fbpx JOIN LOGIN JOIN

How To: Sculpting & Molding Fur Cloaks and Pelts FTW

By Rob Baer | October 8th, 2019 | Categories: Hobby Hacks, How To Tutorial, Micro Art Studios, Warhammer 40k
Hey guys. I have an article today from From the Warp (FTW) by Ron Saikowski.


This is a great article on doing furs, and that really makes it easy than hand sculpting every line etc. 

Alternatively as Ron notes, Micro Art Studio does make fur pelt molds as well.

Another thing you may want to try after reading the article is Micro Art Studios’ Instant Putty, which does much the same thing as the “Blu Stuff” Ron uses and costs about the same (but is slightly more available in eh States).

This is a great article on doing furs, and that really makes it easy than hand sculpting every line etc. 

Alternatively as Ron notes, Micro Art Studio does make fur pelt molds as well.

Another thing you may want to try after reading the article is Micro Art Studios’ Instant Putty, which does much the same thing as the “Blu Stuff” Ron uses and costs about the same (but is slightly more available in eh States).

For now enjoy the guest spot by FTW.

Today we’re going to cover how to make fur cloaks and pelts. We’re actually going to look at how you can sculpt some fur, mold it and then be able to use casts of that mold repeatedly. No more trying to sculpt the fur directly on the figure.
This is not a new trick, there’s a tool already out there that does this very thing. Micro Art Studios makes a rubber mold you can buy. I remember seeing one of these a long time ago and thought it was an excellent idea for making fur. Combine that idea with my use of BluStuff, I figured I could make my own.

I’ll say that the model here is a test model. He’s got some mistakes and I could have done it better. The real trick was seeing if it could be done in the first place. And it most certainly can.

What you’re going to need to do this

Greenstuff and sculpting tools (I only used the GW one)

A sizable piece of plasticard to work on

Start by sculpting your fur

The first thing we need to do is sculpt the fur. This is easy enough to do. I did this on top of a piece of plasticard. Make sure to leave enough room around the edges so you can make your mold using BluStuff once you’re done.



I sculpted my fur by spreading out my greenstuff (50/50mix) into a area making sure I had the same thickness all the way across. This test piece is small and if I were to do it again, I’d make it much bigger so I could cut any kind of shape out of my casts later on. This small size limits me to small sized pelts.

I used the regular GW sculpting tool for this too. Working from the bottom up, I repeatedly make small indentations into the greenstuff at a slight angle. A few to the left, a few to the right and so on and so on… Keep repeating the angled strokes all the way up the layer of greenstuff. Sometimes I’ll twist the tool slightly as I press it into the greenstuff to give the fur a slight curve and not all the strands look straight.

Here’s the finished piece of fur compared to a model. You can decide to make your fur strands long or short, straight or wavy and so on. Once you’ve got it sculpted, leave it to cure overnight.

Making the fur mold

Now we make it super easy to make lots of fur pelts from here on out. Using BluStuff, make a simple, one-piece press mold of your fur. You want your mold slightly thick and flat on the top (the side facing up and away from the fur). You want the top flat so that you can flip it over when done and it will lie flat on your desk without any issues.

Give the BluStuff plenty of time to cure (it doesn’t take long actually) and you’re all set to start making casts of your fur.

To make a cast, it’s as simple as mixing up your greenstuff, pressing it into the mold making sure it gets into all the tiny fur strands and leaving it for about 45 minutes. I used a 50/50 mix again for my test. In this one though I only waited about a half hour and I wish I’d given it a few more minutes to harden so I didn’t lose my detail so much when I removed it from the mold. Lesson learned.

Remove your greenstuff from your mold carefully and set it down on a piece of plasticard. Make sure the plasticard is lubricated with something so your greenstuff doesn’t stick to it!

Take your X-Acto knife and cut out the shape of the fur you want. Very similar to making a cloak like we did in the previous post. Take your cut out piece of fur, place it on your model and set it in position. When you’re cutting your fur pelt out, you’ll have a top edge and a bottom edge. The top is generally a smooth line and the bottom will be a bit rougher or varied.

The picture above shows you what I mean. The shape is different, but the idea is important. The fur you sculpted hangs in one direction. You have a top and a bottom. The top is where the fur “starts” and the bottom is where it “ends.” In this picture, I cut out what would be an animal arm. I could attach this to the body portion of my pelt by hanging this over the model where i wanted it. I would need to clean up the red line areas, blending the blue line are with the other portion of the pelt and then make sure the purple lined area has enough variety and a rough edge to simulate the fur strands hanging down. 

For this model, since I have a small mold, I only cut out a small crescent shape pelt. The inside clean edge was to be the top (around his head) and the outside rough edge was to be the bottom (the part hanging over his shoulders).

The few things you need to make sure you do are:

1. Clean up the leading edge. You can do this by pressing your tool into the leading edge to remove the cut line and make it look like the fur comes all the way over the edge. Very easy to do.

2. Create additional texture. Just like the cloak, the greenstuff pelt will fall into place and develop some minor folds in the process. You can use your tool to exaggerate those folds and add additional recessed areas until you have the look you want.

3. Vary the bottom edge. You want to have some variety as natural fur would have. Anything to smooth or clean here and it won’t look right.

Going the next step

This is only the beginning. You could take multiple pelts and piece them together for a bigger one. You could cut out different fur shapes like a leg and such to drape over shoulders. You could even layer the pelts to build up some depth and really bulk up a model. I’m sure if one pelt is good for a Space Wolf, two must be better.

Make sure to check out more awesome tutorials over at FTW http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/ -MBG

About the Author: Rob Baer

rob avatar face

Rob Baer

Job Title: Managing Editor

Founded Spikey Bits in 2009

Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X

About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.

Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls. 

Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.

Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.

With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.

While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.

Related Posts