The making of Cause.

[Jackie]

You'll look like an admiral in that, or not  , anyhow, huzzah for old school! Keep up the great work and the great updates!

[cause the rat]

One delay after another. Really am trying to keep being polite about it. I'll know tomorrow if the coat will be ready for pick up Monday.

Got most of the foam done on the head. It's going to be as simple. I've had to make the left eye patch bigger than I wanted. But it will be easier for me to see. I've worn it as is with the wig on. Because the face is completely hollow and the mouth is open there's a LOT of air movement. Well without the eyes in anyway. Decided on plastic canvas for both the solid black rat eye and the studded eye patch. Did have to add a piece of foam between the eyes on the inside. Trying to keep people from being able to see in one eye and out the other.  Was going to go for a moving jaw. Decided against it for the first head. I'll still be a talker.

Here's a pic with the wig on and before the eyepatch hole and lower jaw were added.



Yep, it's a modified cone. The upper jaw will be held in place by black plastic canvas. The lower jaw rests on my chin. I can make it move a bit but not well enough to mimic talking. I could actually see. But not straight ahead. So I couldn't react to someone  I was supposed to be looking at.

[cause the rat]

Thanks for the compliments The Bear Guy! The coat was inspired by the one Hendrix wore. His was a military band marching jacket. I can't help but be old school. At my age there's been a few 'schools' come and gone.

Couldn't leave it with that pic. So at 1:00 in the morning I got dressed up and took a few pics. All of em turned out as blurry as I feel right about now.  



Cause wearing 'Voice'.

Each coat has a different name. The studded one is Gin. But Cause calls it 'Love Works'. I'm also putting together one more trench coat called 'Build'.

[cause the rat]

I have GIN!! The flight coat!!




had to run all over creation looking for the adhesive I need to use for the studs. Figure for ever stud there's four holes. The glue will hold the material together.

OK. It's not what i really wanted. But i wanted it for the my first convention so the 18 inch black leather fringe got replaces by that stuff. It will do.

[cause the rat]

After a two month wait and now finding out the liner isn't even started it's apparent this coat will not be ready for F3. Yes I'm PO'd. But it will be ready for the next con. Did a little bit of work on it. Really happy with the technique I'm using to get the studs in. When turning the sleeve inside out I only lost one stud.

First picture is the templets I made for the gears and how I transfer the pattern onto the material. I found Crayola pencils work the best.


URL=http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/jazzbluerat/media/IMG_4317sleavepattern_zps6c252c49.jpg.html][/URL]

Second picture is finished pattern.



Even if I get the minimal amount of studs on this to make it work it still will have to get the liner put in. Gin will be on hold till after the holidays. I have way to much to do with the head, hands and tail to worry about this one coat.

[cause the rat]

Been thinking allot on creating traditions for this character. I have traditions and history of most of the other nations of Tapon Ru. Because the rat nation is newly created I'm still playing around with ideas.

On the coat front I'm still holding off it's completion till after the holidays. The head tail and hands I'm hoping to have done for F3 next week. Going to end up using plastic canvas for the eyes. The holes are large. The plastic will help act as structure for the head.

Bought more material. This will be for another longcoat. https://www.fabric.com/buy/0267658/diversitex-hugo-jacquard-indigo Seriously what's the chance of coming across this kind of a design? And on sale.  The gear is the symbol of the rat nation. This rocks.

[GrayWolf448]

looks nice so far. just looks a little creepy with the empty eyes   

[cause the rat]

Hopefully it'll remain looking creepy when it's done!

Jawset is in the oven. Because both the right eye and left eye patch will be solid black I used Krylon Fusion black to spray paint the plastic canvas.  I have the face furred. I've cut the wig's elastic band apart. And i have the yarn done up for the eyebrows. mustache and beard. Both gloves are dyed gray. Not the best but will do.

Still have to make the ears, tale and add fake fur and claws to the hands.

It's not going to be pretty or the best looking fursuit head. It's my first. It's not supposed to be. 

[cause the rat]

Decided to go with lower jaw only. Going to remake this. Made the first one out of regular Sculply. This stuff isn't very strong on it's own.  And a bit heavy. Causes the lower jaw to hang open to far. So I'm going to remake using super sculply and wire. The teeth will be strung on the wire for support. Also need to get some black vinyl for the lips.

Also decided to go with pink hands. I'll get some pink paint to dye both the hands and inner ear material. Then use the same pink to paint the nose.

[cause the rat]

Progress






Still cant find a way to get ears on this head. But being an alien perhaps I can get away without them on my first head. Kinda looks like a fizzy snake. I know how i'm going to do the beard and mustache. Still have to figure out how to get material for the neck and back of the head. Perhaps after I get the wig glued and sewn on partly I'll have a better idea. i want the wig to be attached to fur so there's always a seamless line between hair and fur.
Ended up using buckram for the eyes. Easier to see threw. Only see out of one eye so better vision is important. The large eye patch lets me have a wide view. Still not able to see straight ahead. But walking with my head rocking back and forth will help.

[Zedd]

Looks good so far! I can't wait to see it when it's finished.

[T-Yoshi45]

I gotta say that looks pretty cool. What kind of base did you use for the head?

[cause the rat]

Thanks! The base is a home made balaclava. The 'face' is a modified cone. The inside of the cone is shaved down to rest on the sides and top of my face and forehead. Wanted this be as flush with the balaclava as I could make it. The wig, not pictured, will rest on the fake fur as it covers the face of the rat. With no fake fur under the wig. The face itself is completely hollow in the inside. It's shape is held by a plate of plastic canvas that makes up the top of the mouth.

The good news is the attached wig stays in place as I head bang! The bad news is I've learned the hard way that you should not use toxic outdoor adhesives when working with foam. Wore the head for about 15 minutes yesterday. A good 24 hours after I had used the glue to attach the buckram for the eyes. Spent the next 4 hours trying not to puke my guts out.

Sooo. Cause the rat will not be ready for F3 in Branson MO. With just two days left before I leave And working 10 to 12 hours a day I wont have time to get em done.

Took a short vid headbanging as Cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgoKjUA-FsA&feature=youtu.be

[cause the rat]

Talked to a very wise man who said,
" You idiot! Wait till the glue dries completely THEN put the mask on."
What do you know! He was right. I am an idiot. 

Nothing done on the head or any of the coats Cause will wear. Only two excuses. Getting ready for Christmas and accidently ate something flavored with pork. That happened Wed. Shaking finally stopped yesterday. Ahhh Christmas parties. They are to die for.....

Material came I'll be using to modify one trench coat. Still working on fringe colors.

Gin, ( Ga-in)  Cause's living flight coat will be the only fully studded coat he will have. My biggest fear would be to pull fur out of someone else's suit. All it would take is one stud to be slightly up on one side. So the flight suit will be worn for very short periods of time and parades. I'll be destuding one coat to make it safer to interact with other suiters. To me that's more important than looking good. Ya, I've tried the liquid bead thing.

[cause the rat]

No real progress. However I have been working on Cause the rat's performance. Cause will be a story teller. A talker. The idea of using body movements to portray emotion is great. But for someone untrained it's harder than it sounds. Been wearing the unfinished head and filming myself using  my computer. I have a very small set of body movements I like so far. Some I did by accident.  I do have the advantage of being able to use my voice to help portray emotions. But don't want to rely on that. Good storytelling is a 50/50 deal. Half is the story and half is acting. I guess it's like setting up a dance routine. Each emotion has it's own set of moves. These moves have to be understood by whoever is watching. And they have to look natural. It's a challenge to be very sing song with my voice and smooth portray of emotions threw body movements. Especially for someone who naturally moves like a 2x4. The more animated the storyteller the more an audience gets into it. I want to work on this till it's automatic. To the point that even a mundane conversation with Cause will be a show. I'm kinda good at situational comedy at work. Taking what's happening or what's being said and making it funny. Hoping this will help in creating Cause the Rat's personality as well.  it really is challenging and a lot of fun. The stories I plan on telling are life on Tapon Ru. Maybe a few on my travels threw different universes and wolds. The hard part for me is keeping them short enough. I need to make sure my story doesn't outlast my ability to portray it.

[Fuyurin]

The head is looking good so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing more!