Oscar the Grouch

Oscar the Grouch is my newest costume. I'm going to attempt to describe how you can make this. This costume took around 50 hours and the cost was around $150.

What you'll need:
- Green Fabric / Fur - 2 Yards (I went to this site - http://www.fabricempire.com/mongolian-faux-fur-olive-green.aspx)
- 2 - 4 inch styrofoam balls (for the eyes)
- Lots of hot glue (I used 2 bags) and gun
- 1 - 20 gallon tin garbage can
- Pipe insulation (to protect your arms for the holes you cut out in the can)
- White paint
- Black paint or sharpie
- Coveralls
- 1 zipper 40+ inches
- 1 pair of garden gloves
- Wire coat hangers (for eyebrows and hands)
- Brown spray paint
- 1 - 15 inch rubber ball
- A good amount of Paper Mache.
- A pair of Scissors
- 1 yard of black cloth
- 1 small piece of red cloth
- 2 - 2 foot Pvc Pipes
- 2 L shape Pvc connectors
- Duct Tape

Step 1: Oscar's Head - Part 1

This step was prob the most time consuming. I had a hard time deciding on what size his head should  be. Ultimately, I ended up using a 15" inflatable toy ball. Considering how many time I resized and reduced the size of this, I now suggest just using a basket ball or similar size. I then used paper mache over the ball. Once it was dry, I just stabbed it and started cutting it in half and then almost into quarters. I then took one top half / quarter and attached them together with a piece of cardboard and hot glue.

The green strap on the top is what holds my 3 fingers (middle, index, and pinky). I attached this strap with hot glue. And then my thumb goes into the bottom loop. The pointer finger goes into the blue loop to move the eyebrows (see step 2).

Comments

[sheinonen]

Amazing. Looks like he came off the set of Sesame Street!

[kazmataz]

This is fantastic! Now all we need is a Slimey the Worm, and the gang's complete.

[ChrysN]

Awesome, I love how you can move his eyebrows too, nicely done!

[porcupinemamma]

Absolutely Fabulous!!!!!!!!!!

[Manbuddha]

you got shafted!!! you should have one first place!!!this costume is awesome ...Who Does't love Muppet's... brilliant!!! Oscar rocks all sesame street!

[alejzp]

Ohhhh very very nice... I have thought about doing this costume but I had a doubt since the first time I saw it... it is regarding the head... And now that I see you did it so well I'll ask you and hopefully you can help me...

OK you have the paper mache head ready, you cut it in half and then in quarter as the main guy explained... when you attach the cardboard to make the mouth how deep does it go? I mean from the whole circule the hard palade lets call it how deep into the mouth goes? is it half of the circle so that you have space for your hand?

Another question I have is if the semicircle you have lets say the top part of the head is it the hole circle or you also have to cut some of the paper mache on the back of the head? is the back of the head soft or hard?

[amenhotep4]

We did it!!! Best Costume Ever!!!!
We went for the more traditional Bruno with the jacket and the red shirt. I can't even look at Oscar anymore, he creeps me out. http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FO1/FQ9S/H8CVL5Y0/FO1FQ9SH8CVL5Y0.THUMB.jpg

[GB_Costumes]

Nice job! Looks great!

[amenhotep4]

do you remember what the approximate dimension of the body is?

[detroitgrass]

Looking at the parts list. It says you used a tin can. All I can find are stainless steel trash cans. Where did you buy the tin can? Also, if you cut the 4 inch ball in half for the eyes, you only need one 4 inch ball.

[GB_Costumes]

Yeah, stainless, buy just 1. Sorry I blew up.

[Makkie74]

It's great! I'm a guy from the netherlands , and i'm going to make this custume!!!
I'll hope its going to be easy..

Thanks.

Makkie

[seanpbell]

I am going to keep my eye out for a old beat up trash can and when i see one im taking it and replacing it with a brand new one ,im sure the owner of the can wont mind at all for the upgrade,how did u go about covering the back of the head and neck areas ?

[GB_Costumes]

I just used the green fur and glued it... Took lots of patince and glue... I also, posted on facebook asking for a old used tin garbage can before I purchased one.

[seanpbell]

great costume im woreking on one for next year, i plan on installing a very small speaker either in the front of the can or in his head and download a bunch of sayings onto an mp3 player which will bev in the mouth which i can control with my hand,im wondering how did the head hold up with just paper mache? i have made something similar but covered it with fiberglass but i think it may get to be av little heavy. so you have to take it off to use the bathroom? is your hand inside his head or behind the head under the fur?could u post a diagram of how the eyebrows are rigged up ,i think i got an idea of how it is but i want to make sure

[ftt]

Is the top section of the head bigger than the bottom section?

[GB_Costumes]

No they are they same size.

[SteveGerber]

This is a great costume! I'm thinking it would be even more awesome if you could make him talk. One way would be to have a set of prerecorded digitally recorded phrases that you could trigger, but the phrase set might get old rather fast since Oscar couldn't really hold a conversation. Perhaps a better solution would be to give yourself a costume that covers your whole head (Bert or Ernie perhaps?) and then have a toggled microphone leading to a speaker inside Oscars mouth. That way you could speak for Oscar (insulting people in the proper context) without anyone seeing your mouth move. You'd want to rig your own costume mouth to move too, of course, so you could have conversations with Oscar. Or maybe your costume could be the muppet Beaker would doesn't talk too much. ;)

[GB_Costumes]

I feel like mastering vantriloquism would be easier...

[mntbkrguy]

First: Awesome Job!

In the show the garbage man has a rather simple face and never talks so Steve's idea of wearing a mask would work and no need for the sound system or moving parts on another mask.

I am don't think it's needed because my first thought was how do you drink your beer with your hands in the puppet! but I am sure Oscar can be somewhat helpful in holding the glass.

Again great job! I was completely thrown off in the video trying to figure out how you controlled the puppet.

[SteveGerber]

I didn't remember that there was a trash man on Sesame Street, but apparently his name is Bruno.

[mntbkrguy]

That's him, I didn't realize his garbage can was so dinged up That would be an easy detail to add.

[GB_Costumes]

Also, Thanks for the comments!!

[GB_Costumes]

Yeah, I thought about doing that. But like you said, you didn't realize it looked like this. I figured nobody else would either. This costume takes a long time to make as it is. But could you share what you would do to add this look?

[mntbkrguy]

This is just off the top of my head off the top of my head, but I might see if scrubbing it with some scotch-bright pads and then some baking soda. I am not sure if that will have the same effect as the patina on an old garbage can but it may add some age. If you do want to try it maybe do the bottom or where it will be against your chest so no one will see it if it's not going to work. I haven't messed with the different chemicals that speed up the aging process of metals but it is definitely on my list.

You are completely right about no one noticing. I can see everyone so enamored by Oscar who would pick out something like the condition of the garbage can. It only stood out after seeing a side by side comparison.
Again great work!

[svassair]

Where did you get a 20 gallon tin garbage can?

[GB_Costumes]

I found this at Menards. Any hardware shop should have one.

[amenhotep4]

Do you have approximate dimensions of the pieces of fur you cut for the body and the length of the arms? This is the greatest thing I've ever seen. The only problem with showing up at a party in this is trying to top it next year.

[SHIFT!]

"This is a terrible, terrible idea and a horrible Instructable. Truly the worst costume I've ever seen on this site." (Remember everything is backwards for Grouches, so I actually LOVE this muppet replica! But don't tell Oscar-he hates to be loved.)

[dennisdiamond]

WOW!!! NIce job!!

[zzebrowski]

Awesome. So jealous.

[GaryB101]

Mass props to you! That's beautiful!

[skipernicus]

That is a beautiful thing - a clever illusion. Since you did so much work making the costume animated, I really want to see it in motion.

[haventmadeabombyet]

I'd hate to wear this at a crowded party, but so far this is my favorite Halloween Instructable . Nice job on the arms, btw.

[tburke3]

Very cool costume of my all time favorite Muppet!

[alejzp]

Hello, I am so thrilled by your costume that feel I need to make it...

I have a question mainly for the head... when you cut the paper mache ball in half and then in quarter you did it to shape the head into a flatter ball right?

Then when you put the cardboard to the mouth did you do it all the way around or until like the middle of the paper mache halfs so that the mouth is not that deep in? I don't know if you understand exactly what I mean but the head/mouth/eyebrow part was the hardest to undertand... I just looooooove it...

[GB_Costumes]

Yeah, that's why I did that. Because Oscar's head is not a ball. It's an oval.

As for his mouth, I guess you could just fold a cardboard circle in half and glue that to the top and bottom on each quarter. So yeah, I didn't want his mouth to go far back.

Also, this was very time consuming... Much harder to make than I thought it would be. But hopefully, this tutorial helps.

Thanks for the question!

[mikeasaurus]

Love it!

[Honus]

That is awesome!!

[lamaredskin]

quick question i i cant grasp how u made his eyebrows and mouth move?