maintenance:cleaning_and_washing

Cleaning and Washing

How to read a fabric label - http://www.fabriclink.com/RF-ED-Label.html


From: Nora
Fur-washing: whoever said it was like washing plush toys hit it right on the head. We hand-washed our bodysuits with a gentle liquid soap, let them drain flat on towels in the backyard ( on the picnic table) out of direct sunlight. We laid them flat so the weight of the water wouldn't stretch the fabric and out of the sun so they wouldn't fade. Once they were mostly dry (we shifted them and flipped them a couple of times), they were hung over a line so that air could circulate around them. They definitely smelled fresher after that.

And the fur came out relatively well, just needed a little combing. A washing machine is a little harder on fabrics than I would like to submit a costume to. We use a broad toothed comb to rearrange the fur (particularly the longer stuff) and then sprayed the lightest, unscented, un-everything hairspray we could find to hold the fur in place. This kept the bushy cheeks and tail tip on Fatima in place without making them stiff or gummy. Also, since we found the most inoffensive spray possible, it didn't dull the fur. very useful for “spot” control.

Don't wash foam rubber in a washing machine!
Make sure any foam rubber is removable.


From: Rko Lynx
Subject: Re: FL: Cleaning. (fwd)

On Sat, 29 Jul 2000, Christopher John Thomas wrote:

I'm sure this has been asked numerous times before, but what is best to use
for cleaning stains out of a fursuit?

Bubble Gund, it's a surface cleaner for stuffed animals, it's alcohol based, so it evaporates quickly and does not leave the plush/fursuit damp.


- woolite


An anonymous contributor wrote up an article on cleaning costumes, and the differences with wet and dry cleaning, including some details.


From: Bruce Mai
Subject: Suit hygiene
The mention of problems with unclean heads reminded me of a funny story that's partly related to the same thing.

For those of you who are familiar with the Brit show, DOCTOR WHO and the Abominable Snowmen during the time the actor Patrick Troughton was the Doctor: One of the actors who was a semi-recurring character on the show, John Levine (mostly known as Sgt. Benton), first played some of the monsters on the show. One of his first assignments was to play the aforementioned Snowmen.

These suits, in addition to being rather tall, were very bulky, being made of yak fur and bulked out with big layers of foam. Once the actors who played the creatures were in, they were difficult to get out, so they stayed in the things most of the time. They had fun with them – between takes, they toss themselves face first and bounce on the floor.

Anyway, they made sure that they got the same suit each time, especially it was learned that one guy, stuck as he was in his costume, had peed in it because he couldn't go to the bathroom!

/home/furryfursuit/faq/data/pages/maintenance/cleaning_and_washing.txt · Last modified: 2011/08/11 12:02 (external edit)

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