Yet another fursuit thread: The Making of Flapjack (pic heavy)

[silverdragon54]

Confound these ponies...they drive me to create. My self-imposed deadline for finishing this guy is April 26, to be debuted at Calgary Expo. Time is running out and I need all the good vibes I can get right now. There aren't many WIP pics right now...I never remember to take them. I have to work on that. Anyhoo, here's what I have so far.

As much as I love my dragon suits, I wanted a non-fantasy species too. I also really wanted to try making something with hooves. I thought performing at Stampede breakfasts would be a blast, so a horse was the natural choice. He was going to be a generic toony horse at first, but that was before I fell in love with FiM. Soon enough I couldn't resist giving my horse a cutie mark. Making him a pony opened up a whole rainbow of colors to use too. Thus, Flapjack was born! (I don't have a pic scanned in, but his cutie mark will be 3 little pancakes in a triangle formation.)
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I started with the feet. It seemed appropriate to use cowboy boots, and Gracie agrees.
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For the hoof itself, I started with a 2-litre Coke bottle of all things. I took 2 layers of the hoof shape and MUMMIFIED it in duct tape. A couple of upholstery tacks and a generous layer of Shoe Goo later, I ended up with this.
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I can't have Flapjack running around in duct tape hooves, now can I?
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Funny story here...to give the hooves some rigidity, I filled the space between the hoof shell and the boot with expanding foam. I neglected to account for just how much the foam would expand. I didn't overfill it or anything like that, but I didn't think to stuff the boot first. The foam expanded downward and crushed the top of the boot in. I spent a couple hours hacking away with a serrated knife, grumbling and cursing, but I carved enough out that I can actually get my feet into them. Derp!

I'll have to get a pic of the finished feet before I fur them, and a pic of the leg padding. I'm especially pleased with how they look together! Pardon the striped pj pants. They just happen to show off the shape pretty nicely.
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Side view...
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Buck yeah!
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The head is going to be the hardest part. It's in about 50 pieces right now, and if it doesn't work there's no way I can arrange for a replacement in time. At the very least, I was able to get the fur locally instead of ordering online. The artist that made my black dragon suit had just enough blue fur left over from one of her personal suits. The pile is a bit denser than what I had in mind, but it'll do! Next weekend (God willing!) I'll be ready to make the bodysuit pattern. Gotta take some pics of that...duct tape dummies are always fun.

[HolliBell]

Those legs are super cute!  I can't wait to see the rest of him

[Aflame]

oooohhhh more WIP pics please !!!

[pixieponies]

i love seeing peoples fur-suits
(think i might be a closet furry)

[jennovazombie]

Ooh neato!

[kaoskat]

Look forward to seeing the end result!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Oooooh a pancake pony!  MMMMm Is it July yet?

[melodys_angel]

Goodluck, hun!  Im sure you can finish him in time.

[silverdragon54]

A mini progress update! There are a few new pics, but they're on my phone and I don't have my microSD adapter with me at the moment.

I picked up the fur yesterday and it is 4 metres of glorious cobalt softness. I only got a few pieces of the head glued together, but most of the rest are prepped and ready to go. This week's tasks are sewing the leg padding to a pair of Under Armor pants (right side done, left side tacked in place), and furring the feet.

Now I need to stop giving myself nightmares over how much work sewing on that cutie mark is going to be.

[Emberfly]

Looking good so far.  You'll have to let us know which breakfasts you'll be at so we can come by and say hi, or maybe 'hay'

[stopxmotion]

Looking good!

[spookysage]

Looks great so far, nice job with the hooves! Maybe someday you can do a pinstriped pony, those pajama pants are actually a pretty good look 

[hilamb]

Wow, that looks really great! Cant wait to see more.

Awsome work! 

[Eviecorn]

I'm envious that you got the hooves to work that way.  I was never as clever.  Can't wait to see more!

[silverdragon54]

I ran out of duct tape. That means tomorrow I get to freak out another hardware store clerk! I guess they think it's a bit odd when a person buys a disposable painter's coverall, 4 or 5 rolls of duct tape, and nothing else.