Thursday, 17 July 2014
Hooves Mk III
I cut out four hoof plates from some chipboard that I had lying around in the workshop. Each hoof would be around 150mm x 130mm wide (6” x 5”), so the rear of each hoof would stick rearwards beyond the balls of my feet to help me to balance.
Hoof templates |
Cardboard and Bondo |
Improved foot support |
Papier maché |
Repeated thin layers of Bondo |
Now painting. After an initial spraying in black with paint that, according to the can, ‘adheres to anything,’ I got the acrylics out and painted the hooves in several coats. The little balls are ping-pong balls, cut in half, covered with Bondo, filled with spackling, and painted to match. These would become dewclaws.
Painted and varnished |
Walk test |
The actual growth of the hoof begins at the coronet border region, the uppermost area of the external foot just at the hairline of the leg. The sole of the hoof should be parallel to the coronet, which is different from in a horse’s hoof. Thanks to this sketch from goatwisdom.com (and there’s an oxymoron if ever there was one), I won’t screw up the fur and spoil the overall effect.
Source: www.goatwisdom.com |
I fired up the hot glue gun and stuck shaggy fur all around the coronet and up the back of my sole and around my heel to create the pastern and fetlock. Then I added dew claws. These are ping-pong balls cut in half, covered with Bondo and painted, and filled with lightweight spackling to give a larger surface for the glue without adding too much weight. I trimmed the fur at the fetlock joint to give a better surface for the glue.
On the subject of weight, I already noted that the Mk I hooves were too heavy to be practical. The Mk II hooves weighed 2013g and 2055g (around 4 ½ lb each), which is still rather on the heavy side. The Mk III hooves are a ‘mere’ 1570g (3 ½lb) each. This is a two-fold improvement: first they’re lighter, and secondly I have improved my quality control and both hooves weigh almost the same as each other.
Front view |
Back view |
Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Tail to tell
Goat tail |
Humans have tails. The coccyx is the bottom part of the spine, beyond the connection to the pelvis. It usually curls up inside the spine and does nothing unless its owner sits down over-vigorously at the water-flume park and bangs it really hard, at which point it produces weeks and weeks of pain. Ask me how I know.
Anyway, the point of this discussion is to decide where the costume tail should be located.
Near the top of the buttock cleft, that's where. Lower than you think. On my faun costume, the tail is over eight inches (20cm) below my waistline, and is almost where a chair cushion ends up. If it drooped, the tail would actually fall between my butt cheeks, but goats generally have tails that curl upwards and outwards.
More by happy accident than design, the base of my tail ends up exactly where the grey fur meets the black, so that's conveniently realistic.
My first attempt at locating my tail resulted in its being located too low. I noted in a previous post that I'd put it just above my Fundamental Orifice, but this caused me to sit on the thing. I've now relocated my tail an inch or so higher, which makes a world of difference. Not only is sitting easy, but when the costume slips down, the tail is still in a sensible position.
On to the makings:
Template |
After stitching this whole thing to the rear of my costume, I discovered that it was very droopy. It was also very fat, which might be fine for a deer, but isn't right for a goat. Goats appear to have flattish tails, so I needed to do something about that too.
Just before attaching |
To solve the droopiness, added a further layer of fur on the top surface which would extend on to the main costume body. Once this was all attached, it tended to hold the top of the tail closer into the rest of the costume.
I also went through the stuffing numerous times with a needle and thread to flatten the tail itself. This had the effect of curling the thing upwards, which was exactly the result I wanted.
So there you have it. A goat-like tail in a realistic but practical position.
Tuesday, 15 July 2014
Hairy legs
I obtained some short-haired faux fur in black and grey, plus long-haired faux fur in black. I also got around one square metre (40 inches x 40 inches) of seat-cushion foam around 150mm (six inches) thick, a roll of cheap camping mat, and a scrap of cheapy-cheap cotton. I used the remains of an old bedsheet that I was tearing up for cleaning rags. Oh, and a pair of jogging bottoms.
Template
I laid down on a large sheet of paper and had an assistant draw around my lower body. Then I sketched up where the padding would go to create the basic faun-leg shape. This produced two basic triangles which I cut out of foam. The larger one to lie in front of my thigh, and a smaller one behind my calf. I cut these on the generous side, because it’s a lot easier to trim foam that to add it. Then I did it again for the other leg.
Then I stitched together a basic pair of trousers out of the old bedsheet. I used a favourite pair of old jeans to get the sizes of the panels about right, I added allowance for the foam padding, and cut them on the generous side.
This procedure was time-consuming. I stuffed the padding
inside the purple pants and progressively marked and stitched to take in the
material until the fit was about right. I also worked on the foam, trimming the
outer edges off to make them rounded, and cutting a V so that the foam would
rest better against my legs. Cutting foam is easy with a breadknife or a pair
of kitchen scissors.
These are fundamentally baggy knee-breeches. Taking the final size of my purple pants as a pattern, I cut the shaggy fur first into a pair of tubes. I chose to use grey short-hair fur on the inside leg, and made this up separately. In the pictures I turned the costume inside out so that it's easier to see what's going on. I cut the waistband very generously, because it would need to fold over to accommodate a drawstring, and would also need to stay reasonably high on my waist even when bending over or sitting. I also cut the front generously cut to allow for thigh padding. Behind the knee the costume kicks out to the rear. this is where the hocks would go. The bottom hem would drop over the lower leg padding and be held in place by Velco.
Lower legs
The top of the tube is cut with a chamfer and the padding held in place with a piece of Velcro. To avoid the Nora Batty wrinkled stocking look, the lower leg fur has to be fairly tight, and I found that I had to slide my leg in with the padding displaced sideways, and rotate it into place once my foot was poking out of the bottom. The top of this piece ends up snug behind the knee.
Newspaper template |
This is what I want |
I laid down on a large sheet of paper and had an assistant draw around my lower body. Then I sketched up where the padding would go to create the basic faun-leg shape. This produced two basic triangles which I cut out of foam. The larger one to lie in front of my thigh, and a smaller one behind my calf. I cut these on the generous side, because it’s a lot easier to trim foam that to add it. Then I did it again for the other leg.
Cloth template - profile |
Cloth template - rear |
All the pictures of my kit laid out on the kitchen floor include a tape measure, and the tiles are 300mm (12 inches) square. This is what fits me, and I’m a large guy. Your mileage may vary.
Trial and Error
Cloth template plus hooves |
Padding |
Padding revisions |
I had to take in the purple pants from hips to waist, behind
my knees, and in front of my shins. It didn’t matter if there were great flaps
of material beyond the stitching, but I didn’t cut any material off until I was sure that I'd not gone too far and would have to unpick a seam. And I allowed plenty of material in the crotch area otherwise the trousers would rip open the first time I took a step, bent over, or sat down.
Remember the jogging bottoms? At
first I thought I’d stuff the padding inside these which would make the furry
legs easier to put on, so I took a photo and then drew up where the final faun
legs should end up. Having already made and photographed my Mk II hooves, I Photoshopped
one of these into the pic and made more adjustment to the padding.
Upper legs
Upper leg profile |
Upper leg rear |
These are fundamentally baggy knee-breeches. Taking the final size of my purple pants as a pattern, I cut the shaggy fur first into a pair of tubes. I chose to use grey short-hair fur on the inside leg, and made this up separately. In the pictures I turned the costume inside out so that it's easier to see what's going on. I cut the waistband very generously, because it would need to fold over to accommodate a drawstring, and would also need to stay reasonably high on my waist even when bending over or sitting. I also cut the front generously cut to allow for thigh padding. Behind the knee the costume kicks out to the rear. this is where the hocks would go. The bottom hem would drop over the lower leg padding and be held in place by Velco.
Thigh padding |
Speaking of padding, here's one of the thighs. Top to the left. It actually goes from groin to just below the knee. The blue Karrimat is to reduce wear if the foam moves against the inside of the fur. It's held on with impact adhesive.
Lower legs
Essentially these are furry tubes, not unlike the leg-warmers featured in eighties dance videos. I used short-hair fur for these because a goat's leg typically doesn't have long hair below the hock, and I was aiming for realism.
Having two separate pieces for each leg also makes the costume easier to don.
Empty leg tube |
Leg tube and padding |
Lower leg padding |
In theory, the bottom of the upper leg drops over the hock and is held in place by a couple of pieces of Velcro. I've found that putting four press-studs on each leg helps security a lot. Velcro at the bottom attaches to the hoof fur.
Hints and tips
- The jogging bottoms should be worn against the skin. This costume can get very hot and sweaty, and they're easier to launder than fur and foam.
- Self-adhesive Velcro doesn't stick very well to fur. Use large pieces, and sew them into the costume.
- Large press-studs are more effective than Velcro, but may pop off without warning, and offer no scope for adjustment. I suggest a mixture of both.
- When getting into the costume, I've found the best way is to do the lower legs first, then pull on the upper-leg breeches. Attach the hooves, and finally insert the thigh padding. It's too difficult to bend over to deal with the hooves when your thighs are a lot higher than what you're used to.
- Being anatomically fastidious, I added a genital bulge or codpiece to my costume. This is optional, but might require a loincloth when appearing in polite company. Female fauns won't be wanting that bit of padding ;-)
- I didn't mention the tail, but I'll cover that in a different post.
Doctor Hooves
I'm aiming for this |
I’d have to build the shoes from scratch.
Basic framework |
Cardboard shell |
Expanding polyurethane foam |
Trimmed to final surface |
Covered with a thin layer of body filler |
Sanded and sculpted |
The sanding produces an incredible amount of dust, so do this in a well-ventilated space, and definitely wear a dust mask if you don't want to be sneezing Bondo powder for days afterwards.
And then it all went pear shaped.
A thin layer of Bondo is nowhere near strong enough to support my body mass, and cracks almost immediately appeared at the rear of each hoof. As I didn’t want to make them any larger, more drastic action would be required.
First I sawed the hoof soles off, making the hooves about 10mm lower, and dug out about half of the lightweight foam filler. I replaced it with more Bondo, especially at the rear which is where most of my weight would be concentrated most of the time.
Now with thicker soles, I had the opportunity to sculpt more hoof features into the soles.
After a walk test to check that these would now work without immediately falling to pieces, I glued and screwed the shoes to the wooden plates, and bolted the heels to the metal U-sections. Application of glue would stop the bolts from coming undone. Then I painted the hooves using acrylics, and finally a couple of coats of Elmer’s Glue-All as a sealant and varnish, before gluing the fur in place to cover up all the hardware.
Some foam removed to be replaced with more Bondo |
Refilled. Now to sand down the soles again |
After a walk test to check that these would now work without immediately falling to pieces, I glued and screwed the shoes to the wooden plates, and bolted the heels to the metal U-sections. Application of glue would stop the bolts from coming undone. Then I painted the hooves using acrylics, and finally a couple of coats of Elmer’s Glue-All as a sealant and varnish, before gluing the fur in place to cover up all the hardware.
Sunday, 13 July 2014
To ear is human..., well caprine actually
I have, I believe, finalised my ears. My previous post discussed why I want sticky-out Toggenburg ears, and this is what I aimed at.
A YouTube video suggested using Sculpey, which is a low-temperature oven-fired clay. Basically, model in clay, stuff it in the oven at 120°C for 20 minutes, and the finished product is hard but slightly flexible. As latex or other plastic doesn't seem to be available where I live, I thought I'd give the Sculpey a go.
First I made a pattern from newspaper, then an armature out of tinfoil in the same shape. The flat shape is basically a quarter-circle with the pointy end cut off. When it's rolled up, the conical ear shape is formed.
Mindful of the weight of the clay, I rolled a sheet as thin as I dared, and put one sheet of clay each side of the tinfoil. Then I made the other ear, and put them in the oven.
And here's the result. The Sculpey is 'Terracotta' flavour, which is pretty good even without painting, but some fur on the outside would still be required.
I stuck the ears on to a plastic headband under my wig, and then discovered a fundamental problem.
They're miles too big.
What looks in proportion on a Toggenburg goat is ludicrously wide when applied to a human head!
In addition to aesthetic considerations, these clay ears are way too heavy. They bounce around, swing almost independently of head movement, and eventually break the headband.
So I trimmed them down to a more sensible size, and got another headband.
The trimmed-down ears were a great improvement. They were still a bit heavy, and the tinfoil was now visible along the trimmed edge, but I dealt with that with some fur on the outside rear surface.
Irritatingly, these Mk II ears still proved too heavy, and the headband broke. Again. I clearly needed to find a lighter solution.
This is what I came up with. The same cone shape as before, but cut out of black fur, and with grey short-hair fur inside, all stuck together with Elmer's Glue-All. Once the glue had gone off, they held their shape quite nicely. I inserted the folded end of a wire coathanger between the fur layers, and stitched the other end of this into the skullcap of the wig. Now the ears were posable, and permanently attached to the wig.
I stitched some black fur around the sides and back of the wig so that my actual human ears were completely covered, I ensured that the goat ears fell exactly over my earholes, and adjusted the angles so that they looked natural.
As a final piece of set-dressing, I added an ear-ring that I found in the needlework box.
A YouTube video suggested using Sculpey, which is a low-temperature oven-fired clay. Basically, model in clay, stuff it in the oven at 120°C for 20 minutes, and the finished product is hard but slightly flexible. As latex or other plastic doesn't seem to be available where I live, I thought I'd give the Sculpey a go.
Ears Mk I |
First I made a pattern from newspaper, then an armature out of tinfoil in the same shape. The flat shape is basically a quarter-circle with the pointy end cut off. When it's rolled up, the conical ear shape is formed.
Mindful of the weight of the clay, I rolled a sheet as thin as I dared, and put one sheet of clay each side of the tinfoil. Then I made the other ear, and put them in the oven.
And here's the result. The Sculpey is 'Terracotta' flavour, which is pretty good even without painting, but some fur on the outside would still be required.
I stuck the ears on to a plastic headband under my wig, and then discovered a fundamental problem.
They're miles too big.
What looks in proportion on a Toggenburg goat is ludicrously wide when applied to a human head!
Ears Mk I are too long and too heavy |
In addition to aesthetic considerations, these clay ears are way too heavy. They bounce around, swing almost independently of head movement, and eventually break the headband.
So I trimmed them down to a more sensible size, and got another headband.
Ears Mk II. Shorter is better |
The trimmed-down ears were a great improvement. They were still a bit heavy, and the tinfoil was now visible along the trimmed edge, but I dealt with that with some fur on the outside rear surface.
Irritatingly, these Mk II ears still proved too heavy, and the headband broke. Again. I clearly needed to find a lighter solution.
This is what I came up with. The same cone shape as before, but cut out of black fur, and with grey short-hair fur inside, all stuck together with Elmer's Glue-All. Once the glue had gone off, they held their shape quite nicely. I inserted the folded end of a wire coathanger between the fur layers, and stitched the other end of this into the skullcap of the wig. Now the ears were posable, and permanently attached to the wig.
Ears My III. Lightweight |
I stitched some black fur around the sides and back of the wig so that my actual human ears were completely covered, I ensured that the goat ears fell exactly over my earholes, and adjusted the angles so that they looked natural.
As a final piece of set-dressing, I added an ear-ring that I found in the needlework box.
Friday, 11 July 2014
Ears my first try
I'm forever irritated by pointy elf ears. It seems every non-human, intelligent entity on Earth that appears on TV has to have pointy-tipped ears. Whilst this is just fine for elves and pixies, - or if you're Cornish, piskies - I fail to accept that every ethereal beast has to have pointy-tipped ears.
And so I'm gratified that the makers of the Chronicles of Narnia films decided to be more sensible in the auricular department.
Goats seem to have three main types of ear: there's the floppy English style, the aeroplane sticky-out style, the sunshade, and the LaMancha earless design.
Let us cast aside the former and the latter. Frankly, I like the Toggenburg ear design, and any faun I ever design is more than likely to sport something like these.
I consulted the internet, and discovered a website that extolled the virtues of Sculpey oven-dried clay. I made a pair of ears out of a double layer of Sculpey and fired these in my oven at 120°C and stuck them to a a headband. In truth, they're rather fine, but Sculpey is very heavy. Far too heavy, in fact, to be supported by a plastic headband.
I'm going to investigate the possibilities afforded by at Department of Headband and Fur.
And so I'm gratified that the makers of the Chronicles of Narnia films decided to be more sensible in the auricular department.
Goats seem to have three main types of ear: there's the floppy English style, the aeroplane sticky-out style, the sunshade, and the LaMancha earless design.
Let us cast aside the former and the latter. Frankly, I like the Toggenburg ear design, and any faun I ever design is more than likely to sport something like these.
I consulted the internet, and discovered a website that extolled the virtues of Sculpey oven-dried clay. I made a pair of ears out of a double layer of Sculpey and fired these in my oven at 120°C and stuck them to a a headband. In truth, they're rather fine, but Sculpey is very heavy. Far too heavy, in fact, to be supported by a plastic headband.
I'm going to investigate the possibilities afforded by at Department of Headband and Fur.
Long-legged beastie
Picture from the internet. Coloured by me |
From the hock to the fetlock (at least, that's what it's called in horses) is the cannon bone, and here is the hinge where the bones split into two that together make up the pastern that terminates at the hoof.
Enough about the biological terminology; how does all this affect a faun costume?
Well, it's all to do with getting the proportions to look right.
Over at Łazienki Park in Warsaw, there are at least two faun statues. They're both holding gas lamps in an echo of the Chronicles of Narnia. I have yet to find out who sculpted them or when, but one of the statues is pictured above. I couldn't resist colourising the image.
Hoof-length proportions |
This is somewhat different from examples of normal Capra aegaerus hircus, whose hooves are a lot smaller in proportion to the leg length, but these don't habitually balance on their hind legs.
I did some more research, comparing what my own costume achieves with what I think could be achieved by modifying the hoof design, everybody's favourite faun Mr Tumnus, and a domestic goat that I photographed locally.
Domestic goat, Mr Tumnus, Modified costume, Original costume |
As a proportion of hoof length:-
Pastern Cannon Shin
Domestic Goat 0.8 2.7 3.2
Mr Tumnus 0.7 2.0 2.2
Mr Furvus (modified) 0.7 1.6 2.0
Mr Furvus (as-built) 1.3 1.9 2.1
Łazienki Faun 1.0 2.0 2.0
I appear to have this shin and cannon about right, but, as I suspected from previous pictures, the pastern is really too long in my as-built costume. Shortening it would require building the hoof around my foot rather than forming it as a platform, but that creates difficulties in building a realistic cleavage.
Consider Hooves MkIII a work-in-progress, with Mk II being workable for now.
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Almost-final costume
Dancing faun |
Details of how I made the costume legs, hooves, and ears will follow. But for now, here's a workable piece of cosplay kit.
Furvus' front view. The music is for real, and I'm rather better on a recorder than on the traditional panpipes.
The loincloth is to make Furvus more PG than R. Do we really consider it necessary?
The loincloth is to make Furvus more PG than R. Do we really consider it necessary?
Rear view |
Here's a pic of Furvus from behind. Consider the tail, which is quite goat-like in that it's flattish in section and curled up and outwards. But what of its location?
I've been agonising about where a faun's tail would grow from, bearing in mind it replaces the coccyx in humans but curls outwards rather than inwards. There's a lot of 'sticking the tail horizontally outwards from the waist' that I've seen on the internet, which I really wanted to avoid. As fauns are biped, I located the tail in its anatomically-correct location, just above the Fundamental Orifice.
An undesirable side-effect is that the tail gets in the way whenever I try to sit down. Not to worry, I guess I'll have to be careful, or prefer soft sofas or bar stools.
And here is Furvus greeting his first visitor. Next-door's housemaid came to find out where the music in the garden was coming from. I hope she'd not come to complain about the noise. She came round the corner and was startled. My guess is that she's never met a faun before.
I've been agonising about where a faun's tail would grow from, bearing in mind it replaces the coccyx in humans but curls outwards rather than inwards. There's a lot of 'sticking the tail horizontally outwards from the waist' that I've seen on the internet, which I really wanted to avoid. As fauns are biped, I located the tail in its anatomically-correct location, just above the Fundamental Orifice.
An undesirable side-effect is that the tail gets in the way whenever I try to sit down. Not to worry, I guess I'll have to be careful, or prefer soft sofas or bar stools.
Surprise visitor |
And here is Furvus greeting his first visitor. Next-door's housemaid came to find out where the music in the garden was coming from. I hope she'd not come to complain about the noise. She came round the corner and was startled. My guess is that she's never met a faun before.
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