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http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/01/lee_strom_chairo_furry_costumes.php



?San Jose hosts Further Confusion 2012, California's largest annual furry convention, starting today (Thursday). Further Confusion 2011's attendance hit 2,801, and more than 3,000 attendees are expected this year. (Glossary Tip: The overall furry scene, fans, fursuiters, and those elsewhere on the spectrum, are collectively referred to as "the fandom.")
Lee Strom co-founded the first Further Confusion in 1999, and he has been actively involved with the fandom since before then as a fursuit maker -- including as the head of Frolic's NeonBunny -- as well as a party organizer and general raccoon-about-town. We spoke with Strom -- whose fandom name is Chairo (\chi'-ro\) -- about the history, art, and business of fursuits.



?What is the origin of fursuiting?
Fan costuming has been around far longer than the fandom. It became "fursuiting" only when the first convention, ConFurence, began in the late 1980s. Furry costuming is an extension of anthropomorphic art.
And "anthropomorphic art" means...?
"Anthropomorphism" is the assignment of human qualities to otherwise nonhuman entities, while animals and fantasy creatures are specific to the fandom. Furries who wear costumes do it for a variety of reasons. Some because they enjoy portraying a character, some because they love performing, others simply for the love of fur, and even others just be part of a rapidly growing expressive artistic subculture.

Who makes the suits? I'm guessing it's not an Amazon 1-Click kinda thing.
The fandom consists of professional as well as amateur costumers, the latter being predominant. Most people wearing costumes at a convention purchase their fursuits from makers in the fandom. The majority of fursuits are custom-made. Many get model sheets made from 2D artists who then supply them to the makers for transformation into costumes.


About how much do they cost?
Depending on quality, detail, and reputation of the maker, costumes vary greatly in price from just a few hundred dollars to well over $5,000. Average prices range from $1,500 to $3,000 for a well-made fursuit.
Do you make fursuits for a living? For that matter, can fursuits be made for living?
Unlike several talented individuals in our community, I do not make a living at making costumes. However, my creations generally fetch between $2,000 and $3000, and they take several months to complete in my spare time. If I were to bear down and work solely on a costume, I could get a full suit done in about a week.


What are the components of an average suit? (Bonus points if you can break it down into percentages.)
Most fursuits consist of a few standard items. Faux fur, foam (similar to what you might find in a couch cushion but a bit more dense), and poly fill (the stuffing found in most plush toys). There are several methods of constructing the heads, the most popular being foam added atop a balaclava (a spandex hood). Other methods include fiberglass, metal frame, plastic sheet, heat-molded plastic (vaccuform), and block foam (carved from a solid block rather than bits being added to a balaclava).



?The makeup of the materials vary. In general, about 80 percent faux fur, 15 percent foam, and 5 percent everything else (poly fill, plastic, glue, thread, zippers, spandex). A few ambitious people have included electronics, animatronics, and lighting elements. I made a head in 2003 with color-changing fiber optic whiskers.
Suits have gotten much more complicated. I have seen tails that wag, eyes that blink, and ears that twitch. Personally, I am working on a computerized lighting program for a costume. Lighting has become popular now that LEDs, EL Wire, and controllers are much cheaper and more available than they have been in the past.

Further Confusion continues Jan. 12-16 at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose Marriott, and San Jose Hilton. For more details, visit the Further Confusion website.

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Sherilyn Connelly is a San Francisco-based writer. She also curates and hosts Bad Movie Night at The Dark Room, every Sunday at 8pm.

Follow us on Twitter at @ExhibitionistSF (follow Sherilyn Connelly on Twitter at @sherilyn) and like us on Facebook.

In this episode, Rainstar, Losa, and Xiath discuss why the fandom seems to be so creative Fursonapod Ep38 - Why Furries are so Creative

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Here is an article about a fursuit-builder in the January 12 edition of California's St. Helena Star newspaper (though the phrases "furry fandom" and "fursuit" are absent throughout):

Teen designer discovers hot glue, faux fur and Pluffy

The subject of the article, Rayne Mason, has a deviantART gallery here.

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So today I finally found the headless room and meeting the face underneath the fur really helped me today. I was really down and sad about my suit and being around people like me helped. So thank you all (even those who weren't there) for being a furry and loving being one.<3

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The developers of the critically-acclaimed Scribblenauts, 5th Cell Media, bring iOS users a new platforming and puzzle-solving experience today with the release of "Run Roo Run." From the developer's website:

Run Roo Run follows a mother kangaroo traveling across Australia from Perth to Sydney in search of her captured Joey.

Hop, skip, and jump your way across unique obstacles in the Australian outback! Run Roo Run is a micro-platformer featuring single screen levels and easy to learn, one-touch gameplay. Play for a few minutes, or a few hours; your journey to Sydney always picks up where you left off!

Discover unique abilities like double jump, ridable clouds, gravity-defying umbrellas, invisibility, tire swings, and more to get through over 20 chapters with 15 basic levels and 6 extreme mode levels each. Share your scores with friends in this Game Center-enabled title.

Features:

• Over 400 levels and 100 extreme levels
• Easy to learn, one-touch gameplay
• Game Center-enabled
• Automatically get 10 free new levels every week
• Tons of fun power-ups!

 

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I am on a very low budget, and I have seen some ideas for making fursuits but no prices are listed. Anybody with experience think you could tell me the cheapest way I could make one? Thanks!

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As the title says. I want to try my hand at buying a commission again, and want one of those high-tech, ultra HD photos that float around. o.o

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The question was prompted by a video out of the UK from a show called OMG http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHh3vwaXVoA one of the members of Trigger Happy TV, apart from saying a lot of nice things about the guests, mentioned a bit about US furries VS UK furries. I know the "plushies" thing he said was wrong. what about it then? US furries care more about sex? thoughts.

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Who else is here? =D

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The website SFWeekly (SanFrancisco’s News site, blog thing) did a nice little blog on Lee Strom (fur name: Chairo) the Co-Founder of the first FurtherConfusion 1999. As you may or may not know Chairo was one the first fursuit makers for the fandom and this site points out some good facts if want to learn. That’s right… LEARN… it’s not porn sorry … you can put some knowledge in ya instead of other stuff…  Click here to see the page.