A Tribute To My Navy Pals That Have Passed

Rest in peace my Brothers In Arms.

The Dark Side

Damn! I love my #Coffee to much. 

I fear I have fallen

 for the Dark Side of the Force Obiwan.

Unfollowed Dreams

In my own way this is a Thank You to Barry V. who pushed all the right buttons and got me started on something I would not have done otherwise, making a fursuit of Relic. It is most certainly an event in my life that I will have a lot of lasting fun with. 

Dig Dug Pug

Another Rip Closer

To Being Finished

with Relic's work Pants. 

After wearing them for half the day yesterday the fur sewn in from behind has worked through the rip nicely.  Although now seeing things in place I am going to change the way I affix the fur into the pants and will use another piece of material to back the fur and use heatbond tape to secure it.  Gotta get rid of the ugly stitching that shows as it is right now.

The puncture type rip in the back is OK, not exactly what I had in mind but it will suffice.

One more three-corner tear in the opposite shin area should complete the look I am after, along with an attack with a wire brush to give them a more worn look.  

Spring Cleaning

Ugh!  

Since Relic has now taken up storage residence in the house I have been able to tackle some cleaning in the shop. Much more to do but at least I can get in and out without foam clingers and fur following me back out the door.  ;P

I think it's time to weed out all the scrap metal from the old PC's to make room for more up-to-date parts machines and adding another wire shelf may be on the books for this springs shop expenses as well. 

Getting more excited about our trip to Chicago the end of June. I haven't seen my friends out there since 1988 and look forward to a great time reconnecting with them even if it is for only a day (maybe two) it will be so worth the effort to drive out to Belvidere while we are in the Chicago area. We will actually be staying at a hotel very near where they lived in Schaumburg when I last saw them. 

Intentionally Unintentional

How exactly does one rip a pair of pants without it looking like it was done intentionally...lol 

You would think that after all the pieces I have created for this suit I could accomplish what seems like the most simple of looks.  #ArtisticBlock

Shirt Aquired!

Found Relic's shirt today while I was in Watertown.  Although these are not the bib style overalls I was eyeing ...

... this combination might just work. I will still be looking or the bibs and will get a pair if I find them. I have his collar on order but I also bought another collar today at PetCo that (while still blue) does not have all the bling of the spikes on it. 

Now I have to set to work making a few tears in these pants that don't look like intentional tears ... ??? Intentionally unintentional ... uh ... yeah. Just need a couple tears to affix some of Relic's fur behind / into to give yet another degree of realism to the costume.

The Rest Of The Costume

My attention is now starting to turn toward rounding up the other pieces of Relic's costume. As a Partial Fursuit he is nearing completion and I need to have the pieces to put together his final "look".  My vision for Relic as a Partial is of a Woodsman. A double-bit wielding Lumber-Jack, a bit ironic of course since he is a Timber-Wolf. 

Relic is most often seen in his work attire consisting of the typical red & black plaid shirt with sleeves rolled up,

rugged brown Bib-Overalls often with small tears where his fur shows through the holes.

He is a true "blue-collar" worker who, in yet another twist of irony, also wears an actual Blue Collar!  

Oh yes he does!  I ordered this 26- inch collar for him just this morning. ;P

Foot-Paws Near Completion

All that is left is to affix the sole which will protect the foam toes and help hold everything firmly in place. For this task I will be using some fairly heavy leather. 

They have turned out far better than I had imagined they would. Still extremely pleased I chose the White fur for the toe area.  I am going to make one addition to them when I do the leather sole ... I will affix a length of 1-inch wide nylon strapping about 6 inches long to the back of the sneaker by riveting it to give a solid fixture to pull the sneaker on with so I don't inadvertently tug on the fur and pull it apart. It would have been easier to do this before gluing on the fur but I have only glued the fur around the bottom edge so I can still roll it back out of the way to do the work, then I can finish gluing the fur onto the canvas around the opening of the sneaker.

Plantigrade Foot One Finished

Yay! Just finished the first of Relic's Foot-paws!

I am pleased with the decision to make the toes White. Adding the Grey along the sides didn't really make a large difference but it is a distinguishing marking none-the-less.

I still need to pick up some material to use as a sole to protect the toe foam and hold things together more solidly. Until then I just can't wear them outside. 

I do have to admit that I guessed very accurately for the amount of Faux Fur (1 1/2 yards each) I would need to complete Relic as a Partial Suit I will not have much to spare Enough to make some repairs as and if needed along the way of learning the ropes so-to-speak.   Brush-Brush-Brush  ;)

Feet Paws

I have the basic foam work done on Relic's Foot-Paws and will soon be taping them up to make a pattern for the fur.

I find myself in a bit of a dilemma as to what color fur will be placed where. I had visioned Relic's Hand-Paws from the beginning but had put no thought into his feet.  As of right now I am thinking White on the toes up to the point the foam ends on this pic with the rest being Grey and also Grey on the sides part way along the side toes. I also have to pick up some rubber material for the soles, as these will be "indoor/outdoor" paws I need to protect the bottom of the foam

Paws Revisited

Don't know how many caught my ... mistake on Relic's paws ... but I have now rectified the error.

It took much longer than it should have to spot a blatantly obvious error (note the upside down large paw pads). I suppose I was simply too happy to have finished them to notice at the time. I know, a rookie mistake.

After ripping the stitches back to the fingers and removing the pads I sewed them back on correctly and stitched them back up... they look good now. Lesson Learned... Pay attention to the small details and you won't have to redo the easy stuff.

Something's Afoot

Got started on the first of Relic's foot-paws today. These are a pair of $5 canvas sneakers from Wal-Mart. 

I bought a pair one size larger than I normally wear to facilitate ease of putting them on and taking them off I don't want to put myself in the position of fighting with laces or tugging on the fur to pull them on or off. A few places to trim the foam yet and a few more to add foam to to smooth out the look.


I am not looking forward to getting the fur put on these, but it can't be any worse than what I have been through all ready ... right?