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For me, this costume has been a couple of years in the making - in my mind. In actual making, about a month and a half.
I'm a big fan of the book; 'Where the Wild Things are'. It was one of the books that I really looked forward to reading to my son, and as a result he's been hearing it since before he was old enough to really have a concept of being scared of the Wild Things.
I made him a Max Costume(book accurate) for his first experience of the New York Village Halloween Parade when he was one and a half. That was good, although most people didn't get what he was, but I really wanted a bunch of Wild Things to go with him. It wasn't until this year that I found the impetus to get on and make one, because the movie came out, and two of my friends also took the undertaking to make KW and Alexander Costumes.
This Carol Costume is intended to be as close to the movie version as possible without spending a ridiculous amount of money on things like real hair, custom dyed feathers and animatronics. To that end, there are still a number of improvements that I plan to make, and I'll deal with those in the last step.
A lot of the lessons here could be applied to making other 'Mascot' style costumes and 'Walk-around' puppets - I know from my own searches before starting that there are not many decent instructions for that sort of thing on the Internet, so hopefully this will be of use.
I'm a big fan of the book; 'Where the Wild Things are'. It was one of the books that I really looked forward to reading to my son, and as a result he's been hearing it since before he was old enough to really have a concept of being scared of the Wild Things.
I made him a Max Costume(book accurate) for his first experience of the New York Village Halloween Parade when he was one and a half. That was good, although most people didn't get what he was, but I really wanted a bunch of Wild Things to go with him. It wasn't until this year that I found the impetus to get on and make one, because the movie came out, and two of my friends also took the undertaking to make KW and Alexander Costumes.
This Carol Costume is intended to be as close to the movie version as possible without spending a ridiculous amount of money on things like real hair, custom dyed feathers and animatronics. To that end, there are still a number of improvements that I plan to make, and I'll deal with those in the last step.
A lot of the lessons here could be applied to making other 'Mascot' style costumes and 'Walk-around' puppets - I know from my own searches before starting that there are not many decent instructions for that sort of thing on the Internet, so hopefully this will be of use.
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Signing UpStep 1Build a mannequin
It's possible that you could do without this, but I found it a big help and it's reusable for all kinds of future projects. This is basically a Duct tape mannequin - you can find more detailed Instructables about this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-Dressform-from-Paper-Packing-Tape/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Duct-Tape-Dressform/
1. Get some old clothes and a TON of duct tape. You can get duct tape at a Dollar store, but the rolls end up being very short and you'll have to buy more of them. I haven't priced this out, but it might be better to go with genuine Duct Tape brand tape.
2. Put on the clothes and make sure you're all covered, ankle to wrist to neck. You can use socks to cover your arms and I wrapped a plastic bag round my neck - you just need to make sure that there is no skin exposed.
3. Have a friend or helpful passer-by wrap you all over in duct tape, leaving no gaps. It's going to be pretty tight. which is good; that will happen naturally because of how hard the duct tape is stuck to the roll. Then using EXTREME care and pair of scissors, cut you out of it. You'll be somewhat vulverable when entirely wrapped, so it might be best to ask someone you trust.
4. Tape back over the cuts and you have an exact replica of yourself. I made a rough skeleton out of 2x4 lumber to go inside and then stuffed all round it with old paper, rags, etc. I also made mine in two halves for some reason, although that's not been useful yet.
4a. Without wanting to get sidetracked into too much detail about this, I'll briefly describe the frame - all made of 2x4s. The lower half is one piece the width of my waist and two uprights screwed on to lift it to my waist height. The uprights have large holes drilled into them. There is a base, which is just a flat piece of wood with two carriage bolts pointing straight up. The carriage bolts insert into the holed in the leg uprights so the mannequin can stand vertical. The upper body has one piece the width of my shoulders and another the width of my waist. There are uprights screwed on to hold these the right distance apart, and the upper body attaches to the lower using more carriage bolts into drilled holes. The stuffing in the manekin then needs to be adjusted to get the posture right.
5. Go on, give your replica you a big hug. It feels weird.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-Dressform-from-Paper-Packing-Tape/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Duct-Tape-Dressform/
1. Get some old clothes and a TON of duct tape. You can get duct tape at a Dollar store, but the rolls end up being very short and you'll have to buy more of them. I haven't priced this out, but it might be better to go with genuine Duct Tape brand tape.
2. Put on the clothes and make sure you're all covered, ankle to wrist to neck. You can use socks to cover your arms and I wrapped a plastic bag round my neck - you just need to make sure that there is no skin exposed.
3. Have a friend or helpful passer-by wrap you all over in duct tape, leaving no gaps. It's going to be pretty tight. which is good; that will happen naturally because of how hard the duct tape is stuck to the roll. Then using EXTREME care and pair of scissors, cut you out of it. You'll be somewhat vulverable when entirely wrapped, so it might be best to ask someone you trust.
4. Tape back over the cuts and you have an exact replica of yourself. I made a rough skeleton out of 2x4 lumber to go inside and then stuffed all round it with old paper, rags, etc. I also made mine in two halves for some reason, although that's not been useful yet.
4a. Without wanting to get sidetracked into too much detail about this, I'll briefly describe the frame - all made of 2x4s. The lower half is one piece the width of my waist and two uprights screwed on to lift it to my waist height. The uprights have large holes drilled into them. There is a base, which is just a flat piece of wood with two carriage bolts pointing straight up. The carriage bolts insert into the holed in the leg uprights so the mannequin can stand vertical. The upper body has one piece the width of my shoulders and another the width of my waist. There are uprights screwed on to hold these the right distance apart, and the upper body attaches to the lower using more carriage bolts into drilled holes. The stuffing in the manekin then needs to be adjusted to get the posture right.
5. Go on, give your replica you a big hug. It feels weird.
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On a related note, if you want to make it appear as if the eyes move about and follow a viewer or camera around the room:
1) Get 4 bowls instead of 2. Two have to be clear, the others don't have to be.
2) Do what you did for these eyes, in that you paint the inside. Do this to the non-clear bowls if you don't have all the same type.
3) Glue the clear bowl tops to the painted bowl backings, so that you get a sort of 3D/somewhat spherical eyeball that only has the back half painted.
4) Once glued into your costume head, you'll see that beause the backing is concave, the pupils will appear to follow a viewer around the room. Makes for really awesome pictures, but it's very likely to scare the bejeezus out of babies and toddlers, so use at your own discretion.
I was also thinking for the eyes, if I were to make some again, that I could pool some clear resin in the bowl the size of the irises so that when you paint on the iris you get the effect of it being deep inside the eyeball.
I would think that yes, a camera flash would reflect at least partially, but that may add to realism (since real eyes reflect, too). The eyes I make myself are mostly out of non-reflective material (different construction style entirely, actually), so I paint in reflects by hand.
Yes, resin works well for making costume eyes. I've seen other people work well with it, but personally I don't like using it because it's so easy to get wrong. If you're feeling adventurous though, nothing beats follow-me 3D eyes. I've seen most people use a mold to make two resin sphere halves, paint one side and then stick the two sides together. Beware the type of paint you use on the colored side and/or how you glue in your eyes... most paints don't stick well to resin and your eyes will fall out!