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Trying to get a head of things, a tale of woe

12/1/2022

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​I started making this video in August, thinking I'd use it to review and assess my sculpt before going on vacation. I was imagining plugging the sculpt into my subconscious this way and mulling over it while out in the woods camping, returning to it inspired and reinvigorated. That's not what happened, as you might guess. I started flailing in the middle of this video, sculpting and resculpting the area around the eyes and the top of the nose, but not making any significant improvements. I think this flailing happens when the subconscious realizes something is off but conscious awareness can't yet put it into words and express it clearly as a problem to solve. 

I've been flailing with this blog post too, working on it on and off since August. I kept thinking I'd found The Problem with my sculpt and wanted to unveil The Solution here with great fanfare, along with the clever thinking that led to its discovery. But every time I set out to write this post I only found myself with more questions. Soooo.... I present to you here, The State of The Problem at this Moment, and The Steps I have Taken to Solve It So Far. I leave the Grand Conclusion for another post, hopefully one that I will write in the Near Future. Right now I feel like I just need to get something written!
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​The common wisdom is that a sculpt, simply put, starts by establishing the relationships of the largest, most basic shapes to each other, then progresses to defining the relationships of smaller and smaller shapes within those big ones. The most common mistake a beginning sculptor makes, according to this wisdom, is working on fun little details before correctly establishing these big basic shapes. I wondered if this could be my problem.
Three dimensional art can be slippery though, as the points of reference that establish where those shapes begin and end can seem to shift in relation to each other, especially as the sculpt is viewed from different angles. So I tried to find reliable, easily reproducible viewpoints from which to establish my points of reference, one being a 90 degree side profile, and others being straight on from the top and  straight on to the underside. I might go into the latter two views in another post, but in this one, I'll stick with the 90 degree profile.
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furry wolf resin base sculpt in progress







​ Here we have 90 degree side profile views of the wolf in my reference pic and the August 20 version of my wolf head base sculpt, the last one pictured in my slideshow. Now how to define those larger shapes, and the reference points where they begin and end? How to see where these shapes might be off, and find what's wrong with my sculpt?
 
  









These outlines give a basis for comparison for three big shapes in the two heads: the forehead/back of head; the muzzle; and the transitional area between them, which includes the brow ridge and the bridge of the nose. My first impression from these outlines is that the middle section on my sculpt is too long.















​If I overlap the pictures in GIMP, it appears the muzzle needs to be shortened and the forehead lengthened as well.














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furry wolf resin base sculpt in progress
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furry wolf resin base sculpt in progress
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​Here's another way of looking at the profile of my sculpt, this time individually outlining the brow ridge and the bridge of nose, instead of smoothing them out into one line as I had done previously.  The difference is subtle, but when these two photos are overlapped in GIMP, it makes the muzzle on my sculpt look even more in need of shortening.







 











​​
The question that comes to my mind now is, where will the ears- one of the biggest reference points of all- be placed on the base when a head is actually assembled? It's difficult to visualize now, as the ears are not a part of this sculpt and will be added later when the head is actually put together and furred. The placement of the ears could very much effect the apparent length of the forehead. If the ears were to be placed behind the back edge of the base, as they often are in furry head construction, the forehead could look **way** too long, and the muzzle **too short** in comparison, instead of too long the way the pictures above have led me to believe.

​Let's take a look...

furry wolf resin base sculpt in progress
Wow, placing that ear at the back of the head would make that muzzle look short and the forehead **really** long!! Now here's the point at which I second guess myself  and wind up running and screaming back to the drawing board!! Away I go!!!
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Stay tuned!!
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Points of Reference

6/7/2022

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Half Arnold and full Arnold Armature by Monster Makers
Here we have Sans Souci Studios' armatures and Best Boys, Arnold Full Armature and Arnold "Han Solo" Half Armature. (Seriously, his name is Arnold. That's the name of the person from whom this was live-cast.) Other than being a handy place to put clay while sculpting, Arnold provides valuable points of reference. Especially Half Arnold. While building a sculpt on Full Arnold is a good way of seeing what a sculpt will look like in motion on a real wearer, Half Arnold provides a perfectly flat plane from which to build a system of reference points and angles. Invaluable, as otherwise reference points have a maddening way of seeming to shift on a 3D sculpture.
sculpting a fursuit wolf head base in plasticine
Above, finding the center of the sculpt, and making sure it's at a 90 degree angle to the armature back. I measure to find the center of the armature, mark the line on both the top and bottom of the head, and trace the center line around the sculpt, as shown above. At any point where the sculpt doesn't meet the armature back (here, at the throat)  I mark the center on masking tape and then extend a line up the tape onto the sculpt. I use various measuring tools to keep the line as perpendicular as possible to the armature back, but there's always a certain amount of eyeballing and guesswork involved.
making a template for the back of a wolf head fursuit base
Above, creating a "template" of sorts for the back of the sculpt, to help ensure its symmetry. First, I lay down that good old patterning material, duck tape over aluminum foil, on the armature base under the sculpt in progress. Then I trace on the tape along the edge of the sculpt, mark and fold it at the halfway mark, and trim so that the two sides of the template are symmetrical.  Then I lay the template back down on the armature and clay up the back edge of the mask along it. There's still a certain amount of eyeballing and guesswork involved, as the template can shift and stretch, and little bits of clay on the armature can put it out of whack. But still, it makes a pretty good guide.
sculpting a wolf head fursuit base in plasticine
Now I have a sculpt with a symmetrical back and a centered and perpendicular nose. Getting the sides of the sculpt to match is a lot trickier. Each side can cave in, bow out, or do some evil combination of those things in its own special way. The back template can help  address this by placing "landmarks" on the sides, to make specific areas on the sides easier to compare. For example, I can mark where the cut out is for the lower jaw on one side of the template, then fold the template, mark the same spot for the jaw cutout on the other side, then transfer the mark into the clay. 

Once I've placed the landmarks I can make a gizmo to compare the angles at specific points of each side of the head. Here, I have cut out a little piece from a cereal box, preserving one original corner so that I have a handy 90 degree angle for reference. Then I carefully cut a thin slot into the sculpt, press one edge of the box in, and trace along the side of the sculpt to get the angle of that specific spot, making sure one side of the 90 degree angle is flat on the armature back. I trim along the line I've traced and then compare the angle of my gizmo to the angle of the sculpt on the other side, again being careful to line up one side of my 90 degree angle with the armature back. Then I adjust the sculpt as needed. I don't have too long to play with the gizmo though, as being made out of thin cardboard the edges start squishing down and losing their shape fairly quickly.
making reference points for eyes for a fursuit wolf head base
And here we have my Glorious Goggles, my Reference Point Piece de Resistance. The goggles will help ensure that the eyes will be equidistant from the center line of the head, lie along a line that is at right angles to the center line of the head, and are both set back the same distance into the head. They will also help ensure that the eye bed I sculpt on my head will be parallel to the back of the mask and not tipped forward or back. Plus, if I'm fairly certain that my eye placement is accurate and even, I can use the eyes themselves as further reference points for sculpting the head.

How I made the Glorious Goggles. I've traced the backs of correctly sized eye cabochons onto a piece of thin craft plastic and cut the circles out. I've measured the distance between the eyes on my original resin head, cut down a disposable chopstick I got from Chinese takeout to that length, and carefully hot glued the plastic circles on the ends, lining up the outside edges of the circles with the ends of the chopstick. Then I marked the center of my contraption with a Sharpie. Next, I measured the distance from the armature back to a point a little bit in front of its eyes and cut two more pieces of chopstick to that length, thus making the "arms" of my goggles. I hot glued them on as well, taking care to hold the arms at more or less at a right angle to the front of the goggles until the glue cools. 
adding reference points for eyes on a wolf head fursuit base
Above, beginning to set the glasses into the sculpt. I've started carving out holes into which to insert the arms of the glasses. These holes need to be pretty roomy so they don't force the arms out of their proper alignment. 
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Adding a slot to the sculpt, into which I'll set the bridge of the glasses. I insert a skewer through the bridge of the sculpt's nose at the inside corner of each eye, keeping the skewer as perpendicular to the center line as I can. Then I cut a slot into the sculpt by pulling up on the skewer and removing clay along its path as needed with clay tools. 
adding reference points for eyes on a wolf head fursuit base
Above, the glasses have been added. Now just to fill the clay back in around them. It's already easy to see adjustments I need to make to the cheeks and brows, with the right hand brow being raised higher and there being more material on the outside edge of the right eye. 
wolf head base for fursuit in progress
And, here we have the goggles completely clayed over, with a pair of acrylic eye cabochons resting on top of them, and a more developed sculpt in general. I'm happy to have this pretty solid point of reference in the sculpt, though it also makes me think how sculpting software makes symmetry so effortless!
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New wolf head base progress!!

5/9/2022

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fursuit wolf head base in progress
Here is my progress so far. The white mask on the left is a resin cast of the original wolf head base, the tan one on the right is the resculpt in progress. I learned a lot from making four different masks from this original head, and I want to apply what I learned to the new sculpt. 

Tangentially, I must say, using the stacked yogurt containers to support the masks on the armatures was a stroke of genius. I have a zillion of them that I've been saving to mix resin in, and by adding just one more yogurt container to the stack I can adjust the support by just fractions of inches. I can make the support pretty much exactly the height I need. 

Anyway. I have several objectives for this new sculpt. One is to lengthen the area under the lower jaw. It's already easy to see how much longer this area is on the new sculpt. I found I had to build this out with foam on the original so it would rest properly under a wearer's chin. The jaw of the mask won't open and close properly if it doesn't,  plus it's just more comfortable and secure that way. I can save time (and potentially, earn more money per hour!) if I eliminate the extra step of having to build this out on each individual mask. 

Another objective is to build back the crown of the mask so it balances on the top of the wearer's head better. I had to build up this area on the original with foam to make it do this. If I didn't, the balance of the mask would shift forward, making it more likely to slide  down the wearer's face. Another extra step to get rid of! If you look at the pics above, you can see the top (the area between the eyebrows and the back of the mask) of the resculpt is longer, although the two masks appear to rest on the same place on the armature. That's because the clay is built up an inch or two thick inside the resculpt to keep it from squishing, and the face on the armature doesn't entirely fit into it.

A third objective is to build up a flat area on either side of the mask onto which to attach the hinges. My original sculpt didn't have this, and the hinges would pop out at all kinds of crazy angles unless I built up said flat area out of epoxy to prevent it. I bet you can guess what I'm thinking: Get rid of that extra step! Again, the flat area I'm developing is pretty easy to see in the photos.
fursuit wolf head base in progress
One last thing! I also acquired this nifty new half face armature! Doesn't it bear a passing resemblance to Han Solo at the end of The Empire Strikes Back? It should be a lot easier to use in mold making. It also helps keep the back edge of the mask flat and even, and serves as a reliable reference for judging angles and measuring distance.  As in, is the schnozz at ninety degrees to the armature, or does it cant off at an angle? Are the corners of the eye sockets at the same distance from the armature? And so on and so forth. It's harder to see what the mask would look like being worn on this armature, but it's easy enough to pop the sculpture off and put it on the original full bust to see. Especially if you have lots of yogurt containers lying around with which to prop it up!
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Vive la Difference!

10/15/2021

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Wolf partial fursuit mask by Sans Souci Studios
I love both Silas and Artemis, don't get me wrong! But I'm also really entertained by the difference between these two, especially considering that they're built on identical resin bases, with identical resin and silicone parts.
resin wolf base by sans souci studios
resin wolf base by sans souci studios with foam ruff and ears
Here we get a little peek under the skin, as it were. For Artemis (and her brother Garm) I extended the top of the head back and made ruffs out of foam, made the ears out of Varaform and felt instead of Foamies, and used the ear vents as bases/supports for the ears instead of sewing the vents in afterwards. The ears are glued onto and supported by the foam instead of the resin base, which allows more flexibility with their size and shape. I got this idea from Stuffed Panda Studios, and the designs of the ears and ruffs are adapted from her designs. Credit where credit is due!
cat with wolf fursuit ears
cat with wolf fursuit ears
Process pics. Ears freshly assembled, being inspected by the Feline Assistance and Cat Hair Distribution Department.
wolf resin base by sans souci studios with ears installed
wolf resin base by sans souci studios with ears installed
Foam added to the top of the head, ears partially glued on. Does this dude look weird or what?
wolf resin base by sans souci studios with cat
wolf resin base by sans souci studios with cat
Cheek fluffs added, and approved by the Feline Assistance Department. The triangular part under the chin helps with patterning the neck later on, and is cut off afterwards.
wolf resin bases by sans souci studios
Brother and sister with ears and foam added, ready for patterning!
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GIMPIN' Along

7/2/2020

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Photographing my first partial "Silas" for sale presented new challenges. I have an indoor tabletop setup to take pictures of smaller things, such as masks, eBay sales items and (not so) occasionally model horses. Unfortunately, the basement where I have my setup is too small with too low of a ceiling to be able to photograph an entire figure. My first thought was the great outdoors, but the lighting can be hit or miss, especially with a dark object like Silas.
black wolf fursuit partial by sans souci studios



​Here are some quick outdoor photos of Silas. It's difficult to see much detail in the partial as the lighting isn't quite right. I could fiddle with my camera settings to try to get a better exposure, but my faithful model and husband has breathing difficulties, and so can only wear the mask for maybe five minutes tops. Not much time for fiddling. 
black wolf fursuit partial by Sans Souci Studios





​My husband and I could theoretically switch roles, with me modelling and him taking pictures, but unfortunately photography is not my husband's strong suit. I'm modelling here while my daughter is taking pictures. She's a good photographer but has limited patience for these endeavors. Still, most importantly, you can see that the exposure is still not great and not a lot of detail is visible in the mask.

The beginnings of an indoor setup! My husband, a teacher, had just made a video with his kids at school and so was all excited about the idea of a green screen, so that's what we got for a backdrop. I learned shortly afterwards that any color solid backdrop would have worked, and a non green backdrop would have worked better, as the green threw up a lot of green reflections on the partial which had to be edited out later. But that's what GIMP is for. My floodlights from my tabletop setup worked just fine, though it was a pain to carry them up from the basement to the living room, which had taller ceilings.   

And....a downside of indoor setups like this one... cats love 'em. This older cat was relatively well behaved but our younger cat had to be locked out of the room, as she wanted to play with the backdrop REAL BAD and nearly pulled all the stands into every last item in the living room, including my beloved model horse collection.
green screen setup with cat
green screen setup
green screen setup with fursuit wolf head
green screen setup with wolf fursuit head
green screen setup with fursuit wolf head
The advantage of an indoor setup is that you can play with the floodlights until you get the lighting exactly the way you want it, and you don't need to put on the mask until you are happy with how the lighting looks. (Plus you don't even need to get dressed to go outside!)  The backdrop material is fairly thin, and in these practice photos above and  below you can see a square of light from a window shining through. We waited until dark for the official photoshoot, though as it turned out it wasn't difficult to edit the square out either.
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Above, my daughter mugging it up, and the first attempt to remove the green screen with GIMP. The urban backdrop on the right is one we cut and pasted from online to give this all a whirl. 




​(Photobomb..... )
green screen with wolf fursuit partial and cat
barre vermont pearl street granite sculpture



​If I were going to go through all the trouble of learning how to remove figures from their backgrounds, I wanted some cool backdrops to stick them on after! I took this picture on Pearl Street in my hometown of Barre, VT, a new pedestrian walkway featuring a granite sculpture of a castle. (Barre was given a large bequest by a wealthy resident, which was used among other things to commission a number of granite statues commemorating Barre's long history of quarrying and stoneworking.) It only seemed fitting to incorporate images of other local artists' handiwork along with my own.  
And, TA DAAAAH! The original greenscreen photographs with the finished pictures on the new backgrounds.

All I can say for learning GIMP is, GIMP Workshop baby!!! These videos were very easy to follow and the guy's voice was very calm and soothing, which helped keep me from freaking out and throwing my computer out the window on more than one occasion. Especially helpful were these videos- this one on how to remove an object from its background and this one on how to remove a furry object from its background. This one, in addition to being about removing an object from its background also had info about how to make simple shadows and remove colored reflections (like the green on Silas' fur and jacket).
green screen with wolf fursuit partial by sans souci studiosPicture
wolf fursuit partial by sans souci studios
green screen setup with wolf fursuit partial by sans souci studios
wolf fursuit partial by sans souci studios






​Background photo number two, also of the granite castle sculpture on Pearl Street in Barre....
barre vermont pearl street granite sculpture
Below, images made with this second background photo. And more GIMP workshop videos that were helpful: These three on the Path Tool, a basic operation on GIMP, video one, video two and video three. And a video about how to make shadows, though this one turned out to be more elaborate and complicated than I really needed. The shadows underneath Silas in these finished photos were all created with GIMP.
green screen setup with wolf fursuit partial
wolf fursuit partial by sans souci studios
green screen setup with wolf partial fursuit by sans souci studios
wolf partial fursuit by sans souci studios
I decided I wanted to do a collage of all my photos for Silas' auction. The photo below was meant to be the background for the collage. In it I learned to do a cool new thing called the Orton effect, a somewhat blurry, dreamy,  and light-filled affair. 
wolf fursuit head by sans souci studios
And actual videos on how to do collage in GIMP, video one and video two. 
wolf fursuit partial by sans souci studios
And TA DAAAAHHHH!!!! Finished GIMP photos. I'm very happy to say that Silas' auction was successful and he has since gone on to a new home.
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Fur!!

6/19/2018

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​Planning colors is one of my favorite things to do. I get inspiration from colors of real animals, and ideas from going through my library of fur samples (I love adding to my library of fur samples!) I'm a happy camper when I find both a color idea I want to do and fur colors to do it with. This time around, I found not one, or two, but three ideas I want to do.
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Snarling grey wolf



​Idea number one. This is a photo I've had in my studio for years. Good old classic grey wolf. This is what I had in my head when I first started brainstorming new colors.
grey wolf



​And a photo of a similar colored fellow from the side, for reference for tail and handpaw colors.
grey and tan faux fur samples for wolf fusuit
grey and tan faux fur samples for wolf fursuit

Above, fur samples from I'm StuffedFur. The grey one is the poetically named  #2013. The long mixed buffy one is "Russian Bear", and the short one is "Super Seal Ivory". I'm imagining using  "Russian Bear" for the longer buffy fur on the neck and tail, and the SS Ivory for the shorter buffy fur for the handpaws and maybe the muzzle and jaw.
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black and grey wolf
snarling grey and black wolf

Idea number two! I can use the mixed grey fur I want to use for the grey wolf to do this black and grey fellow as well. "Black Bear" from I'mStuffedFur should work nicely for the solid black parts. 

Black and brown wolf


Idea number three. Now that I've found a long black fur I like, I want to do something like this black and brown guy too. You can see how these things start to snowball and get out of hand! 
silly brown and black wolf
black and brown mixed faux fur samples for wolf fursuit
 

Reference picture for tail and handpaws for the brown and black guy. Best reference picture ever.












And, #2001 a mixed brown and black long fur from I"mStuffedFur, sadly discontinued. It is much browner than it looks in this photo. The black one is "Black Bear".

faux fur for fursuit wolf
And, the first shipment of fur! Modelled by my daughter and her two friends. You look mahvelous dahlink!
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And... Action!

4/14/2018

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A short little video showing the new jawset and tongue in one of my resin heads.
Cool, huh??
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In Pursuit of Pointy, and In Search of Squishy

3/27/2018

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To date I've purchased teeth from other craftspeople to use in my masks, but I've always really wanted to make my own. Below, a pile of attempts made over the past couple of years, made with Monster Clay (a kind of plasticine), Super Sculpey and Apoxie Sculpt.(Skully is supervising. He is a very helpful skull.) A whole lotta nope right here.
jawset sculpting teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
I finally settled on the Monster Clay for making the prototype teeth. I got tired of waiting for the other two to dry and/or set up in between sculpting sessions, and I got REALLY tired of trying to smooth out the hardened model with sandpaper or a Dremel. Monster Clay can be frozen to make it very hard and  can be softened with a hairdryer or microwave or such to make it very soft, so it is adaptable for a variety of sculpting situations. It also smooths beautifully using rubbing alcohol or its more powerful big brother, isopropyl myristate.
sculpting jawset teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting jawset teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
First, I made "plates" for both the upper and lower jaw, making sure they fit comfortably inside the resin head. Then, using Skully and reference pictures I found online, I sketched the placement of the teeth on the "plates". Using a lightbox, I then checked to see how the teeth on the upper and lower jaw would line up with each other (left). These would serve as "templates" for the jawset.
 
teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask





Now it's time to start sculpting! Left, rechecking the template in the lower jaw.





























​Gum line built up (and though it's hard to see) tooth placement traced in from the template.  
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
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​Actual teeth taking shape. The whole thing is built on a thick piece of cardboard, so I can take it in and out of the mask's mouth without squishing it. Not too badly, anyway.
  
sculpting jawset teeth in resin wolf head fursuit mask
Above, looking to see how the lower part of the jawset is shaping up when viewed from the side. The teeth are just loosely stuck down to the gums at this point, so I can easily move them around if I need to.
sculpting jawset teeth in resin fursuit wolf head mask



​Now for the upper jaw. Left, checking the template for the upper teeth inside the resin head, using Skully and photos for reference.
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head maskPicture


​Gumline built up, roof of mouth roughed out, and tooth placement traced in, using the template. 
sculpting jawset teeth for resin wolf head fursuit


​And, roof of the mouth more refined, and actual teeth taking shape.
 
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask.
And tada! Above, a finished Monster Clay plasticine model, ready for molding. Silly me, little did I realize that this would be the first of three finished jawsets I would mold. Sucks being a perfectionist.
Sculpting tongue and jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting tongue and jawset for resin fursuit wolf head mask
Above, beginning the molding process, and a tongue while I'm at it. The jawset has been firmly attached to a thin piece of plywood, which will serve as a mold board. Every little gap between the model and the mold board is filled in, as otherwise the mold rubber could find its way under the model, and float the model up on top of it while it's curing. Which would not make a very good mold at all.
making molds of jawset teeth for resin fursuit wolf head mask
mixing silicone mold rubber
Left, making molds! I've used cheap Tupperware type containers for the mold boxes, attaching them to the mold boards with hot glue and cutting openings out of the bottoms for pouring in the rubber. 
pouring silicone mold rubber over jawset teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
mixing resin for making jawset teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
​And, casting resin into the new molds to make teeth! Wheee!!! 
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cast resin teeth jawset for fursuit wolf head mask
 

sculpting teeth jawset for resin wolf head fursuit mask

Above, getting ready to revise the jawset. Did I mention how I did this three times? Seriously though, it's easier to check the fit of the teeth in the head when they're in hard resin and not squishable clay. Above, a set of resin teeth that has been Dremelled down to fit the head better, and another set of clay teeth made by pouring melted Monster Clay into the mold, called a "borrowed casting". It's much easier to tweak the teeth from a borrowed casting than trying to make a whole new set from scratch. (If I wasn't such a chicken, I could have also resculpted my original set of clay teeth. But I wanted to keep them the way they were for extra insurance.) 
sculpting teeth jawset for resin fursuit wolf head mask
sculpting teeth jawset for resin fursuit wolf head mask
Above, revisions. To the right in both pictures is the original sculpt, still on the moldboard. In the middle is a modified resin casting, and to the left is the resculpted "borrowed casting". This first go round I removed the "flare" thingy from the bottom jaw, as it only really served to complicate fitting it into the resin head. I also made the plate for the upper jaw more symmetrical. You can see how the original sculpt has a bigger "bulge" on the left hand side than the right. Why did I do this, you may ask. Well, I was using a reject resin head casting to fit the teeth in, and I forgot that the resin on one side of the muzzle was much thicker than that on the other so.... in order to center the teeth in the opening, the plate had to be a lot wider on one side. Definitely not going to be the case with the average resin head! Fortunately I realized this before I got too much further into this process!  A great big duh, but could have been a much bigger duh.
resin teeth jawset for fursuit wolf head mask
resin jawsets teeth for fursuit wolf head mask
Above, showing all three sets of revised teeth. The top set is the first one, the middle is the second and the set on the bottom is the final version. Besides changing the "plate" as described earlier, I did a lot of playing with the front incisors. I refined them in the second set but then realized I had also made the top ones too small, so I made them bigger in the third set. After re-checking my reference pictures of real wolves I also decided the gum area above the front incisors also needed to be longer, so I also changed that in the third set. I also did a lot of fiddling with the area circled in yellow in the right hand picture, with the way those particular teeth came together. The top incisor right next to the large bottom canine also underwent a fair bit of refinement.
nose and tongue for fursuit wolf head resin mask





Last but not least, a freshly textured nose and tongue, ready for moldmaking.
molding nose and teeth jawset for resin fursuit wolf head mask with legos
And since I had spent so much time fiddling with the teeth, I decided to fiddle with the mold making method as well. At the suggestion of an acquaintance I made my next set of mold boxes out of Legos instead of Tupperware containers, so I could get the mold boxes precisely the size I needed them and save molding rubber. Molding rubber is expensive. They don't call it "platinum cure silicone" for nothing. (A good source of cheap used Legos is bricklink.com.)
making molds for fursuit parts with lego bricks
molding parts for fursuit heads using lego bricks
The rubber curing and then  being removed from the Lego mold boxes. I sealed all the little gaps between the bricks with Sonite Wax **except** the one between the first row and the mold board, with the results seen below on the left. Brain cramp!! Little rubber Lego bricks! Fortunately the hot glue attaching the Lego mold  box to the mold board kept the leak from getting out of hand, the worst effect being I didn't have quite the thickness of rubber I would have liked around the model at the top of the mold. 
molding parts for fursuit heads using lego bricks
 






​In the home stretch! Right, casting a nose and some teeth in the new molds.
casting parts for resin fursuit wolf head mask
casting parts for fursuit resin heads out of silicone and resin
silicone rubber fursuit nose and tongue parts for resin head
Above, the nose and tongue models with their squishy rubber counterparts. Wheee!!!
silicone rubber nose for fursuit wolf head
Checking out the fit of the rubber nose in a resin head. Lookin' good! The resin head on the right wants a rubber nose too. 
cast noses tongues teeth jawset parts for resin fursuit heads
fursuit head parts teeth jawset tonges noses silicone resin
And above, a pile o' puppy parts, ready for maskmaking!! I'm feeling good about the results of my endeavors here. Time to think about colors for fur!!
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Airbrushing!

6/25/2017

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I'm starting to get over my terror of airbrushing and look forward to it instead. It helps to keep in mind that if I find a new way to plug the airbrush up, and subsequently find a new way unplug it, I've learned something new and made progress. This particular go round I found that what I thought was one piece of the airbrush was actually two pieces. Paint can dry in there and plug things up. The two pieces unscrew from each other, and I can get in there with a dental pick. All is good.
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Fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios visiting with dogs
fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios visiting with dogs
Above, Maxine before any airbrushing, modelled by Uncle Nathan and visiting with his two dogs. The dogs don't know what to think.

I was very happy I kept detailed notes on which paints I mixed to get the colors for Max, as it made coming up with those same colors for Maxine that much easier. Yay for notes!
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fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios with black paint airbrushed on




​First step in adding color- black paint airbrushed around the eyes, inside the ears ,around the nose and the front of the lower jaw. Last time I hand brushed the paint around the eyes and had a hard time controlling the texture. In other words, the paint wanted to glop up in the worst way. As long as I was meticulous about masking out the eyes and teeth, the spraying went well enough, except that it was too easy to get carried away and next thing I knew, there was more paint around the eyes than I really wanted. I was not entirely happy with Maxine's Goth look at this point.
fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios brown paint airbrushed on



​Second step- adding dark brown to the edges of the ears, between the brows and along the top of the nose. Some of the brown on this mask is the color of the fur and some of it is paint, I felt pretty pleased with my color matching abilities here.  I've also added more black to the insides of the ears.
fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios grey and tan paint airbrushed on
fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios side view of grey and tan airbrushing
fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios last airbrushing touches
fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios airbrushing finished




Third and fourth step- adding grey paint around the underside of the muzzle and the lower jaw, and adding a little bit of cream colored paint under the eyes and on top of the cheekbones. I've also added yet more black to the inside of the ears, and more dark brown around the eyebrows, the edges of the ears, and along the bridge of the nose.





















A side view, which shows the grey on the muzzle and the lower jaw a little better. I've also airbrushed a little of the cream color between the tan area on the bridge of the nose and the white area of the muzzle to soften the transition between these areas a little.
























Fiddling and foodling. Here I've added more black to the area around the nose, and more brown to the bridge of the nose and between the eyebrows. I've also added some brown around the black shading around the eyes, with the hopes they'd tie in better visually to the rest of the mask. One thing I like about the added black above the nose is that it helps pull the viewer's eye away from the black around the eye, at least that's the hope anyway.



















And TA DAAAA!!! All done!!! I'm pretty happy with how she came out.
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Shave and a haircut, two bits

6/25/2017

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Getting there! In the homestretch with Maxine.
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fursuit wolf head by Sans Souci Studios before shave and trim
fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios after shave and trim
Maxine before her shave and trim, left;and after, right.

​I was more aggressive pre-shaving the fur pieces with Maxine than I was with Max. Easier to sew pieces with shorter fur, and definitely easier to shave them when they're not glued on the head! 
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fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios getting a shave
fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios getting a shave
I also had a lot more respect for the clippers! Can't be too slow or too careful, especially when shaving into corners such as the area between the nose and cheek, or between the lower jaw and the front of the neck. Bald spots can happen in the blink of an eye!

I was also able to make better use of my mini-clippers this time around. They can't do diddly when the blade of the clippers is flat against the fur, it helped a lot to tilt them in a little bit, almost as if I were combing the fur with them, just going over the very tips very lightly. Much more control that way.
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fursuit wolf head by sans souci studios getting brushed out

 Daughter Isabelle gives Maxine a brush and comb after her shave and trim. Next up, airbrushing!
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