Tail to tell

Goat tail

I previously mentioned how so many fursuit tails seem to poke out at an odd angle. When a tail sticks out horizontally from a horse's rear, for example, that's just fine because the animal's spine is running horizontally and the tail is an extension. It gets a bit more complicated once the caudate character is a biped, because the spine runs almost vertical.

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

First I cut three pieces of fur in accordance with this template. The crescents I cut in grey and the pointy oval in black. I stitched them together into a sort of triangular sock, turned it the right way around, and then stuffed it with small pieces of seat-cushion foam.

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.