[YES] Ashe the Cat Partial by Alecrim Carmim The item being reviewed is 4 years old and may not reflect the makers current style, or work. Maker Information Alecrim Carmim (ACARMIM) Based in São Paulo. Crafting since 2017. Year of Project2022 Completion Time (?)7 - 12 Months ETA AccuracyYES - the ETA was accurate An ETA is the Estimated Time of Arrival for a project. In other words, an estimated turnaround time. An ETA is not a deadline. Review Date1 October 2022 RelationshipThe maker is NOT a friendThis relationship was indicated by the reviewer at the time this review was written. Review InformationReviewerInstagram: kattwhiskerz Prior ExperienceI’m a hobbyist fursuit maker that has made 3 fursuits in the past. This is my first suit I’ve owned that’s made by somebody that isn’t myself. Wear Time30+ hrs Informed Maker of IssuesYes, one of the bows had a broken ring upon arrival and one of the strawberry seeds were loose on the tail. They told me how to fix it and even sent me a video so I could see exactly how to do it. They even sent replacement rings with the fursuit in case anything did happen. The tail was a simple hot glue fix. Ashe the Cat Partial Positive ProjectThis item was a commission Paid: A Lump Sum of $3000 - $4999 Initial Contact: December 2021 Completion/Ship Date: July 2022 Shipping Origin: Brazil Type: Partial Style: Kemono Padding: None SpeciesName: Cat Found in: Felidae(?) Features: Wings, Hair / Wig Concept Art Photos of Completed Product Overall Initial ContactTheir commissions were open at the time and I was able to submit a quote using a google form they had created. It was pretty easy to do. Shortly after they replied giving me a quote of how much it would cost and breaking it down to head part of the suit. The email did end up in my spam box but I remembered to check it and after replying to them accepting the quote no other emails were put to my spam. I paid for the suit in 2 separate installments, 50% immediately after accepting, and the other 50% right before production started. Everything was surprisingly easy! Maker CommunicationWe contacted each other via email which worked very well! They responded to any questions I had within 1-2 days which was great! They also would send all their clients a weekly email updating us on the queue and what was currently being worked on. They also used Trello and would update it at least every 1-2 weeks depending on how much they were able to get done every given week. I loved the weekly updated and miss being on the mailing list to be honest, I always looked forward to it. They were always very nice to talk to and would explain their decisions to me in a way in which I could understand. I do wish they emailed me more during production when it came to things like the eyes, nose, and fabric choices outside the fur. I did get some emails during that time but I would have liked to of been more involved. There were a couple times where I would end up reaching out to them first on certain matters that they probably should have contacted me first about. But their responses were always quick and I wish more makers did weekly updates! Project Completion TimeAlecrim Carmim advertised a 6-8 month turnaround time which my commission was completed by! It was originally expected to be completed June 2022 but did have a delay due to a variety of reasons outside my control. The delay was communicated to me however so I did not feel left in the dark. I was able to see on their trello who was ahead of me in queue and how close I was to production. I commissioned Ashe in late December 2021, she started production in early June 2022, and was finished in mid July 2022. Shipping was easy, I did not have to pay for it and I did not receive any custom fees despite it being an international package which was a welcome surprise. I was provided with a tracking number which helped me see where the package was during transit. Overall Project QualityI’m super impressed by the overall quality of this suit! It’s a very durable suit and met all my expectations. It was well worth the price I paid for it. All the pieces on the suit are very big and when worn together it’s very cohesive and such a cool look! I can see me using her for many years to come. All the markings look perfect and the color choices match the original design well. I was even able to complete the suit myself; I made a bodysuit to go with all the suit pieces, which wasn’t hard as far as suit making goes! The style of the suit is just what I expected and consistent with the maker’s style as a whole. Despite my minor quarrels and critiques with different elements of the suit, I really enjoy wearing her and the quality is outstanding. Components Head Wear SatisfactionIt fits pretty well! It’s a very big head with a good amount of breathing room inside. Due to how big it is, they have a removable adjustable helmet that you use to make the head fit you better! It can be a bit tricky to get it positioned right and get the snaps together (especially the chin snap) but they did include lots of videos to help me get the hang of it. Once I put the head on I always have to stick my fingers in through the neck hole to adjust the chin piece to make it sit on my chin better, and also to move the strap itself out of the way; this isn’t difficult for me to do though. It’s also a pretty heavy head, but it’s only really an issue for me when I carry it around, not while I’m wearing it. Overall I think it’s a pretty good system, the head would be way to big without it. The inside of the head is fully lined, along with the neck. I always wear a balaclava while suiting anyways as it keeps my hair out of my face and keeps the inside clean. The ventilation is good! The mouth is very small and I can’t fit anything through it outside of straws. The eyes are big though, which provide most of the ventilation. The head also has ear vents which is good to have; the inner helmet sort of blocks them but I haven’t had many issues with ventilation. I installed a fan into the head in front of the mouth hole and a 40mm fan fits perfectly, anything bigger would not of fit. I would definitely recommend getting a fan though I have suited without it and the head still provided good ventilation. The vision is also good! Pretty much all my vision is through the fursuit eyes, I cannot see much of anything through the mouth. There’s a small blind spot in the center of my vision and I cannot see below me (I always have to hold a hand going down steps), but that’s pretty standard for fursuit heads, especially those without mouth vision. The mesh was painted in a way so that none of the holes are clogged, the kind they use gives me great vision. The neck on the head is removable and has several pockets! I mainly use the pockets to hold the fans battery pack, but it can hold a lot of other stuff like a phone, cash, and other valuables. The neck is machine washable and survived the washing machine splendidly. The head itself is surface wash only. The inner helmet can also be machine washed and stood up to it very well. Storing the head is difficult for me due to how big it is, I’d like to keep it in a storage tub but it’s too tall to fit it into most tubs. Visual SatisfactionThe head is perfectly symmetrical along with her markings. It matches the ref they made for her perfectly! The shaving is very clean. The way they shaved the heart marking is very well done and shows off the shape of the heart beautifully. The fur they use comes from bigz fabric which is a great source for fur. It’s thick and soft. They also use different velvets in a lot of areas makers would use minky or fleece, like the tongues, ears, and other details. I like the velvet they use mainly, but I’m not a huge fan of the kind they used for her tongue, it’s very shiny, which can make it look more wet and tongue-like but my to personal preference I would have rather it been more like 1 flat color. The expression is adorable! She’s a little bit cross-eyed, but the follow-me effect is very cute. Her smile is also so cute. All the markings match the reference they made her. Before they made her suit they created a reference for her using the reference art I had given them, and we worked together to make sure all her markings were how I wanted them. Her hair is made up of 3 different strands which all have wire in them to made them posable, so I’m able to style her hair to my content. She has 2 magnetic bows that go on either side of her head which are super cute, a strawberry clip I like to have on her ear, and a magnetic bandaid that sticks to her nose! When submitting a quote I requested to have 2 strawberry clips, and 2 bows (one for her head, 1 for her tail), but instead I only got 1 strawberry clip and 2 bows for her head (along with the tail bow), so I’m a bit disappointed I only got 1 strawberry clip. I also wish the bows were a bit bigger, like they were on my original reference sheet. I’m not a huge fan of the tongues they made her (she came with 2 tongues, 1 long, 1 short), but she’s cute without them and I have the fabric to make her a new tongue if I ever want to. It’s a bit hard to pose the tongues even with the wire inside of them, they wiggle around a lot inside the fabric as I adjust them. The way to install the tongues into isn’t the best either. They have Velcro on the end of the tongues that you’re meant to sandwich between a spot inside the mouth, but I found that really difficult to do, it’s easier to just wedge them in between the teeth. The teeth themselves are made of a hallow plastic which I thought was cool, I thought they were going to be made of resin. They’re lighter than resin though so I don’t mind. The eyes have foam stars to act as highlights in them, which are super cute! But due to the foam used it’s really easy to scratch them up. I try to be really careful while handling the head, and using the eye covers when I’m not using her, however they already have numerous scratches on them which is a bit of a bummer. I assumed they would be made of resin, and I wish they were. They have a cool effect though, and you can’t see the scratches in photos. I wish the sclera of the eye was a lighter green than what they are, as in some lightings it looks the same as the actual eye color. The eyes are also fairly deep in the head, so in dimmer lighting she can come off a bit creepy. I think the eyes should have been more shallow. In good lighting the eyes look great! But I can’t always be in a well-lit environment. The seams removable neck can be fairly visible when I wear her. Since the lining and Velcro is black while the fur is white it can stand out against the contrasting fur. It may of worked better if the connected edges of the neck and head were white to blend the transition between the two pieces better. I’m also not completely satisfied with how the nose looks, the nostrils and detailing were painted but it’s not super clean and a bit dark. Some of the noses they make are semi-translucent with glitters in them, absolutely gorgeous, and I wish her nose had been similar to that. I wish I had communicated that with them beforehand but it has slipped my mind. Hands Wear SatisfactionThe hands are very big, it spreads my fingers out when I wear them which can lead to sore hands after a lot of suiting. They’re too big to do a lot of posing, and you can’t really pick anything up or do anything when wearing them. Very little dexterity while wearing them. They stay on my hands very well, but getting them back on after wearing them for awhile is hard. They get very sweaty due to how padded they are. A lot of the time I get my friend to help me put them on just because it’s easier that way. They claim that the cuff of the paws will keep the paws from flying off while wearing them but I CAN in fact shake it off with one hard shake; only intentionally though. They stay on very well. The quality is great! I put them in the washing machine and they survived without any popped seams or maintenance. The shaved fur on the fingers got a bit scruffy after washing despite my best efforts, but that’s not due to the maker. It’s more-so the fur itself. The paws are fully lined which makes them hotter than your average paws, but that’s also due to all the padding, the lining is a bit loose inside the paw and can make wiggling my fingers into the paw fingers a bit difficult. The lining is high quality over all. Alecrim puts squeakers in most of their paws but I requested to not have any which they were happy to accommodate for me. They’re definitely more for looks than functionality but I knew that when commissioning them haha. All of this was expected. Visual SatisfactionI love how the paws look! Despite how I described them in wear satisfaction, they’re so awesome. They match the reference perfectly. The shaving is great. The paws are easy to brush and I love the velvet they used for the paw pads. The paw pads are so squishy. The paws have no claws but they can make paws with claws. I just was looking for a softer aesthetic for Ashe. Not too much to say about the paws other than they’re everything I could’ve hope for visually! Tail Wear SatisfactionAshe’s tail is really fun to wear! It’s a nub tail so it doesn’t have much movement. The loop for it is big and easy to put on. The tail is durable and has had no issues with quality outside of a seed needing to be re-glued. It’s a good quality tail. Visual SatisfactionI love how her tail looks! The shape of it is adorable, it’s my favorite part of the tail. The top part of the tail is shaved to include the embroidered strawberry seeds, and it looks great! In the original concept art the seeds were going to be on the top and bottom of the tail but that didn’t work from a technical standpoint so they reached out to me about it during production and let me get a say in the seed placements. I requested a bow that could be pinned onto her tail and the bow itself is very cute! I wish it were a bit bigger, but I still like it. Overall I’m very satisfied in the appearance of the tail! Feet Wear SatisfactionThe digi feet are very big. Due to how big they are it’s hard to walk around in them; I have to take big steps and sort of waddle. Inside there is elastic to keep your foot in place, but it’s a very stretchy elastic so it isn’t as snug to my feet as I would have liked. A woven non-roll elastic would work best in this place the best in my opinion. I used the padding made for the inside of the head inside the feet by my heels to help them fit be better, but they are still quite big for me. It’s easy for my feet to get displaced while wearing them too. I get pretty worn out stomping around in them. They’re still really fun though and comfortable to wear. The quality of the feet is great! The paws have removable bottoms to switch between indoor and outdoor feet. They are attached using super strong Velcro, they stay on really well and went switching between them the Velcro doesn’t fall apart, and stays attached to it’s given surface without issue. The feetpaws are not machine washable was far as I’m aware but are easy enough to wash. The feet are fully lined inside. They are hard to store due to how big they are, but I found a storage tub big enough to fit them along with most of the other suit parts. At the time I commissioned them they had not designed digi feetpaws yet and only had plantigrade feetpaws available which I wasn’t interested in. So originally I was not going to get feetpaws from them, but when they started posting wips of the digi feet I reached out to them and upgraded the commission to include them. This was very good decision on my half, and it was easy to organize it with them. Visual SatisfactionI love how the feet look! The shaving on the toes is clean. There is slight airbrushing between the toes to help define them, which looks good! They are a solid color, just like the character design. I love how the indoor and outdoor bottoms look and have used both of them on different occasions. It really adds to the big proportions of the rest of the suit parts. I absolutely adore the feetpaws! RatingFursuitReview rates by asking the question: Would you recommend this maker? YES This review has been marked with a positive rating. This means the reviewer would recommend Alecrim Carmim. Final CommentsAshe also has a pair of wings which are so cool. They are poseable and also have a very handy pocket, I use it to carry a lot of her smaller items, along with a brush. Ashe’s design doesn’t have wings but they threw them in as a freebie due to some difficulties they were having with a different feature which didn’t end up working out (which I wasn’t paying extra for either, hello??) I would definitely recommend Alecrim Carmim to other furries! The team is so skilled at what they do. They are incredible! Way to go Alecrim Carmim team!! Are you the maker of this item? Would you like to leave an official response? Click here. In case the button above doesn't work, you can click here to launch the maker response form.
