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Eyes: Acrylic Paint on Plastic Mesh

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I'm currently attempting to paint plastic mesh with acrylic paint so that I can see out of the colored parts of my fursuit eyes.

While painting the back of the mesh black I have been seeing a lot of the paint leak through to the front, even when painting in small amounts or in various levels of being watered down (no water, a bit of water, lots of water...).

Can anyone offer some tips for painting plastic mesh with acrylic paint? I have a lot of concerns for the paint on the front leaking through to the back, and vice versa, back and forth.

Alternatively, is acrylic painting simply a bad approach for plastic mesh? Is it better to use paint pens?


Thank you! This community has been a massive help getting me this far and I greatly appreciate it.

lining fursuit heads professionally?

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hello! i tried browsing through memories and tags to try and find an answer but couldnt find anything. if theres a post that already answers this i'd love to be directed to it incase i missed it!
i'm having a lot of trouble lining my heads that make them look and feel in a professional manner. it seems that no matter what i do when i glue down the lining its bumpy and lumpy and i have a bad habit of accident brushing the glue gun tip on the surface because its hard to get the glue gun in there. heres a picture of that



(hopefully i did that right)

its not exactly that you can feel it on your face when you wear the head. honestly its not that noticable, however i want to get more into making fursuits (ive been doing it for around 5 years now) and i don't like this unprofessional look. most professional makers i see have very smooth lining and thats what i would ultimately like.

so i was wondering what others do? ive heard of spray glue but im very disturbed by the stories of seepage as well as toxic smells and fumes lingering around for a long time.

the material i use to line my heads is an athletic dance wear material. sort of like swimsuit material. not sure what its called but i like it because it stays cold and dries quickly and stretches four ways.

thanks for any help!

Moving Jaw Advice

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I'm planning out a future cosplay and I'm totally stuck on working out the mechanics of a moving jaw.

The head I'm making is going to have vision out of the mouth (eye vision isn't possible), which means the lower jaw of the character isn't going to line up with mine at all. The character also doesn't have a wide jaw hinge (the edges of the mouth don't extend back very far).

This isn't going to be built like a standard fursuit, but rather hollow foam with a EVA foam helmet inside. I was thinking of using 1/2" foam reinforced with 1" foam in places for stability so that there's not a lot of stress on the moving jaw, if it's even possible.

Any advice or ideas are highly appreciated! I've been thinking about this for days and can't come up with anything that will work.

lining fursuit heads professionally?

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hello! i tried browsing through memories and tags to try and find an answer but couldnt find anything. if theres a post that already answers this i'd love to be directed to it incase i missed it!
i'm having a lot of trouble lining my heads that make them look and feel in a professional manner. it seems that no matter what i do when i glue down the lining its bumpy and lumpy and i have a bad habit of accident brushing the glue gun tip on the surface because its hard to get the glue gun in there. heres a picture of that



(hopefully i did that right)

its not exactly that you can feel it on your face when you wear the head. honestly its not that noticable, however i want to get more into making fursuits (ive been doing it for around 5 years now) and i don't like this unprofessional look. most professional makers i see have very smooth lining and thats what i would ultimately like.

so i was wondering what others do? ive heard of spray glue but im very disturbed by the stories of seepage as well as toxic smells and fumes lingering around for a long time.

the material i use to line my heads is an athletic dance wear material. sort of like swimsuit material. not sure what its called but i like it because it stays cold and dries quickly and stretches four ways.

thanks for any help!

Fur colors and what pile to use?

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I'm making a partial fursuit of my boy
Repost! I didn't change anything on the ref but I added hair and an evil version (its just darker colors lol)! ---#art #artist #artistsoninstagram #digitalart #digital #furry #furryart #anthro #anthroart #feral #feralart #furryoc #fursona #dog #wolf #canine #dogart #wolfart


I need the fur color on the nose/paws for his hair in addition to the color on his body.

What pile should I use for each section? Is it best to use all long-pile and shave it down where it's needed or should I get some short-pile?

What fur colors match his colors best (and linkies to where I might get the best option :>)??

(it will be my first fursuit btw :3)

digi body padding help

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Hello!

I'm looking to make a digi suit soon, and just wondering if anyone has any WIPS/drawings/what have you as far as what shapes they use and where on the body? I basically want a simple digi suit, not super bulky, just feminine looking. I'm a female so that helps, but still, you catch my drift. I'm not talking about boob padding though, just wondering if it's common to do hip/side of the leg padding?

Any diagrams or something of that sort would be hugely appreciated. For example I always get confused as to whether the thigh padding should stop at the knee or go past? What shapes/placed where achieve the most seamless and natural look? Ideally I'd love to get some basic shapes drawn out perhaps, that I can use to draft patterns to sew pillows from, because that is an idea I'm drawn to.


http://www.furaffinity.net/view/18996097/

I actually really like the shape of these suits (and recently noted the maker) but if anyone has any insight as to how achieve a look similar to this (I'm not sure I want the legs quite so thick? But I kind of like the wider hips and whatnot) I'd really love it if anyone could share/help me brainstorm.

Thanks!

Fully Formed Spikes/Claws?

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Hey everyone, it's been a VERY long time since I've posted from my LJ, but I'm always poking around since I love seeing such amazing creations from you guys!

Without going into too much boring detail, I've been dealing with a lot of medical issues for the past couple of years, and have recently been struggling with new neurological issues on top of it. Due to all of this poopy stuff, I've been off of work for the past couple of years, and everything left me in such a terrible state, where I had no creativity, inspiration or physical ability to do anything.

Until recently, where the past several months, I've been on new medication, which has helped tremendously and has given me back my mornings and afternoons, before I start getting the attacks in the evening. Now, I've finally decided to try and ease myself back into working on some projects!

I'm so excited to soon be getting started on my very first full body suit, but in the meantime, I'd like to start up on a small partial of my fursona, Bluetip. I rarely go out because of my illness, but my bestie really wanted me to come along to the FurCon here in Montreal at the end of July. I wanted to see if I could get my tail, feet paws and hand paws ready to wear. I'll be foregoing a head for this time, since I won't be able to get all of it done, but I definitely would like to wear *something* fun at least!

I'll try to explain this the best I can XD



I've spent hours and researched oodles of information, but there's one thing that I can't seem to gain any perspective on. I know there are tons of ways to create claws/spikes, and the method I'd like to use is soft vinyl. I can't seem to understand if this is the proper way to sew them on to the body/tail though.

I wanted to opt out of sewing them "flat", like you would see when stitching something such as felt directly to the seam, or anything that results in a "floppy" sort of look, like the flippers on the dolphin plush:




I wanted to go more for a fully-formed, 3D shaped type, like this lovely fursuiter's head and a plush example of Sandslash:





And from this adorable Etsy seller's plush, where the large horns are fully rounded, but not the small horns, where those are sewn directly to the seam for the thin floppy look:




The issue is that for something like the Sandslash, the spikes/etc are sewn directly to the body, which is all stuffed on the inside. So if you were to push on the spikes, the stuffing wouldn't really travel anywhere since the whole body is full of stuffing. And as for the fursuiter's head with the grey vinyl horns, the horns are attached directly to the foam base, which blocks the stuffing from moving, so there's nowhere for the stuffing to travel if they were pushed.

But what I'm looking for is sewing the vinyl spikes/etc to a tail or the back of a body suit, but if the spikes are stuffed and they're not being sewn directly to the seam, aka, the floppy look, I don't want the stuffing to be pushed out of the spikes and fall into the body suit?

I figured the only way around this would be to make a sort of "cap" at the base of the spike/claw, (like the bottom of a 3D cone shape), so the stuffing doesn't go anywhere, and then the base would be sewn to a corresponding hole/gap on the body suit, where each spike/claw is supposed to fit. This will obviously be more work, but the result would be quite nice, I think.

Does this...make any sort of sense...?? I really have no idea if I'm overly complicating things or if I'm missing something absurdly simple haha Any help would be awesome...thank you so much!

~Raine/Bluetip

satyr/faun leg help?

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hi hi !! this is my first time posting as well as undertaking a project anything like this, so my sincere apologies if i do anything wrong or my mess of writing is hard to follow. i've looked around at some posts on here, but haven't been able to find an answer to my particular conumdrum?


i'll be attending dragon con this september, and one of the days i'm going at a faun/satyr critter. i don't have the funds nor time (or willpower, honestly) to do full digigrade legs, so i'm going for something kind of mid-way? i'm hoping to make digigrade/padded shorts; basically just deer haunches? i did a very quick sketch of what i'm hoping to achieve here. i don't know how much sense it makes, so i have another reference here of what is similar to what i am going for, i just want them to be more... haunch-like? i have the feet/hooves all sorted out, so that's not an issue.
so, three questions i guess.

1. roughly how much fur would be needed to make this? (will be using mongolian shag fur; from hip to bottom of knee, my legs are around 17-18 inches)

2. what recommendations would anyone have for padding/filling the shorts?

3. does anyone have any tutorials/references on making this particular kind of piece?

sorry for all the writing/questions and i hope some of this made sense!! if it didn't, i'd be more than happy to clarify anything!!

Nasty Expanding Foam Smell

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Hey y'all, I've been slowly working with expanding foam for head bases using the flex foam it III ( http://www.reynoldsam.com/product/flexfoam/ ) and I've come across a bad issue: the smell.

I had made one cast about four days ago and I've let it sit outside and air out, then made another one two days ago just to make sure I didn't improperly mix any of the chemicals, and they both still have that nasty toxic smell. I certainly don't want to use them if they have some noxious smell that can make someone dizzy, is there another alternative?

Adding antlers to skull resin base

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So i have a fursuit head i'm wanting to build made with a DVC skull K9 base. I'm also wanting to use their small whitetail antlers with the base, and attach them to the skull. My issue is i dont want to cover where the antlers join with fur, as im painting the skull and the designs run up to the antlers. How do i go about attaching these guys smoothly? And making them removable if possible in a easy way. I'll post a link to my characters ref, the head and antlers below.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24049737/

https://dreamvision-creations.myshopify.com/collections/skeletal-k9/products/bone-skeletal-k9-cut-and-hinged-mask

https://dreamvision-creations.myshopify.com/collections/antlers/products/small-whitetail-deer-antlers

Now i did see this on youtube, with hunting trophies that have removable antlers, but they didnt explain how they did it, does anyone thing this would be possible here, or have any better ideas?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhh58Wb4M4M

Fursuit Head WIP redlines?

Are my fursuit feet too long for digi legs?

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I think I might have made my feet a little too long. I bought some foam toes from DVC, and kind of glued it to the end of some sneakers. The only problem is that they look as if I'm standing flat footed instead of on my toes. It looks great when I wear them with my partial, but idk about digilegs



When I look at these pictures, it looks as if they're standing on their toes. I can't help but wonder if I made my feet too long for these kind of legs.




If I did, does anyone know how I can fix this?

Thanks in advance!

clipping/pinning to prevent twisting

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This seems like it should be so simple a task, but I'm having a very difficult time with it, and it's frustrating me to no end. I'm just not sure if I'm doing something wrong or what. I recently bought a box of clips instead of pins to see if that would help (tails are STILL twisting on me despite rigorous pinning) and I figure I must be doing something wrong.

So, like. Dumb question but, is there a certain way I need to be pinning everything? Admittedly, I'd still consider myself a person with basic sewing knowledge, so please don't be afraid to point out something that might seem obvious. I guess like I'm wondering, do you have to lay out your pattern flat, or is there a way the seams are supposed to line up or something? I'm at my wits end.

Any tips on how to clip/machine sew work (especially like things with curves such as tails) would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks

Is this fur safe for suit making?

Different feetpaw materials?

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I'm currently using gym mats for the bottom of my feetpaws, but really would like to update to something sturdier/better or even the best. The gym mats I currently use have big bumps in them and make it difficult to work with/come out as I'd like.
I've been hearing a lot about a flat rubber-based material as a better alternative?

I do most my shopping online, so stores are really out of my reach or question...

Would anyone be able to link me to an online high quality mat/rubber material that works great? Can be from ebay, ect.. Looking for multiple alternatives really

Thanks!

fully foamed attached digitigrade legs and feet. Random fur question too.

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Ok so i plan on making a body suit with digitigrade legs by building off of a pair of leggings, and connecting the feet to them like sock paws to make it seamless. Like seen in this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypnSd-SFQSk&t=793s made by sparky. In the end of the video when they are showing sparky the sabers suit, the feet are completely attached to the suit, and the padding from the legs is already inside. Can anyone explain how they did this? And how to go about attaching the fur to the suits legs. Heres another example video showing attached feet in the same manor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbd6C2TtGNI&t=37s

Another side question is, if i add a harder type foam to the bottom of the paws, would they be more durable for long term indoor use? I plan on adding silicon paw pads to the bottom once they have fur on them. I just dont want my feet to be exposed completely because my nephew is a little devil who leaves legos all over the floor..

Now for my random fur question that i couldnt find a direct answer for.. my body suit will be made of 1.5 to 2 inch pile fur. She has markings however that the fur i wanna use for is like 3.9 inches long. I've never used clippers before, but is there a way to control how short i cut the fur, or should i use scissors and try to hand cut the fur to the correct length.

Foaming a DVC Skull Base?

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Hello! I am thinking of purchasing DVC'S fully hinged skeletal canine base. I'd like to make it into a fursuit head, however, I'm not sure how to attach the base to the rest of the head.. How would I "finish" the mask so I could wear it/have a place to attach ears?? ((And later fur it, of course))

This is the DVC base: https://dreamvision-creations.myshopify.com/products/bone-skeletal-k9-cut-and-hinged-mask

These are examples of what I'd like to have as a finished product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_p4wZwxtT4
http://orig11.deviantart.net/3f5e/f/2015/013/d/6/black_skulldog_by_therealurubabe-d8drc9t.jpg

Need some help with very thin moving jaw!

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Hi! First time ever using livejournal, sorry if I'm doing anything silly or if this post has been made before -- couldn't find anything similar.

I'm a Dutch furry fan since about, uh, a long time, yep. I've made two suits so far -- the first one was a failed attempt, and the second one I'm proud of but has room for improvement. Anyhow! I decided to tackle a new project, and after many hours of pondering decided on a kiwi bird. (I like the more outlandish animals -- plus the kiwi's feathers kinda look like fur to begin with! I know they barely have wings, but I have a little idea up my sleeve already for the hands.)

I'm pondering what to do with the jaw. I really want to try making my first moving jaw but am unsure how to go with it. A kiwi has a very long, thin beak. I fear if I use elastic bands or anything it might lose form and be floppy after extended use... kinda like a Nintendo 64 controller joystick.
I'm making the head out of foam. I have no idea if hinges and foam work together -- I can't quite see it. I could try combining the foam with a base of mesh. I would like to hear what would be the best idea to go with for the best result! I really wanna go the extra mile on this one.
Some digital sculpts I quickly made to illustrate the head shape I want to go with.



https://i.gyazo.com/5b9c3b9cbd61ef9d034bb268c22f5447.png

No lower jaw or eyes here yet.

An additional question, what kind of fabric is my best chance for the beak fabric? I only know I want it to be soft to avoid breaking. I've looked at fleece, which seems the best one so far, but I have no idea if the colour comes close (the character will have realistic colouring but be toony otherwise.) I've been thinking about minky or faux leather, but any ideas are welcome! Thanks in advance, and I love all the helpful tips on this site!

More understanding to Paypal?

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Soo, I'm still quite new to paypal.. But had a few things to ask about.

ToS:
For fursuit commissions, I'm starting to use the invoice system for my next round. What information do I provide on Terms of Service? Do I just copy my ToS from my fursuit site and post it there?

For Chargebacks:
So this is something I was nervous about when working with people after hearing what happened. So recently there was a fur who lost $3,000+ to someone buying their suit and charging back. Not only did they loose that money, but the fur who wanted the suit has the suit in their possession and currently wont return it. I believe that's still going on with trying to fix the problem. But my question is- what if I finished the suit, shipped the suit, and they have a chargeback just wanting the money? Do I have to include specific information in ToS about this? What would I do in this situation really?
I probably would get in contact with paypal about with screenshots proof of the conversation and such that happened between us. Is that how it would work?

Guarantee:
A little same/off topic, but would really help. Is their anything else I can do as a maker to ensure good payment transactions and everything to prevent problems?
-I'm very active when engaging with commissioner, do provide wip shots, lenient payment plans are set where everyone must finish paying at certain time (or have everything in sooner), progress depends on how much is paid, .

PayPal alternatives

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I was about to write a post (seems like that PayPal chargeback of $3000 story is getting around) about using PayPal to sell suits/etc. I myself have used it several times (never for such a large sum the most I've charged was like $500 +shipping) but it's kind of upsetting and off-putting that it seems as though even with tracking info and whatnot it appears as though PayPal more often than not sides with the buyer.

The more I hear these kinds of stories, the more it makes me anxious about using this service, even though I do my best to provide adequate information, and work to protect both myself and the customer.

I try to avoid working with minors (though I'm not against it) but one question I have is I see a lot of people say they won't work with people under 18. How do you go about verifying that? Couldn't a potential commissioner who is a minor simply lie about that sort of information?

Lastly, my biggest question is, what are the alternatives to PayPal? I've done a bit of reading on Google Wallet but not sure how well it works? For selling at cons I'm looking into Square? Do you have to link that to PayPal or can it just go direct into a back account? Just curious about (other than maintaining good business practices) how to make for smooth transactions with the least chance of fraud/scam/getting screwed over.

I've begun to consider requiring money orders for everything, but not sure how well that'd work out, since there is little protection on the buyer side (while I know I'm honest I realize that demands A LOT of trust on the buyer's part) and also concerned about something like that getting stolen/lost in the mail.

Thoughts?
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