# Is there a better option?



## Clockwise (Jan 7, 2011)

My friend is looking to buy a fursuit partial or just a head and she was shown one thatâ€™s inexpensive and looks somewhat like her character.
This is the photo she was shown (side view because she asked for one):
http://i54.tinypic.com/2hx0umq.jpg
Now sheâ€™s modified masks for her bro before (store bought mind you) and theyâ€™ve come out cool, but I just donâ€™t know about this one. I mean, I just donâ€™t know if itâ€™s worth the time. I see similarities (by description), but sheâ€™d have to fix the jaw a bit, give it eyes, bigger horns, some ears, and possibly better teeth.
I ask; is it better she try and mod this one or commission someone to make one for her? Sheâ€™s never made a head from scratch so I assume sheâ€™s fearful of attempting it.
Thank you.


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## DrakonicKnight (Jan 7, 2011)

it could be worth it, however id have to see more pictures and know what the materials they made it with in the first place.. if she wants something to tinker with but not pay for a full on head commission she could also commission just a foam head base and just go from there, no guesswork with what is actually under that mask and if you get one from a decent maker it would almost certainly turn out better than refurbishing that one


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## Tuss (Jan 7, 2011)

I hate to sound a bit like a twat here, but thats a nova suit. A lot of people will mock and ridicule anyone with a nova suit (Shes a star on furbid horrors). If she's ok with that, then by all means, go ahead. It would take a lot of modding though.

I always say that you should attempt making a head before commissioning or buying. Its not as hard as people make it out to be, some people find a talent they didn't know about, and I've been very proud of the ones I've made. But meh, its up to her really.


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## Furr (Jan 7, 2011)

Tuss said:


> I hate to sound a bit like a twat here, but thats a nova suit. A lot of people will mock and ridicule anyone with a nova suit (Shes a star on furbid horrors). If she's ok with that, then by all means, go ahead. It would take a lot of modding though.
> 
> I always say that you should attempt making a head before commissioning or buying. Its not as hard as people make it out to be, some people find a talent they didn't know about, and I've been very proud of the ones I've made. But meh, its up to her really.


You pretty much pointed out what I was going to. When you have fur suits built from people who really don't have a good reputation of building quality fur suits you pretty much have so assume that it will fall apart or rot away after a few wears. 

It also sounds like your friend would have to do a lot of alterations to it. At that point she might as well just commission an artist for exactly what she wants. Or she could try building one herself. If she has altered costumes previously it sounds like she knows how to work with the different mediums involved in mascot making and it shouldn't be too difficult. 

If she's looking for a cheaper head she could try posting in the black market section asking for a quote, also here is a list of some cheaper yet still quality fur suit builders. Some may or may not be currently open for quotes/commissions

http://www.furaffinity.net/user/midori8/
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/magpiebones/
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/flurrycat/
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/breakspire/
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/artslave/
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/furrferret/ ( I also build fur suits)


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## dinosaurdammit (Jan 7, 2011)

if you want to make one under 50 bucks you could make a duck tape dummy of your head then use plastic canvas to make the nose and as for the moving jaw use GOOD strong elastic. Check out my FA I have a few pics up and the skeleton of my mask so you can get an idea. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4917072/


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## Trpdwarf (Jan 7, 2011)

Tuss said:


> I hate to sound a bit like a twat here, but thats a nova suit. A lot of people will mock and ridicule anyone with a nova suit (Shes a star on furbid horrors). If she's ok with that, then by all means, go ahead. It would take a lot of modding though.
> 
> I always say that you should attempt making a head before commissioning or buying. Its not as hard as people make it out to be, some people find a talent they didn't know about, and I've been very proud of the ones I've made. But meh, its up to her really.



I would go so far as to say that since it is a Nova creation it's automatically not worth it. It's a waste of money buying from that user. OP don't have your friend bother with a piece of garbage made by Nova. That would be like attempting to modify a Jessfail creation. Your friend is best off either building herself, or finding someone else with a head they can give up for a good price for the sake of doing a remodel/modify.


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## Foxfairy (Jan 7, 2011)

I think your friend would be better off buying $85 of materials and making their own mask, or putting that $85 towards a commission. That mask looks poorly put together, and it looks like trying to refurbish it would cause it to fall apart.


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## Clockwise (Jan 8, 2011)

@DrakonicKnight: Yesterday she did ask to see more pictures of the head. I didn't know you could ask for just the base of a fursuit head. We're both new to the building half of the comminity so do excuse us for that. ;3;

@Tuss: You're not a twat, just truing to inform us of something we didn't know about. Is there a reason for people to mock Nova's work besides just not liking it? As for building it hersef I keep telling her it's still an option.

@Furr: Oh okay, I had no idea this perosn wasn't as experienced as they claimed to be. She's done enough to know a thing or two but obviously not everything there is to it.
Thank you for the links Furr! We'll be checking them out today and asking a few of them. Do you build just bases as well?

@dinosaurdammit: Thank you for showing us a link to what you mean. Never tred plastic canvus before. Heck, it's worth a shot who knows. The mask in the first post being inexpensive wasn't even part of our consideration at first but it just kinda fell in with it when she started thinking about iy.

@Trpdwarf: Never heard of Jessfail either. But thank you for the heads up! At this point-yea, sheâ€™s looking for another builder.

@Foxfairy: Well itâ€™s a good thing I asked you all here. ^^â€™ Wow, thank you very much.


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## Zenia (Jan 8, 2011)

http://www.furbid.ws/cgi-bin/auction/item.pl?item=232357798 Here are a bunch more pictures of it.


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## Tuss (Jan 8, 2011)

Clockwise said:


> @Tuss: You're not a twat, just truing to inform us of something we didn't know about. Is there a reason for people to mock Nova's work besides just not liking it? As for building it hersef I keep telling her it's still an option.



I don't like them because they're effing terrifying, badly made; look like they will fall apart if you wear them, made of fun fur which is hard to maintain, you can see seams in a few of them... yeah. I'm not too sure about the furbid horrors lot, I just lurk, but I'm sure they have much the same reasons. :3


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## Steel the Wolf (Jan 8, 2011)

Wow, that thing does look horrifying. I'd say commission a piece that will be better made and will last. Most makers will make a head for around $200-$400 USD. That would be a much better option for reasons already stated.


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## Trpdwarf (Jan 9, 2011)

Clockwise said:


> @DrakonicKnight: Yesterday she did ask to see more pictures of the head. I didn't know you could ask for just the base of a fursuit head. We're both new to the building half of the comminity so do excuse us for that. ;3;
> 
> 
> @Trpdwarf: Never heard of Jessfail either. But thank you for the heads up! At this point-yea, sheâ€™s looking for another builder.


By Jessfail I am referencing a banned  (from FA and FAF) user Jesskitt. Be wary of that name in the fur-suit community. She likes to try to offer up building suits for people for cheap but every single person who commissioner her ended up with a piece of garbage and a headache when trying to talk to her. She'll give you trash and pretty much rages over you  not appreciating it. Nova...while not known for such rage fits, just doesn't really know what she is doing and has no business trying to sell costumes period.


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## Furr (Jan 9, 2011)

Not trying to litter the thread up with links but since the topic of poor business has popped up always try to get as much of a background on whoever you/your friend commissions (if she does).

http://community.livejournal.com/artists_beware


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## dinosaurdammit (Jan 9, 2011)

To clockwise-
I did some shopping the other day to buy supplies and spent less than 15 dollars on plastic canvas and 1/2 inch foam. The fur and other materials I guess to be about 20 dollars. So all in all under 40 bucks you could make a dragon type mask. Please for the sake of yourself and sanity... do it yourself. You would be surprised at the level of detail you will give your own mask- Plus you don't have to bother with commissioners and FAIL suit builders. I am uploading pictures of how to use plastic canvas and foam to my FA account to give people a sort of step by step guide on how to do everything. I am no expert but there aren't as many tutorials out there because people want to keep their trade a secrete. It does not take a ton of talent- just time and patience.


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## Furr (Jan 9, 2011)

dinosaurdammit said:


> To clockwise-
> I did some shopping the other day to buy supplies and spent less than 15 dollars on plastic canvas and 1/2 inch foam. The fur and other materials I guess to be about 20 dollars. So all in all under 40 bucks you could make a dragon type mask. Please for the sake of yourself and sanity... do it yourself. You would be surprised at the level of detail you will give your own mask- Plus you don't have to bother with commissioners and FAIL suit builders. I am uploading pictures of how to use plastic canvas and foam to my FA account to give people a sort of step by step guide on how to do everything. I am no expert but there aren't as many tutorials out there because people want to keep their trade a secrete.


Ok I agree with everything except for this


dinosaurdammit said:


> It does not take a ton of talent- just time and patience.


Fur suit building is a combination of sculpting, mold making, painting, and sewing with complex materials. It is not so much trade secrets as it is a diverse manipulation of materials into a singular piece which most of the time is just too complicated to give a tutorial for. Now the more a builder knows of those mediums the easier it will seem and the quicker they will improve however a lot of fur suit building is in mediums which are advanced (such as faux fur) or materials that they may have never used before (such as latex, resins, epoxy, ect). If a person has never worked in any of these mediums before they will probably end up making something that makes children cry.


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## Clockwise (Jan 16, 2011)

Zenia said:


> http://www.furbid.ws/cgi-bin/auction/item.pl?item=232357798 Here are a bunch more pictures of it.


 
Oh. didn't see that. Thanks.

@Tuss: Thanks to the link Zenia showed us we're not going to purchase from her. x.x

@Trpdwarf: Well now. The more you know then for us. ^^'

@Furr: it's not liter it's brain food! :U

@dinosaurdammit: You're practically on the dot! We spent about $50 (we got some extra things) on materials! I don't have an Fa account, but I bookmarked your page so I can go back an see. =)

She's going to attempt to make one herself (I'll be helping). Once it starts to have a shape we'll post it here for advice. ^-^


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## dinosaurdammit (Jan 16, 2011)

I have pictures of the new mask Ive been working on. I'd be glad to send you a step by step how to if you would like. Shoot me your email and I will send you the pics with step by step directions. If anyone wants plastic canvas advice I'd be glad to lend what I know. Just drop me a shout or something with your email and I will send the guide.


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