TMNT Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Costumes and Masks

This is a tutorial on the entire Ninja turtle collection. I made the shells, the eye masks, the chest piece, pants, the mascot head and the latex mask. I won't get too much into the latex mask in this instructables but I will do a separate one. I made all 4 turtles. I ran out of green fabric so I made the girls outfit then.

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Step 1: Making the Shells

I made the shells out of paper mache. Instead of using a punch balloon I used a huge yoga ball . The top half only. dry over night.
I them cut the ridges out. my yoga ball has lines on it which came out in the shell so it was easy to cut it evenly.
for stability I rolled up a piece of cardboard and glued it directly in the center of the inside. ( I didn't get a pic of that). that way when I glued the cardboard across it, it was pretty strong. I also glued cardboard to each of the ridges. using hot glue.
I spray painted both sides of the shell and added some detail with a brush and acrylic paints.
I cut 4 long pieces of fabric per she'll and glued them on the inside. This allows the child to tie them diagonal or just around their arms like a backpack.
I have seen this done a lot better with chicken wire instead of cardboard but I have never tried it.

Step 2: The Chest Piece and Girls Outfit

This is a thick yellow fleece. I need 2 yards and didn't have enough for the 4th so I just used what I had left for the girls top. double layer fabric, sewed inside out. The straps are also sewed into the seam. they tie around the neck and waist.
Once it's sewed and turned right side out. I used a single stitch down the middle and across to create the 6 pack.
Looking back I should have gotten a shiny fabric for this part.
The girls outfit was made using the leftover green fabric with the yellow fleece down the chesy. I sewed ribbons to the top for straps. The skirt was made using a ruffle trim...super easy, Elastic waisy.

Step 3: The Masks and Ties

The ties are as follows: 2 for the knees, 2 for the arms, 2 for the shell and 2 for the masks. These were time consuming. But 8 ties X 4 turtles!! The ones for the shell are significantly longer than the rest.
the mask is felt and hand cut and I sewed ties on the sides.

Step 4: The Mascot Head

If you have seen any of my instructables. ...you know the drill. punch balloon, paper mache, dry over night. 4 pieces of fabric cut to points on 1 side, sewed together.
The only difference this time is I used the balloon sideways.
I also added some stuffing for the snout. The eyes are foam. The mask is made much like the other masks only larger.

Step 5: The Latex Mask

These were sculpted out of clay. molded with Plaster of Paris and ran with latex from Magic makers. I used acrylic paints mixed with just a bit of latex. they are 1/2 masks with Elastic in the back.
I did the new mask design for Donatello and also the original masks.
They are all the same mask just painted differently.