# Help: Making a tail: Need fur!



## Koda (May 26, 2008)

*[Complete] Help: Making a tail: Need fur!*

I've got decent ideas on how to construct a tail for my character, but I'm coming up short with googling for faux fur. 

I need fur in (as close to) these colors:






Preferably, I'd like to keep this around $20 (or less!) a yard/color, but if I have to go more, well, I have to go more.

I'd like to give it a bit of a bounce if possible too, so any ideas for that would be appreciated. Note: This isn't going to be part of a fursuit (for now) I just want to make a tail for AC


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## ekedo kun (May 26, 2008)

if u lookin for fur, you should try Joan Fabrics, or a craft store(like mine came from).. maybe for higher quality try a habadashery(spell?) store. someplace that sells only fabrics... das all i gots ^_^' eheh


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## Beastcub (May 26, 2008)

on line places 
i'm stuffed furs
cr fabrics and crafts


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## Rimbaum (May 27, 2008)

Distinctive Fabric has at least one color that you're looking for (link goes directly to page). I ordered some swatches of that particular fabric from them, and the texture is very soft and does have a bit of "bounce" to it. I know I'm definitely ordering from them for my ferret fursuit!


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## Wovstah (May 27, 2008)

Ohh!  Thanks to the guys giving places to look for fur.  I knew about Jo-An Fabrics, but mine carries two colours - white and black.

^.^ The site linked to by Rimbaum is quite useful and has the colour of my character Kim.  *squees out of excitement*

Anyway, if all else fails, try hunting down white fur at Jo-An's and dying it...

Oh, and a link to some cheaper fur, also carrying turquoise which might suit you: http://www.fabric.com/apparel-fashion-fabric-faux-fur-fabric-faux-fur-shag-fabric.aspx


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## Koda (May 27, 2008)

Awesome guys, thanks! Keep em comin! 

In the mean time I'm going to order some swatches and see how I like the different stuff. ^_^


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## Koda (May 31, 2008)

Okay, swatches are ordered and have been shipped. They're coming from California, so they'll be a while. 

In the mean time, lets talk about tail structuring. I want this to be light (but soft) and springy. 

I found http://www.chameleon.net/~diadexxus/diadexxus/tail/tail.html , but the instructions are very vague and the skeleton pieces themselves are just not available at reasonable cost. 

If bouncy isn't really possible, I'd like a tail that doesn't just *hang* there, but sticks backward a bit. In this pic (thx google) http://xs126.xs.to/xs126/08161/bhamdesktop385.jpg , the fur allll the way to the right is sort of what I'm going for, albeit, a bit longer. I just dont want something hanging between my legs.


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## Beastcub (May 31, 2008)

i am in CA what supplier did you find that was in CA???


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## Koda (May 31, 2008)

Distinctive Fabric is in CA. *shrug*

Any ideas on my other questions?

Edit:
Okay, I'm gonna try and figure out the previous link's instructions for making the tail's support structure out of Delrin. Just for reference, excellent pricing on the rods here: http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=158 UPS ground shipping was about $10, and I got a 1/4" and a 3/8" rod, both 8' long, for like.. 10 bucks together. XD The only downside is they have to cut the rods in half, but still 4' is plenty long. <3


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## Koda (Jun 3, 2008)

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1351725/

Update. Still looking for a suitable fur color. Turquoise is out.


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## Koda (Jun 15, 2008)

Its done! 
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1380217/ The original post

http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailshopping.jpg 
Once I had the skeleton bent, I went into PSP and added some color onto the picture to figure some stuff out.

http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv1a.jpg 
http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv1b.jpg
Version one was totally just me 'figuring it out.' I had the delrin bent and everything, so i just needed some way to flesh it out. I covered with an old pillow case trying to figure out a way to cut the fur into two complete pieces.

http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv2a.jpg 
http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv2b.jpg ^_^ LOOK AT THE SMILE
http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv2c.jpg 
http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv2d.jpg Tail foam alone

Version two was made from foam I got at wal-mart's fabric section. This was again, going to be what the final fur would be affixed too.. if I didn't get overzealous on the sewing and make it impossible to fit the fur on! This mockup was used to figure out the correct pattern of individual cuts into the fur. Think tennis ball!  See, that was the trick for a curvy tail, you can't have just 2 huge pieces, you have to do something like how a tennis ball goes together.

http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv3a.jpg Can you tell I'm tired?
http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv3b.jpg Lengthwise
http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tailv3c.jpg Ooo! A Penny! 
Finally, version 3! The completed tail 

http://www.rhysman.com/furry/tail/tail3versions.jpg A comparison of the 2 mockups to the final result.

For my first ever project like this ever, I'm extremely satisfied. The tail's got some lumpyness in it where the seams are, but its nothing too horrible. I followed instructions for cutting the fur at http://wolfden.critter.net/fursuits/constrctn/tail.htm and I got the idea to use a piece of delrin rod from http://www.chameleon.net/~diadexxus/diadexxus/tail/tail.html (but I think mines better)


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