Boiling fur help.

[Adam Kreutinger]

The Borsa pattern comes with notes on boiling fur but the are not that helpful. They just say boil the fur. I understand that it can vary depending on to what type of fur you use. But are you suppose to just dip the fur in boiling water. Does it take an hour or ten minutes? Are you suppose to put put it in warm water then boil the water with the fur in the pot?

Any tips would be helpful.

~Adam

 

[Puppetsandthat]

Hi Adam,
I boil the fur in the washing machine on it's hottest setting for about an hour you get a great matted texture doing this.

 

[Adam Kreutinger]

Awesome! Thanks. I'll try it. When you did it did u wash the fabric first then sew the puppet? Or did u sew all the fur then wash it, then finish the puppet?

 

[Puppetsandthat]

i tend to build most of the puppet first before boiling it then finish it when it's dry

 

[TML]

My experience was...I cut pieces of fur and experimented with different times. The fur tends to shrink a bit though, so I traced the pattern on the fur and cut it larger to accomodate for the shrinkage. I let the fur dry, re-trace the pattterns, cut and sew. I boil on the stove and it literally only takes a minute or two. For longer shaggy fur a-la Oscar, 30 seconds is good.


http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e238/toddscustomfigures/Puppet%20Making/?action=view&current=conditionedElmofur.jpg

 

[TheCreatureWork]

For large scaled furs- boil four pots of water and carefully pour into a tub. BE CAREFUL! Then simply place the fur into the tub and let sit- make certain the whole fur is submersed. Like the previous post make certain you do test strips.

If you do the washing the fur in hot water option make certain you do this method on only high end furs- you do it on cheap fur and the end result will be the fur breaking apart and detaching from the weaved fabric underneath.

 

[Adam Kreutinger]

Do you ring the water out then hang dry it, after it was boiled? or do you hang it dripping wet? I also heard something about having the rub the fur while it is wet for the texture.... is this necessary?

~Adam

 

[TML]

Yes, you ring it out which mats it down. Then I kinda shake it out like a dog does and depending on how long you want it, I combed it out a bit for longer strands or left it for a tighter pile, then hang it to dry.

 

[FUZZYRED]

I just brought red fur from Spotlight (I live in Austraila), will Spotlight fur work as well? Cause I'm worried and don't want ruin it.

 

[The Shoe Fairy]

All the fur I own is form spotlight, although I haven't ever boiled fur I can tell you that the more expensive it was, the better it will hold up in general. Spotlight tends to be a place where you get what you pay for with fur.