2. Homemade:
- Base: You can purchase a plain black dog collar at your local dollar or pet store, or on eBay. An even less expensive option is to buy a small strip of faux-leather fabric at your local fabric store, which is thin enough to be sewn directly onto the costume if desired. I find that belts work beautifully as well.
- Real Spikes: Spikes come in a variety of styles, but authentic CATS costumes tend to use one of the following: cone spikes, tree spikes, thin tree/bullet spikes, or hex spikes.
- Non-Metal Spikes: A cheap alternative to real spikes are painted nails golf tees. I do not recommend nails for safety reasons, but silver-painted golf tees make excellent imitation spikes.
- Studs: Studs come in a variety of styles--pyramids, stars, ovals, cones, etc. Studs fall under two categories: flat-back (require glue), and pronged (have teeth that pierce the collar and are bent to hold in place).
- Gemstones: Gemstones come in several qualities--Swarovski (the most expensive, referred to as 'rhinestones'), Czech (slightly lesser quality than Swarovski, also referred to as 'rhinestones') and Acrylic (very inexpensive, found at all craft stores, referred to as both 'gemstones' and 'rhinestones'). Stones can be glued directly on, or can be set in tiffany rims or plain rims. All rhinestones/gemstones fall under three categories: flat-back (requires glue), hot-fix (can be ironed onto fabric), and pronged (have teeth that pierce the collar and are bent to hold jewel in place). Nearly all Acrylic stones are flat-back, which is why rims are often used for extra detail and application purposes.
- Other: A
surprising number of characters have either no collar or a different
type of neck adornment, such as braided rope or fabric, a bowtie, or a
ribbon.
