Tools and basic beginner essentials.
Hello everyone. This is muy first time here and also my first time on LiveJournal so please be patient with me as i figure this stuff out. This is also my first foray into fursuit design. I dont have any background whatsoever. But I am a good visual artist and I am very convinced I could design a great costume char
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That being said, here are the basic supplies that I can think of off the top of my head:
Razor blades, preferably these guys (50 is excessive but that was the best buy). You will use these for cutting faux fur and possibly cutting foam. If you don't use them to carve foam, then you can probably just pick up a standard box cutter from Wal*Mart or something.
3-4 pairs of good scissors: One for shaping foam, one for cutting fabric, and small ones for trimming fur. While you can technically do it all with one pair, having multiples will make your life easier.
Slicker brush for pets: These things are amazing for combing fur. You can also use a regular comb, but I prefer the slicker brush because it works better.
A variety of adhesives including (but not limited to!): Spray adhesive, hot glue, and E6000
Tape: I like using both masking and duct tape. The standard technique for patterning fursuits is called draping (you can google it). I like to put down a layer of masking tape followed by 3-4 layers of duct tape. Sometimes I'll stick to masking tape for detailed areas. Don't buy cheap tape because it's a pain in the rear.
Sharpies: Handy for a number of steps including drawing marking/cut lines on your DTD, tracing said DTD parts onto your fur (use a light hand though x.x), marking on foam, and all sorts of stuff. They can also be useful for teeny markings, coloring eyes, and other uses.
Paint: A lot of people recommend airbrushes, and airbrushes are indeed awesome. The main problem with airbrushes is that a decent beginner set is $300 at least, so not very budget friendly. They also have a learning curve that might be challenging for your first project. You can also dry brush acrylic paint and if you're patient and careful, it can have lovely results. I would strongly recommend buying nice paints, artist grade if you can afford them. The pigments in cheap paint can change drastically over time, plus they're harder to work with.
Clay: Depending on your style, you may need some rigid parts in the mask. There are a variety of clays available with different properties. There are air-drying clays which tend to be very light weight, but some of them aren't very strong and they usually need to be sealed against moisture. Next you have polymer clays that you bake in the oven. These are somewhat strong, medium weight, and come in a ton of colors. Finally there are the epoxy clays that come in two parts. You mix them evenly and let them cure for an extremely strong finished product. The trade off is they are heavy, expensive, and only come in limited colors.
General sewing supplies: You will need basic sewing stuff such as hand needles, thread (be sure to get stronger stuff than general purpose; upholstery thread is great), pins (not optional!!), and a seam ripper. Don't be intimidated by hand sewing; it can be tediously slow, but if you have good general crafting skills you can get good results.
As a rule of thumb, don't buy the cheapest of the cheap supplies and materials. Even if it means waiting a few weeks/months, it's worth having better tools. Cheap stuff can actually make your job harder.
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But yeah, that's why I like slicker brushes... not to pull fur out of the backing, but to remove all the loose stuff after I've cut or trimmed it. I don't usually do a "deep" comb, just skim over the top to get rid of all the extra fluff. My fine tooth comb seemed to pull at the fibers more. I will definitely keep that in mind though! Thanks for the tip <3
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It's my personal opinion, I know there are people who swear by them, but I don't use them at all. I use a metal flea comb to pick seams and smooth out fur. I encourage my customers to use a regular hair brush and give items a good shake to fluff them back out.
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Yeah I dont know future plans, but I cannot possibly see myself as making one suit. I know I would HAVE to make more!
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