# First try on the head....



## Rougfox (Feb 14, 2011)

Hi there !

A few days ago I started building my first fursuit head. The following pics show the progress so far. 

The first prob I am now confronted with is the building of the muzzle and the jaw....

Any comments are appreciated.













Greetings 

Rougfox


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## Karimah (Feb 14, 2011)

Would you mind explaining the build to me? It looks like it's being built from metal and a thick plastic mesh along with some form of wiring along the bottom. Once you have added the foam and the fur to that base it will be extremely heavy, did you consider simply going the all mesh route instead?

As far as adding the jaw to the bottom if you want it to be movable you'll have to work something out with hinges or perhaps even some form of elastic along the outside of the base. If you don't want the jaw to move I would suggest simply continuing with the mesh route, I'm wary of the metal and it would greatly weigh the jaw down which could lead to it hanging open constantly.

Is the metal sturdy? The last thing you need is to fall forward while wearing your suit and to get impaled upon a poorly placed piece of metal.


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## Rougfox (Feb 15, 2011)

Yes, the building is all out of dark plastic mesh and aluminium. After going through some tutorials I decided it to be the "best"way for me to start with. The wiring on the bottom of the head is just temporary to keep the head stable. If possible IÂ´ll cut that out again later. The metal pointing towards the face will be cut too, I didntÂ´t want to do that until now to be still able to adjust the length of the muzzle .
For the hinge of the jaw I want to drill a hole in the aluminium at both sides and hook the jaw in there. The jaw will be kept close by two springs.


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## Blarmajin (Feb 17, 2011)

Interesting method. Are you going to pad and define the shape with foam..?


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## Karimah (Feb 17, 2011)

It is a lot of extra work for something that can be greatly simplified, but I am interested in seeing how it comes out since you already have something of a base, please continue to post in-progress pictures :3.

You will need to create the shape of the face with foam (such as cheeks and so on), which I see in your pictures that you already have, be careful not to use incredibly thick foam as your face has already been defined and adding anything to it is going to bulk it up quite a bit.


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## Rougfox (Feb 18, 2011)

Yes, IÂ´ll glue some foam onto that base.


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## Rougfox (Feb 18, 2011)

I use 1cm foam and where neccessary IÂ´ll glue more than one layer onto the base. WeÂ´ll see how it works. The foam you already see is inside the mesh. I use the foam inside to hold the head in place. It can be picked out for washing. Perhaps IÂ´ll make more than one set of pads for inside so I can change them when sweatty. IÂ´ll put some more pics online but that may take a while as IÂ´m not in a hurry (despite I already want the suit to be finished desperately)


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## Rougfox (Feb 23, 2011)

*Re: First try on the head....update 1*

today I had a little time to work on the head, I did some adjustments on the size, built the muzzle, and finally gave the jaw a first try, although IÂ´m not sure about how to move the jaw with the chin, either using velcro or whatever.... Second thing is that IÂ´m not sure whether to cover the muzzle with foam or just glue the fur directly onto the mesh........


See the progress below...



comments are welcomed...


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## Kilter (Feb 23, 2011)

Usually with the lower jaw, they attach elastic or rubber bands to the jaw hinge so it will come back up automatically.

That way it has a force to bring it up while your OWN jaw would force it open again


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## Rougfox (Feb 23, 2011)

Hi Kilter !

I think IÂ´ll use two springs to let the jaw close automatically. IÂ´m unsure how bring the movement of the chin on the jaw.....


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## Kilter (Feb 23, 2011)

Springs might be bad because they can catch fur and possibly making your moving jaw look wonky and/or rip your fur backing.

At the back end of the jaw, creating a kind of 'cup' for your chin between the supports of the lower jaw (think of being at the eye doctor when they make you look into the machine to determine what kind of eye glass prescription you need). Make sure it is a bit snug so jaw movement of the head will be sensitive. When you open your mouth wide, it will bring the jaw down. When you close your mouth, the elastic/rubber/whatever will bring it back up.


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## Rougfox (Feb 23, 2011)

catching fur by the springs may be a point, thanks for the hint. The `cup` may also work well, I only have to see if I can put the head on with that. There is not much space......


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## Kilter (Feb 23, 2011)

You can alway do foam, shave it down and glue in some zip ties in the foam that you have attached around the wire of the bottom jaw


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## Rougfox (Feb 23, 2011)

IÂ´ll try that next time I work on the head. Btw, Yesterday I bought most of the fur for the suit. Lots of work to do but IÂ´m really looking forward to have a complete suit someday.....


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