All Brushed Up!

...Ready for a Christmas Party!

Even though I made a bushier tail a week or two ago I still find myself wanting an even larger one... I may have to see if I can find some more of this FauxFur somewhere I am getting rather low on larger sections and I must hold onto some for emergency repairs as well. I need to dig through my receipts and see if any of the Joann's have any of it in stock still. even another yard would be a good thing if I can find it!   

Lesson Learned... Don't cut yourself short on material when you decide to purchase it!  Buy as much as you can when you do otherwise you may not have another chance to get any more. In all honesty I figured I had purchased way more than I needed... should have added another couple yards I guess. 

POCKET!

Just finished sewing in a small pocket to the inside of Relic's fursuit just to the side at/below the waistline in the front (kind of at a regular front pocket location on jeans). I have been placing things like my real ID and cash in my socks up to this point because I don't trust them being in a holder on my lanyard as I will be moving to a breakaway type lanyard for safety reasons, I like this option much better.  

Moving into the warmer months would make it a sweaty mess to keep using my sock... (eeewww), at least this way it is all protected from sweat by my UnderArmour and is totally invisible to others. 

A Very Furry Christmas

Looking For A Helper

This is a serious request and only those that know they have the time and funds to go should contact me. I will talk to all interested prior to making a decision. 

The best way to contact me is either leaving a comment here on my blog or by e-mail, I don't always have my phone near me and may not realize there is a text for some time.

Officially Registered

It's Official now, Relic is registered for Anthrocon 2017! We are hopeful that he will be part of another world record breaking fursuit parade!

All my work to get Relic out of the woods to make the pilgrimage to Pittsburgh for Anthrocon 2017 and it  looks as if I will have to trade his Axe in for a Bat instead. Well in this case since I am a huge Cubs fan and they broke the curse this year, I think I will settle for a Cubs jersey for him to wear instead, a real "Wolf Cub" ;)

I Love A Parade!

Relic was among the attendees from the Black Rifurs at Watertown's Christmas Parade & Tree Lighting Ceremony on the evening of December 2nd, 2016. 

It was a perfect night to be out in the fursuits, not too warm, not too cold, I only wish it had all lasted longer. Our appearance in the parade was well received and in the future I think things will be even better. We had a positive reaction from the community attending the parade, lots of hugs from the Kids and even a good number of Adults as well. We did not get the TV coverage that we had hoped for from WWNY TV 7 news but the Watertown Times photographer that was there Stephen Swofford was able to get us at least a little recognition in the Times on-line edition. Thank you Stephen. 

Other Suits To Follow

Tani “Schnolf” is a friend that I been following for a long time. She

lives in Berlin, Germany with her husband Richard “Nightfox” She 

actually has multiple fursuits that you can see here:

http://fursuit.tanidareal.com/

Another friend I have been following for a few years now is “Silver

Deni” Denise lives in Romania and actually began making her 

fursuit just a few weeks after I started fabrication of Relic. She is 

not working on her suit at as fast a rate as I have been with Relic 

and has said she will not post much up about the work until sh is 

satisfied with the direction it is taking. So you won't see much 

from her other than her awesome artwork. As far as I know she is 

only on DeviantArt, FurAffinity, or on twitter @SilverDeni

http://silverdeni.deviantart.com/

https://www.furaffinity.net/user/silverdeni/

TychoAussie Is one that I have more recently started to follow. His 

suit is one of the cutest that I have seen and his poses for photos are

great! His page on Patreon has his other links as well. He is one of 

the few that has been captured on Google Street view outside his 

hotel by the Google car as it was mapping the city streets of 

Pittsburgh during Anthrocon in 2015 !

https://www.patreon.com/TychoAussie

Foot-Paws Re-Doux Fin

Finally finished my Remake of Relic's foot-paws. They are much more compact and easier to walk around in, thus safer as well.

The shorter fur on the toes will matches the length of the fur on the New Hand-Paws I finished last month. Soon I will start on yet another pair of each to have as spares.

Background Work

Been playing  around on Gimp making different backgrounds for various uses.

I think Relic looks good with this one.

Character Artwork by Trish Forstner 2016
Background and Signature by Relic

Commission In

Just received the commission work of Relic from Trish Forstner today... AWSOME!

 I added Relic's name to the work, don't want anyone to mistake who it is! *lol*

Thank you Trish for a wonderful rendition of Relic!

And Now We Wait

Oops!  Finished the first one of Relic's new Foot-Paws which has turned out very nicely.

I was finished getting the fur cut, sewn, and glued on in just a few hours yesterday.  

Much lighter weight and since the toes are set back onto the foot better they are also much safer (and easier) to walk around in and more importantly, navigate stairs better. 




... BUT... as I began working on the second one gluing the fur into place on the first toe, I realized as I reached for a claw to slip into place, that I had NO MORE CLAWS!  Just placed an order with Dream Vision Creations for 10 more claws, this will give me 6 spares once all is said and done.  So for the next few days I will move on to something else, no sense going any further until I have the claws to put in place as I glue everything down. 

The Right Tools

Damn! the time I could have saved over the past 10 months if I had simply spent the extra $40 on an actual set of Pet Clippers! I figured since I had a couple sets of regular hair trimmers I was good to go and they would get me through the shaving... well two sets of hair trimmers later I broke down and purchased  a  Wahl pet grooming trimmer set.

I am hapy to say that I am pleased with the results, they cut through the dense fur much better than the clippers designed for human hair... MUCH BETTER!

I went from the two inch pile of the raw white fur ...









...to a nice even 1/2 inch long pile in only MINUTES where it was taking me nearly an hour using the regular clippers!  Yet another lesson in choosing the right tool for the job at hand.


Lesson Learned. 

Foot-Paws Re-Deux

I am liking these paws much better than what I had originally made and will more than likely retire the first ones once these are finished and more than likely start on a third pair as well so I always have spares to fall back on.

The toes being much closer to my own will make walking much easier especially navigating stairs. I also came to the realization that since the white section of the fur will actually be directly at my leg it will aide in the appearance of being an actual paw and not long like a persons foot (I don't know if that sounds correct to everyone else?) I guess more like digitgrade rather than plantigrade.

I will be needing to find some white fur that is not so long, I would like to get a bag of  Furs together that are consistent for the use as Foot-Paws will always be something that will need to be remade / repaired.  

Looking Forward To Anthrocon

I am so excited about getting to Anthrocon 2017!  Relic has all ready pre-registered with the Convention and will soon be booking a room just outside of the downtown area to save more than half of the cost of a room near the Center. 

My Wife has said she is not interested in going, but I won't rule it out yet June is a long way off. I think she is having a hard time understanding why this interests me so much. I really can't explain it to her but in time if she is around it enough I think she may see that it is simply an artistic outlet and not so strange.  At this point I do have Dusk from the Black Rifurs riding with me on the trip down and back willing to split the cost of gas, so at least I will save some there as well.

To and from the hotel and Con is virtually just one street... a straight shot. 

Welcome Home! To Anthrocon! 

A Late Post

I just occurred to me that I had failed to post back in August about my Trademark Registration. As of August 15th Relic's signature in several forms

is now a registered Trademark for all my copyright work!   

Foot Paws Revisited

Although I was happy enough the way my first FootPaws turned out for Relic I have decided to make another pair that will be more of a "Sock" type and be mostly for indoor use or outdoor areas that are dry and relatively clean. 

I was lucky enough to find a 1/4 yard chunk of 3 inch Foam at my local Joann's for the sculpting. It has saved a lot of hot glue and I think the finished product will be much more rugged. This time I was aware of the fact that the Electric knife was the best tool for the bulk cutting, what a time saver. 

After only a few hours work with a good (sharp) pair of large shears I have nearly finished shaping the first of the Foot Paws.  The shape is looking very good so far but of course the real trick will be to get the second one to look equally good.

The two small lines left on the center toes are an indication of where my toes will actually be (nearly) when I have them on, these should be much easier to walk in without as much risk of trips. 

Shaping continues and soon I will be starting on the other one. Then of course I will have to work on getting the Fur cut and sewn for covering them, along with ordering some silicone pads for the bottoms. 

Lines Are Drawn

Yeah, so... here we go again!  Started working on a new set of Foot Paws for Relic only these will be for indoor / good weather only use as these will be a more realistic paw like the new Hand Paws I made a couple weeks back with the bottoms using fur and silicone pads instead of the pigskin that is on the bottom of the other set.

The electric knife works wonderfully for carving out the large sections of foam to pare it down before starting the picky and more messy part of the sculpting. Guess I'll need to order yet another full set of claws from DeamVisionCreations to get everything finished. 

Cooling Off

After suiting up at Thompson Park in Watertown a couple weeks ago I have renewed my quest for a permanent cooling fan for Relic. I have fabricated one I think will do the trick and it runs on a 9 volt battery. I was fine for a couple hours (nearly three) that Saturday, but I hope that this fan might extend the time or at least take care of some of the humidity under the head piece, either would help tremendously. If this works out the way I think it will I will post exactly how I made this system, until I know for sure I wont waste my steps.  "Although the work is finished, the tinkering will never end."

A Day At Thompson Park

The BlackRivFurs met at Thompson Park yesterday 10/8/16 for a cookout. Although the weather was a bit rainy at the start it did let up and we were able to suit up. This was Relic's first time actually out in public and not at a private party, and was also his first time with other suiters. There was supposed to have been a 5th suiter but they could not make it for some reason, maybe the rain made them rethink? 

Xeno,  Dusk,  Relic,  Casey

Don't know who the little boy in the Blue plaid was, but it was yhis 5th birthday party that day and we totally made his day. the reactions were wonderful  (even from the adults that were there) everyone wanted opportunities for pictures with the Furries, it made their day and ours.

Relic was the first one they started to interact with, I think the fact that I was the only one in a "full fursuit" made it more real. Xeno seemed to "photobomb" all the shots. ;)

In all I was suited up for 2 - 2-1/2 hours before having to admit defeat from overheating, but it was worth all the sweating to realize we made this guys 5th birthday something extra special without any planning involved.

Put Your Paws In The Air

Was up until nearly 1 am getting the fur sewn together for the second of Relic's toonie-style hand-paws last night.  I really wanted to get them finished over this weekend so I can take them to my first Furry / Fursuiting meet in Thompson Park on October 8th. 

I think they turned out better than I thought they would while I was gluing up the base for them. I know some people use 1 inch thick foam for the base, but I used 1/2 inch and feel it is plenty thick enough to get the look I was after.

I all ready have the pads cut, just have to heat up the hot melt glue gun to get them put in place. I need to get the suit on so I can try them on to make sure the sleeves come down to meet the cuffs or not, I may have to add a band of fur to the cuff to finish the length, but that is only a minor addition, I might actually do this anyway at least an inch I think it will be a more finished look against the short white palm fur rather than relying on the suit sleeve to complete the look. 

Someone Has Been On The Prowl

Finally finished and now we have come into some BEAUTIFUL weather for Fursuiting! I plan on taking advantage of every opportunity I get while we have this cooler but dry weather. 

Now how did his Axe get in there?

Let me out, let me out!

Is that a   YAMA-WOLF !?  It is Relic's preferred mode of transportation around the den.

 A double bit Axe ... It is this Timber-Wolf's tool of choice.

I'm outta here!