By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

The animal costumes Kacy Love of Lost Springs makes as 4-H projects are so unique that they don’t fit into any category the organization has. So the project is labeled “self-determined.”

The 12-year-old started making mascot costumes from scratch over a year ago. She got the idea online and watched videos on how to make them.

Kacy outgrew the first costume she made 1½ years ago and still has it. She made an angel dragon named Skip and sold the head and tail for $100.

Using money she saved, she purchased 1-inch foam and luxury faux fur in different textures and sizes to make the costumes.

She used hot glue to put two pieces of foam together in tube form and placed them over her head to determine the head size and shape.

After the head was formed, the fur was cut and glued to the form. Kacy cut out whatever pieces she decided to add to the head, such as eyes, nose, and ears. They were attached with hot glue.

The body pieces were glued together, and a tail attached.

Another costume was a pink and black half dog-half wolf she named Berry. She wore it at the Texas Furry Festival last spring, a yearly gathering of anthropomorphic art, science fiction, and fantasy fans held in Dallas.

Katy modeled the head, tail, and paws of a creature she named Kahat at the Lincolnville Octoberfest pet show in October. She has the complete suit. She wore the outfit at the Renaissance Festival in Kansas City last fall.

She gave a talk on her project at the county fair last summer. Sometimes, she posts pictures of her costumes on her own YouTube channel.

Katy is working on a new creature called Gill. He’s a hybrid between a cat and an underwater dragon. She plans to wear the costume at this year’s Texas Furry Festival.

“I like seeing people’s reactions and making them happy,” she said. “The costumes are expensive and hard to make, but they’re fun to wear.”

Katy is a member of the Lincolnville Wide Awake 4-H Club. Robin Pritz is her mother.