Jellyfish (Man O' War) hat? Construction help needed!

[JadedMoonlight]

Instead of trying to transform my whole body on a budget, why not just have one of the most infamous jellyfish (colonies) sitting on my head, tentacles cascading all down my body?

http://beyond.australianmuseum.net.au/images/400/j032.jpg
http://i1.treknature.com/photos/261/portugese-man-of-war.jpg

For those of you that are unfamiliar, the Portuguese Man O' War Jellyfish is a conglomerate of a few jelly species working together to create a biological fiend. Stringing tentacles that can reach up to 30m long trail along under a buoyant sail of a body, trapping unfortunate animals in its wake (Well, they just drift, but whatever).
They're SUPER pretty too, so look up a photo on google images or something. The colors on their sail are INCREDIBLE.

I'd really like to create a little hat like structure for myself to wear. I figured I'd just wear all black (leggings and top), with this cascade of ruffled fabric cascading down, perhaps some wool dreads if I learn to make them. Mardi gras beads or those curtains made of beads would also give me the other tentacle type.
But what of the sail?!


my beautiful paint image of what I'm somewhat imagining. Hahaha. I think that beigestuff would come down more like earflaps - maybe the sail could be mounted on a hat with earflaps?

Is anyone familiar with any sort of material that would be stiff, malleable, and translucent enough for the sail? Could I maybe just make it with plastic and something hot (and how many dangerous fumes would that release)? Any feedback much much much appreciated!

[3Gs4Me]

Here is a link to a Jellyfish costume at Family Fun.  Maybe it will help give you some inspiration.

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/jellyfish-costume-785313/

[tcmatteson]

First thing I thought of looking at your picture was a shower cap... they're clear and you could try to modify one to what you need. I don't think they're very expensive, either, but I've never had to buy one, so I'm not exactly sure...
Good luck on your costume!

[moonshinecandy]

I saw something online about a jellyfish man of war costume once........can't remember the url.....but the lady had used a clear umbrella, or had reconstructed one and covered it with clear plastic and bubble wrap and left some to hang for the tentacles..what about making a hat or mini hat and making it kind of pouffy with plastic wrap, clear plastic, and bubble wrap?......if you had some sturdy plastic bags that were clear you could blow them up with air and add them as well....  I don't know, just throwing out ideas here......good luck, I can't wait to see the rest of the pics when you are finished!!!

[DawnsTrees]

You could try using wire and nylons (like the fairy wings). That would be nice and light on your head and possibly give you the structure to hang your tentacles from...

[kosmicgirl]

I made a jellyfish costume out of a hula hoop a few years back. I had really stiff plastic that I hotglue to it, and a trail much like what you describe. I made the trail almost down to the floor, and it was great! It moved and shivered as if it had a life of it's own. Half of the the tentacles were made of the same plastic as the cap, cut in thin stripes, the rest out of pearls and lace. I painted a layer of plastic for the cap and hotglued it as an interfacing layer with some cellophane wrapping as stuffing in between to give it a bit of thickness. It looked pretty cool, I think with blacklight or glow in the dark it would look awesome! I don't have any photos here, but maybe the description gives you some inspiration!

Good luck!

[toomuchstuff]

For a recent show I did we made a buncha jellyfish headpieces out of Ikea lamp shades, the round lantern ones.  They're 5-7 bucks each & you can put a glow stick in it to make it light up!  We affixed it to heads using a funny technique:
1-Cover top & back of head with plastic shopping bag
2- Have friend wrap clear tape around head till you have a firm custom base
3-Wire/ sew/ otherwise affix lantern to head.

We did tentacles with strips of bubble wrap & ribbon.

Good luck!