Ask LaBricoleuse: Mascot heads

[labricoleuse]

mister_sable asks:

I was wondering if you had any info about how to construct a mascot head, Ms. Labricoleuse. It's not really for a mascot, but for building a minotaur for a film. I was wondering about the helmet/base in particular.

Great question, and a timely one, too. There's an article in this month's edition of the ACTS FACTS safety newsletter which mentioned a tragic incident in which a dancer fell from the stage at a production of The Nutcracker because of her visually obstructive mascot-head costume. The last news on the dancer was that she was recovering from spinal surgery as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. These kinds of costume items are very difficult to make well and safely!

I would say the first thing to consider in deciding on your base support is to consider the weight of the minotaur head you will build. If it's to be lightweight--say, made of carved styrofoam or something--a hockey helmet or bike helmet could be your base. I worked on a HUGE minotaur head once (like, the size of an actual bull's head with a large set of horns) that we built onto some U-shaped pieces that sat on the actor's shoulders--it was made from veraform and fiberglass and actual bullhide and was too heavy for the performer's neck to support.

There are some books that might help you too, with included diagrams of interior structures: Costumes and Chemistry by Sylvia Moss, Critter Costuming: Making Mascots and Fabricating Fursuits by Adam Riggs, and that new book I mentioned a couple of posts back, Tan Huaixiang's Costume Craftwork on a Budget. They all have good info on balance and troubleshooting of these kinds of costume items. Or, if you want to make it as a latex mask (not sure if the scale of your design would work as such a thing), there's a great resource called The Monster Makers' Mask-Making Handbook that shows how to do such a thing in step-by-step photographs. You can either track down a hard copy or buy it from the Monster Makers as a download.

Hope this helps, and good luck with the construction! If you remember to do so, please share some pics of your finished minotaur! I love projects like that.

Comments

[mister-sable.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Ms. LaBricoleuse! I'll take some in-progress shots as well.

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

You know, another resource i forgot to include is if you google "Furry" or "Fursuit"--a lot of the folks who are into that stuff are extremely meticulous documentarians and write elaborate websites on how they have made their costumes with articulated jaws and the like.

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

--Wow. Thanks to mister_sable for asking that question, and to you for answering it. I've been puzzling over that for a similar project myself, and just haven't had any luck finding resources.