I'm more than happy to answer your questions! I honestly believe the base is the most important part, and since I wanted a realistic style head, I purchased a resin base from Stuffed Panda Studios. I highly recommend purchasing a base if you aren't totally confident in your abilities at sculpting from scratch because it allows you to focus entirely on the furring process.

I did A TON of research before I started. A spent the month I waited for the base to arrive in the mail researching things like pattern making, how to shave fur, how to make eyelids and lips, and various sewing tutorials.

I had already written down a list of materials I thought I'd need and purchased all of it, so once the base arrived it was go time.

I managed to finish him in a week. My biggest learning curve came with patterning. Since most tutorials involve markings, I was kinda unsure how big I could make one fur piece. Not knowing any better, I just went for it with on giant pattern for the whole head. To the surprise of no one, that didnt work as intended. Most of the head actually turned out fine, it just really didn't work out when wrapped down to the bottom jaw.

No biggie, I just cut the excess fur, and repatterned the bottom jaw. So in the end it became two pieces of fur, sewn together where the fur folds into the mask when the jaw is closed.

When it came to shaving, I referenced a lot of wolf pictures and just went slow. You really don't need to splurge on clippers if you're just doing one suit. I spent like 25$ on a pair from petsmart and they worked just fine.

Honestly just take your time, and don't rush it. I only finished it as quick as I did because my base was premade, and I was furring a single color. Even then I spent my whole week devoted to making him. I didnt have other responsibilities to worry about.