Wearable Beast Ears Tutorial - patterns added

[haruna]

Introduction

I figured I should give this it's own thread rather than hijack Seority's cosplay thread. This tutorial covers how to make your very own pair of wearable Beast ears. Perfect for anime, sci-fi and comicbook conventions or just freaking people out at the grocery store. I will take photos along the way; this is just to get started.

Materials:
Wonderflex. The Wonderflex Sample piece is plenty for 1 pair. Heck, for a 9" x 14" you can probably make 3-4 pairs and outfit the whole family!
http://cosplaysupplies.com/wonderflex/wonderflex.html

Inner Fabric. You'll need some fabric for the inner part of the ear. If you're using a lighter color, make sure it's thick or 4-way stretch fabric. For my first pair of ears, I used a light 4-way stretch fabric that changed into a horrible color with the glue so I had to make sure I could stretch the fabric over visible areas of the ears so the glue wouldn't show.
If I can, I will use a low pile fur(short hair.) This will depend on

Outer Fabric. In my original, I used fake fur, but that can be hard to find in exotic colors. For the tutorial, I will be using a long-haired fake fur I can get by the square foot at Joann's.

Anything that looks "fuzzy" could also work, like velvet, fleece or fake suede. Velvet can fray very easily and makes a mess. Fleece I haven't tested to see if glue soaks through.

This website sells a wide variety of CRCrafts Faux Fur, but you'll have to buy a lot. (http://www.crscraft.com/products/vProduct2.asp?pid=Fur&L1=2&L2=13&L3=0&L4=0&V2=1&V3=0&V4=0&cat=bear+supplies&sub=Fabrics&class=)

Sturdy Ribbon 1/4" wide. Be sure and pick a color that matches your outer fur color.

Hairband. Pick something thin, comfy and inconspicuous. You'll be attaching the ears to this thing.

White 'Poof'.This is for that little fuzzy white part inside the ear. If I can get a small quantity of marabou feather, that's what I'm planning to use.

Paper. This is to print and cut out the pattern on.

Tools:
Heat Gun. You need this to shape the Wonderflex. It looks like a hair dryer, but be careful, you can burn yourself severely with this! If you don't have one, you can use boiling water.
Scissors. Use a regular pair for Wonderflex and paper. If you have fabric scissors for the fake fur, etc, use them.
Ball Point Pen. Writes on Wonderflex better than any other pen...
Safety Gloves. You will be working with temperatures that can do damage to your skin.
Super Glue. Self Explanatory.
Acrylic Cement. Another kind of glue I use that works wonders with the fake fur. Tends to soak in and keep the fake fur from shedding so much.
No Fray Glue. Special colorless fabric glue to keep unfinished edges from falling apart into threads.
Metal Tube, 3/4" in diameter. Look around the house. Maybe it's on a broom pole or a lamp post. Or a funky ladle in the kitchen. If you've got good safety gloves, you can also use your thumb.

Got any questions? Did you try this tutorial and make something?
Please post them here, I'll help out in any way I can. :3

[haruna]

Here is the pattern that I made. It's pretty high resolution(300 DPI) so it should print well.

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2772/psubeastearsvh1.th.png (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=psubeastearsvh1.png)

In my version, the diagonal line separating the white and gray areas is 6 1/4" inches long. The printed size of the overall image should be around 6 1/2" inches, or 16.51 cm for you on the Metric system.
This scale is proportional to my ears, so print out a copy, gently roll the paper over your thumb(or the metal tube from above) along the line so the corner in the top section covers the dash. Do you like the size? If not, shrink or enlarge the pattern as you see fit.

Also, alter the pattern so that the part that goes along your head matches your hairband and head.

Print out the pattern, it's time to trace. You'll have to use the pattern twice; once for the right side(instructions and print side up) and again for the left(print side down.) Be sure to label which pieces go with the left ear and which go with the right ear.

Trace the ear pattern on the Wonderflex with the ball point pen and cut precisely on the lines. I find it helpful to label both the face and the side of the ears(left front/left back, right front/right back) or whatever works for you.

Trace the ear pattern on the inner fabric. Cut at least 1/4" or 1cm away from the edge of the lines. Label the pieces in the gray portion of the pattern. That part won't be visible to others. Just about every fabric on earth has a "right side" and a "wrong side." One side will most likely have more vibrant colors and less texture while the other has duller colors and a different texture. Which side is right and wrong for this project is entirely up to you.

Trace the ear pattern on the outer fabric. Cut about 1/4" or 1cm away from the edge of the lines. You will need to trim this down later, but it's better to err on the side of caution for now. When you're cutting the fur, be really careful here. Take small snips close to the fabric. You don't want to accidentally trim the fur that's going onto the ear. Trimming fake fur will be messy, do it over a garbage can or some newspaper.

Take the ribbon. Wrap it around the hair band all the way, then add 3/4" or 2cm. Cut 8 segments of that length, 4 for each ear.

To Be Continued when I get the materials...Will add photos to this portion later too...

[HUnewearl_Meira]

Awesome creativity that promotes further creativity shall be duly rewarded.

Stickied.

[haruna]

Aww, thank you Meira! :3 I've got photos from my previous project, I'll use them until I take some new pictures.

This step will walk you through shaping the Wonderflex. First, a few notes about the tools and material involved.

Wonderflex is a plastic that becomes stretchy and pliable when heated, then retains its shape when it cools off. The plastic is sealed between 2 layers of gauze. You don't need to heat it up too much. It is plastic and when heated, bits of it can stick to other surfaces, especially other types of plastic. I've had the best luck with finished metal, stone and my leather gardening gloves.

Working temperatures are 150°-170° F (70° - 80° C.) Be careful not to overheat it or it becomes really lumpy, sticky and difficult to shape. Use thick gloves and other safety precautions!

Heat guns are like hair dryers, only set to strip paint off walls. Wonderflex is really light so if you can control your fan speed, set it to low. Hold the tip of the heat gun a few inches away from the Wonderflex and move it quickly so you heat the surface evenly.

Practice with scraps of Wonderflex. I know you'll get some after cutting the ears out so go ahead and play!
If you make a mistake with the final pieces, don't worry! You can reshape it to an extent. Over stretching is difficult to undo, but a wrong bend is very easy to fix.

On with the tutorial!

You should have a pair that that look something like this:
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/4392/0113072222iq6.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0113072222iq6.jpg)
I used a different pattern for these ears. Drawing the fold line in really helped me.

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/215/0113072230xf3.th.jpg (http://img355.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0113072230xf3.jpg)
I have a really nice, gently curved stone. I ran the heat gun all over the Wonderflex to give the back of the ear a nice, even curve. I had the writing side up relative to the previous picture and the line I drew above corresponds to the edge of the stone, giving that section a little extra curve, but that wasn't enough.

If you do not have a heat gun, heat up a bowl of water in the microwave. Dip the Wonderflex in the hot water. Careful, the gauze will hold water, so use gloves when handling!

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/1952/0113072234zu3.th.jpg (http://img71.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0113072234zu3.jpg)
I used my thumb to further curve the top of the ears, just like I'm doing in this photo. At the time I did the shaping, I did have gloves on.

[haruna]

Getting close! This is the longest part of assembly, since you have to spend a lot of time waiting for glue to dry.

Test your fabrics and glues. SUPER important. Cut a small scrap of cloth and glue it to a Wonderflex scrap. Does the glue hold to the Wonderflex? Does the glue seep through the fabric? Is the color of the fabric change when the glue has dried?

Some glues I've used: Krazy Glue, Acrylic Cement and Tear Mender. Krazy Glue will bleed through and darken the color, but it holds well so I use it for finishing edges. Same goes for acrylic cement. Tear Mender is an off white, strange smelling glue that doesn't really seep through, especially if you wait 30 seconds before sticking the fabric onto it.

Most glues give off fumes so work in a well ventilated area. Why don't I use hot glue? Low-temperature glue guns heat up to about 250º F (120º C.) Wonderflex gets soft at roughly half the temperature.

Pick up the Wonderflex ear. See the flap in the previous photo covering my thumb? Generously cover the area under that flap in glue. Now stick the inner fabric over it so the outline of the pattern lines up with the edges of the Wonderflex. If you stretched the Wonderflex a bit during the previous step, the match will not be exact. Line it up as close as you can.

Wait until the glue dries. Make sure the material is secure before moving on.

Place some glue along 1/2 an inch of the edge, then gently pull the fabric over it. Clamp it down for a minute or two with your fingers until it's dry. Go all the way around until you have something like this:
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/6444/0131072001ib4.th.jpg (http://img236.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0131072001ib4.jpg)
Just for posterity, I put glue on top of the edges I just glued down to make sure that the fabric wouldn't fray or go anywhere.

[DjDragoon]

Sweet, I might just try my PSU beast cosplay again this year.

[haruna]

I just realized, what are you folks going to be attaching your ears to? I'm most likely going to use a metal hair band like this:
http://www.housefabric.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=18039

If you're going to use a wig that you are willing to dedicate to a cosplay, this step might need to be altered to suit your needs better. I'd recommend poking a hole through(use a drill with a small bit) and stitching the ears directly to the wig.

For the hair band, I took a bunch of strips of ribbon and glued them into loops that fit the hair band. Stitching them needle and thread would help further secure the loops.

Glue the loops along the back of the ear on the edge that goes next to your head. Once the glue is dry, try threading the headband through to make sure it fits. It will wobble, but don't worry. You can hot glue the loops to the hair band once the ears are complete.

[haruna]

The last step! Time to add the exterior fuzz on the ears. With all the glue dry from the steps before, roll the outer fabric pieces on the ears, on top of the ribbon loops and all.

Chances are, the Wonderflex has changed shape a bit since you first cut the pattern which is to be expected. Do the best you can to retrace the ear pattern from the ear pieces on the fabric if needed.

The pieces weren't cut precisely before, and this was why. Make any alterations to the pattern tracing. Cut the fabric exactly on the outside of the line. At most, have 1/16 of an inch or 1mm excess on the edge. Treat the edges of the fabric with Fray Check if you have some, or a very low viscosity glue. I used my acrylic cement.
http://www.dritz.com/brands/showcase/details.php?ITEM_NUM=674

Start with the bottom corner of the ears(where the loops are) then cover a small area about the size of your thumb with glue. Press that portion of the Wonderflex ear to the corresponding place on the wrong side of the outer ear fabric. Allow for a little bit of overlap on the fabric, as well as fir a bit of glue to bleed out. Carefully roll the edge over the little bleeding drops of glue and hold it tight until the glue dries.

Work your way up outside of the ear, gluing, stretching and wrapping as you go. You can apply the glue very liberally, especially in the center of the ear where you really want things to be secure. A low viscosity that can soak through the fabric without dripping through the fur will help prevent the fur from losing hair.

Once you've covered the outside of the ear, you're almost done! Just a few finishing touches and your ears will be complete. Wait a while until the glue is all done and dried.

[haruna]

All the glue should be dry now. The last thing you need to glue to the ear is that white tuft!

If it's on a single feather, it should be easy to align so it hangs just the way you want it to then glue it right behind the flap on the large part of the ear. If you have a few feathers, secure them the way you want them to be relative to each other before gluing them to the ear.

Now that the ears are complete, fasten them to the hair band! There may be some wiggle room, but don't worry, now you can bust out the glue and secure the ears to the band. Hot Glue works well here, be careful about letting it get too close to the Wonderflex. It won't harm the metal or the ribbon.

Once everything has dried or cooled down, you should be DONE!
Congratulations, they're ready to wear! Now post pics...

[Mimo]

great work, now for halloween i can go as a kitteh kat

m..>^. .^<
e...... w
o......
w......

'w' ty for the steps xD

[Astarin]

I demand to see pictures of people wearing completed Beast ears!

Really thorough guide, though. I wanna see people put it to good use.

[haruna]

I am now remaking the ears!

So far, I've cut the 2 wonderflex pieces and picked up the outer fur but I don't know what I want to use for the inner yet...I might use the hideous pink stuff I used before but paint it with acrylic paint(it is an artificial stretch knit of sorts, it will take paint.)

I'll take some good pictures as I make this 2nd round of ears. Also, look forward to patterns for the other 3 ear types pretty soon!

[haruna]

Yes, I made patterns for the other 3 styles. Fitting is a lot more important for some of these other styles so I included a dotted outline of where your ears go.

Changes to instruction by style:
02 - Long & Slender:
This requires a LOT of change, honestly. Don't glue the interior fabric near your ears directly to the wonderflex. You'll have to slide your ears between the wonderflex and the fabric. Spirit Gum is skin-safe glue you can use to attack the loose fabric and wonderflex to your ear. Bending the wonderflex should happen in 2 stages. Get a tube(think broom handle) shape it over that. Then pull the tips upward.
If you're really peculiar, get some white fur and do 2 layers. Or if you think you can selectively apply dye to the white, use that.
Use scissors to carefully trim the fur down near your ears. You'll really want to apply anti-fray VERY heavily here.

03 - Droopy:
You can skip Step 3 entirely. You do NOT need to line the interior. Maybe glue in some padding for comfort, but otherwise you don't need to put anything in the interior. Careful when wearing these, you won't hear a thing.

04 - Popular NPC:
Fit the same way as the very first set.