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    • Feb 3, 2019
    • 2 min read

A follow up to hair-punching, flocking, and furry creatures...


I frequently receive questions about the he process of hair punching, flocking and fur application. So I thought it was about time I made a follow up post to supplement my posts* from way back 2015. Disclaimer: I am an enthusiast and by no means an expert in the field, in this post I hope to give enough links and ideas to inspire you- please proceed with care and take appropriate safety precautions when carrying out any practical tasks.



Fur- and where to get it

NFT fur https://www.nftech.com/ is what a lot of professionals choose- its pretty expensive but definitely worth the money- it goes quite a long way as its so full bodied and stretches quite a lot. I think I completed my lion with less than 2-3ft of fur. Admittedly that’s still over £100 pounds worth but I was very pleased I made the decision.

In SFX they use a lot of yack hair- but I'm yet to find a good supplier.

Fur and hair for hair punching:

Crepe hair https://www.fxwarehouse.info/product/9144.html

SFX use dyed Yak hair a lot: https://tiltmakeup.com/products/yak-hair

flax and hemp: https://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/flax.html

faux fur fabrics: https://www.mohairbearmakingsupplies.co.uk/

Fur and Fibre the pros buy (very expensive)

Flocking

Applicators

Your best bet is to buy a cheap-ish flocking applicator i.e.: https://www.osbornsmodels.com/noch-60135-grass-master-20-20-kv-electrostatic-flocking-device-11707-p.asp (Around 10,000 - 20,000V [20KV] is good for smaller projects and flock fibres up to 10mm) If you wish to take flocking very seriously, mid- level to professional flocking applicators are also available for flocking longer fibres over large areas but they will set you back at least £700 https://www.theflockingshop.co.uk/flocking-equipment-13-c.asp

Flock Fibre

The fibre you can buy from DCA flocking. Its hard to find a good selection of flock colours without paying a fortune- these are likely the best choice and value you can get https://www.theflockingshop.co.uk/. You could also buy static grass for model railways- straw colours and browns (I did this for the lion)

You can also buy flock from Germany, it’s a little pricey but comes in longer lengths, http://minke-props.com/en/product_info.php?info=p365_skintex-flock--semi-matt--50-dtex--12-0-mm.html

Remember you can blend colours of flock to achieve the colour you want! You can also airbrush over flock to blend and add patterns/variations.

Glues

I use copydex, prosaid, Pro-Key Acrylic Adhesive, modge podge matt (or pva on budget) as they have a good working time.

Tutorials on flocking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FXWAeEXof4 (sign up for the free trial to watch this video on the Stan Winston website.

Overview of flocking process

Give the surface of your creature a painted base coat and let dry, spread glue and flock longest fibres first, keep applying until even coverage, then apply shorter fibres to fill the gaps, let the glue dry a little and begin training the fur direction with a paintbrush or hairdryer, finally airbrush or hair-punch to give the character added realism.

Tutorials on hair punching

Alternatives to flocking short hair

You could skip flocking all together and make patterns of the head with masking tape, then cur fabric out according to the patterns, glue the fabric, trim and shave fabric, then airbrush.

Chis’ Creatures and Clockwork creature manage to do it this way with good realism. Linked below

Further reading...

As with everything- just do some sampling, see what works and what doesn't ! :)

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