# A suggestion from the old warhorse



## Kellan Meig'h (Jan 30, 2010)

Okay, so everyone is asking, "How do I do this, how do I do that?"

If you live near a 'Con, it would behoove you to go and sit in on the fursuit constructions panels. I have picked up a ton of good information by doing this.

Also, get yourself a copy of "Critter Costuming" by Adam Riggs. There is so much good information to be found in there, things you never think about when it comes to fursuit construction.


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## ScrapeGoat (Jan 30, 2010)

Construction panels are a great way to learn and I've given one at the last two MFFs (shameless plug) and an anime con.  The first workshop was on digi-leg construction and the last one was cold-cast maskmaking. 

I had a chance to hoof through that publication briefly at FC.  It was pretty complete/thorough and seemed to have a lot of good tips and suggestions.  Well worth the $35 price if it keeps you from making one costly mistake with your raw materials. 

I taught myself how to build by pure trial and error (and more recently by talking with other costume creators), and while there's nothing quite as educational as destroying 40 hours of work by using the wrong kind of paint or adhesive I recommend against going this route if you can avoid it. 

The book was a little light on details on cold cast urethane/latex masks which are my specialty, but covered foam carved heads very well, as well as many other aspects of suiting including a brief section on to how to perform in suit. 

People tend to forget that what you do with yourself while you are in a suit is probably as important as how your suit was built and what it looks like.   
You are going to be much more effective as a suiter if your performance matches the quality of what you build.  

Anyone can put a suit on and schlump around in it but the people who really bring their suits to life and act totally in character are the ones I tend to remember regardless of the quality of the workmanship.


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## cheeriocheetah (Feb 13, 2010)

Glad someone mentioned this book on here.  I was inspired to go ahead and invest in it upon receiving an Amazon giftcard, and this helps me feel a little less like a mindlessly impulsive consumer of spiral-bound furry goods.  However, as I note from ScrapeGoat's post, there are a handful of claims that some aspects of "Critter Costuming" are considerably lacking.  Does anyone know what parts these might be and where I could find supplements for them?  Free and online would be appreciated for this cheap college kid.


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## Beetlecat (Feb 13, 2010)

cheeriocheetah said:


> Glad someone mentioned this book on here.  I was inspired to go ahead and invest in it upon receiving an Amazon giftcard, and this helps me feel a little less like a mindlessly impulsive consumer of spiral-bound furry goods.  However, as I note from ScrapeGoat's post, there are a handful of claims that some aspects of "Critter Costuming" are considerably lacking.  Does anyone know what parts these might be and where I could find supplements for them?  Free and online would be appreciated for this cheap college kid.



The best thing about the book is that it is close by hand. You can take it around and read it anywhere. The worst part is that is is fairly out-of-date by this point. Most of the techniques in it are older and fursuit building evolves at leap speed. I do not believe it covers balaclava heads at all - even though that it the preferred method of most professional fursuit makers now.


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## quayza (Feb 13, 2010)

I gotta get that book. Wanting to learn myself.


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## Beastcub (Feb 14, 2010)

also if you have a question go here http://community.livejournal.com/fursuit/
check the memories first as there is a lot of how-to's


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## Amethyst (Feb 16, 2010)

phew. Â£50 for a used book?


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## Gavrill (Feb 16, 2010)

Amethyst said:


> phew. Â£50 for a used book?


You've never bought college books, have you.


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## Amethyst (Feb 16, 2010)

Shenzebo said:


> You've never bought college books, have you.



I'm from the UK but college books for me cost under Â£15.


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## Gavrill (Feb 16, 2010)

Amethyst said:


> I'm from the UK but college books for me cost under Â£15.


I bought used college books here in the US, and all of them were more than 50$.


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## cheeriocheetah (Feb 16, 2010)

Shenzebo said:


> I bought used college books here in the US, and all of them were more than 50$.



I feel your pain, man.  And then you can't ever seem to sell them back for a reasonable price, even on Ebay.  Especially if you have the most specific, useless, unnecessary sorts of textbooks for a disgusting filler class that you're only stuck in for the culture credit.  Liberal arts college... it mauls my soul regularly.  

Anyway, for my original point in posting here, what sort of things is the book lacking?  And where could I find those things?  Folks are saying it's outdated, so are there techniques I should be wary of?


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## Kellan Meig'h (Feb 16, 2010)

Amethyst said:


> phew. Â£50 for a used book?



From where? I paid $30 USD (Â£19.02) at Further Confusion for a new one!

Gah, is this price gouger on Amazon?


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## Amethyst (Feb 17, 2010)

Kellan Meig'h said:


> From where? I paid $30 USD (Â£19.02) at Further Confusion for a new one!
> 
> Gah, is this price gouger on Amazon?




Yes. It was used for Â£50 without postage and packaging.


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## Kellan Meig'h (Feb 17, 2010)

Amethyst said:


> Yes. It was used for Â£50 without postage and packaging.



Found a new one on Ebay for $35 USD + $11.95 USD shipping to the UK. You would have to have PayPal, though.

Hope this helps.


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## cheeriocheetah (Feb 21, 2010)

I'm going to keep prodding the hell out of this thread.  My apologies.  My book just came through the mail and after scowling a bit about the lack of editing and such, I've determined it to be very useful for a newbie/wannabe suit-maker like myself.  However, I'm still very curious about what it's lacking and where I can find supplement tutorials online.  I'd like to print some out and clip them into the book for easy reference, but knowing nothing about making suits, I don't know what I should know more about or what techniques are not provided by the book.  So, I should investigate balaclava heads, but what else and where?  Any advice?


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