Fur Everywhere!

Our apartment is pretty much covered with fur... And I haven't even got to shaving the head! Today I cut the right shapes out of the fabrics. Just to see they fit each other and every inch of the head is covered, I placed them on th head with pins.

Here's how Gaikotsu looks at the moment!

The ears look a lot smaller now that the head is all furry!

I also got my order today: 2 clear resin eyes and black Apoxie Sculpt. I'm going to use Apoxie Sculpt for the eyes and the nose. I'll do the teeth and mouth from Fimo.
In the front is the industrial piercing for Gaikotsu's left ear that my boyfriend did! Normal piercings are too small so I'm really happy he made this for me~

Now I'll start sewing the pieces together and gluing them on the foam base. Hopefully I'll finish most of the head today~

Foam Base Finished!

I'm working on this new suit so much faster than on my old one. One reason for this might be that I know what I'm doing for most of the time.. But sometimes I still need to just try things out!

I have now finished the foam base for the head. I tried to keep it as simple as possible. I should have used bigger pieces of foam instead of adding small pieces... That's why it might look a little odd, but all this is going to be underneath the fur, so I don't really mind! :D

After foaming I covered the head with duck tape. The weird bump on the back of the head is foam I added to the wig head. The wig head alone would have been too small so I needed to make it bolder.

I drew the fur patterns on the duck tape. I also tried on some eyes I found. These eyes won't be the final ones! I just wanted to see how the head looks with them. Next I will cut the shapes out and use them as models when I start furring.

I don't really like fursuits with big toony eyes and fat cheeks (some of them are cute though!). I'm going for something more natural but not too realistic - something that looks like a drawing of mine!

I also made the ears! They looked perfect on paper, but once I sewed them together I noticed the ears are HUGE. Of course they won't be so big after I've shaved the fur a little bit, but.. I'm pretty sure I'll have to edit them otherwise too. Gaikotsu goes for a cute little fennec fox now, doesn't she?

Yes, the back of the ears is really bright red! :D

Next time you'll see Gaikotsu very... furry. ;)

My Very First Fursuit Partial: Gaikotsu

I decided to add some better pictures of my first fursuit head so you can actually see it from every angle. There are so many mistakes in it! Oh and... derpy ears are derpy. u__u"

Despite the looks of it I could see pretty well while weaing the head.

I actually like how the profile of the head looks!

From this you can see how awfully uneven the facial markings are.

It would have been nice if the moving jaw had actually worked...

This is my favourite picture of my fursuit! :3

New Partial Project

After you've seen all these pictures you might understand why I want to make a new head for Gaikotsu... I've been looking for faux fur fabrics in Finland and I haven't found anything good. Usually the quality is bad, they don't have the colours I want (they have all the neon colours, but no black or white..?!) and it's expensive. One black bad quality fur I found cost 40€/m...

Finally I gave up on Finnish fabric stores. I ordered some new faux fur fabrics from http://www.fabric.com and I have to say I recommend them to anyone who's looking for faux fur! The fur has a good quality and it's really soft and cousy! They are located in the US but they ship worldwide. Even though the shipping is kind of expensive outside the US it's FAST. I ordered the fabrics last Sunday and they delivered my package to my work on Friday! I never get my stuff so quickly even inside Finland. Despite the expensive shipping the total cost was cheaper than anything I could have found in Finland.

So now that I have my fabrics I started to work on the foam base of the fursuit!

Balaclava with elastic for the moving jaw.

1st stage of foaming: mouth closed.

1st stage of foaming: mouth open. The moving jaw works!

Hopefully I'll get my new head done for the Oulu Furry Meet in the beginning of May!

Challenged by Minorea

Minorea challenged me to do this meme. The rules and her questions were in Finnish, but I translated them.

Rules

1. Tell 11 things about yourself.

2. Answer the 11 questions created by the challenger.

3. Create 11 new questions.

4. Challenge 11 other bloggers who have less than 200 readers.

5. Tell who you challenged.

 11 things about me

1. After attending Nordic Fuzz Con 2013 I went crazy about meeting other furries. I've already planned 4 furry meets in Finland and it hasn't even been a week since NFC!

2. I'm absolutely horrified of ships. So when everyone else goes on cruises to have fun I have to stay home.

3. I love it when I have thousands of things to do. Currently I work 3 part-time jobs and I have 2 comic projects and 1 fursuit project in progress. I'm also preparing for Taekwondo black belt promotion exam and guitar concert.

4. I write a lot of songs. I'd like to record my songs, but I can't sing or play them properly.

5. I studied Tourism in university but decided to start working instead. The teachers tried to teach us common sense so I didn't really learn anything. This spring I applied for English and Russian teacher education. My second option is biology teacher education since I love science and my father is a biology teacher.

6. I was accepted to a Japanese university to study Japanese and Chinese but I decided to stay in Finland. The main reason why I let this big dream of mine pass by was my boyfriend, but also the fact that I wanted to keep training taekwondo in my hometown. ...I didn't have enough money either and I finally started to have some pretty amazing friends here in Finland.

7. My artist name Tsuyami Yukihara comes from the kanji (Chinese characters) of my real name. There are several ways to read those kanji in Japanese and Tsuyami Yukihara is one of those. The kanji mean "erotic beauty on a snow field". My host father gave me these kanji thinking they suit me. Thanks otousan, I love my Japanese name!

8. My big brother's band Deadwood Prominents is one of my favourite bands. I listen to them whenever I'm drawing! You can listen to them on Soundcloud.

9. I have tattooing equipment. Soon I'm going to finish working at one of the places I work and start practicing tattooing seriously. Hopefully I'll learn to make some decent tattoos instead of scarring people's skins!

10. I. LOVE. TURTLES. I had 2 read-eared sliders when I was a kid. My mom sold them without me knowing about it and ever since I've been pretty much obsessed over turtles. I have so many turtle plushies I can't fit to bed with all of them!

Me and my turtle, Julia.

 11. If you want to make me squeal, speak with British accent. There's nothing sexier than that!

Minorea's questions:

1. Have you ever started a new hobby / learned new skills to improve your cosplay?
- Well... Does sewing count? I had no idea how to sew before I started to cosplay. For fursuiting I'm trying to learn how to mimic so I could fursuit with 'silent code' (no talking).

 2. Do you have hobbies related to Japanese popculture other than cosplaying?

- I used to read a lot of manga and watch anime, but I don't really do that anymore. I listen to Japanese music, sing Japanese karaoke and play Japanese games though! I teach Japanese language for beginners, but I also keep studying it myself as a hobby.

I love Japanese karaoke! This is a screenshot of Ayaka's song Okaeri.

3. Do you have your own 'cosplay corner' where you work with your costumes? If you do, take a picture of it.

- I don't have a cosplay corner. I mostly work in front of my computer because that's where I do everything. Sometimes I work downstairs in the livingroom and I do all the gluing stuff in the bathroom.

4. Do your workmates, family and friends who don't cosplay know about your hobby?
- Yes they do, it's not a secret. Some of them are really excited about it and want to see pictures of my suits. And some of them... well.. they think I'm nuts. 8D

5. Do you have a manga/anime character in mind you would like to cosplay, but for some reason you believe you never will cosplay?
- Actually I'm pretty sure I'm going to do all the cosplays I've planned to do. Of course I dreamed about making many cosplay costumes in the past, for example Haku from Naruto, but I don't think I would fit in the character anymore. I've also dreamed about cosplaying Soifon from Bleach for a long time already, and hopefully I will cosplay her in the future!

6. Are there characters you would never cosplay (because of the characters' appearance or personality)?

- Well, I would never cosplay fat or muscular characters because they are not suitable for my body type. I would like my cosplay to be as close to the original character as possible so it would be ridiculous to even try cosplaying Armstrong from Full Metal Alchemist (I'd love to act like him though). I don't think I'd like cosplaying anyone too serious either...

7. Have normal people ever shouted things to you when you've been wearing a cosplay? If they have, what was it?

- No, atleast I don't recall anyone shouthing things to me. I've just got some really weird looks... :D

8. Now you are allowed - or you have to - praise yourself! What are you best at in cosplay?

- As of now, I can't say what I'm good at since I'm so new to cosplaying. But atleast I already have some ideas on how to build a fursuit. Hopefully that'll be my strenght in the future!

9. By what criteria you choose the characters you cosplay?

- Firstly the characters I cosplay are characters that I love. Usually they have something in common with me and I feel like it would be easy to adjust to their personality. At this point I also prefer characters with rather simple outfits since my sewing skills need a lot of improving.

One example is my Rock Lee -cosplay. I really really love the character even though he might not be the most handsome anime guy out there. He's different! He wears simple green overalls! He likes to train and I like to do that too. It was easy to cosplay as him since I know how to do some kicks and punches. Also his body type is close to mine - I only needed a bind to hide my breast! Also I could fool around and be stupid when I was Rock Lee... :P

Me as Rock Lee in Katsudocon 2012.

10. Have you ever been in cosplay photoshoot? Would you like to?

- I've been to many cosplay photoshoots. Usually Minorea is the one taking the photos but almost at every convention we go to the photoshoot stand to get some amazing pictures of the two of us.

11. Why did you accept this challenge?

- Because I can't say no to Minorea's boob.... I mean cuteness.

11 questions by me and 11 people to be challenged

I'm new to writing a blog and reading them so... I don't have anyone to challenge! That's why I just avoid the responsibility to make my own questions! You can answer Minorea's questions if you want to do this same thing in your blog! :)

Nordic Fuzz Con 2013

I'm back from NFC and I still feel amazing! I went there with DJ (Drunken Jan) to meet KirePapa and her friend Dipped (everyinchofme). The convention was so GOOD! It's the best convention I've ever been to! I have trouble believing it was a first year convention since everything ran so smoothly. The staff did a great job in organizing NFC. Thank you so much for the experience!
  The atmosphere at the convention was something I can't describe. I've been to tens of Japanese popculture conventions in Finland and only now I realize how lame they are. In every Finnish convention it has been really awkward to even ask if you can take a picture of a person's cosplay. At NFC you could just randomly start talking to people you've never seen before, hug them only because it's fun and be yourself without anyone thinking you've gone nuts.

Everyone could write or draw on the blackboard wall! My drawing is the highest one. To get it there I had to climb on DJ's shoulders and land on my face in the lounge...

Even though I've been a member in Fur Affinity for 2 years now I've never been around furries in real life. I think they are the most friendly and cheerful persons I've ever met! Keep it up furries! I love you and I'm proud to be called one! :3

What comes to program there were lots to take part in! Actually me and DJ missed some of the programs only because we were too busy interacting with people (and playing pool & table hockey)! There were many events during the day with freetime during which you could either rest in your hotel room, go eat outside or interact with people. I've never had so many things to do in a convention!

I really liked Open Art Jam where artists gathered and drew for each other. It was nice! This is something I drew for Pao:

 Oh... and what you really wanted to know: YES, I did get my partial fursuit ready. Actually I still sewed and glued it at the hotel room on Thursday after we arrived. But it was ready by the furuist group photo and parade by Friday! It was really nice to fursuit for the first time in my life even though I don't really like how my head looks. I think it's too big especially when it's only a partial suit... And I forgot to take my paws along with me to the convention... OTL

Anyway, here are some pictures of my fursuit!

This is me taking part in the furry parade. 50 suiters took part in it! My tail didn't want to behave. :C

I drew a badge for myself while wearing the head.

Dipped and me. I had just won the little micro snake from Fursuit Games.

Look deep into my puppy eyes and tell me not to eat this snake.

Dipped, Kheldis, Papu (KirePapa is wearing the suit) and me.

Dipped, Papu and me at fursuit photoshoot. The theme of the convention was Vikings vs. Pirates. We are Dipped's prisoners and fighting over the last bone!

I'm so looking forward to Nordic Fuzz Con 2014!  I'll definitely go there again next year!



P.S.: I ordered a wig head yesterday and it arrived today. I bought a nice ninja hood for it and asked my boyfriend to bring me more glue... New fursuit head on the way! ;D