I want to share some reference and tips for anyone looking to cosplay Neferpitou, or just furries in general! I’ll start by saying that I had to remake every piece two or three times because I was unhappy with it. I’ve never made anything like this so it’s all completely new to me! Ultimately I wanted to make my own version of the character, with more realistic animal parts (and a better outfit). Use paper patterns to test out your designs, and buy more material than you think you need! Here are videos I used as inspiration:
Hand-paw and Latex Paw Pads by Tsebresos
Basically just trace a larger version of your hand onto fabric, but keep 2 fingers together so the glove will have 3 fingers instead of 4. The claws are sculpted from translucent clay and attached with hot glue, like the latex. If you let normal latex dry, it will dry pink. It is possible to dye the latex by mixing it with acrylic paint. If you want pink paw pads, no paint additives are necessary. When you are glueing the pads and claws onto the glove, make sure you part the fur so that it will fluff up around them. Careful not to capture the fur underneath.
Ears by Anette Celia Rosemary
Glue the long white hair on the inside of the ear like a normal cat, not on the bottom. For extra realism I painted some darker pink inside to show folds and depth. Definitely look at photos of cat ears for reference! For fabrics, the inside pink is polar fleece, and the outside is very short pile fur. Cat ears have very short fur!
Tail by Act Out Games (this child in the video is adorable)
Use batting wrapped around a coat hanger (one is enough), and cover in fur. I sewed my tail on the outside, not using the classic inversion method. The opening is way too tight and the tail too long to shove batting inside. You need to wrap the fur fabric around the batting/coat hanger and sew it up by hand. The long fur will hide the stitches if you’re careful. To attach the tail to my body, I ended up cutting off the protruding coat hanger wires and safety pinned the fabric to a cloth belt. My tail is a lot longer than the one in the video.
Fur length is called “pile.” If shopping online this is a key word since it’s hard to tell from photos. You’ll want a short, less than 3/4″ pile for the ears, around 1″ pile for the paws, and 1″-2″ pile for the tail.
**Plan your costume in advance so you have time to order a swatch! I made the mistake of hoping for the best and ordered a whole yard of fabric I couldn’t use. I’ll stress again, it’s hard to tell from photos what the fur will look like!!
I wanted a fluffy tail, but you can use a shorter pile if you see something cheaper at your fabric store. I was able to find 3/4″ fur, and a small package of maybe 4″ fur that I used for the inside of the ears at my local store.
I already had some doll tights I made for a trapeze performance so I used those instead of making real “insect joints” legs. I don’t care. I think Pitou would look cool with bjd legs. I recommend stirrup dance tights, because they won’t slide around like footless tights, and they’re stronger material. I used mahogany brown to shade, black for the DARKEST creases (don’t go crazy, just a little will do), and white to add shiny dots and lines to make the legs look plastic. These are the colors that match my skin tone, but if you have darker skin, just pick colors that look natural for you! You might need tan or a darker brown. You need to wear the tights as you paint. Sit in front of a mirror and have fun practicing your splits when you have to paint the backs of your knees. As always, use reference to get the most accurate shading~
Those are my tips! I hope this post can help point you in a good direction if you’re planning on making Neferpitou or anything similar >///<
