Costume ideas for a bear-kin

evi1r0n

Baron
I was thinking about playing a bear-kin as a secondary in a few years. I am not big on wearing make-up and would like some suggestions on costuming, particularly the face. Any help would be appreciated. I have a weird concept for the majority of the costume, just haven't figured out the face and hands.
 
Buy a Chewbacca costume.

No, seriously.
 
I would suggest just a square of fur on the back of the hand with elastic holding it at the wrist and a finger loop to stop it from shifting. You don't have to have the entire hand covered since wyldkin can look however you want.
 
markusdark said:
I would suggest just a square of fur on the back of the hand with elastic holding it at the wrist and a finger loop to stop it from shifting. You don't have to have the entire hand covered since wyldkin can look however you want.


... so now Bearkin look like NERO style Hoblings?
 
I plan on being relatively furry. I may need to pay someone to make me a custom hood/mask. Takers?
 
Kangena has an awesome latex bear mask available in painted or furred, they're spendy, but look great. Plus the inside is lined in felt, so it shouldn't aggravate latex allergies, or for a fee, they can do silicone.

http://www.kangena.co.uk/detail.asp?page=Bear
 
You could always do a tooled and painted leather mask. That's what I use for my Husky. Self-made that'd put you back maybe $10, ordered from someone anywhere from $60 to $300.
 
No matter how you plan on doing it, bear-kin will be hot ... and I don't mean "hot" like "sexy", I mean "very very warm".

I have a low-level bear kin secondary I played once, in the winter, and I still sweat like crazy. I have this character to play in case I have a cold winter event to play. I tried using a bear nose (some kind of flexible plastic on elastic, worn over my real nose) and it quickly filled with moisture and started dripping down my face. So, instead, I used brown pancake makeup for my face, and black pancake makeup on my nose.

The rest of my costume is a faux fur anorak, with two ears made of faux fur shaped and then trimmed to make concave surfaces on the portion which faces forward, and sewed those to the hood of the anorak.

This thing is HOT! Without anything underneath, I sweat in 30 degree weather. And I was so warm when I came inside that I would get so drowsy I would nap ... almost like a real bear. I was thinking of making a pair of faux fur trousers to match, but then I wouldn't be able to play my bear unless it was sub-zero.

In case you don't know what an 'anorak' looks like:

175px-Parka_%28Kamleika%29_Inuit.JPG

Traditional Inuit anorak
 
jpariury said:
He's a PNW player... hot might be his goal for our January events. :)

If that's coastal PNW, then you guys are much more thinly blooded than I could have imagined. I used to live in San Diego (12 years, there) and I would often visit Seattle, Portland, Mendocino, San Francisco, and other coastal points, and even in January it's over 30 degrees (Fahrenheit), even at 4:30am.

But then, maybe your bear kin have a lot less fur. :lol:
 
Well I am hot and sweaty at every game any ways, I have the curse of the fat guy. But yes really warm is what I am going for :D . I can always find light weight solutions to the fur issue. I am more just thinking hooded mask with fur jutting from open areas on the tunic.
 
Ondreij said:
If that's coastal PNW, then you guys are much more thinly blooded than I could have imagined. I used to live in San Diego (12 years, there) and I would often visit Seattle, Portland, Mendocino, San Francisco, and other coastal points, and even in January it's over 30 degrees (Fahrenheit), even at 4:30am.
There's a significant difference between sitting in cities and squatting in the woods, obviously, and how San Fran, Mendocino, or San D count as "PNW" is beyond me. ;) Nonetheless, I accept your challenge. Come on out to the February Seattle event! :)
 
jpariury said:
Ondreij said:
If that's coastal PNW, then you guys are much more thinly blooded than I could have imagined. I used to live in San Diego (12 years, there) and I would often visit Seattle, Portland, Mendocino, San Francisco, and other coastal points, and even in January it's over 30 degrees (Fahrenheit), even at 4:30am.
There's a significant difference between sitting in cities and squatting in the woods, obviously, and how San Fran, Mendocino, or San D count as "PNW" is beyond me. ;) Nonetheless, I accept your challenge. Come on out to the February Seattle event! :)

Who said "in the cities" ... I've been to plenty of forests (where there are forests -- there aren't any in So Cal) in those areas .... and it's still warm compared to winter in New England.

When was the last time you had to brave tempertures under zero degrees F. along the West Coast? Unless you are talking in the mountains, above 5,000 feet -- and that is still warm compared to a New England (or Minnesota, or Rochester, NY) winter.

Let's see if you really understand what very cold is:

Really cold is when you sniffle a runny nose, and your nostrils STICK TOGETHER.

Really cold is when you sweat, and icicles form on your eyebrows, mustache, and beard.

Really cold is when you need to pee in the woods, and it freezes into ice pellets before it hits the ground.

Really cold is when you sleep waay down in side your sleeping back, and the moisture from your breath causes the zipper to freeze shut.


NOW do you understand what REALLY COLD is?

Where I am from ... where I grew up and where I currently live ... winter camping is fun recreation. Ice fishing is something to do when you are bored. Making snow angels is childs play. I'm a native born Connecticut Yankee -- an original New Englander. I went to school in Rochester, NY where, if summer comes on a weekend we would get a chance to enjoy it -- where we have two seasons: Winter, and the Fourth of July. Where the snow falls a few weeks after Labor Day and, if we are lucky, the snow melts before Memorial Day.

And, man, this is NOT a tall tale!
 
Ondreij said:
Who said "in the cities"
Portland, Seattle, San D, etc. are all cities.

I've been to plenty of forests (where there are forests -- there aren't any in So Cal)
You should visit more often. There were plenty around Big Bear and such when I was living there a few months ago! :)

When was the last time you had to brave tempertures under zero degrees F. along the West Coast? Unless you are talking in the mountains, above 5,000 feet
Are we really playing the "I've lived lots of places" game? I was just giving some insight why someone might want to dress warmly, and extending a friendly invite to come join us. But okay... I've lived in (and I'm there are folks who are more well-traveled than I): Maine, Massachusetts (heck, it's where I started playing NERO 20ish years ago), New York, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Kansas, California, Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, Texas (growing up an army brat does that to ya). 5000 feet doesn't get you halfway up Mt Hood, though, much less a third of the way up Mont Blanc. I've been through hellacious snow storms, tornado-stricken flatlands, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and more. People define what is cold to them at varying degrees. For my father, it entailed flying rescue missions through the Rockies and coming across three brothers who were found dead, frozen in a huddle around their littlest sister who was grasping onto the barest threads of life after they got lost in a flash whiteout after walking in circles less than 100 yards from their rural school bus stop to their farmhouse. For most people, it's quite a bit less. And I'm sure we both agree that it's rarely just about temperature, it's about whether conditions, exertion, etc. But we're not playing Man vs Wild here, though. Like I said, just giving some insight on why warm costuming might be desirable, and I'm not sure that deriding people for not being "cool enough" (pun intended) to polar bear it and might be looking at warm costuming ideas is particularly helpful in this regard.
 
Ondreij said:
When was the last time you had to brave tempertures under zero degrees F. along the West Coast? Unless you are talking in the mountains, above 5,000 feet -- and that is still warm compared to a New England (or Minnesota, or Rochester, NY) winter.

Although not quite 0 degrees F - Last year at Camp Cheeseborough at 2,000ft elevation. The temp according to my car when I drove off the site Saturday night at 12:30 am because I was too f'n cold was 12 degrees F. Probably dropped some more later that night.

Oh, and I grew up in upstate NY too.
 
Lived in WA my whole life and am not acclimated to ultra cold/ultra hot weather. So 20F is pretty damn cold for me. WA winters hit below freezing all the time, especially at night. Since one of our primary spots is at higher elevation at the base of a mountain it gets stupid cold at night. Regardless, I just want to be warm. Yes your state gets colder than mine. Good job. :D
 
It ain't cold 'til you've had game called on account of windchill somewhere south of -30.
 
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