#Furby customization

[sylvite-sylvite]

My custom furbys

Wormigear is the only one not in the the wings+horns club!

I couldn't make a steampunk furby without a top hat that would be wrong

[starcloudedsky]

MY EYES!!

[mystic-crafting]

Idk what I'm doing, but I've made some blueprints for a new long furby with a knitted body, inspired by @spooky-nyx 's Soapy Bathwater (crocheting the body was an absolutely genius move there)

I think the color scheme is going to be a periwinkle type color, but I'm not settled on anything so suggestions are welcome and ultimately is comes down to what is available at Joann fabrics

[furbyinabox]

What type of paints people are using to customize their furby's plastic parts? Is spray paint for plastic good? Does it need a primer before you spray the plastic with the color of your choice?

I'm considering to use spray paint to cover up the sun damage that my two furbies have, and I would prefer a really smooth outcome.

[passionfruitmango]

There are so many good choices for eye chips, how do I choose??? I'm gonna wind up with 10 sets for each furby at this rate

[coelacanis]

Meet Sweetums (Pt. 2)

As promised, this is my process post for the craft adventure I went on with my very first customized Furby ever!

Of course it started with skinning. As a first timer I was nervous about this first step but I quickly came to see how sturdy these things are. The screws toward the top were hard to get to but once I got it, I was able to remove the pelt!

Not pictured: I washed the pelt in lukewarm water and unscented Eucalan (a great soap for delicate things like vintage or natural fibers).

I knew I wanted to experiment with dye, and my research showed me that it would be a massive challenge. Synthetic fur is usually a polyester and acrylic blend, which is plastic. When faux fur gets colored, it’s done when the plastic is still in its liquid stage. Once it becomes the dry soft fur, it can no longer accept much color. Rit makes a great line of dyes for synthetics that are specially formulated for this, but I knew going in that I would still get limited results. This dye needs to be used on the stovetop with hot water. Faux fur can’t be exposed to that kind of heat because it will damage or even melt the fibers. Furby pelts also still have the plastic mask attached which could melt. Because of this, I would be using the dye in warm water, not hot - hence the limited results

Here’s the Rit I used. I mixed these three colors to attempt to get a reddish orange autumn-like color.

I actually had to dye the pelt twice because 24 hours in the mixture did almost nothing. The second time I only soaked it for 4 hours but I diluted the dye way less. In the photo below you can see how the fur is rejecting the dye.

While the pelt was soaking in the dye, I got to work on removing the beak. You’re supposed to just be able to slide that metal bar in their face out, but mine wouldn’t budge no matter what I did. I even removed the outer shell to try to get at pieces around it, but no such luck (this is why everything is open in the next few pictures). I had a custom beak I wanted to use, so the original had to come off one way or another. It took forever, but I sawed away at it with an X-Acto knife until I was able to get the beak off in pieces.

Next came the eyes. I used the well known hot glue trick where you melt the ends of glue gun sticks with a lighter, attach them to the eyes, freeze it for a little while, and then yank the eye chips out. This process worked beautifully first try and got me some of my favorite Furby pictures I’ve ever taken:

I had lots of time while the pelt was being dyed so I finished up my custom eyes. There were some really cool options on Etsy but ultimately I decided that I wanted to make my own. I traced the old eye chips onto thick mixed media paper and painted my own design with acrylic paint. Then I coated it with resin and cured it with UV light. I had a UV resin pen that I used for this. It actually didn’t work super well, the pre-mixed resin in the pen wasn’t blended well at manufacturing (is the conclusion I came to after some research) so it didn’t cure properly. It had this tacky feel to it. I had this problem all over this project, which I solved by giving everything I had painted (eye chips, eye lids, mask, beak, and tongue) a top coat of clear nail polish lol.

I also used my own waterproof mascara on her lashes. Slay.

I cut the eyes out with scissors and you can see it’s not quite perfect. Not horrible for being done by hand though! It doesn’t bother me on the finished Furby.

I painted the custom beak too. I linked it in my previous post, but I’m going to again because I can’t praise this beak from DuctTapeStuck on Etsy enough. Besides the really cool skull design, the best thing about this beak is how it has open hooks in the back. The original Furby beak has plastic that surrounds that metal bar as a closed ring, meaning that the bar has to be able to come out in order for it go on at all. Like I mentioned before, the bar on my Furby was not moving. But because DuctTapeStuck’s beak has open hooks in the back, I was able to get it onto that bar with it still on the Furby. It was a very tight fit, especially because I still had the tongue on the bar, but it was possible and that’s what matters!

By this time, the pelt was as dyed as it was ever going to get. I definitely lost control of the color but considering I was dying a synthetic under the wrong conditions, I decided that any change at all would be a good change. After I rinsed it, the body was a brownish purple and the mane was a light pink.

I pressed all the water out of the pelt with a towel and air dried it outdoors. After that, the shell and the pelt went back on and Sweetums was complete!

The earrings were some old things I found my jewelry box that I never really open. I’m glad someone is getting use out of my old stuff haha!

And that’s Sweetums! I had some challenges along the way but it was really fun solving the problems I came across. I’d really love to do more of these in the future!

[extrafluffyfurby]

I have sewing and sculpting skills, but also I've never plush-ified a furb before (let alone an 05). I'm not sure if I should plush him up, or get a cheaper color to try turning into plush. This is my favorite color of 05, and I'd love to be able to squeeze him - but I'm worried abt messing up.

He is non-working, in good physical condition besides the beak. The rubber on it is torn.

thanks yall :)

[fluffenough]

lulu, the furby who started my journey, is photo-ready again!

tl;dr i fucked up my first customization so bad and had to use a risky method to get paint off my first ever furby. but it worked! be careful kiddos!

5 years ago with no customizing knowledge, i painted her eyelids a bright blue. to my dismay, paint would not stay on a huge patch of her right eye.it was super noticable, and i futilely tried to paint over it again and again with no luck. i hadnt prepared anything to remove her paint, so it dried like that.

ever since, ive been chipping away at the paint best i could. with rubbing alcohol and paper towel. with my nails. some progress was made but around 75% of her eye still had paint on it. she looked even worse now with chipped bits all over.

i was about to give up and give her body away for parts or repair to whoever wanted it... but as i remembered her horrifically loud voice and charming personality, and the fact she was my first furby, i couldnt do it.

i asked my dad for help. i told him acetone and most paint strippers arent great for furby plastic. he agreed to try out something. first he tried chipping it off with a knife. then paint thinner. finally, he tried pvc pipe cleaner- not sure how he got this idea, but it WORKED! (its a pipe cleaner you use before you glue two pvc pipes together)

he did say the chemical did impact the plastic, so he had to work fast and rub it off once itd taken the paint off and do so very carefully. however it looks fantastic imo

basically, this is a cautionary tale lol. be prepared to take paint off if you dont like a color or something goes wrong during a custom. ive heard soapy water and a paper towel is enough

[swords-and-chaos]

✨🦞lobster glow up🦞✨

Before

✨After✨

[mossy-furby]

Snagged a Frog Furby who's going to be pamperd and made pretty ^^.

[sylvite-sylvite]

Bxby Goblin: A custom for my sister is finished!

[starcloudedsky]

did some more stuff today.. been busy..

painted the eye chips today

[sunshinefurby]

gengar furby!!

[cinniharpy]

Hello! I've got these 7 customs up for auction on my eBay! My jenday conure, Queso, had a broken clavicle earlier this summer and this ballooned into me owing the vet thousands of dollars so I'm selling some stuff to pay for my expensive cheese bird!

Please, please boost if you can!

https://www.ebay.com/usr/amandabl89

[coelacanis]

Meet Sweetums (Pt. 1)

I haven’t owned a Furby since I was a kid in 1998, which you wouldn’t expect considering how often I’ve oggled them online over the years. But I started finally looking into normal Furbys after a friend got really into customizing theirs. I guess that was the push I needed. I shopped around painstakingly for a long time because I’m an ideas person and I’ll fantasize something to death before actually doing anything about it. But then I saw an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. A few months ago I scored a cheap 1998 Furby on Mercari for $5. It doesn’t turn on but it’s in excellent condition otherwise. For $5 I figured I’d risk my first experiment.

Without further ado, meet Sweetums! She’s a Zebra Furby and started out black and white. These are before and after photos!

I named her Sweetums because she kinda has the same energy as the Sweetums from Sesame Street.

A follow-up post will come shortly after this one that goes into detail about the adventure of my process. For now I’ll just drop a link to the excellent beak I used, made by DuctTapeStuck on Etsy.

I had a really great time with this project and I’m so happy with how Sweetums turned out <3

[hinamie]

there's no furbish word for dilf :( sad :(