Yo welcome to the antique store, let’s keep this short.

I’m Jay and I’m a chaotic artist and animator who just wants to tell angsty stories.

✨My art is tagged as #myart  ✨

✨OC refs are tagged #ocs  ✨

✨Fanfics are in #jaywrites  ✨

I used to do only Splatoon content but now you get the (almost) whole package so you gotta deal with that. I also post lots of stories, comics and shitposts.

🐛I draw a lot of insect art!! 🐛

I you don’t like that then blacklist #insects

Please don’t steal my shit or we’ll need to have a sexy little talk <3

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Dango Project: Part 15

Continuing the paws!

Like mentioned in the previous update, I got a 4 way stretch purple lycra for the inner lining of the paws simply because the 2 way stretch fabric test didnt work earlier.

Pin that sucker up, carefully machine saw it, and there it is.

The pattern has been adjust further. Honestly I made 1 more prototype before this. A certain interesting quality to this fabric.. one of the ways is stretchier than the other, so the first one I made of this fabric was made on the less stretchy side. And it felt tight.

So I adjusted the pattern just a little bit more in size for the fingers, and the wrist/cuff that I extended to match the width of the actual minky and fur. And also switched to the stretchier side.

Once thats sewed and perfected I could sew it onto one side of the paw. Only at the wrist, the end, and between the fingers. Originally I wasn't going to do the finger tips, however after a test I decided to do it because it was really hard to slip in and out of them when the fingers kept inverting inside the paw when I took em out.

But the claws are sewn vertically, not horizontally. So I had to do this very awkward quick sew through the center of the fabric to the seam allowance of the claw.

But it worked!!

I couldve honestly made the claws juuuust a teeny tiny bit thicker to account for the seam allowance, but its fine :)

Dont forget about stuffing the claw tips so its not just empty air! Theres about a centimeter of empty space between the end of my finger and the tip of the claw. So that needed stuffed lightly!

Last part is the bias tape. Ive never used bias tape. So this was another learning experience.

On the first paw I cut it off like 3mm too short to fully cover the stitching, and also placed the meetpoint of it like at the top of the paw? In view?

Things you dont think about prior.

However the second paw came out stellar.

I ALSO had to shave the knuckle fur down. Because it was comically long and dwarfed the minky scales LOL.

However none of the clippers in the house would buzz this god forsaken rabbit fur. So I had to do it with scissors because I am Not Willing to drop €80 on clippers. Its not perfect by any means. Theres some balder spots if you look closely. But its good enough for my first time shaving fur! And with SCISSORS.

Here they are! :]

Building Dango: Part 14

At last!!

Sewed the green-blue fur blend onto the neck, and put the liner in as well and ooooh goodness it looks so dang good pinned together. Wowowowow. Incredible.

For the neck lining i. Well i ran out of the liner fabric lol. So I got this new liner that is 4 way stretch purple glitter lycra that Im also going to use for the lining of paws. Its so nice to the touch...

Next up, the paws!!

I got this 2 way stretch red vinyl. And Ive had it for quite a bit since I ordered it a couple months early in case it took a really long time to ship from Poland. And it was shoved in my fabric box for a couple weeks, constantly skrunked and unskruned until the skrunk was too much and there were CREASES.

Since this is vinyl/pvc that also stretches, I was EXTREMELY hesitant to iron it in case it melts. Even if the back is woven, its still a gamble. So after reading for advice online I came to the age ole trick: have a hot fucking shower and let the steam uncrease it.

So off it went into the bathroom with me- I needed a scrub anyway LOL

And honestly!! It did work! I left it hanging for a good few hours and it became mostly crease free where I needed it to be :)

This fabric is going to be our claws. Machine sewed. After making so many beetle plushies this was child's play at this point.

The overall jist of the paws is to make the underside fluffy as well as the knuckles, to hide where the vinyl meets with the real fabric because I know that wasnt going to be super neat with the way theyre made.

The first part is easily machine sewed! All the claws, and the palms. But actually sewing the fingers together? Boy thats a challenge for hand sewing only.

Blanket stitched together. And homestly??? Honestly??? Im fucking in love. And they FIT

Still not done though! Continuing paws soon...

Making Dango: Part 13

Were getting into the nitty gritty now.

We gonna start with the antennae. I was brainstorming how to do these for quite a while.

My friend suggested using something as an anchor for the antennae, so they dont just sag, and that was a brilliant idea. I got plenty of chichago screws in my order, so lets use those.

Stuff three pipe cleaners in there and braid them. Stick magnets on the underside, stick magnets to the head, and theyll easily stick on now.

Originally I was going to have 2 pairs, but the placement of the first was impossible the way I did the first scale... I should've lowered the placement of the first crest scale, because I wasnt able to fit the magnets before it. So I settled for one pair of antennae, right after the first scale. This shouldnt be plenty. Theyre technically posable too.

Sew the fabric on them in one big tube with a stuffed end, and DAMN

Next step, the eyes.

Stupid as I am, I only measured one side of the cut foam to fit the eye, and just assumed the other side would do. As you can see thats not the case.

I had to heavily cut the eye dome to fit it inz and even then there were spaces i just had to fill with hot glue.

I just about managed to have enough 'clear' glue stick, because our store ran out of clear ones and from then on I had to use glitter ones.

The inside has black foam covers, and also painted with black acrylic paint to conceal the glue.

And here they are!!

Though... the vision is not great.

The way you do dome eyes is you have to stick clear plastic onto the back of the mesh so that no condensation gets inside the dome and fogs up your eye sight. I used lamination sheets for that. And that was not the best choice. My vision went from great to quite bad real quick. There's glare inside as well, but thats unavoidable with the eyes being placed the way they are. Light peeks into one eye and glares onto the other fron the inside.

I later went back and tore off the lamination plastic, then glued on a different kind of plastic sheet. And the vision got at least 30% better. The googly eye dome itself is just not the best plastic itself, but it is what it is.

The eyes are done now, and they look quite good from the outside :)

Next, sewed up the neck, yippee

And last foe todays update, one ear.

I sewed it up through pain and tears and glued it onto the foam. The foam that I cut to size to only stick onto the grey part while the long fur has jiggle physics. Put some pipe cleaners on the end too to keep the fluffy bit upright. And i...

I dont like it

Like at all.

Look at how it bundles up on the back... how crinkly it is on the front... it definitely needs a small trim but i... i still don't know how to fix this

Im gonna put this off until I can get a second opinion from a friend

Also happy to hear suggestions on this

Making Dango: Part 12

Well I didnt take a couple photos here but ill describe it.

For the main crest scales of the neck I used 5mm eva foam to keep that thick and stiff. I was going to use the same for the smaller scales but... honestly I think craft foam looked better. Craft foam is 1-2mm thick and floppy and I didnt even have to glue it down.

The way I attached the scales is glue the 5mm eva foam on and sew the fabric together together on either side, and for the craft foam pieces, I just blanket stitched them in through the foam and everything and theyre staying in very very well!

Honestly in love with how the neck looks now :)

Now were finishing the head off. First off: they need jaw membranes- you know. The ones dragons have at the end of their lips.

I was originally going to use the left over deep blue velvet I had from Shiny (left), but I also ordered these stretch mochi samples (right) with my fabric order and honestly I think they look AND work better. Once again glued those on with contact cement on the inside with plenty of room to spare and sewed the bottom into the jaw fabric.

Now for the elastic. 1cm black elastic should do the trick. The top is glued on, the bottom sewed on. Curved needles are great but tough to use because theyre so much thicker than your normal needles... but I did it. You need the elastic to be tight enough to drag the jaw back into place. Ill later go back and tighten it even more.

And now all thats left for the inside is the lining :) Which im using a sleek 2 way stretch fabric for to keep cool inside. Its also nice and dark to absorb light. Bus seat coded. (I just hot glued it on lmfao. Messiest job alive I didnt even pattern the inside. Pussy out only I will see this part so I dont care enough.)

And now for the throat/shoulder piece- since my mannequin doesnt have one I improvised with some wrapped around fleece.

A quick tape job does the trick easily :) I wonder if its too long? (Foreshadowing)

YES PLEASE MAKE A SHAPESHIFTER!!!!

I dont think theres near enough hybrids or shapeshifters out there!!!

The defining feature of Dango is their mask! Otherwise everything is a free for all pretty much!

I think itd be amazing to see a systems fursona changing shape depending on who fronts! (I think thats what its called)

I have a couple sketches of dango shifting for example :)

The way I see myself as a person is ever changing and like a ball of malleable clay- so a shifter was the perfect choice for myself

And now YOU can do the same!!

Bring forth more shapeshifters!!

I think the thing im most excited about once I have the head complete is that because Dango is a shapeshifter, I can infinitely make more additions to change/swap out on them. Like go from a small nubby tail to a big long centipede freaky thing. Small wings? Lame, how about arm length wing hands? The world is my oyster

Mr whiskerrrrrr

Making Dango: Part 11

The part where he is starting to look like an actual Thing

First up finishing the jaw.

I love doing this sepcific ass style of cutting out symmetrical small parts of fabric. Essentially you dont even cut out the piece separately, just draw em on a slab, cut out two sides, line em up, wnd rhen sew the shapes on- and THEN cut them

Now we have several doritoes.

Just sewed these onto the fabric itself, and for the top jaw i sewed them onto little pieces of black eva foam and glued em onto the top skull.

Then glued the whole jaw fabric on... sewed the seams.. and voila!!

I also did the whiskers, which are on springs that i gutted two pens for. Theyre silley but I cant add videos to a post so Ill share those later.

Next up, sewing the neck piece, which is the easier part.

The harder part is the actual scales. This whole fabric is literally just the crest and one side of the scales. Hell. Im fearing 2 meters of fabric may not be enough but im holding my breath.

Some of the scales have accents, so I had to go through the gruelling process of sewing all of that up together. I fucked up one of them by cutting past the seam allowance and into the actual fabric part so :") had to redo that scale. Thankfully i could reuse the grey for another piece though so not all was lost.

And here they are!! One side of the scales!!

Its just pinned for now while I get the rest of the scales made :)

I have so much respect for yall but also kinda scared of your power to work with fur tbh

Building Dango: Part 10

Time to prep the neck.

I'm using mainly paper to decide on the length of the neck. I initially was going to have the entire neck piece in foam, however I am not so sure anymore. So first were going to construct it out of fabric and if it needs foam later well then that will be a problem for later me. I was also gonna have this part be attachable with a zipper.... but that idea has turned into a logistical nightmare, so I think ill just leave it for now and make it all one piece.

Paper guides are great but a hassle to put on.

The main crest is in the center of the 'hood', so these need to be placed pretty correctly.

The rest if the scales have 2 different sizes. The closer to the throat the smaller they are. The main crest and the secondary scales will have coloured accents on them. So thats going to be fun while sewing.

I think it looks preeetty dang good though! Now all thats left is to tape up the foam part and connect it to paper, and mark out exactly where the scales will be placed. This neck is symmetrical so I can pattern only 1 half of it.

Now that we got the pattern, we can get to sewing.

And to ease myself into it I started with the jaw! Which was honestly fairly straight forward. The one feature i wanted on it too is a detachable tongue. So thats there on velcro now too. Only wish that i maybe lightly stuffed the tongue some, but oh well.

Originally I was going to use black for the inside of the mouth, but I think this super dark teal actually does the job too :)

Building Dango: Part 9

It's time to prepare the jaw.

While the head was made to fit my face, I think I ended up with some discrepencies for the jaw size. I probably shouldve added a lot more foam to the top of the head, because instead I ended up with almost 2 inches of extra foam in the jaw so I can move it properly. Oh well.

It is a little too deep too, something I coulve and probably shouldve fixed in the cardboard stage. Why didnt I do that? A mystery of fuck around and find out.

EITHER WAY!

The base has thin 1cm thick foam inserted to elevate the teeth that are going to be in it. But then I realise the jaw angles upwards, so I had to add artificial gums as well for the rest of the teeth.

I knew going in the jaw wasnt super symmetrical, so I did end up taping up the whole entire thing to make sure it will all fit and get the pattern that way. Cutting it off the jaw was a greulling process and I also sliced my finger open which was fun to hear my friends yell at me.

After that I finally bit my fucking tongue and actually fitted the head properly. With elastic. One horizontally, and one vertically to create a faux dome. Of course I had to cut through the black foam on the top of the mask to fit the elastic through.

But Jay- how do you attach this elastic?? Are you sewing it through the foam?

NO!!!

We are back to using the strongest bonding agent we own- contact cement. With a piece of 2mm low density eva foam on *top* of it to keep the elastic stable and the bond stronger. I will say. That if i really were to pull at it, it would rip off. Because its not actually stuck to the foam... its stuck to the paint and varnish. So lets avoid that scenario shall we.

After that I started fitting on more foam to the top corner, and then using 1in upholstery foam I built the back of the head. The dummy head I bought just for this is finally being utalised. I was quite stressed about this part because I did not have a lot of upholstery foam but it was all okay in the end! And it came out pretty nice and snug :)

Next step: The neck scales.

My mother bought 'suncatchers' (actually opaque acrylic discs) from Shein recently and when they came in, not only were they not suncatchers, they were also AI generated. And at this point i dont know whether its better that Shein is using AI art instead of stealing artwork from real artists or not