craft project -working with fake fur. (sci-fi geek)

[Gizmo]

So I have a convention in a few months and as part of a joke thing I've decided that my costume will be top half Trek uniform bottom half pile of Tribbles. A friend is getting me 10 half metres of different furry fabrics so it should be pretty colorful and cool.

However I have one problem: last time I worked with fake fur the damn stuff managed to move house with me 2 years later!

So... containment ideas? I'm wondering about setting up a corner of the room draped in dust sheets and hope that it stays in there as much as possible but I have a feeling I will be finding this stuff for years...

(I don't really have a specific room I can use and I'll be doing it during 'TV time' so will want to be in the lounge just so I have time to get it finished.)

[Andara Bledin]

First, that is an awesome idea.

Second, as any person who owns things that shed (including themselves), the only way to avoid it is to vacuum obsessively. And it still won't be 100% effective.

^-.-^

[Gizmo]

Thanks. It should fit in with the other themes and the guests so I'm hoping it works. It should also be relatively 'easy' to do considering the lack of time I have since I have official things to do for the event too. Since I can do it sitting on the sofa whilst watching TV I'm hoping it won't be too time eating!

Yeah, I think hoovering lots is the only way round. I'm almost considering a de-contamination clean suit I can leave in the area so it doesn't get on my clothes as much!

[Andara Bledin]

Along that vein, you might want to consider a drop cloth. Drape it over while you're working, then just fold it over (and around the tribbles) when you have to get up to do other things.

^-.-^

[MoonCat]

Don't ask me. I once dragged a defunct Christmas tree out the kitchen door and later found pine needles floating in the toilet. The bathroom is on the other side of the kitchen from the door to the yard. So if I were working with fake fur, I would probably find bits of it five years later under the carpet or in the attic...

[Dreamstalker]

I'd second the drop cloth, although even with that you'll still probably end up finding fur in strange places.

I want photos of this undertaking; I tried to do something similar many years ago and it never got off the ground (I never even completed the uniform, and now upon deciding to do so I can't find the pattern).

[AccountingDrone]

Probably not going to be useful but ...

Last time I worked with bunny fur, I was making faux ermine using white bunny as the base material, and snipping out little triangular tippets that needed to be turned inside out and then attached to the base skins.

This is heraldic ermine:


This is garment ermine:


So, what I did was take thread scissors and very carefully snip the skin only, making sure to part the fur so I didn't snip any of it. [then I hand sewed little cylinders with the end of the thread being uncut and passed through the tip back up the cylinder, fur side in and then used to pull the cone until it was outside out, then gently stitch the cylinder into a tiny slot so that it looked like the little vermin tails. And *yes* I did get paid quite well for the blasted hell's-gate.] I was just excruciatingly careful to not snip the fur, just the skin ... and it also works on faux furs but you have to be careful of the ground fabric when you snip so you don't release any of the pile. I use a fabric glue to seal the edge where I will be snipping.

Hell's-gate is an overgarment that has a full skirt, and just sort of a front and back piece connected with an elaborate collar piece.

[Gizmo]

Wow! Accounting drone, that is complicated!

I'll be getting a friend to make me the uniform jacket (Sisko style) so I've only got to worry about getting a floor length skirt and wiring it to stay fully extended out - I'll see if I can find my wedding hoop. I'll cut the tribble bits, sew and stuff them and then stitch them to the skirt starting at the bottom and move up.

Pictures will be provided. (I totally have to do this now... can't flake out! lol)

Drop cloth it is!

[AccountingDrone]

Wow! Accounting drone, that is complicated!

I'll be getting a friend to make me the uniform jacket (Sisko style) so I've only got to worry about getting a floor length skirt and wiring it to stay fully extended out - I'll see if I can find my wedding hoop. I'll cut the tribble bits, sew and stuff them and then stitch them to the skirt starting at the bottom and move up.

Pictures will be provided. (I totally have to do this now... can't flake out! lol)

Drop cloth it is!

I agree that the tribble costume will be fun and wonderful when completed =)

And I will make pretty much anything I contract to [though I am mostly retired and make stuff only for myself and friends now] but I still like to see what people are doing =)

[Andara Bledin]

I would totally attach the tribbles to tethers and put them on a harness at the waist. No hoop skirt, but a crap-ton more tribbles to make. >_>

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

I would totally attach the tribbles to tethers and put them on a harness at the waist. No hoop skirt, but a crap-ton more tribbles to make. >_>

^-.-^

ooo, interesting. kinda like those yoyo-like badges? So that you can pull some out, and watch them crawl back in place?


and I entirely understand the need to keep the place fake-fur-free after the project. the drop cloth sounds good - but remember it'll be on your clothes too, so lint brushes and those mini-dustbusters may help too.

i should know... my boyfriend gave me a feather-top mattress thing. I got rid of it almost 2 years ago when I moved and even NOW I still find random feathers in things.

[Gizmo]

I like the tethering idea - I might use it to keep them all in check and help support the weight even over the skirt.

[Andara Bledin]

The reason I was thinking of tethers is then your legs could show briefly when you walked, and the things would look like they were jostling for position around you... because they are.

however, it wouldn't take long for the lines to get hopelessly tangled together, so I think that there would be some requirement of linking them together in a loose web just to keep them from ending up higher than they were supposed to be and to maintain some semblance of order amongst them. That's going to be a lot of little balls of stuffed fake fur.

^-.-^

[MoonCat]

Have you thought about putting a little noisemaker of some kind in some of them?

I don't know if there's anything around that makes cooing sounds, but you could probably find squeaky things. Then if you're around any Klingons, the tribbles can make those distressed noises...

[Dreamstalker]

I don't know if there's anything around that makes cooing sounds, but you could probably find squeaky things. Then if you're around any Klingons, the tribbles can make those distressed noises...

I have one of the battery-operated tribbles, bump or drop it and it starts making the 'angry' noises and there's also a small motor inside. Depending on where you place it in the pile and how you attach the rest, it might be strong enough to get a few of the tribbles moving.

The SFX album has some tribble noises; if you want I can send you those MP3s.