Section 5: Add-ons
Ears and Horns
Ears
For this I will be explaining the process of attaching FurBitten Studios TPU ears. If you are making your own ears with foam that is entirely ok. I will briefly cover those as well.
FurBitten TPU Ears
Step 1:
Before we get any sort of glue out lets mark on our helmet backing where the ears will go. You can use a sharpie for this. The line on the back of the helmet is the center to help you line things up.
Step 2:
Now that the ears are marked, let's make a template for our ears. It is recommended to make at least a flat front and back template now while you can flex the ears around and work them off of the helmet.
How to make an ear template
You will do the inner and outer ear SEPARATELY. This will make things a lot easier than just covering the entire ear in tape at once.
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Cover the outer ear in duct tape. You can be a bit messy with this and not worry about edges. Once covered in tape, use your sharpie to mark the edges of the ear. Remove the tape as one piece and lay out the tape on to paper as smooth and flat as you can; cut darts if needed. Take your scissors and cut along your marked edge. You now have a flattened pattern of the outer ear!
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Repeat above for the inner ear
Now that you have a flatten pattern of the ear you will use these as a master template. DO NOT draw on this for your fur pattern. If you mess up somewhere you will have these to return to. Trace these over paper and draw out your pattern on the copy. Use the copy to cut up for the pattern.
Example of the outer ear master template and a copy of it with the fur pattern drawn on. Be sure to mark your copy pattern with colors and direction arrows
“What's with the arrows for the pattern?”
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The arrows are to mark fur direction. More on this in Section 6: Fur and Foam
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“Is a copy really needed? Can I just draw on the tape?”
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If you are an experienced maker a copy is not needed. The copy is just there so you do not need to redo the taping of the ear should you make a mistake, best to do if you are making a fursuit for the first time or not yet confident in your skills as a newer maker.
Step 3:
We can set aside the template for later and now attach the ear to the helmet. For this you will need hot glue and contact cement. Before you apply any glue, double check your placement and ensure you are happy with where the ears will go.
With the glue you will do a bead of contact cement around the bottom edge of the ear with a zig zag of hot glue on top. With this combo we will get the strength of the contact cement with the hot glue holding things in place while that contact cement cures up!
Step 4:
With all your glue on you can now put your ear on the helmet in your marked area. Press firmly into place and hold for about 30-45 seconds while the hot glue cools. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the other ear.
Let these sit to fully cure ( whatever time frame your chosen contact cement requires) and your ears are attached!
Foam Ears
With foam ears you can use 1/2in or 1 in upholstery foam. The thickness is dependent on personal preference and style. EVA foam is also an option and I would recommend no less than 3mm.
Step 1:
You will start with sketching out your ear shape. Once you have a good starting shape you will cut it out.
Step 2:
In this step you will be doing your refinement of your paper mockup. Tweaking the shape and getting a flush fit to the helmet backing. This step can be a little tedious so be patient with yourself.
Step 3:
Once you are happy with your paper mockup you can now use that mockup and trace it on to your foam and cut it out.
KEEP your paper mockup however as you can reuse it for your fur pattern!
Step 4 (optional):
If you have made some particularly large ears, it is recommended you glue in some wire or other support material. Over time the weight of the fur will cause the ears to sag. This can also just make the ears a bit more rigid as well if you don't want them flopping around super crazy like.
Step 5:
With your foam ears now mark out your placement on your helmet using a sharpie.
Step 6:
With foam only hot glue is needed to secure the ears. You can use some contact cement if you wish however but be sure that your chosen contact cement doesn't “eat” foam though!
Horns
With your horns we will be using methods already covered in previous sections. Such as the post processing and painting of the 3d prints like in Section 1 and marking out on the helmet where they will go like with the ears above. There is only 1 new thing really with horns.
So with your horns all cleaned up and painted we will look at getting them attached to your helmet.
If you only have small horns, for example, small devil horns you will not need to do this but you can if you would like. Many horns are longer and are not the most balanced for one reason or another. So how are we going to secure them to your helmet? It's pretty simple, don't worry!
Step 1:
Mark out your placement on the helmet with a sharpie
Step 2:
Cover the bottom of the horns ( the area that connects to the helmet) in tape. You can sketch on this a rough cross to help find the center but the exact center is not necessarily needed for what we will be doing.
Step 3:
We are going to drill a pilot small hole in the bottom of the horns. This is going to be for a screw later
Step 4:
Remove the tape from horn 1 and lay it over horn 2. Mark the hole spot and then drill the hole into horn 2
Step 5:
Using the same tape template lay it over your marked spots on the helmet and sharpie the hole spots on both sides. Drill the holes in the helmet backing.You now have a total of 4 holes.
1 in each horn and the 2 in the helmet backing.
Step 6:
You want to grab 2 medium sized screws. These screws will need to be long enough to go threw the helmet backing and about ¾ of an inch into the horn (if horn shape allows for that). What these screws are going to do is hold the horn to the helmet as the glue drys.
Step 7:
Pre-prep your screws. By this I mean have them start just barely peeking out of the helmet backing.You will be threading the screw from the inside of the helmet.
Step 8:
Grab your first horn and apply contact cement to the bottom. You can do a mixture of contact cement and hot glue like for the tpu ears but with the screw such a combo is not needed.
Step 9:
Place your horn in its marked spot and screw in your screw. You will want to sink into the helmet back just a little so the screw head is not protruding. You will not be able to remove the screw once the glue dries ( more than likely). Repeat steps 8 and 9 for horn 2.
X-Ray Render to show how the screws will be with everything done
