So I took some time earlier this week to create reference sheets for the new line of ears and tails I will be working on for Banzai 2012. I am adding fox and tanuki sets to my line. Tonight I have meddled around with how my pattern for the tanuki ears should be. The pattern I have created after much trial of error with paper folding and such before wasting actual faux fur fabric @_@ does not seem  to  will work well if I do fur on fur.

Normally my ears have a fleece lining, but there has been a large enough interest from others for me to try more fur on fur ear sets even though they will be pricier. Though after meddling with this damn pattern, I do not think I will be making mass amounts of fur on fur ears for Banzai. Most likely this method will be on commission basis only unless the pattern is simplified two two parts per ear. I don't think the increase in my prices would go well with the anime convention patrons and certainly not well enough to justify how many Tanuki ears sets I have written out for Banzai.

So until I have the fur on fur ear pattern for the little raccoon dog perfected, I think I may  only place time and effort in for two sets created in such style and then create the remaining stock  with fleece insides to be able to keep my pricing as is. The two specialty sets will be on display unless someone seriously has interest in purchasing them and I will not  be lowering the price on them either. At the moment the fur on fur style consists of four parts to one single ear. This is just insane, especially since it would require 75% hand sewing.

My goal for Saturday is to try my pattern with the dark brown fur and the fleece inside. I also may of figured out a way to make the tanuki ears positionable on their finished headband. I was not sure at first if I was going to be able to do this. I think it is quite doable now.

I still need to try out my tanuki tail pattern x_X. Need to decide if curved rings will look better over all than basic rectangle layering for the pattern effect.  Rectangle shapes seem to work fine for the mini key-chains though. Also need to try larger darts at the tail tips and see how that turns out, vs a rounded bottom. The patterns for the tanuki will follow more tooney style, wile the fur texture and display will be more realistic.

I hope to hell the fox pattern is easier to achieve than that of the tanuki. Been watching many YouTube videos and alot of what I see is messy and not symmetrical. Wondering if I can follow those guides and clean up what I do or if I will need to just start from scratch myself. I have plenty of tail patterns (three different styles) I want to try for the fox, and debating on whether or not I want to hand sew them all. I despise tedious hand sewing, but from what I have seen the seams are almost no existent visually and the tail tends to be no as stiff as compared to a tail with a 1/2inch seam allowance. Also almost no fur to fluff up from seams, just a nice comb or slick brush run and all's good. So I guess it just comes down to how one wants to use their time.

@_@ 6am and theres still more I want to do before I go to bed. Oye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!