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