Phoenix As Medusa Turning Gryphon the Soldier Into Stone

Phoenix and Gryphon are dressed up as a classic Greek myth. Phoenix is Medusa, a terrifying Gorgon monster with living venomous snakes in place of hair, known for her power to turn onlookers to stone. Gryphon the soldier attempted to defeat Medusa, but despite his best efforts, was turned to stone by Medusa’s deathly gaze.

Step 1: Making and Decorating Medusa’s Tail

Materials:

Black felt

Stuffing

Green scaly pattern fabric

Gold fabric

Greenish brown iridescent fabric

White puffy paint

Medusa is a serpent like mythological creature who is usually described as having a long snake or serpent like tail that she slithers on when she walks. To create this tail, we made a tail base by first sewing black felt into a wavy tail shape, and using lots of stuffing to give it a big puffy look. The felt was used to make the tail strong and sturdy. We then cut the greenish brown fabric into diamond scale-like shapes, and glued them onto the tail base in overlapping layers. We covered the entire tail in this way, to give it a snake-like texture. We made green fin shapes out of the green scaly fabric, which were stuffed lightly to give them shape, and then sewed along one edge of the tail. To complete the tail, we cut half circle shapes out of gold fabric, which we glued along the inside of the tail, to create the snake belly look that snakes usually have. We outlined all of the gold shapes in white puffy paint to make them stand out.

Step 2: Medusa’s Dress

Materials:

Various pieces from costumes

Cream colored shirt

Stuffing

Greenish brown iridescent fabric

Gold fabric

White puffy paint

To make the main part of Medusa’s outfit, we put together pieces of different costumes we found to create a feminine yet snake-like dress. We used a plain cream colored shirt to create the shoulders and arms. We stuffed the shoulders and arms with stuffing, which we glued in place, so it wouldn’t shift when wearing it. The top chest area was a piece of a sleeveless green glittery top, which was glued atop the cream shirt, with the cream colored arms sticking out of the sleeves. The skirt part was created from the same fabric as the tail, made into a tube-like skirt. This way the leg area would transition into the tail more seamlessly. We extended the gold fabric snake belly half circles onto the skirt as well, outlined in the white puffy paint, so that when the bottom of the dress and the tail were attached together, they would look like one long piece.

Step 3: Medusa’s Headpiece

Materials:

Wire tubes

Wired sequin roll

Green springy pieces

Plastic snake heads

Red jewels

Foam coated wire frame

Green paint

Glitter paint

Medusa’s headpiece needed to look like a mass of writhing snakes, which is Medusa’s defining feature. This headpiece was created by using a foam coated wire frame as the base, and adding wire tubes painted green with glitter; with plastic snake heads glued to the ends. Small red jewels were added for the snake eyes. Many layers of these snakes were added to make it look very full. Strips of wired sequins and green springy pieces were also added, to complete the look.

Step 4: Medusa’s Hands

Materials:

Cream colored gloves

Stuffing

Acrylic nails

Green nail polish

Snake skin duct tape

Medusa has the hands of a woman, but with the claws of a hideous creature. To make the hands, we first stuffed cream colored gloves, which would be attached to the ends of the arms. For the nails, we used long acrylic nails, which we cut into sharp point shapes. We painted them green with nail polish. We also gave them a crazy french manicure, using snake skin duct tape to cover up the tips. We then glued each nail onto the fingertips of the gloves.

Step 5: Medusa Accessories

Materials:

Gold sheer shawl

Gold snake headband

Gold fabric band bracelets

Small rubber snakes

Snake staff

Red stiff felt

To complete Medusa’s look, we added a few accessories. We put a gold sheer shawl around her shoulders. We repurposed a gold snake headband, stringing it to be like a necklace for Medusa to wear. We added gold fabric band bracelets, and glued small rubber snakes onto them. We added a snake staff she could hold. Finally, Medusa has a long forked tongue, which we created by cutting that shape out of red stiff felt, which Phoenix was able to hold in his mouth.

Step 6: Soldier Outfit

Materials:

Roman soldier costume

Roman soldier helmet

Rubber boots

White t-shirt

Gray pants

Stuffing

Gray gloves

Stone texture spray paint

The soldier who comes to try to defeat Medusa is turned to stone by her evil gaze. We wanted to recreate the stone look. To do this, we got a soldier costume intended for a human, and adapted it for a dog. We spray painted each piece with a special stone texture spray paint, first doing one side, and then the other when it dried. We used a shirt underneath, to create the arms, which we stuffed, gluing the stuffing in place. We also stuffed gloves to attach to the ends of the arms. We stuffed the pants and attached them to the front of the tunic, so they would hang down and cover the dog’s real legs. We added the boots to the bottoms of the pants. All of these pieces, the shirt sleeves, gloves, boots, pants, and the helmet all had to be sprayed with the stone paint. This took a long time, but created a really cool effect.

Step 7: Soldier Accessories

Materials:

Sword

Shield

Cape

Stone texture spray paint

To complete the soldier look, we added a sword, shield, and cape. All of these pieces were also sprayed with stone texture spray paint. The sword and shield were attached to the fingers of the gloves, and tied in place, to look like he was holding them.

Step 8: Soldier Makeup

Materials:

Gray dog chalk

To make Gryphon’s face look like it was starting to turn to stone as well, we used a pet safe gray dog chalk. We rubbed this chalk all over his face, being careful to avoid his eyes, nose and mouth. It gave him a little bit of a gray appearance to add to the look.