Completion Time: 2 Weeks
Materials: Faux Fur, foam, pool noodle, wire, fishing line, clay, flannel, fleece, rubber, taxidermy claws, LEDs, CPU fans, 9volts, plastic mesh, yarn, broad cloth, zippers, velcro,
Durability: Pretty tough
Vision: 20%
Cost to make: > $100
Comfort: Miserable
Heat: Unbearable

Finally finished the darned thing. ^^; My second Neopets costume, finally competing as an official Craftsman. Last year we (my sis and I) were bumped up to Craftsman from journeyman for lack of Craftsman participants. I was one award away from being Craftsman anyway, but after winning 2nd place I was officialy that title. So this year I finally competed against other amazing Craftsman and was surprised to have even placed in the Hall Costume contest! Fursuits are so different from any other costume. They don't have the painstaking beautiful detail that often other cosplayers achieve, but have the advantage of being flashy and complex. They run more on puppetry than craftsmanship, but I hope to be a better craftsman now.

This particular costume was a pain to rig, even more so than my centaur suit. The weight of the pool-noodle arms was a challenge to get them to stay up and not flop backwards. I used an electric carving knife to get the shape of the muscles, out of foam. The muscles were then attatched through the suit with yarn and broadcloth lining, and enhanced with yarn. Digigrade leg effect also through careful sculpting. For more information on how to do these techniques, simply research "fursuiting" and check out Nicodemus, Domino Doberman, and Matrices.net. Wonderful fursuiters worth checking out. Other than that, this costume wasn't more than your basic mascot costume with an extra set of arms. The pupiles are simply LEDs strung up to a 9volt, wired inside the foam. Two CPU fans provided proper ventilation. One in the top of the head brought oxygen in, and a larger one in the muzzle blew C02 out. Still was hot as all get-out, even with a cooling vest. But they do help. For more info on that, check out Arctic Cooling systems.

Note: If you want more information, please email me at epherot@yahoo.com