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Costume made for Halloween 2009
(re-entering the contest because I had more pictures to add)
Wikus van de Merwe from "District 9"
Materials:
Foamcore
Nerf gun
Chip tubing
Zip ties
Ice cream container
Computer case fan
RC battery packs
A lot of hot glue
Full instructable coming soon.
(re-entering the contest because I had more pictures to add)
Wikus van de Merwe from "District 9"
Materials:
Foamcore
Nerf gun
Chip tubing
Zip ties
Ice cream container
Computer case fan
RC battery packs
A lot of hot glue
Full instructable coming soon.
I did the same thing for Halloween (almost).
Due to the inescapeable fact that I am a chick, I couldn't effectively pass for Wikus, so I was just somebody who had the same symptoms. I made my costume a bit later in the infection process than you did, making a whole arm. I didn't do a gun though. Didn't have time. I only saw the movie less than a week before halloween. I didn't have any pictures to go off of either.
The prawn arm was made in two pieces made mostly of paper-mache, fiberglass, drywall joining compound, expanding insulation foam, and glue. It sounds crappy, but It didn't look it, I promise. My hand was essentially a leather glove with three fingers made of plastic sewn to it. I spray-painted it all black, added green hilights, and then covered that with about 10 coats of clear gloss, to give that arthropodish alien shell illusion. I sacrificed some size for the ability to move my arm, but don't regret it.
My favorite part of the thing is the shoulder. I made some fake skin out of fabric and latex and painted it with stage make up the color of my skin. I attatched it to my shoulder overlapping with the edge of the prawn arm I made, and used liberal amounts of fake blood to give the illusion that it was tearing through my skin. Blood got on my face and in my hair and added to the effect. I wore a tank top to show it off and people were poking me all day trying to find out where the costume ended and the skin began.
If I'd had more time, there would be pieces of prawn flesh poking through my skin all over the place, but I think for only five days to work, I did pretty well. Everyone recognized me, and I didn't tell anyone what I was doing ahead of time, except my family.
Currently, most of my prosthetic-making ability comes from my girlfriend, who crochets the parts for me. In the future, I hope to expand this to latex and that drywall joining compound. Do you find papier-mache a useful construction method?
Currently, most of my prop-making skills are centered around hot glue, foamcore (that stuff for posters) and NERF guns (Squall's gunblade: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=34641101&l=47eb53a650&id=221196). Eventually I want to expand this to work with Bondo and joint compound. I can't really do that now because I live in a dormitory, and dealing with bits of foam from the foamcore is bad enough.
I think eventually I'll make some instructables outlining some of my low-cost and low-mess construction techniques.
I'm really glad that a bunch of people recognized you. After I saw the movie, I knew that a lot of people would like it too, and so would be more recognizable. However, I guess I was mistaken. Even the cat food didn't really help. :) I guess you can't expect most college students to have time or money for movies.