How to Make What Nightmares Are Made of Costume

by Manbuddha

65K23421

Intro: How to Make What Nightmares Are Made of Costume

I have dreamed about becoming a creature like this since I saw "The Dark crystal"( landstriders scene) when I was a child. Way into my adult life now I went to see circ de soleil, while watching the blank face crutch walkers, it hit me, why don’t I combine them both. When I did a search on line it turns out there are others with the same idea (Thank you Garen and Mellissa for the info aka. Stilt Spirits). This creature I refer to as "what nightmares are made of" is 7 feet tall and primarily made of recycled foam. An old foam eggcrate mattress, duct tape (that has been spray painted black) coffee dyed cheese cloth and dollar store spooky cloth. I used old wooden crutches, I modified to make taller since they only go to 6.6ft. The most expensive thing was the dry wall stilts that I bought, which I found out is cheaper than making stilts from wood. My dream/nightmare has come true!


Material list:
  • Recycled foam at least 1in thick (I like foam with patterns on it more organic)
  • 2 or 3 packages of poly-fil tru-foam 27in x 72in x 1in
  • 1/2in to 1in Foam Eggcrate Mattress (Mine was recycled so it was to flat)
  • Duct tape
  • 2 or 3 cans black spray painted
  • 1 can of tan spray paint
  • 3 or 4 packages of cheese cloth (6 yd x 36in)
  • Coffee or Fabric Dye (I used grey RIT) to dye cheese cloth
  • Dollar store spooky cloth or any other torn type cloth (more ripped the better)
  • Brown or gray yarn
  • Small yarn sewing needle
  • Some button ends or something to tie off yarn
  • A bunch of Black tie wraps
  • Glue sticks
  • A pair of Wooden crutches (depending on your height, I used large)
  • A pair of stilts (I used spackle stilts)
  • wire
  • Blank theatrical mask
  • Card board or foam core to cut template out
  • permanent marker

Tools needed:
  • Glue gun
  • Sharp utility blade
  • Philips head screwdriver or something to poke holes with
  • Card board scraps to spread the hot glue


Costume by: Manbuddha
Music by: Kevin Macleod

18 Comments

romanreign 7 years ago

How do u actually make it though I want to make it for a haunted house this year

patatarium 9 years ago

Is the best costume ever! I do this and I will modify it !

mpanahon1 10 years ago

https://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/F4S/AE2N/HP0CMC19/F4SAE2NHP0CMC19.THUMB.jpg

here it is

mpanahon1 10 years ago

i did one. last nov. 2 2013 on our community and i won the 1st prize. worth it

justanothergeek 10 years ago

I am gonna scare the heck out of the kids on my street next year:D

Lazabeam 11 years ago

FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!
you got a crazy mind..... I like it!!

jiangpanda 11 years ago

Those are called "stilt spirits" saw it on you tube and that's what they're called.

uberdreww 11 years ago

This is great, I am gonna make this for Halloween this year. :D

albertkelley25 11 years ago

awesome i found what i am going to be for halloween

Replicator 11 years ago

Freeking awesome! noe you gotta learn to run in it like the landstriders :D

owlart101 12 years ago

This, Is, INCREDIBLE! I love, great job!

Teqrose66 12 years ago

Thanks for sharing ...... that is the best thing I have seen this year for Halloween with so many people just repeating stuff that is totally unique!!! thanks again.

Kozz 12 years ago

That's amazing. Thank you for sharing! Great instructables are this: just seeing what is possible makes me think about all the ways to tackle similar challenges, even experimentation with different materials in unconventional ways. Nicely done! Love the videos!

sunshiine 12 years ago

Amazing! I love it! Totally awesome. thanks for sharing. Sunshiine