The head has a basic foam understructure with fur glued on top of it. The foam has a hollow space carved out for my head, with some room for breathing and vision. The eyes are painted plastic adhered to the front of the head.
Carved Foam
Cy's head was carved from a single block of polyurethane foam. This is the foam commonly used for cushions, except somewhat denser to give the head more stiffness. The stiffer foams are not only easier to carve but will also hold their shape better when the head is worn, packed, and tossed about.
The head was carved to be rather large and cartoony. That was just a design choice I made for this character. The foam technique is an advantage here because the head remains lightweight even though it's fairly large.
Furring the Head
The fur for the head was glued directly to the foam understructure using hot glue. This is a simple and effective technique. The fur was applied in small pieces, cut to adapt to the contours of the head shape. Edges were simply abutted and glued together close enough that the fur pile hid the seam. You can also hand-sew these edges to ensure that the join is as tight as possible.
To make visualization easier, the color pattern was drawn on the foam before I began applying the fur. It's good to have clear marker lines to indicate the color transitions so that you don't have to worry about symmetry as you're applying the fur.
The black raccoon eye mask is actually reticulated foam. This is open enough to see through from the inside yet it appears black from the outside. This is where the wearer's vision is; you see out of the costume head in the black mask between the character's eyes.
