Phoenix and Gryphon in "Little Shop of Horrors"

Everybody better beware! The Little Shop of Horrors is open for business. Gryphon is playing the part of Seymour, the young florist shop clerk who stumbles upon a very unusual plant, which he names Audrey II. Phoenix plays Audrey II, the man eating plant from outer space who is out for blood. Seymour is feeding drops of blood from his finger into Audrey II's gaping toothy mouth. This causes the plant to grow and grow, and it's tendrils continue to spread until they are taking over the florist shop, and just might take over the world.

Step 1: Making Audrey II’s Headpiece

Materials:

Plant Headpiece

White Stiff Felt

Dental Floss

Wire

Glue Gun

Branches

Artificial Leaves

To make the Audrey II headpiece, we started with a plant headpiece intended for a human costume. We cut off some of the hood, and used dental floss and wire to shape it to fit onto a dog’s head. We added sharp teeth, which we made by cutting triangles out of white stiff felt and gluing them all along the inside of the mouth with a glue gun. We also had a crown of leaves to extend the leafy look, which was branches twisted together with artificial leaves woven into it.

Step 2: Making Tendrils and Leaves

Materials:

Green Jumbo Chenille Stems

Artificial Leaves

Glue Gun

Green Felt

Thick Wire

Green Glitter

We needed to make the plant look like it was spreading everywhere with lots of tendrils crawling out of it everywhere. We made the tendrils out of green jumbo chenille stems. These could be bent and shaped into arms and wavy vines. We cut artificial leaves into a spiky shape, and glued them all along the chenille stems for a thorny look. We also added large leaves to be like the hands of the plant. To make these, we cut green felt into leaf shapes. We then sandwiched pairs of shapes over thick wire, which was bent into the shape and glue gunned in place. We decorated the leaves with green glitter, drawing on veins and lines.

Step 3: Making the Flower Pot and Attaching Tendrils

Materials:

Large Garden Pot

Glue Gun

Tendrils

Green Felt

For the plant’s pot, we found a garden pot that was very large and light. We cut out the bottom with scissors, which took a little persistence. The pot was then able to slip easily over the dog’s head. We then attached the tendrils we had created, gluing them coming out from the inside of the pot in various spots. We also glued some pieces of green felt cut into a leafy pattern from the bottom of the pot, to hang over and cover the dog’s paws.

Step 4: Making the Tongue

Materials:

Red Felt

Fabric Stiffener

Plastic Cups

Paper Clips

Popsicle Stick

Glue

Black Puffy Paint

To make Audrey II’s large and curvy tongue, we started by cutting a very long tongue shape out of red felt. We then painted it with fabric stiffener. To get the wavy shape, we let it dry looped up and down over plastic cups, and secured it with paper clips. After it was dry, we attached it to a popsicle stick, to allow the dog to hold it easily in his mouth. We also decorated it by using black puffy paint to outline the tongue and to draw a line down the center of it.

Step 5: Making the Leafy Nose Decoration

Materials:

Elastic

Artificial Leaves

Green Fun Fur Yarn

Glue

We wanted to add a little more leafiness to the dog’s face, so we created a ring of leaves to go around his snout. We did this by making a circle of thin elastic, which fit very lightly and loosely around his snout. We then glued on bits of leaves and green fun fur yarn.

Step 6: Stuffing and Attaching Seymour’s Clothing

Materials:

Button Down Shirt

Argyle Sweater Vest

Skin Colored Gloves

Grayish Pants

Stuffing

Boots

Glue

Stapler

For the Seymour costume, we had to stuff and attach together clothing to match the type of outfit Seymour wears. We used a man’s button down shirt with an argyle sweater vest over it. We stuffed the arms and shoulders of these pieces, gluing the stuffing in place. For the hands, we used tannish skin colored gloves, which we stuffed and glued onto the ends of the sleeves. For the pants, we used grayish pants, which we stuffed completely. We then attached them to the front side of the shirt, so they would hang down over the dog’s legs. We used old boots and stapled them to the bottom of the pants.

Step 7: Embellishing Seymour’s Hand

Materials:

Tan Glove

Band-Aids

Bandages

Glue Gun

Red Permanent Marker

We wanted to make it look as if Seymour had been cutting his fingers to feed the plant drops of blood from his hand, like in the story. So we decorated one of the tan gloves with band-aids and bandages. We also created blood to drip down from one of the fingers. We squeezed glue from the glue gun into droplet shapes onto tinfoil. When they dried, we peeled them off and colored them red with a permanent marker. We then glued these droplets onto one of the fingers.

Step 8: Seymour’s Accessories

Materials:

Short Dark Wig

Tan Baseball Cap

Nerd Glasses

To finish off Seymour’s costume, we found accessories to look like the character. We added a short dark wig for his hair, with a tan baseball cap atop it. Finally we added glasses, which are Seymour’s signature look.

Step 9: Creating the Little Shop Background

Materials:

Shelves

Plastic Pots

Artificial Flowers

Sturdy Box

Woodgrain Wrapping Paper

Plastic Door Facade

Foamboard

Open/Closed Sign

Cabinet Knob

Small Table

Toy Cash Register

We wanted to create a background to go with this scene, to take pictures and show it off to people. We wanted to create the florist shop where “Little Shop of Horrors” takes place. We found some old shelves, and added plastic pots with artificial flowers. We made a platform for Seymour to sit on as well. We used a sturdy box, which we covered with wrapping paper with a woodgrain design. We added writing about Potting Soil, which we printed with a fun font off the computer and glued on. We added a door, which we made by attaching a plastic door facade onto foamboard. We hung a real little Open/Closed sign, and attached a cabinet knob for the doorknob, pushing it through the foamboard and screwing it on. We also added a little table with a toy cash register.