kind of out of scope for this project. Thanks for the info though, that was interesting.

Sorry , I work in the industry, kinda

And you're welcome, normally it's peeps telling me stuff I don't know

But yes, back to suits!

Is there a specific event you have in mind for this babys first use upon completion?
Perhaps a bowling outing?

Argh, stop editing and posting before I get to reply! lol I really don't mind this thread going a bit off-topic if it helps make better design decisions. Without it this would just be a gallery of my progress.

I don't know what I'll do first once this is done... maybe just walk through town observing reactions.

So just to clarify, the base coat colour I'm after is something like this (which also happens to have lighter hair, but mine will be white) but a bit more uniform like the one in the back here. The head-hair and tail tuft are white, the limbs fade to black at the knees and elbows, and have spots that meld into the white forearms and calves, similarly to my fursona image. To do that I'll use long pile brown and white fur, and white fake hair. The black gradient and spots will be either airbrushed or painted in, or some combination of the two.

Yay, I actually learnt something from Dredge. This day will go down in history!

Wow, over 3 months since I last updated this thread...

I finally had an epiphany on how to make lightweight, symmetrical horns in the shape I want, and it won't require an armature. Will update with pics as soon as I've tested the idea.

I see that your project is back on track.

I need a hands-on creative hobby, and this one happens to produce an item I want; win-win.

Makes sense. My hands on hobby is going around a track as fast as possible.

So um... after not touching this project for like 2 months, I finally made some headway (lol) on the head. I re-did the ears in gutter mesh and made the new horn bases similarly, which I will papier maché into the shape I want. I'm told it looks a lot more proportionate now. Will post pics soon.

Today I found an appropriate wig for cutting up to make the hair, so I bought two so that I could possibly start on the tail as well.

Here is my to-do list for finishing the head:
Smooth up nose
Make lower lip
Paint nose and lip
Papier maché horns over frame
Paint horns
Make velcro-removable fabric base for hair
Cut wigs into strips and glue hair on
Duct tape dummy the non-hair part
Acquire fur
Fur the base
Trim fur

Leeward wrote:Today I found an appropriate wig for cutting up to make the hair, so I bought two so that I could possibly start on the tail as well.

Here is my to-do list for finishing the head:
Smooth up nose
Make lower lip
Paint nose and lip
Papier maché horns over frame
Paint horns
Make velcro-removable fabric base for hair
Cut wigs into strips and glue hair on
Duct tape dummy the non-hair part
Acquire fur
Fur the base
Trim fur

Wow still quite a bit then, upload some pics as you progress.

Will do!

I'm in the same boat as you, still need to figure out some of the technicalities when it comes to making the body suit with the digi padding. Got a nice idea to use cheaper material at first to make templates from then use the more expensive fur.

My head is 95% Complete, just need to make the neck. Check out the fur trimming techniques in Youtube got some nice ideas from there and also if possible use a electric trimmer, do not use a scissor looks terribly inconsistent.

I went to a fabric shop today and they did have some stock of faux fur, but unfortunately none that was both the right length and colour, so I'll have to go back another day or visit another.

I've made some progress in the last few days though...

Here is one of the wigs I got two of to make the hair and tail tuft: and the other one, already cut up into the strands: I also made the first coat of papier maché on the horns. You can still make out the shape of the base which is made of gutter mesh and wire, but I'll put some scrunched-up toilet paper between the first and second layers to define the shape into something more horn-like. They are being supported while they dry, after that they'll be stiff enough to support themselves. Notice that I also re-did the ears and smoothed the nose over.

I cant post anything constructive other than it looks like you are making progress.

but that smiley face gave me such a chuckle

That selfie made me spit out my water. >_<

I like your idea with the horns.