Step 1: Too much foam!

[saxikath]

(filter: The Insane Costuming Project)

Welcome to the Insane Costuming Project. At the request of history_grrl, I'm attempting to make three "creepy and otherworldly," vaguely squid-like things. Behind the cut is my initial sketch, which is too much jellyfish and not enough squid, so the headpieces will be more conical than this.





My best friend dotknocker and I went shopping this weekend so I could get supplies. My instructions were to have one of the three be larger than the other two; the large one should be silver, and the other two should be contrasting. After much hemming and hawing at my favorite cheap fabric store, I found great silver fabric, and then black and white for the other two.

And the foam. Oh lord, the foam. (For the headpieces.) My initial plan was to buy the thicker "foam by the yard" that they had, which was five inches thick, so I could use fewer pieces. But then I saw the price. Even at 50% off, they wanted well over $200 for the amount of foam I thought I needed. Ouch.

So we went to plan B, and cleaned the place out of your ordinary 2-inch-thick seat cushion foam. People looked at us really weird, but it cost about half as much. This means the diameter of the headpieces will be smaller than I'd like, but I think they'll still work. I got spray adhesive (which the woman at the craft store said is best for gluing foam together), a glue gun, and an electric carving knife (which I'm told by experienced boffercrafters is the thing for cutting foam).

I think I've figured out how many foam slabs to use for each headpiece. I'm collecting used bike helmets from several friends to be the base for the headpieces, so once I have those I can start finalizing the plans for the shape and size. In the meanwhile, I need to glue the foam slabs into big blocks so I have them ready to go. I could also start on the tunics and tentacles.

I'm taking pictures of the various steps in this crazy process, and will share them as I go. I have no idea what I'm doing, but hey, I'm a Tamalasquan (in-game goddess of luck, travel, roads, and water), so that's never stopped me before...

Comments

[muffyjo]

Alternative product: GREAT STUFF insulation foam sealant. It's the stuff you spray into cracks that expands. I'd make the outer later in the thin foam, set it into whatever shape you need it with string or something to give it form (maybe cardboard and string?), and then fill the inside half full with this stuff. It foams out, gets very stiff (so holds the shape well) and is significantly cheaper.

Once it's dry it's fine to touch, just looks funny. :) Anyway, a cheap alternative idea.

One thought about it, I really would make sure to have the foam core around the edges of it, it's crusty when dry and the foam will be much more comfortable. Also, check to see if it melts the foam core, I've never actually tried this although it's on my list as I have a model of myself I made from a T-shirt and duct tape and it's one of the suggested product fillings for that.

[dharklady.livejournal.com]

Ooo muffyjo- how much does a can of that stuff run and where could someone get it out of curiousity?

K- If you need some more ideas for shaping rather then carving the squids out of solid blocks of foam...
-You could use Wire hanger wire to create the skeleton for the shape and then use any size blade foam around it to help fill it in and then layer foam sheets over that. Wire is really great for shaping things.
-You could use just the blade foam to do the same without the wire as well.
-Depending on how permanent these need to be you could always stuff the inside with crumbled new paper, scrap cloth, etc besides that expanding foam.
-I've seen large styrofoam cones at Michaels for floral use, you could also probably build off of that.

Just some ideas. :) Good luck I can't wait to see how they come along!

Great Stuff

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Hardware stores, and a can costs between $4 and $7, but you can't reuse the can, once you've started it will seal itself closed within a short while.

Great stuff does expand A LOT, so you'll want to practice before using it in a costume.

[ringrose.livejournal.com]

Great stuff looks sorta like brains when it dries, although it's the wrong color. But it's quite recognizable.

Look at Building 19. They always seem to have cheap foam.

[kelkyag]

Weird giant eyes will go a long way towards making them look more like squid.

Are these going to be fighting costumes?

[saphir23.livejournal.com]

Are the tentacly bits going to attach to the inside or the outside? If inside (which would be more squidlike, I think), you'll probably want to allow for that in shaping the headpiece. Or maybe if the rim of the headpiece is wide enough, they could be attached to the bottom of the rim?