ISSUE 307
Hi everyone! Welcome back to another issue of Furry Weekly, your one stop for checking out what’s happening in the furry fandom!
Before we start, remember we have our usual announcements to get through – and we’d like to keep highlighting the Recruiting section below. We’re looking for people to join our team; if you’re looking for a way to get involved in the fandom, this could be for you! Just check out the details below along with the rest of the announcements, but you can also scroll ahead to the Content Lineup if you just wanna get straight into the issue!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
RECRUITING
Here’s a list of the roles we have open at Furry Weekly:
- Furry of the Week Host
- Art Corner Co-Host
- Writing Showcase Host
- Fursuit Focus Co-Host
- Species Spotlight Host
- Fursuit Designing Tips Co-Host
- Photography 101 Co-Host
- Radical Raffles Host
- Available Artists Host
- Cover Artist
- Content Artist
- Content Migrator
- Editor
You can reach out to Yeshua, or Carkas if you’re interested in helping out, or have any questions. If you want a description of the roles, check out this document! If you have any suggestions for other roles or things we could bring into Furry Weekly, please let us know as well, we’d be happy to hear your ideas! We just need lots of help in general, so please do consider joining us or sharing with other friends in the fandom if you can! We’d really appreciate it!
SEND US YOUR STUFF
Our goal here at Furry Weekly is to showcase the creativity the fandom has to offer, and if you haven’t noticed, most of our segments center around featuring folks in the community! So we want to remind you that you can submit your content to us! We actually have two new ways for you to send us your stuff:
Email us: Email us at furryweeklysubmissions@gmail.com! You can submit your work (e.g. artwork, writing, quote, original species), tell us you are interested in appearing in a segment like Furry of the Week, Fursuit Focus, or Character Interview, or suggest someone to be featured in one of these segments.
Fill out our form: Check out this Google Forms link and fill it out based on the content you want to submit!
Remember that if you either email us or fill out our Submissions Form, you’re giving us permission to feature you or your work here on the magazine! We will always link back to you if you or your work appears on Furry Weekly!
READER SURVEY
We’re always looking out for what you, our readers, have to say about Furry Weekly! Like we said above, our goal is to showcase a little bit of everything in the fandom, especially giving a small spotlight to all kinds of creators and folks in the community. So we want to know what you think about what we’re doing now as well as what you might want to see from a furry magazine. So whether you’re an avid follower of Furry Weekly, or maybe you just found us, we want to hear what you like, what you don’t like, and what you would like us to do in the future! That’s why we have a short survey on this topic. We would seriously appreciate it if you took just a few minutes to take it and give us your feedback! You can do this multiple times as well! The link is below!
Click here to take our reader survey!
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That’s all for our usual announcements, thanks if you read through it all! We hope you enjoy today’s content, and be sure to tell us what you liked the most! There are several ways to contact us, but you can also reach us on our social media! We’re @FurryWeekly on both Twitter and Instagram.
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SEGMENT LINEUP
[✔] Furry of the Week
[❌] Art Corner
[❌] Writing Showcase
[✔] Fursuit Focus
[✔] Species Spotlight
[✔] Animal of the Week
[✔] Art 101
[❌] Writing 101
[❌] Fursuit Designing Tips
[❌] Photography 101
[❌] Available Artists
[✔] Radical Raffles
[✔] Character Interview
[❌] Convention Calendar
[✔] Furry Quote
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FURRY OF THE WEEK
Hello, everyone! This is Danielle once again coming back to shine some more positivity onto you from the furry community. We have another special feature for you this week!
Before we put the spotlight on this week’s feature, I wish to remind all of you that we’re still looking to recruit more hosts for this segment. If you like spreading positivity, then this might be for you! Feel free to message our boss, Yeshua, or our HR, Carkas, if you’re interested in hosting Furry of the Week.
This week, we have a guide about creating, molding, and casting fursuit head bases by Breakfast.
If you’re starting out as a fursuit maker or still need a little bit of guidance with fursuit head bases, then this is a guide for you! Breakfast goes over the essential details when working with two-part expanding polyfoam. You can find Breakfast’s guide about this on their Google document.
Thank you for your useful guide, Breakfast! It will definitely help many new and professional fursuit makers.
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That is all for this edition of Furry of the Week. We’re always on the lookout for candidates to feature for their amazing contributions to the community.
Have someone that you’d like to nominate for Furry of the Week? Feel free to fill out this form with your nominee. You can also submit content by emailing furryweeklysubmissions@gmail.com.
Tune in next time for another mystery Furry of the Week! In the meantime, please enjoy the rest of this week’s Furry Weekly issue, and I’ll see you guys again. Bye for now!
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FURSUIT FOCUS
Hey everyone! This is Yeshua once again with a brand new Fursuit Focus segment! I’m doing my best to fill in for this segment while we look for a permanent host, so I apologize for how inconsistent it has been lately. But I’m hoping to keep it up because I genuinely do enjoy bringing you all a new fluffy individual each week! Just wanted to thank you all for your patience with this segment!
Today we’re traveling to Europe to meet a playful feline: Woxy!
We’ve got a peculiar kitty this week! Woxy has pretty colorful fur that makes for a combination that’s not seen all that often. Purple and yellow fur dominate the design, and are pretty evenly split throughout Woxy’s body along with complementing each other. On the face for example, half is purple and half is yellow, but some yellow markings are on the purple half while purple markings are on the yellow half! Then there’s the white and black fur which combine well with the main colors. Finally, the pink ears and orange claws help pull the design together, making it a pretty zany look that’s very interesting to see; I know I’d spend a good bit of time just checking out Woxy’s fursuit if I saw it in person, it’s so cool!
It gets better though. If you look closely – you’ll see Woxy’s suit has electronic parts! His eyes have LED lights that make for amazing photos in the dark! Plus, something else that isn’t seen but definitely helps Woxy, is a flat fan to help keep him cool. Both electronics can be recharged with a phone charger, and they last for more than five hours!
Woxy is a curious and energetic kitty! His favorite thing to do in fursuit is just let loose and be silly. He loves participating in fursuit games at conventions, and when he’s not doing that, he enjoys getting involved in any sort of shenanigans he can get up to! Woxy says he is much more expressive when he is fursuiting, making interactions with others much more fun and wholesome. Like I said, though, he’s always looking for an opportunity to be playful: “a fursuit also allows me to get away with more mischief.”
When it comes to getting photos and videos, Woxy likes to be captured in unusual places and doing unusual things, which you’ll definitely see if you check out the stuff he posts. But just like he said earlier about having wholesome fursuiting experiences, you will also find a lot of photos of Woxy with friends and other furries he meets at conventions and such!
Woxy’s road to fursuiting has been quite long and maybe a bit complicated. He joined the community in 2011, and back then he actually thought fursuits were odd and a bit creepy. But pretty appropriately, curiosity killed the cat and Woxy decided to make his own fursuit. He tried several times before making his first fursuit, just in time for Eurofurence 2015, which was his first furry convention: “and that’s when I realized just how much I love fursuiting. I found something that brings joy not only to me, but others too.”
After that experience at EF 2015, Woxy kept making different versions of fursuits, before commissioning what would become the predecessor of his current fursuit. Then, starting in 2020, it took Woxy – along with the help of a seamstress – almost two years to design and build his current fursuit: “I first debuted it in its full glory at Flüüfff back in 2021 and it has been my baby ever since.”
Even though Woxy has been fursuiting for some time now, he says there are a ton of things he wants to do in fursuit that he hasn’t tried yet. Some of the things that come to mind are full of action; he wants to fursuit while doing some sort of high-adrenaline activity like riding a rollercoaster or even skydiving! Plus, Woxy says he can take out the electronics from his head, so he also wants to try swimming in it!
As for some more chill things he wants to do, Woxy wants to enter a dance competition, but he says he needs to learn some moves first. Something else he would like to do is take fursuit photos in Pripyat, near the Chernobyl power plant. Quite the plans, huh?
Woxy definitely has a lot more ahead as a fursuiter, especially with all the stuff he has in mind that he wants to do! So be sure to keep tabs on him for all kinds of adventures. You never quite know what he’ll do next! One thing’s for sure though: he’s going to have a lot of fun causing mischief! We’ll finish the segment with his final remarks:
“Fursuiting is a really nice way to express oneself, especially for people who are shy. Remember, you can get away with more shenanigans while wearing a fursuit, the sillier and weirder things you do, the more joy will you bring to the world. So don’t be afraid to go out there and try new things in your fursuit!”
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That’s all for today’s edition of Fursuit Focus! Thanks so much for joining us, and if you want to see more of Woxy, just give him a follow! I really enjoyed getting to hear about his fursuiting experiences so I definitely recommend keeping up with him!
We’re always looking for fursuiters to show off, so if you’re a fursuiter and would like to appear on this segment, just use the tags #furryweekly and #fursuitfocus when you post your fursuit photos and videos to social media! You can also reach out to me or our usual host, tahlmorra, or – preferably – you can email us at furryweeklysubmissions@gmail.com to tell us you’d like to be featured! We also have a Submissions Form you can fill out if you prefer!
Once again, thanks for stopping by! I’m Yeshua, and I hope to bring you another Fursuit Focus segment real soon! Until then, take care!
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SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
Hello readers, and welcome back to an exciting week of Species Spotlight! This is Danielle making a return as a guest host.
Before we put the spotlight on this week’s original species, I wish to let all of you know that we’re still looking to recruit more hosts for this segment. If you enjoy diving into species lore and/or find original species fascinating, then this might be for you! Feel free to message our boss, Yeshua, or our HR, Carkas, if you’re interested in hosting Species Spotlight.
This week we’re traveling to outer space with an alien species called Arthropups by BonesAmanita684!
Arthropups are an insectoid-mammalian alien species from a planet where bugs are the dominant animals. They take on the same role as humans do on earth where they are highly intelligent with civilizations, laws, and various cultures. These creatures also take on a diverse variable design, resembling any species of arthropod (existing or fictional).
Note: BonesAmanita684 is currently working on a traits list/guide.
Arthropups are an open species, which means you’re welcome to make your own as long as you follow the basic guidelines previously shown above. Please be sure to credit BonesAmanita684 for the original species as well.
Looking to make your own Arthropup? You can find these free to use bases and more here.
Feel free to join the Arthropup group on DeviantArt to immerse yourself in the community. If you’re not on DeviantArt, you can find BonesAmanita684’s other platforms on their Linktree if you have any questions about the species.
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Thank you for tuning in to this week of Species Spotlight! I hope you enjoyed learning about the Arthropups today. There are plenty of creative original species out there, and we’ll be sure to hunt them down.
Ready for us to explore your original species? Feel free to fill out this form if interested. You can also submit content by emailing furryweeklysubmissions@gmail.com.
As Coyote Peterson from Brave Wilderness says, stay wild, and we’ll see you on the next species adventure!
Disclaimer
All information and art pertaining to the species belongs to BonesAmanita684.
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ANIMAL OF THE WEEK
Hello, and welcome to Animal of the Week! This is Danielle once again popping in as a guest appearance.
Animal of the Week is a segment where we highlight an animal that is really cool, cute, creepy, or fascinating. Unfortunately, there won’t be a new coloring page illustration, but there will still be an adoptable character inspired by this week’s animal of the week colored by me. The best part? All proceeds made by said adopt will be donated to conservation charities!
Whenever possible, we do symbolically adopt the animal; unfortunately, only some animals have the privilege to have that as an option. Thus, we collect extra funds to donate to many different species conservation charities, donate towards wildlife rehabilitation programs, or send funds to scientists so that they can research underappreciated animal species. Join us on this fun adventure, and I hope that you, too, will enjoy these amazing animals!
It’s spooky season! There are many species that can resemble Halloween in various ways, so let’s examine a species associated with this holiday.
This week, we’re flying with the common raven (Corvus corax).
The common raven is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids across the northern hemisphere. It is a raven known by many names at the subspecies level. There are at least eight subspecies with little variation in appearance, but recent research has demonstrated significant genetic differences among populations from various regions. It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the thick-billed raven, and is possibly the heaviest passerine bird.
Common ravens are often misidentified with American crows because of their very similar physical appearance. Crows are smaller in size and lack the shaggy throat feathers that common ravens have. Ravens glide on flat, outstretched wings unlike the slight V-shaped wing pattern of the crow. A raven and crow’s tail are shaped differently where the raven’s is more diamond or wedge-shaped and the crow’s is more fan or square-shaped. The raven’s deep, raspy call also helps to distinguish it from the higher-pitched call of the crow.
At maturity, the common raven averages 25 inches (63 cm) in length and 3.2 pounds (1.47 kilograms) in mass. Despite how their typical lifespan is considerably shorter, common ravens can live more than 23 years in the wild. Young birds may travel in flocks but later mate for life, with each mated pair defending a territory.
Common ravens have coexisted with humans for thousands of years and in some areas have been so numerous that people have regarded them as pests. Some notable feats of problem-solving provide evidence that the common raven is unusually intelligent. It is considered by some people to be the smartest of all birds, making them dangerous predators.
Common ravens are omnivores, eating almost anything they can get ahold of. They are extremely versatile and opportunistic in finding sources of nutrition, feeding on carrion, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, nesting birds, and food waste. They are sometimes found scavenging with crows and gulls while acting as a cooperative hunter, often communicating the location of a good source of food to other ravens. These ravens are also known to follow wolf packs around to feed on their kills.
★ Known for their aerial acrobatics and long swooping dives, they often do rolls and somersaults in the air.
★ Common ravens can mimic the calls of other bird species. When raised in captivity, they can even imitate human words.
★ The oldest known wild common raven was at least 22 years and seven months old. It was banded and found again in Nova Scotia.
★ Because of its black plumage, croaking call, and diet of carrion, the raven is often associated with loss and ill omen. Yet, its symbolism is complex. As a talking bird, the raven also represents prophecy and insight. Ravens in stories often act as psychopomps, connecting the material world with the world of spirits.
The common raven can thrive in varied climates in nearly any habitat with the exception of eastern forests and the open Great Plains. It has the largest range of any member of the genus and one of the largest of any passerine. They range throughout the arctic and temperate habitats in North America and Eurasia to the deserts of North Africa, as well as to islands in the Pacific Ocean.
They can be found in coniferous and deciduous forests, beaches, islands, chaparral, sagebrush, mountains, desert, grasslands, agricultural fields, tundra, and ice floes. They do well around human habitations including farms, rural settlements, and isolated houses. In larger towns, they are often replaced by American crows, but they do occur in some cities.
Human presence has allowed ravens to expand into areas where they didn’t previously occur, such as using artificial ponds and irrigation to survive in deserts and living on human garbage in some forests. Common ravens are slowly moving back into the forests of the northeastern United States and Canada as those forests regenerate.
As of 2016, common ravens are listed as least concern under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with an increasing population trend. Common Ravens tend to do well around people, profiting from the garbage, crops, irrigation, and roadkill that accompany us. Their numbers are generally stable or rising in western North America. As eastern forests were cut down in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ravens disappeared from most of eastern North America, but they are beginning to return to the northeast as forest cover regenerates. Unfortunately, in many situations, ravens have been shot at, poisoned, or harassed in attempts to preserve crops and occasionally livestock such as lambs.
Though this adoptable is based on a crow, I still wanted to include it since they are similar to ravens. All funds from this adopt will help go towards animal conservation of Zed’s choosing. It will be available for $10. Please private message me on any of my platforms linked here to claim this adoptable.
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A huge thank you goes out to the animal ambassadors and Animal of the Week supporters who have helped make the world a little bit better for wildlife.
If you wish to help support us, you can find Zed’s Patreon for this passion project here. You can also find free and very affordable bases, as well as other adopts by Zed on their website.
Disclaimer
All of the information was derived from Wikipedia, All About Birds, IUCN Red List, and bits from my bird field guide book by Stan Tekiela.
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ART 101
Switching our focus from how to draw things to how to draw can be an odd shift in perspective, but now that we know how to draw the basics of a standard subject, we can think about how we might go about positioning that subject within the pieces we create.
Hi all, Shroom here! It’s time to talk about how the elements of an art piece come together: Composition!
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The interesting thing about composition is that you, as a viewer, have seen it everywhere. Even if you weren’t entirely aware of the artistic trickery at hand. We can understand composition as the arrangement of visual elements within a piece of art regardless of medium. I like to view it as the way in which an artist silently tells the viewer, “Hey, look over here!”
It’s the nature of creating and controlling the focal point of a work and getting an audience to either focus on something first or visually ignore something. Composition helps artists guide their viewers' eyes through the entirety of their work by using simple geometric tricks.
And look at that, it’s our old friend Shapes again. (We’ll never be able to escape them).
In a humorous way, many methods of compositional variety are rooted in the geometric framing of elements. A few standard compositional techniques can be seen in the Rule of Thirds, Golden Spiral, Triangles, Circles, Curves, Radial, Diagonal, Symmetry and Cross sectional arrangements.
Many of these hinge on that idea of a focal point and the framing of that focal point. In terms of our standard subject or art you may typically see of characters from the fandom, that focal point might be that of a character’s face. Perhaps an emphasis of their expression or where their eyes are locked onto.
Through compositional shorthand, our eyes are guided to look towards the focal point first and then are allowed to wander over the rest of the image.
For each of these compositional examples a focal point can be placed.
Some, like the Rule of Thirds, divide the piece into nine even squared sections where the crosses formed by the separation lines act as possible positions for the focal point. Four to be exact. How an artist goes about using those four possibilities is where creativity takes the helm.
For placing the focal point and framing the focal point will often involve the implementation of different artistic techniques.
Think of Value, Contrast, Shape Language, Color, and Perspective. (All of which we’ll cover together here soon.)
But these techniques further act to emphasize that focal point, whereas composition allows us to place it.
What I meant earlier about how you’ve already seen a lot of these compositional techniques, is that you really have SEEN them. Film is heavily reliant on the manipulation of visual elements to link and connect the scenes within the story or events they’re trying to capture.
The same can be said of photography. A picture’s visual arrangement depends on how and where a photographer moves about the physical space to capture the perfect shot. A cinematographer or photographer is allowed to manipulate the physical space they are in to find an angle that best fits the framing they’re seeking. Be that moving the placement of the lens or the placement of the physical elements the lens is capturing.
For an artist that is tasked with drawing those physical elements, we have the freedom to create wild and creative compositional arrangements. Every element is under the artist’s control.
These simple compositional examples help us get a feel for how to start wrapping our heads around the subject. So, let’s do some studying! Both pieces were provided by our very own DozuDoggy:
Here the immediate compositional trait is that of Symmetry or rather Asymmetrical Balance. The lionfish style aquatic mermaid to the left takes a bulk of the canvas and, given the curl of its body, leads our eye to the right. The other mermaid takes up the last third of the canvas. Each subject's visual space is different and in ways competing as they directly interact with one another. This would be a good example of Asymmetrical Balance!
Another thing to note is how that competing visual space is utilized in the story telling aspect of the piece. While one subject imposes onto the other, it is distinctly framed in an inviting way. The hands reaching out showcase a sense of harmony in the two visual spaces. Rather than one dominating the other.
This piece visually utilizes the Rule of Thirds. The pegasus on the right overlaps with two of the four focal points provided in this compositional technique, but then there's the extended wing. It reaches over and takes the third! With the last focal point being the other subject as the lean down. All focal points are utilized and help guide the viewer's eye through both the piece and the interaction between the characters.
A good way to test if your intended focal point holds true is to look away from your piece. No, seriously. Look away for a few seconds, then look back. Where do your eyes land first? What part of the canvas draws the most visual attention?
It's a simple trick, but a useful one!
So, what do we do now?
More studying!
Well, thumbnails to be precise. Draw a small rectangle to act as a mock canvas. You don’t want it to be too big as we want to avoid getting caught up in the details. Using one of the techniques we’ve discussed, create a small sketch of a piece using that composition. Attempt different subjects or environments to really get a feel for how versatile these techniques can really be!
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If you have any suggestions for future segments or simply have some questions regarding anything I’ve discussed feel free to reach out to me! Regardless, I hope to catch you all real soon as we further our art journeys together!
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RADICAL RAFFLES
Hello, everyone! Danielle here once again, and I’m here to bring you some fun raffles to potentially participate in.
Before we get into the raffles, I wish to remind all of you that we’re looking to recruit more hosts for this segment. If you enjoy coming across raffles, then this might be for you! Feel free to message our boss, Yeshua, or our HR, Carkas, if you’re interested in hosting Radical Raffles.
We have seven raffles for you this week! Let’s take a look at them.
First, we are celebrating with a 10th anniversary custom fursuit giveaway by Fire Wolf Studio!
How to Enter:
★ Follow and repost.
★ Comment your reference.
Prize:
★ Custom fursuit head with free shipping within the U.S
Deadline:
★ November 7th
There’s plenty of time to enter!
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Next up, we have an icon raffle by GJARVALIS!
How to Enter:
★ Follow, like, and repost.
★ Comment your reference.
Prize:
★ Icon
Deadline:
★ November 1st
There’s lots of time to enter!
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Up next, we have a 6k art raffle by JumiiFoxx!
How to Enter:
★ Follow, like, and repost.
★ Comment something under the raffle post.
Prize:
★ Rendered icon
Deadline:
★ October 30th
There’s lots of time to enter!
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Get ready for the holidays with a custom fursuit head giveaway by Dragons Den Fursuits!
How to Enter:
★ Follow and repost.
★ Comment the reference sheet of the character whose head would be made.
Prize:
★ Custom fursuit head
Shipping is free in Canada and the U.S, but if the winner lives outside of that, the winner will need to cover the shipping.
Deadline:
★ December 1st
There’s plenty of time to enter!
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Become a pumpkin with a Halloween raffle by Fenrisulfr!
How to Enter:
★ Follow and repost.
★ Comment a reference.
Prize:
★ Halloween pumpkin your character here (YCH)
Deadline:
★ Halloween (October 31st)
There’s lots of time to enter!
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Next up, we have a reference sheet raffle by puppykitty!
How to Enter:
★ Follow, like, and repost.
★ Comment a safe for work (SFW) picture or description of your character.
Prize:
★ On-base reference sheet
Deadline:
★ November 2nd
There’s lots of time to enter!
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Last but certainly not least, we have an art raffle by Holdy!
How to Enter:
★ Follow, like, and repost.
★ Comment your SFW reference sheet.
Prize:
★ Full body with a background
Deadline:
★ October 25th at 10 am (UTC+3)
There’s still some time to enter!
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Those are all the raffles I have for you this week. There's always more out there, and we'll make sure to find them and bring them to you every week.
Would you like us to showcase your own raffle? Feel free to fill out this form if interested. You can also submit content by emailing furryweeklysubmissions@gmail.com.
Thank you for taking a look at this week’s raffles. Stay tuned because more radical raffles are coming your way!
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CHARACTER INTERVIEW
Hi you all! Yeshua here again ready to bring you another edition of Character Interview. If this is your first time reading, this is the segment where we chat with the talented people in the fandom about what they do!
YESHUA: Today I'm excited to welcome two guests! We've got Orbit and Kyllan! Thank you both for taking some time to chat. I'm really excited to have you! For anyone reading about you guys for the first time, can you all tell me just a bit about yourselves and what you do here in the fandom?
ORBIT: Thank you for having us! We are happy to be here and tell little about ourselves.
We are two silly huskies born in Poland and currently living in Germany. We have been in the furry fandom for some time now, but just around two years ago we met each other and soon after started making carpets together! We got the hang of it really fast and we are really enjoying bringing it to a furry fandom. Don't really know what to say as an introduction so feel free to ask any question!
YESHUA: It's great to meet you both! I definitely want to talk about the carpets that you guys make because it's something that a lot of people in the fandom probably wouldn't expect to see. So tell me, what kinds of carpets do you guys make, exactly?
ORBIT: We like to joke that we make "true furry carpets" like in the meme. But seriously, we are making hand crafted custom carpets. Our motto is "turn art into rug" which means we offer our clients to bring their favourite art into steppable, 3D fluffy reality.
The only thing that is holding us back is imagination and carpetwise limitations. Right now we are using acrylic yarn but we want to widen our offer to more natural fabrics so that we can do such things as bathroom rugs.
YESHUA: That's so cool! You weren't kidding about your motto; it really looks like you guys just turn furry art into rugs, and they look great! There's a lot that I want to talk about regarding how you guys do all of this, but first, I want to ask about what you guys offer exactly. Does a person bring their idea for a rug, like their fursona? Or do you guys have some strict options you offer? Because I see you guys make rugs of characters, along with things like paws and such.
ORBIT: Thanks for that, we are giving our best! We have three options to choose from. First one being custom carpet. We take ready art from our client and check if the style qualifies for a carpet. If yes or if it needs some adjusting, we discuss the price, which depends on size and complexity, and we check if the original artist is okay with us using their art.
Second one is choosing one from our YCH designs that are checked and tested to work perfectly. Right now we offer four designs: three paw designs and one derp headshot. We are cooperating with two artists for now who change and draw the design to suit our clients ref sheet.
For the third option, from time to time we offer some ready made carpets and their design can be really anything, depending on how creative we feel! It's still in early development because we are focused on our commissions, so we don't really have time for that but we are planning to add more designs here and be more frequent in the future.
YESHUA: That all makes sense! Thanks for breaking that down! You did mention that there are some limitations which I want to talk about a little later, but staying on the topic of the options you offer, I'm curious to know how often you guys are able to make the custom carpets? Considering you have to make sure so many details have to be just right to make a rug, are you guys able to move ahead with custom carpet commissions more often than not?
ORBIT: Honestly we don't have many chances to do a proper custom carpet. Not that many people ask us about them, more are interested in our YCH.
Custom carpets take considerably more time than YCH. If we are doing our design, we made it so it's always good looking as a rug and also we've made quite a lot of them so we know exactly what to do. Custom ones often require small changes, mostly shadows, and if there is too much fine line art.
Another fact worth considering is that we design our YCHs to fit a couple of them on one frame, which means less fabric waste and that we can fulfill more commissions quicker. Putting it into perspective, our biggest carpet which was 1,3m x 0,8m took us about a month to make. It's also worth mentioning we are doing this aside from our regular jobs, so often there is really no time for it.
YESHUA: Interesting! I would have expected custom carpets to be in higher demand, but it also makes sense people are more interested in the YCHs since you guys do all the work ahead of time to make them look good! Either way, everything you have shown looks awesome; I'm a big fan of the rug with the three characters you showed earlier!
Speaking of how long the carpets take to make, I do want to ask, can you explain a bit about the process of making a carpet? From coming up with the idea, to physically making it into a rug?
ORBIT: We love to make any rug so it doesn't really bother us if we make the same design over and over, especially since every character is different and special!
Our secret is that we have divided our work in half and that is why we improved with our quality and finish time really quick. Now we will talk you through the process.
I'll talk first since I'm at the beginning of the process. First I discuss the details with the client; it comes mostly to choosing the right yarn colours! We do have the option to choose yarns on your own from our catalog, but usually people trust my choices. If everything is fine, I put lineart on a stretched fabric using a projector, and I trace the lines. Then with my tufting gun I'm starting to tuft the right yarn in the right place. You need a steady hand to make a straight line, it can look easy at first but I assure you it isn't.
After all the yarns are in place, I glue the backside with latex glue and wait until it dries out. Big con of this work is that you don't have room for mistakes; you can't really pull out the wrong yarns and just cover it anew, it will always look worse so if you make too many mistakes you have to scratch the whole thing. If we use our derp YCH as an example, it takes me around two days to make it. Next step is shaving and finishing the underlay. Now we move to Kyllan who does it!
KYLLAN: Thanks! After the glue dries, I need to cut the carpet out leaving a margin of fabric for future edge finish. After the process of tufting, the carpet is really uneven and tangled so the first thing that needs to be done is shaving it flat with clippers and constant vacuuming so the very fine fibers don't get stuck deep inside which can be hell to take out.
After that comes detangling yarns and setting lines straight with a fine blunt needle. When everything seems even, I start to define the lines with a so originally called v-cut machine; it's two scissors making a v-shaped cut running at high speed. That's the process that takes the least time and we call it pre cutting. After that with the help of clippers and scissors I sculpt the desired shapes until I feel satisfied with the result. We try to bring our carpets on another level with deep three dimensional cuts that last even after heavy usage of carpet. That's the main reason we don't need to put that much shading on carpet, it takes care of it by itself. Usually this process takes me around 3 days.
After shaving is completed we glue the anti slip backing together, put carpet to photos and we do TikTok for every commissioned carpet.
YESHUA: Wow.. that is definitely quite a long and complex process, and it's impressive that you guys do all of this by hand and a few tools! I can tell you both really do your best to make sure every rug turns out well! Thanks for explaining, you two.
I'd also like to ask, how durable would you all say the rugs are? And how should people take care of them to make them last longer?
KYLLAN: Thanks we appreciate that! We really take our time and pour a lot of ourselves into our work, to make quality stuff!
We would say our carpets are as durable as any regular carpet. We have a couple of them in our flat and we don't spare them and they still look really good, maybe a little dirtier! When it comes to care, they should be treated as a regular carpet. If you would like to wash it, do it with a soft carpet brush and a light solution of carpet cleaning detergent. If you're gonna hang it on the wall like our clients usually do, then I guess just vacuuming will do!
YESHUA: That all sounds simple enough! So if anyone is interested in decorating their place with something obviously furry, this is a pretty good option, huh?
I want to start talking a little bit about future plans you guys have for the rugs, but before we do, is there anything else you all want to mention about your rugs now? Anything we should know about?
KYLLAN: Oh yeah definitely, when Orbit found out about tufting we thought it is a must have, it's a very furry thing to have. It is a good idea for a birthday or housewarming gift.
We don't know what to add more about them aside that as a person who started doing this hobby, we can say that everyone can do it. Something to consider is that this hobby has a high money entry point and we recommend taking classes before you buy equipment.
We love doing this and would like to show as many people the process and let them try their own strength which brings us to your question about our plans and they're quite big! If you like, we can start talking about them.
YESHUA: I agree, they would be a fantastic gift for any furry, really! I wouldn't turn it down, that's for sure hahah. That's some good advice there for anyone interested in doing this themselves. But yes, please, tell me about what you guys are planning for your future rugs! If there are any sneak peeks that would be great too, but no pressure of course!
KYLLAN: As we mentioned we would like to show this hobby to as many people as we can, so one of future plans is to make a tufting workshops on conventions, and if we are lucky enough, open our own store with materials and our works, stationary ones.
For now we will try to set something like this at a smaller local convention, but bigger ones are really in the future mainly due to the price of the equipment. Our first step is to get people’s attention. We are active on socials and we made ourselves a deal to list mascot/logo carpet on charity auctions at every convention we will attend. So far we've made two of them: one for a Polish convention called Futerkon, and for German EAST.
EAST was also our first one where we attended dealers' den as sellers. That was scary and awesome at the same time and we would love to do it as often as possible!
We have many ideas for new awesome designs and hope to bring them alive soon. We want to set up our own store so contacting us will be easier, and we would like to start selling small merch but there is time for everything. Our main dream for now is to turn this hobby into a full time job.
For now we don't have anything new going since we have to focus on our private lives and customers that are waiting.
YESHUA: I can definitely see tufting workshops as part of the programming at a furry convention! But I bet there's a lot of stuff to plan for something like that, so I hope that works out for you all!
The charity carpet is also a really neat concept for the conventions you guys go to, so good on you guys for that! I totally understand that balancing life along with a hobby like this can be challenging, but even if you guys don't have anything new to show, do you all at least have ideas of some designs you want to try and do next? Or would you prefer to keep that a secret for now?
ORBIT: Yeah that's a difficult subject but we have some ideas how to do it. But we definitely are going to need some luck hehe.
Well we can tell you two of our upcoming designs. First being a new YCH and a second more personal project that maybe we can also turn into YCH.
The first one will be a medium sized rug portraying a fursona diving under a couch, tv drawer, etc., so basically it will be someone's butt sticking with paws and tail.
Second one is a similar idea but bigger. It will be maw sticking from under the couch, wide open vomiting colorful liquid, spewing it in an irregular pattern. We also have ideas for bathroom rugs because many people asked about that already. The only thing limiting us right now is time.
YESHUA: I'm sure you guys will be able to achieve it! Just might take some time!
Ooooh both of those sound like great ideas! I know there are furries out there for both of those ideas hahah. And yes, you did also mention the bathroom rugs! Any specific ideas for those yet or not quite?
KYLLAN: We sure give our best!
Yes, we hope those two ideas will be good! As for the bathroom rugs, we only have an idea how to make them because they need to be made with a different tufting technique called looping. That means instead of cutting the yarn, the tufting gun loops them, and the material will have to be cotton. This will allow them to be machine washed as a bathroom rug should be! This means upgrading our equipment so it is a project for next year.
YESHUA: Oh I see! Looks like you all are really doing your homework on all of this, knowing what materials, equipment, and even techniques are needed! Hope you guys can reach your goals of doing these new things when the time is right!
There's one more big topic I'd like to talk about regarding the rugs. I'd love to hear a little more about how you guys came up with the idea of making furry rugs, and when you guys realized you wanted to sell them!
ORBIT: Everything started from me trying to find a hobby for myself. For many years I tried different things, but none stuck to me. Then around 2021 I found out about tufting and I knew it was something I was looking for. At the same time I started seeing Kyllan and he heard from me I wanted to start this. I bought the necessary equipment and after it arrived I started making a carpet for my fursona. It came out really good in my opinion, especially for the first time.
Then my colleague heard about it and wanted me to make one for him. When I started working on it, Kyllan started to help me and he also really got into it as he also was in search of a hobby.
It really took off when I moved from my mother in the Netherlands to Kyllan in Germany, then we started to treat it more seriously and talked about making it a business. We made a rug of Boykisser and posted it on Reddit which gave us our first big attention, so we pushed it further.
We shot a couple of TikTok videos and they got a lot of attention, and that's when we started to get many customers. We would like to thank everyone who trusted us as we were learning. Their trust lets our work be as it is right now. Also I would like to thank all my friends and family who supported us from the beginning and gave us motivation, and of course, big thanks to everyone who is following and watching us. This is the most important part for us, because without the furry community we would never made it that far
YESHUA: I always love hearing when hobbies end up turning into something bigger for people, because they're doing something they genuinely enjoy and like to share with others! I hope you guys are happy with how far you have come; plus, checking out the improvement from the very first rug to the remake is crazy! You can tell there was so much growth in skill!
Now that we're touching on how it started and how you guys got here, tell me, how do you two feel about the reception your work has received? How do you all feel about being able to show off these creations online and in person, and have people be interested in them?
ORBIT: That's exactly right and we are very happy to be able to say it! We were never expecting such fast growing attention. We knew that it had potential but just didn't expect so much welcoming and kind reception. We are very proud and grateful for that and we really hope it will continue to grow and maybe see some new artists because we definitely won't stop doing it! We love showing every progress we make to as many people as we can online, but being able to show them in person and seeing our clients react to them is the best feeling an artist can have!
We hope our work can inspire other people to try this awesome hobby and put more variety in the furry community.
YESHUA: I'm happy you guys have had a good experience going through all of this! Furry rugs are definitely not something you see every day, and it's not surprising that the fandom is reacting well to it considering how artistically driven it is! I wish you two the best with this project! Maybe there will be a chance to check out the new stuff you guys have later on.
Well, it has been great talking to you guys about your tufting madness! Thank you both so much for taking the time to share more about this. Before we finish, is there anything else you guys want to say or share, whether it's about your rugs or anything related to the fandom?
ORBIT: Thank you for having us here and letting us be part of your magazine. We are really grateful for all the kind words and reaching out!
We would like to tell all the artists or ones that think about becoming one, that you should be proud of your work, try your best and don't listen to people telling you that you can't do it. Go and fall into your own artistic madness!
YESHUA: Great word of advice there. Orbit and Kyllan, thank you both so much for chatting, it was a pleasure!
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With that, another interview is done! It’s always a great time chatting with the creators behind cool stuff like this, and if Orbit and Kyllan’s work piques your interest, definitely follow them on their social media!
As always, I’m on the lookout for other folks in the fandom to talk to! If you know someone you’d like me to interview, or maybe you want to be interviewed, just lemmino through one of my socials! You can also emails us at furryweeklysubmissions@gmail.com to let us know you’d like to be interviewed, or fill out our form if you prefer!
If you’ve read this far, thank you so much, I hope you enjoyed! As always I’m hoping to bring you more interviews soon, but until next time, take care!
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FURRY QUOTE
Howdy, all! Tide again. I hope everyone is doing well. In honor of the spooky season I picked a Halloween themed quote for us. So pick up some candy corn and enjoy this week’s piece featuring Douglas Coupland.
”If human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween.”
Halloween is a funny little holiday. I mean beyond the commercialization that every holiday has come to experience. It is the one time of year where dressing up as a fictional character isn’t just accepted, but expected! Heck, it's even rewarded with candy! I’ve heard it called "gay Christmas" and have had people tell me it is their favorite holiday. Why? Because some people aren’t really dressing up. Sure they may put on an outfit they might normally not wear, but all they are doing is allowing themselves to express their inner being. To just be free without conforming to societal norms because suddenly being weird is the societal norm.
And I think that says a lot about us as furries. About people who publicly suit outside of cons or outside of Halloween. Douglas Coupland touches on that very thing here. Many people love Halloween because it gives them the chance to be free, but furries don’t wait. We have conventions and meets or even just fursuiting because why not? And what could be braver than that? Sure we are putting on a mask, sure normal people won’t know who we are but I really think that furries are some of the most courageous people out there. We have faced a lot of scorn societally yet we choose to get up, go out, and show people who we really are and have fun.
I have struggled a lot with self-doubt, and I’m sure at least one of you has too, but I picked this quote as a reminder to us that we are so much stronger than we think. We do something that requires an incredible amount of courage all the time and whether it is conscious or not you are doing it! So the next time you have to do something that scares you, or you doubt your decision, or maybe like me you feel a bit lost in life, just remember, you are so courageous, and I’m not saying that to convince you, I am telling you that you already are, maybe you just haven’t realized it yet and still need to tap in. Changing behavioral patterns is hard, but if you can take advantage of existing ones in a new way you give yourself a monumental advantage. So go out there, put on your fursuit and be proud of yourself because you have far more courage than the average person.
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That’s it for this week’s Furry Quote. Now that you’re all caught up, I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween. Go dress up, get yourself a bag of candy and some horror movies and remember, you have more courage than you might think.
Do you have a quote or topic you’d like us to discuss next? Feel free to submit content by emailing furryweeklysubmissions@gmail.com, or you can directly message me on Instagram.
Thanks for stopping by, and until next time.
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