:: WARNING ::

the following journal contains sensitive material which some may find offensive or degrading. These include: discussion of, links to, and photographs of real animal pelts and furs; alteration of said furs; use of furs in costume accessories or as props. If i receive negative commentary, know that you have been warned and will be reported if i feel you are harassing me. You are welcome to state an opposite standpoint on the use of fur, but i would appreciate that you send any complaints to my inbox.


I just wants to get that out of the way, just in case some people are offended by this sort of stuff... personally, i'm a realist when it comes to costuming. If something requires blue hair, dye your hair blue. If it requires a musical instrument or skill, learn it. If it uses fur or shiny seethrough gems, use real pelts and custom colored glass.
All these pelts were bought from trusted sources which only kill the animals where they are overpopulated, such as in russia or denmark.
I consider costumes to be an art form, and i believe that being turned into something that will be preserved for years to come is an honor to the animal--not a degredation.

As such, i'm working one two costumes, one for me and one for my exboyfriend (who's now my best friend :3)--the March Hare and Cheshire Cat, respectively.
costumes have a victorian/lolita theme, mine being white and his being black, with genuine fur accessories. I've spent the past 3 days working on dying the furs and casting plaster ears for both costumes. Heres what i've got to show you so far! [link]

okay, so you can see that there are some numbers there. let me explain
1 :: i ordered a box of 10 Blue Fox tails, and these are the five extra that i'm not using for the costumes. I will prolly sell these at upcoming conventions, like AWA. the other five are being used to create the tails for the cheshire cat and march hare.
2 :: i ordered a pack of four rabbit pelts, and the lovely lady gave me five! I'm using this fur for the ears and any costume trim. you can see my first try at dying the pelt on the left--i used two dyed for that bit, but decided to just buy a third.
3 :: these are the plaster rabbit ears a made. They're made of wire mesh with, well, palster xD i stitched the wire form together, and the ears are about 8" long, and 2" wide at the base.the bent one was bend before casting, so it can not move. pink painted with acrylic craft paint
4 :: these are the finished Cheshire ears and the leftover fur. these ears are about 3.5" tall and 3" wide at the base. one if flipped so you can see the back. i'm SO proud of them. glue needs to finish setting tonight, then i'll string them onto a broad black ribbon for Mr. Jackal to wear.
5 :: here you can see the four fox tails i'm using to make the Cheshire tail. i chose ones which had lots of white and were quite flexible. The two at top have been dyed and rinsed, but not dryed. Once i blowdry and brush them, they look like the two beneath, nice and fluffy. I only did the top 1/2"-1" tips of the fur to avoid damaging the leather. All tails are currently dry and ready to be striped with the indigo dye you see on the ears.

I left my rabbit tail out because i misplaced it. I just found it under my desk, apparently my husky thought it was one of her babies. (and no, she doesnt have puppies, she's just motherly XD)
anyway, the rabbit tail is made by taking the most flexible fox tail and tying it into a knot. this created a PERFECT rabbit tail shape--now i must simply throw some stitches in there to hold it in place, and i'll be set!

here are some more photos for a better look :3
[link] [link] [link] [link]

i'm considering making a tutorial on how to make these ears, or just making extra pairs to sell... how much would you pay?
prices i'm considering:

tails:
plain $10
tip color $12
solid color $15
dual color or stripes $20

ears:
cat, white $10
cat, color $15
rabbit, white $15
rabbit, color $20
wolf, white $12
wolf, color $16
color is either solid or tip, your choice.

let me know what you think! limited offer, unless i get lots of people who like the idea, in which case i might get more pelts. only 5 tails available, and i can prolly make about 8-12 pairs of ears...