#buttonbaron

[boogiebuttonbaron]

Shaking pixie dust your way! Tink pins available now! Shop Link in Bio! #boogiebuttonbaron #tink #tinkerbell #tinkerbelledit #tinkerbellcosplay #tinkerbellparty #tinkerbellbuttons #buttonbaron #buttons #disneybuttons (at Neverland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPV7RbBhM92/?utm_medium=tumblr

[reggiemess]

I'd love to hear about what kind of alternative non-plastic materials you've found if you want to share, since I've been (very tentatively at this point, due to cost and time) considering a suit project

Sure thing! I appreciate the interest and I’m happy to share!

For the head-base I’m looking at natural latex upholstery foam as well as wool and stiff cotton interfacing. This website has tools for custom ordering foam sheets: https://foamsource.com/shop/Custom-Foam-Cushions

Mohair is the most plausible non-plastic faux fur I’ve found so far. Being a niche variety of an already very niche fabric it’s quite a bit more expensive than plastic fur at this point. I like this website’s selection and that the owner posts video footage of the fabric so you can get a better idea of pile and density: https://shop.intercaltg.com/

I’m going a bit old-school for eyes and just doing pure cotton buckram with metal wire for stability.

Because I’m being extremely fucking extra about this I also wanted to avoid plastic zippers. I looked at a lot of options (buttons, magnetic closure systems, etc) before settling on metal hook-and-eye closures. These are like the types of fasteners you find on bras or on dress pants. I’m currently undecided if I’ll hand-sew large fasteners or use a tape of smaller hooks like this: https://buttonbaron.3dcartstores.com/Hook-Eye-Tape_p_1643.html

For paw pads, noses, eyelids, etc I’m going to be using recycled/salvaged leather.

Claws and teeth have been tricky and I’ll admit that they will be very experimental in my first minimal-plastics suit. Right now what I’m planning is wool felting coated with natural rubber and paints to get the right visual texture.

And then there’s the miscellaneous accent stuff. Boar bristle for whiskers, yak or goat hair for manes/hairpieces. Possibly even recycled/salvaged fur pieces or feathers. Fly-fishing supply shops have a lot of neat natural materials like moose mane or stripped feather quills and I totally recommend checking them out for accents and details!