Turning a mask into a head?

[Calun the Bat]

Hey again! So, I recently acquired a Sergal mask blank from Dream Vision Creations, which is not for 'my' fursuit, but rather for a cosplay. I've played with manual creation from scratch in a helmet kind of way (plastic canvas - the mesh stuff). Now, my question is this:

How do I go about turning a mask into a full head piece from the mask? I would assume that I would use their recommended adhesive to attach an elastic strap or two around the back? I have everything I need, but don't want to proceed in the event that it would ruin the head. (fear of it being too front heavy, even for thick elastic straps.)

My plan just on a glance was to attach a strap around the back, and then have another strap from the top come down and meet the horizontal strap. (if this works, it would be an upside-down T of support strap to keep it on. So it would look like this from behind where you put your face into it.
 _________
/       ||       \
|===||===|
|                 |

After this, and during the final furring portion, I was planning on ALSO having the fur hood come down with a secure (zipper or even velcro). So it'd ultimately end up being straps underneath a hood.

Is that a reasonable way to get the head secure? or is there something else I ought to do?

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[Nori]

I used the small k9 base from them. As long as you scratch up really good where you're going to put the elastic (probably on the shiny inside?), hot glue hasn't been a problem for me. And I originaly made the straps like you had it, but I quickly realized too much pressure was being put on the elastic going vertical, since the head itself was heavy/front heavy, especially after putting in the teeth and furring it. I could feel it straining at the top of the mask when I wore it. Right now I'm using it with a 'V' .. I'll try to illustrate it


        ----------
      /  \        /   \
     |     \     /     |
     |       \ /       |
     |------------|
      |                |


I put the horizontal elastic just above the top of the hinge, but it'll probably be different for yours
This way seems to not be as sketchy, and I'm not worried about tension where the 'V'connects to the horizontal elastic, because I sewed it together. I hope this helps! I closed the back up after I was sure everything was good (shaving, fan, elastic, etc.) Though a zipper with the metal end part near the top would've been helpful.
Oh, and I used 1" elastic for my head.

[Calun the Bat]

Ohhhh, that makes sense! More surface means less tension, so that definitely makes sense. Maybe I'll try that too, then. I know for mine that I'll have to put the horizontal strap in about the same place. I've got roughly two inch elastic, but I may end up cutting it down, depending.

I do know that the Sergal head is fairly flat compared to some of the others. (the distance between the hing and the top of the head is lower than say, the K9)

I hope it ends up looking good. I don't want it to look like a weird hunched head when I'm done.  Either way, the hood plan comes at the end, either way!

Thanks a lot for your input. I appreciate it quite a lot!

[Nori]

Of course!  And I was worried about that with mine, and it was lower for a bit until I tightened the horizontal strap... for some reason. Since the sergal is shorter, you shouldn't have too much trouble with it

[Calun the Bat]

Awesome! Any advice on making the hood? Once I get to the furring part, I'm curious how to go about making the fur for the neck, for all around. I have a couple ideas, though.

I kind of gather that you'd just extend it down when working on the pattern for the fur, correct?

[Nori]

Pretty much. I did a DTD of my head (I didn't use a mask or anything.... I now have a bald spot ) I used that as an extension of my duck tape pattern for the head, basically putting the mask on over the dtd head and marking where it'd sit, then taping the resin to the dtd. I pretty much just used that, but made it a little bigger so it'd be less constrictive.
For the neck, it really depends. There's really good tutorials, such as http://matrices.tumblr.com/post/51899557133/tutorial-making-a-neck-for-a-fursuit-head , and there was one with a drawing demonstration on livejournal, but I can't find it  


(edit: HERE IT IS http://fursuit.livejournal.com/5037690.html )
Some people also just use two panels, a front and a back, but I'd use matrices tutorial if you want it to look 'cleaner'
For mine, I had a few different stripes, so i just made a rectangle and cut it so it formed around my shoulders.


Oh, and I furred the head and the neck separate; the fur for the head went down to where the resin stopped, and the hood all the way around. Then I hand stitched the neck on.