Boingy Wolf Tail!
Jun. 10th, 2004 06:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rain_gryphonA friend asked me how to do this, so I typed it out. As long as it's already written I figure I'll post it, in case anyone else is interested. I'm assuming she'll not mind. This same method will work to make a tail for a Wolf, a Fox, or a bushy-tailed Dog. Very little imagination would be needed to convert it into an Otter or Cat tail.
What you'll need (besides fur):
Basic sewing supplies. Scissors, needles, thread, etc.
Foam pipe insulation. Home Despot or anyplace similar will have it. It comes in the form of an extruded foam tube about six feet or so long.
Glass strapping tape. It's the clear stuff with those multiple glass fibers running through it.
Fiber-fil. A one pound bag should be more than enough.
Big sheet of cardboard or paper to make the patterns.
Cut a piece of the pipe insulation in half lengthwise, so that you end up with a six-foot U-shaped trough. Now, working from the centre of the piece, fold it over double, concave side to concave side.
Take some of your strapping tape, and wrap it around the end by the fold, securing it so that you end up with a loop. This is the loop where the belt goes. Wrap it thoroughly. Now you've got a neat, tight little loop with two long, sprawly ends.
Decide how long the tail will be. Cut the ends to a little more than that length. Decide what shape the tail will be (i.e., curved, straight, etc.). Working from the loop end out, bend the tail core in the shape it should be, then wrap a loop of strapping tape around it to hold it. You should do this every four inches or so.
What you're doing here is causing the foam to bend by taping together the two legs with one slightly bent and one straight. E.g., to make a curve, hold the two legs together, then slide on slowly through your paw while holding the other one in place. Do you see how that makes a bowed structure that holds the tail curved?
Once you've got the whole tail core taped, cut off the excess at the tip. Test the boinginess by holding it by the loop and pressing down on the tip. If it needs to be stiffened up a bit, add a few more tape loops.
Now it's time to make the cloth covering. You might want to make a test one out of cotton scrap before committing your fur.
Lay the tail core on a big piece of paper or cardboard. Keep in mind that the core forms more or less the backbone of the tail. Draw the outline of the tail around the core. Cut this out for a pattern. Now, because tails are more or less cylinders, and the circumference of a cylinder is pi*D, you're going to need a third piece. Draw this one by hand. It's a gusset for the bottom of the tail, and should be more or less what the pattern piece you made earlier would look like if it weren't curved. Just as long, just as wide, but straight.
Now cut out two of the curved pieces in mirrored fashion, and one of the gussets. Pay attention to the way the fur lies.
Sew the three pieces together to make a sort of bag, which is the covering for the tail. If at all possible, try to hand sew instead of machine sewing - you'll get much nicer results. Leave the little bit at the very top (where the tail attaches to the body) unsewn.
Turn your work right side out, and put in the tail core. Does it look reasonable? If not, you may want to do a bit of adjusting. This is why it's good to do a test one first with cheap cloth, especially if you've not done it before.
Once you're happy with what you have, insert the core, and stuff the empty space LOOSELY with fiber-fil. Now sew it all together at the top. Once it's all together, make two slits aligned with the open sides of the loop in the foam core. This is where the belt will pass through. Put some insurance stitching at either end of the slit to keep it from tearing. It won't hurt to turn the edges under and baste them, but it's not really necessary.
Now you've got a Wolf's tail. Your belt fits through the loop, and the foam core makes it boingy :)
*****
At Fort Benning, the 3rd Infantry Division has a trash can made from the head of a huge statue of Adolf Hitler that they captured. They sawed it off at the neck, mounted it upside down, and now it's their trash can. People used to understand the importance of a good, bombastic victory monument that celebrates the enemy's humiliation. These days, everyone seems to act sort of embarassed about winning.
What you'll need (besides fur):
Basic sewing supplies. Scissors, needles, thread, etc.
Foam pipe insulation. Home Despot or anyplace similar will have it. It comes in the form of an extruded foam tube about six feet or so long.
Glass strapping tape. It's the clear stuff with those multiple glass fibers running through it.
Fiber-fil. A one pound bag should be more than enough.
Big sheet of cardboard or paper to make the patterns.
Cut a piece of the pipe insulation in half lengthwise, so that you end up with a six-foot U-shaped trough. Now, working from the centre of the piece, fold it over double, concave side to concave side.
Take some of your strapping tape, and wrap it around the end by the fold, securing it so that you end up with a loop. This is the loop where the belt goes. Wrap it thoroughly. Now you've got a neat, tight little loop with two long, sprawly ends.
Decide how long the tail will be. Cut the ends to a little more than that length. Decide what shape the tail will be (i.e., curved, straight, etc.). Working from the loop end out, bend the tail core in the shape it should be, then wrap a loop of strapping tape around it to hold it. You should do this every four inches or so.
What you're doing here is causing the foam to bend by taping together the two legs with one slightly bent and one straight. E.g., to make a curve, hold the two legs together, then slide on slowly through your paw while holding the other one in place. Do you see how that makes a bowed structure that holds the tail curved?
Once you've got the whole tail core taped, cut off the excess at the tip. Test the boinginess by holding it by the loop and pressing down on the tip. If it needs to be stiffened up a bit, add a few more tape loops.
Now it's time to make the cloth covering. You might want to make a test one out of cotton scrap before committing your fur.
Lay the tail core on a big piece of paper or cardboard. Keep in mind that the core forms more or less the backbone of the tail. Draw the outline of the tail around the core. Cut this out for a pattern. Now, because tails are more or less cylinders, and the circumference of a cylinder is pi*D, you're going to need a third piece. Draw this one by hand. It's a gusset for the bottom of the tail, and should be more or less what the pattern piece you made earlier would look like if it weren't curved. Just as long, just as wide, but straight.
Now cut out two of the curved pieces in mirrored fashion, and one of the gussets. Pay attention to the way the fur lies.
Sew the three pieces together to make a sort of bag, which is the covering for the tail. If at all possible, try to hand sew instead of machine sewing - you'll get much nicer results. Leave the little bit at the very top (where the tail attaches to the body) unsewn.
Turn your work right side out, and put in the tail core. Does it look reasonable? If not, you may want to do a bit of adjusting. This is why it's good to do a test one first with cheap cloth, especially if you've not done it before.
Once you're happy with what you have, insert the core, and stuff the empty space LOOSELY with fiber-fil. Now sew it all together at the top. Once it's all together, make two slits aligned with the open sides of the loop in the foam core. This is where the belt will pass through. Put some insurance stitching at either end of the slit to keep it from tearing. It won't hurt to turn the edges under and baste them, but it's not really necessary.
Now you've got a Wolf's tail. Your belt fits through the loop, and the foam core makes it boingy :)
*****
At Fort Benning, the 3rd Infantry Division has a trash can made from the head of a huge statue of Adolf Hitler that they captured. They sawed it off at the neck, mounted it upside down, and now it's their trash can. People used to understand the importance of a good, bombastic victory monument that celebrates the enemy's humiliation. These days, everyone seems to act sort of embarassed about winning.
