Hairy Creature thing
Hairy Creature thing- special effects and filmmaking
I was wondering if anyone might know how I could create a sort of hairy body suit for a film I am thinking about. Not so gorilla looking, but something more like the creature from the movie "The Unnamable". I was hoping to use a nylon body suit, but I'm not sure how to get the whispy hair to cover it. Any ideas would be appreciated.
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Fabric stores sell diferent lengths of fur type fabrics in different colors too. Check out your local "Fabricland" for some cheap prices.
For a thin, wispy look, you'll have to A)hand tie or B) punch in hair.
Hand tying is a process of knotting the center of a long hair fiber to a piece of netting. A tiny tool much like the one used to make latch hook rugs is used - the knotting procedure is virtually identical. You can also bend the tip of a small piece of stiff wire to use as a tool.
This is how real hair and realistic moustaches, eyebrows, and beards are made. Also called a ventillated lace hair piece, I have made moustaches this way and it is painstaking work, not for the faint hearted! I prefer to shop out this work - I don't have the time or patience and gladly pay for it to be done. Doing a body suit this way is a staggering amount of work, usually done by a specialist. Even a very wispy look would require thousands upon thousands of strands!
Punching in hair is quicker and easier, but less secure in the attachment of hairs. A long strand (or two or three) of synthetic hair is placed in a small forked tool. This tool is pierced through the material, and friction holds the bent middle of the doubled up hair strand inside the costume or mask when the tool is withdrawn. Afterwards, it is common practice to coat the loops on the inside with latex and stick them down for strength and to resist excessive shedding.
The tool is commonly made by driving the point of a sewing needle into a small piece of wood dowel, then cutting or grinding off the the top of the loop on the eye of the needle. The result looks like a tiny two-pronged pitchfork. Make the lengths of the "prongs" uneven to ease the catching of hair stran centers on the tool.
Punching in a lot of hair through a fine mesh, netting, ro woven fabric sometimes cuts an awful lot of strands, and (depending on how it is woven) can create larger holes than you'd expect.
Experiment with both. Both seem impossibly difficult at first, but you get the hang of after a while, and your speed increases gradually.
I have purchased fasbric fur and punched in hair to make it shaggy and uneven in length, and to add a variety of color to the fur. Any use of fabric fur gives a petty dense look, which doesn't seem to be what you are after.
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Jeff F - Magic and FX
Amazing the Masses
I have seen alot of synthetic fur in different fabric stores, (helped a friend make a chewbacca costume for halloween a few years back.) You can buy it in many different thicknesses and length of fur. For long stretches of fur (Neck/throat, back/shoulders or groin area) try hair extenders from salons or other hair type places (Ooooh, can tell I'm a guy...) and use a spray can of vinyl or other fabric dye to make it all match.
That's about the cheapest way we were able to do it. Hope it helps...
they sell plush-like materials, like teddy bears, but with longer fur, just get yourself a couple of yards of this stuff and give it a haircut where you need it and etc etc etc.
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