Tutorial: How to pattern foam costumes

[cute_anarchy]

These are awesome!  I can't wait to see the rest of the steps - you must have the most impressive Halloween costumes every year!

[Ludi]

We never make costumes for ourselves* - we live in the country and there's nowhere to wear them.    But we do think of ideas - our favorite so far is human-sized Punch and Judy hand-puppet costumes.  I still think it would be a fun thing to make!


*However, I often wear the costumes we make for our clients during photography sessions, so I get to enjoy them that way - or suffer, if it's hot!   

[Ludi]

Step 8:  Marking the foam pieces

Cut out your enlarged pattern pieces, and trace them on the mattress foam.  Here I'm using 1/4 inch foam because this head is so small.  Trace the pieces and transfer numbers and alignment marks, then flip them and trace the mirror image (other side). Make sure you number and mark the other side too.  You can trace and mark each side with 2 different colors to keep track of which pieces are for which side.



Step 9:  Cutting the pieces

Because I used only one color of pen to mark the pieces, I'm only cutting out one side of the head at a time.  Use a very sharp xacto or other knife.



How you make the cut into the foam can help you shape the piece.  If you cut on a bevel, the pieces will either make an edge (convex) shape, or a valley (concave) shape.  A straight down cut will make a smooth curve or a flat shape, depending on the shape of the pattern piece.  You should make some test pieces to see how you might want to cut out your pattern pieces with a bevel.  This is hard to describe, so you'll just have to play with it to see how it works.

Bevel cuts:



Concave shape or valley:



Convex shape or edge:



In this example I cut a bit of a bevel on the edge of the lower jaw (pieces 9 and 10) and the eyebrow (piece 5) to make a sharper edge along those contours.




Step 10:  Gluing the pieces

Using the glue you prefer (we use spray glue or a paint-on glue called Fastbond), glue the pieces together, carefully matching the edges and alignment marks.  Refer to the photographs or maps you made earlier to make sure the pieces are going together properly.




I glued one half of the head together:



Then I cut out and glued the other half:



Then glued both halves together.  There you go, a rudimentary dinosaur head!

[Ludi]

When I next have some time I'll show how to cover the head with fleece and detail it with quilting, plus teeth, eyes, etc.

[MoreLove]

that looks awesome!  thank you so much for posting this.

[EmilyFlew]

This is so cool!! I'm so excited to try this for a costume next year!

[sairosaurus]

A girl at my college used this technique to make horses heads, they were incredible! As is your dinosaur! I would looooove to use this one day!

[Ludi]

Please let me know, anyone, if you have questions about any of these steps. 

[RedMenace]

This is a totally awesome tutorial, thanks so much for sharing! Can't wait to see Mr. Dino finished

Are there any glues that you've tried that you would recommend against using? Like, if they make the finished product unnecessarily stiff or they eat away at the foam or they just plain don't get one piece to stick to the other?

[Ludi]

I would avoid hot glue, and elmer's glue.   Avoid any kind of glue that doesn't stick right away or that takes a long time to dry.  Don't use Super Glue.

What you want is some kind of contact cement.   If you use spray glue but don't want to try to spray it along a thin edge, you can spray it in a cup and paint it on.  Personally I prefer paint-on contact cement to spray glue.