About my halloween costume (without giving it away)
Summary: $200 + 25 hours so far
Costume design
This year I made sure to take these things into consideration:
-Going to the bathroom easily/quickly (with or without total or partial removal of pieces)
-Sitting down
-Being able to free my hands and hold things like food, drink, open doorknobs, etc
-Lightweight/comfortable to wear
-Make sure it's at least possible (if not easy) to climb stairs in it
-Make sure the eye holes are sufficient to allow me to see people's reactions
Paper Mache
I had to learn how to paper mache from scratch. Here's what I learned.
Glue
-Mix 1 part cheap white flour (bleached-- the kind that does not say 'unbleached') with 1 part water to make the glue
-Newspaper pieces can be large, medium, or small, and hand torn into any shape depending on the area you are placing it
-I needed a lot more glue and a lot less newspaper than I originally thought (a total of 2 complete newspapers and 10 cups flour).
-Do not dip the paper directly into the glue. Dip your hands in the glue and smear it on each piece (helps prevent tearing, clumping, and glue excess).
-There should be a total of only 3-4 layers of newspaper in a given spot to allow it to dry properly. You can add more after it dries but 3-4 was enough for me.
-Next time I want to try Elmer's Art Paste instead of flour glue, because flour glue is at risk for bugs thinking it's tasty (but I have heard that flour glue has the best gluing abilities, so if flour glue is much stronger then I will go back to flour glue but will add salt)
-typical batch is 2 cups flour + 2 cups water + tablespoon of salt in a large mixing bowl (this lasted me about 2 hours of solid mache time)
-takes about 2 days to dry, 3 days in spots with more than 4 layers
-I covered my livingroom floor in plastic sheeting to protect it from stray glue drops. After the drops dry, they flake off and can be swept, vacuumed, or wet mopped.
Armature:
-My costume is mostly paper mache sculpture. The paper mache is just the top layer, underneath there is an armature, a skeleton upon which the mache was applied.
-To make the armature I used 1/4" hardware cloth (steel mesh: http://itjustdawnedonme.com/wp-content/hardwarecloth.jpg). I could not find chicken wire and in the end, I am glad I used the mesh anyway. The mesh is stronger and gives me more confidence in the strength of the pieces.
-Use leather gloves while handling the hardware cloth. Be aware that sharp edges can still puncture the leather gloves.
-For the head piece I first made an armor-like shell that fit my body well, then I worried about the exterior appearance. (So the inside shape is different from the outside shape; the inside shape is custom fit to my body.)
-For pieces of armature that touch the body, cover sharp edges with masking tape or tin foil to avoid injuries while trying it on
-Attach pieces of hardware cloth together using zap straps, quick, easy, cheap
-Use hardware cloth for the basic structure and parts that need strength. For texture, surface shaping, or padding, use crumpled up newspaper or tin foil (taped in place on top of the hardware cloth). For surface shapes that requires a specific and/or hard-edge shape, use cardboard (cheaper and has smoother edges).
-It was helpful to me to build something to set the armature down on (something to imitate my body wearing the thing) while I paper mached it. This was pretty much required because the hardware cloth structure alone could not support its own weight when laying sideways.
-I only mached the visible parts. You can still see the hardware cloth from inside the armature.
Things I bought (Total: ~$200)
-one roll of 1/4" hardware cloth (2' x 5') (~ $20)
-one roll of 1/4" hardware cloth (3' x 5') (~ $25)
-face paint (~$4)
-zap straps (~$3)
-tin foil (~$5?)
-flour (~$5?)
-masking tape (~$2)
-glue gun & glue gun accessories (~$50)
-paint (~$25)
-*TOP SECRET* (~$35)
-elastic (~$1)
-appropriate-colored clothes (~$20)
Supplies and tools I already had
-zap straps
-pliers, tin snips, scissors
-masking tape
-duct tape (clear)
-leather gloves
-paint brushes, etc.
-styrofoam head
Recycled materials
-newspapers
-egg carton
-toilet paper and paper towel rolls
-cardboard
How much time I spent
-5 hours travel/shopping
-10 hours building the armature
-10 hours paper macheing
-TBD painting, assembly, & final touches
Injuries received
-scratches on my arm from pulling the hardware cloth off of the shelf at home depot
-scratches on my hand from being lazy and not putting on the leather gloves one time when fixing something on the armature
-puncture wound on my thumb where I got stabbed through the leather glove by the hardware cloth
-aches and pains from sitting on the floor
Costume design
This year I made sure to take these things into consideration:
-Going to the bathroom easily/quickly (with or without total or partial removal of pieces)
-Sitting down
-Being able to free my hands and hold things like food, drink, open doorknobs, etc
-Lightweight/comfortable to wear
-Make sure it's at least possible (if not easy) to climb stairs in it
-Make sure the eye holes are sufficient to allow me to see people's reactions
Paper Mache
I had to learn how to paper mache from scratch. Here's what I learned.
Glue
-Mix 1 part cheap white flour (bleached-- the kind that does not say 'unbleached') with 1 part water to make the glue
-Newspaper pieces can be large, medium, or small, and hand torn into any shape depending on the area you are placing it
-I needed a lot more glue and a lot less newspaper than I originally thought (a total of 2 complete newspapers and 10 cups flour).
-Do not dip the paper directly into the glue. Dip your hands in the glue and smear it on each piece (helps prevent tearing, clumping, and glue excess).
-There should be a total of only 3-4 layers of newspaper in a given spot to allow it to dry properly. You can add more after it dries but 3-4 was enough for me.
-Next time I want to try Elmer's Art Paste instead of flour glue, because flour glue is at risk for bugs thinking it's tasty (but I have heard that flour glue has the best gluing abilities, so if flour glue is much stronger then I will go back to flour glue but will add salt)
-typical batch is 2 cups flour + 2 cups water + tablespoon of salt in a large mixing bowl (this lasted me about 2 hours of solid mache time)
-takes about 2 days to dry, 3 days in spots with more than 4 layers
-I covered my livingroom floor in plastic sheeting to protect it from stray glue drops. After the drops dry, they flake off and can be swept, vacuumed, or wet mopped.
Armature:
-My costume is mostly paper mache sculpture. The paper mache is just the top layer, underneath there is an armature, a skeleton upon which the mache was applied.
-To make the armature I used 1/4" hardware cloth (steel mesh: http://itjustdawnedonme.com/wp-content/hardwarecloth.jpg). I could not find chicken wire and in the end, I am glad I used the mesh anyway. The mesh is stronger and gives me more confidence in the strength of the pieces.
-Use leather gloves while handling the hardware cloth. Be aware that sharp edges can still puncture the leather gloves.
-For the head piece I first made an armor-like shell that fit my body well, then I worried about the exterior appearance. (So the inside shape is different from the outside shape; the inside shape is custom fit to my body.)
-For pieces of armature that touch the body, cover sharp edges with masking tape or tin foil to avoid injuries while trying it on
-Attach pieces of hardware cloth together using zap straps, quick, easy, cheap
-Use hardware cloth for the basic structure and parts that need strength. For texture, surface shaping, or padding, use crumpled up newspaper or tin foil (taped in place on top of the hardware cloth). For surface shapes that requires a specific and/or hard-edge shape, use cardboard (cheaper and has smoother edges).
-It was helpful to me to build something to set the armature down on (something to imitate my body wearing the thing) while I paper mached it. This was pretty much required because the hardware cloth structure alone could not support its own weight when laying sideways.
-I only mached the visible parts. You can still see the hardware cloth from inside the armature.
Things I bought (Total: ~$200)
-one roll of 1/4" hardware cloth (2' x 5') (~ $20)
-one roll of 1/4" hardware cloth (3' x 5') (~ $25)
-face paint (~$4)
-zap straps (~$3)
-tin foil (~$5?)
-flour (~$5?)
-masking tape (~$2)
-glue gun & glue gun accessories (~$50)
-paint (~$25)
-*TOP SECRET* (~$35)
-elastic (~$1)
-appropriate-colored clothes (~$20)
Supplies and tools I already had
-zap straps
-pliers, tin snips, scissors
-masking tape
-duct tape (clear)
-leather gloves
-paint brushes, etc.
-styrofoam head
Recycled materials
-newspapers
-egg carton
-toilet paper and paper towel rolls
-cardboard
How much time I spent
-5 hours travel/shopping
-10 hours building the armature
-10 hours paper macheing
-TBD painting, assembly, & final touches
Injuries received
-scratches on my arm from pulling the hardware cloth off of the shelf at home depot
-scratches on my hand from being lazy and not putting on the leather gloves one time when fixing something on the armature
-puncture wound on my thumb where I got stabbed through the leather glove by the hardware cloth
-aches and pains from sitting on the floor