Hair, Fur, Felting & Flocking
Felting
Wolf Marlow: Fur
Fully armatured, poseable felted golden retreiver
One of the most challenging aspects of the Wolf Marlow puppet was her fur.
At first, I experimented with sculpting the fur in, and then switched to using alpaca or goat hair to give the puppet a different, more realistic textural look in camera.
Working remotely on the quadruped sculpt
Responsible for entire puppet sculpt
Fur Tests
I began testing how natural (non-dyed) goat and alpaca hair looked when it was shaved down with clippers, and found that the goat hair's stiff, grainy texture felt the most fitting for this wolf character.
All of the furs I tested had stretchy backing to allow for the puppet's movement.
Built a fully armatured foam build-up puppet that could be for testing adhesives and movement once the fur was applied
The goat hair was shaved down slightly, then cut in various "panels" custom to the puppet's body
They were then adhered to the body using barge cement
Shaving & trimming the goat hair
Shaved and trimmed
Animation motion test with the goat hair on the puppet
Dye tests
I used RIT dye and ION hair dye to test both the alpaca and the goat hair.
Pictured:
RIT dye test ION hair dye test
Goat hair dyed with hair dye
Flocking
I had the opportunity to work with flocking for my Nightshift concept project.
My crew and I loved how the soft flock looked in-camera and wanted to achieve this look with the Soft Deer character.
Flocking tests using an unrelated test body
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The flock looked best on the puppet when the corresponding color was painted on the puppet body, and then flocked.
Soft Deer puppet sculpt
Lauren Rebelo and I were responsible for fabrication
Ferret Puppet
Covered entirely in faux fur that was shaved down and adhered to the puppet
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The faux fur was first cut into custom "panels" that were then attached to the foam cast puppet using barge cement
Final puppet
Other Experiences with Fur
I often use faux fur when I create plushies for clients
Plushies are typically machine and hand-sewn together, all patterned and designed by me.
Work in progress test pattern
Spikes are stuffed with a soft yet sturdy foam to ensure they stay upright
Figuring out facial features
Fox plush commission, featuring doll joints as well as wire in the tail for poseability