this is about what I do. in certain places gluing the seams works better, but I sew all I can because I think it wears better

By 'glue' what kind of glue do you use? =3

hot

^This -w-

Your suits look neat even scalped and inside-out. :B


I've never made a head before, but this looks a LOT better of a method than how I would have gone about it.

i handsew my faces/heads, can't figure out how to machine-sew without leaving big bumpies from the seam :I
up until, uh, last summer, my heads were pretty much 75% glued :p i throw my chingado tomcat head in the washing machine, he's all glued, no problems ... i just sew them now because i like the feel better!

I just have a hard time wrapping my real-life head around the idea of a fursuit head in a washing machine. I know some can take it, but I've never had one like that so they're marvels to me. :)

So wait, you put a head in the washing machine... which has the fur glued on not sewn on...and it was fine...!

yep! in a pillowcase! i don't particularly ... recommend it to everyone ... it's something i made myself so i can take the risk ... but came out fine! no airbrushing on the head, etc, just mashed it down into the machine and let it go

oh, i washed it in the tub twice before that and threw it in the machine because it just smelled. the spin cycle helped it to dry out super fast :D

I glue all my heads and havent had any issues with them.. I even let them stay in my car during the arizona summer where it gets up to around 200 degrees or so in my car.. I have a bigger problem with tears forming in the foam themself than any glued seams coming undone.

This whole glued semas thing seams to be a big issue for quite a few suitmakers lately. I know Beastcub was actually having to fight off rumour of her suits being utter garbage because she glued the seams. Maybe this has something to do with the rise of newbies trying to make their own suits?

On a side note, I recently started hand-sewing the pieces of my heads together. It does make it look a LOT more professional.

Yeah that's the biggest difference really. Sewing just looks and feels cleaner.

actually i wonder if people have gotten you confused with beastcub somewhere along the line. i sometimes get confused between different artists, even if they aren't similar.

It happens on a fairly regular basis actually. Pretty annoying but whatever. Neither of us is going to change our name lol.. and anyways I was first <<

i'm sure it is annoying. especially if negative things are being passed onto you by mistake.

Nah. It's never negative. Just annoying because everyone wants to be known who they are and it kinda makes you feel like you're not distinctive if people can confuse you with someone else. But the vast vast majority get it correct, so it's never worth getting too upset over.

well that's good nothing particularly negative comes of it. just people's brains temporarily freezing up. happens to us all.

I honestly had not heard of you when I set that name up for myself D:

At the time had I known your name....had I known the negative connotations "beast" and "cub" have...had I known about a site called "beastclub" (Ugh *brain bleach)... I would have chosen something else.
Beastcub is a name I've had around since I was 13 but had I known these 3 things I would have done different...

Anyway, your work is awesome and I get excited to see your new work and by no means want to steal your thunder, so when I find some one calling something of yours mine I correct them right away!
Toby is the one I see get mixed up, but I think that is because I have become known for quads BUT to be honest it was your Toby that inspired me to surpass the quad I made in 2006 and set my love for quads in motion...so... I look up to you and your work makes me strive to improve my own work *blushes

I know what you mean by the website thing.. I found out way after I started my business that a Beetlecat is a type of boat >< So not as bad your yours, but beetlecat.com is forever locked to me :(

TBH I was pretty surprised when people started confusing us (I got called Beetlecub at least once hahaha due to a Freudian slip) because I didn't see any similarity, so if people get confused then that's their own problem lol. Anyone who follows us close enough to actually be a potential customer knows the differences ^^

You are lucky it is just a boat site, I found out about the icky site when I found myself mentioned in a forum, some one tried to put a link to my page in a comment BUT they must have done like a websearch and posted the first link that came up because there was a string of comments like "eww why did you link me to a gay beastiality site" and at first I thought they were trolling...till I looked closer at the link and saw there was an "L" in it (then clicked on it...ahhh brain bleach please!)

sooooo....that is at least 1 case of horrible mistaken identity and I worry that when I tell people verbally what my site name is that they may find that one by mistake...

.___.

*sobs

i don't get. how ANYONE can get that confused. it's beyond me. Both your's, and beastcubs's work is some of the first fursuits i had seen on coming into the fandom (fursuits being the reason i joined the fandom), and i NEVER got you confused. some people are obviously reallllyyyy thick.

I think the rumor as a whole started because beastcub is very plain that she glues most of her heads, and DOES make a point of giving her clients the option of sewn-head-seams. But her name is similair enough to beetlecats I think that rubbed off on her as a rumor by mistake.

What's so wrong with newbies making their own suits?

Nothing, actually. I love that so many people are starting to try it for themselves. However, among those new suit makers are people who do one thing and then think they're good enough to sell their work, which might be affecting people's thoughts of how good of quality other people's work is.

I agree...Some of these people really just...no offense but suck at fursuits. You have to start somewhere but commissions are in no way that start. Starting is practice on your own money and time, not someone else's...

Cool!

Ahh! I was always wondering how fur was placed on. This makes complete sense. :D

As a new builder myself, I find this to be extremely educational. Thanks for taking the time, Beetle.

I can imagine customers going 'zomg there's glue that means they just don't care enough to take the time to sew', not taking into account details like you've pointed out above or the fact that some people might tack seams with glue before they sew. (Tack stitches are SUCH a pain sometimes; glue is time and cost effective. For me anyway, but I don't build to sell.) I've seen some of your work first hand so there's no doubt in my mind that you're hell bent on making sure everything is quality and durable. Sorry there's some folks out there being knuckleheads.

Oh it's not customers. Just people passing along information that they heard somewhere. I do have old videos out there of me gluing fur on fursuit heads and that's a much more striking visual than the sewing that is not on the screen.

It's not a problem. I mean no one has come up and accused me of anything or whatever, but I just want the information being passed around to be correct.

AHHH, ok that makes more sense! I've been out of the loop for a year or so, haven't gotten back up in the fursuit comms yet so I was automatically thinking the worst. No one can blame you for wanting the proper information to get around, especially considering how much work goes into the fur pattern sewing process. (Feels like it's one of those things you have to try doing yourself before you can really appreciate what others are doing with it - and OH GOOD GRACIOUS do I have an appreciation now. XP )

I see no trouble using glue on the head. You have pointed out the benefits of it. The head is not like a body suit where it will be stretched and twisted by the legs and joints of the body. The only parts will be moving will be the jaw. I will have to use glue for my head because the fur is very short and I have a beak so the stitching will be seen. Again, props for you. :D

Hu... I've never seen a suit be built before really so seeing what's under the fur and above the foam for the first time is pretty snazzy.

How well does the glue typically hold up to ... well... general use? I'm wanting a suit, don't yet have one, so I have no idea really... I'd want one I could wear around and not worry about somebody pulling off my ears when petting them though. D:

How well your suit will hold up depends entirely upon the person making it. All heads use glue to attach the fur - what matters is how the insides are made.

People getting fursuit makers mixed up with one another again. -_-




you are rockin the tiny seam allowances, btw -- my fat fingers have such a hard time with that ;~;

Heh I trim them after I sew them <<

I trim mine after I sew them as well, if I don't it makes the fabric raise up a bit when I go to glue it down. That, and it sometimes causes the "skin" to not fit properly, so I make sure all of my seams are cut nice and small, but not too small. :)

"or allow people to decide if they want their seams glued or sewn "
I, uh, yeah...um pretty sure what happened is you got recoil from my drama because people get us mixed up...

See this year I decided to offer glued and sewn seams at different prices, I offered sewn seams because some people might be bothered by the rough feel of glued (never got the complaint but it was on my mind) but aside from feeling rough (which they don't always feel rough) I stand by glued because they are still strong (heck from what Jillcostumes just mentioned a glued seam head can survive a washing machine!) and I can get a smooth seamless look with glue. do not love sewing, fully sewing a head drains a lot of the fun, and I like to try and keep my prices lower...so I opted to offer heads with all glued seams (aside from sewing the neck since it gets tugged on) at a lower price since it is more affordable and it is a lot more fun for me and goes faster.

BUT shortly after I went public with this I heard people talking like my heads were going to self destruct because the fur seams are glued, some of what I heard was really out of line... and then snowballed downhill to include stuff that was just untrue big fat lies like building customer orders with duct tape and cardboard and gluing body suits together.

And now it seems that my drama has been passed onto you by mistake and I actually feel really, REALLY bad about it...I mean the glued seam drama hit me pretty bad and made me feel really bad and I hate the fact it has now been passed on to you, I would have thought it was a coincidence if not for the "allow people to decide if they want their seams glued or sewn" part because I do allow customers to do that...

Yeah people give you way too much hassle about stuff. Boggles my mind a bit really. It's good that you're open to advice but, in the end, how you do things is really no ones business but yours and your customers.

All of my early heads were glued and I know one out there still gets use and is holding up fine. It just seems to be a sort of line in the sand where you are pro if you do this and you are amateur if you do that. Which is also amusing since I know pro makers who glue who people love their stuff lol.

Don't worry about any blow out. It's always very very minor - people confusing your personal life with mine (the fact that we both have heelers doesn't help rofl) or small little techniques that are not important. If you were a scammer than I would be very much more worried, but as is you're a good person and we can each correct any misconceptions as they happen so really it's not an issue.

When Temperance first came on the scene she got instantly confused for being me, so it happens all over heh.

heelers are awesome X3 it looks like we will have a pack of heelers at FC, my sisters online friend is making one, we own 2 heeler suits already and are working on another.
Heelers fit FCs theme perfectly, they are the true Aussie dog! Aussie shepherds may be more well known but they were a breed created in America!


Anywho, who the heck decided what is amature or professional anyaway? I mean to me as long as it is durable, comfortable and looks nice and neat it does not matter how the job gets done. Heck when I do a fully sewn head I actually take a photo of the sewn skin before attaching it to proove to my customer that it is sewn! That is how subtle the external differences are between sewn and glued seams!

Yeah we *definitely* gotta meet up at FC for a heeler pack run/photoshoot :D Together we'll have a half dozen!

I will likley be the derpiest of them all...
The head for my suit was built by some one else and we heavily modded it, it is not the best quality and the expression is more derpy than I normally wear (I am not a spaz in suit so I avoid derpy expressons since I do not get in character properly)
I really want to build myself a head that shows my current quality of work but my sister really wants me to wear the derpy one >_O
annnnnnnd I may not have time to make another head before FC anyway :/

Oh and how much do you wanna bet each of us will be called an Aussie shepherd at least once during the con X3
Our dogs get called that a lot, with the red being called a dingo a few times and a basenji once.

lol yeah I don't get it. The breeds look absolutely nothing alike -_- They don't even have similar origins.

I actually kind of prefer red heelers, but didn't build one exactly because it would be hard to give it a specific breed look as a fursuit. *images a child saying "Mom! It's Clifford!"*

Everyone has there own way of making suits so its whatever works best for you :)

o-0 What does this comment even mean? Obviously this works best for me otherwise I'd not post it as an example of how I do things. This submission is so customers can know how their suits are made and other artists can maybe get something out of it.

Im sorry I was just pointing out that everyone does things different, and that this shows a different way to make masks, Im sorry didnet mean to spam your submission.

Yeah sorry I overreacted :)

This is really neat ... thank you so much! x)
When making my first head I mostly had issues with deciding how to really make the pattern/seams. Between this and your furring videos on youTube, it has all been very helpful. Your work is very inspiring. :)

Interesting strategy, well usable and easily applied, thanks for the info!