| A paper-mache costume helmet of a crow I created for Halloween. Yes, you can see out of it! A piece of fabric lets the wearer see out of the beak but hides their face from the outside. |
Skills Physical Prototyping, Costume Design, Freaking People Out
Team Sam Rauch
Process
Halloween is awesome for a number of reasons, but I’ve always loved the costumes above all. There’s something fantastic in the fact that we have a holiday dedicated to playing make believe. It’s such a universal and exhilarating form of play, and one adults don’t usually get to focus on — save one night a year.
I drew inspiration from Victorian era paper mache Halloween costumes, which are delightfully freaky, as well as my age-old interest in monsters, cryptids, and how what scares us and says about us. Inspired by a friend of mine who “doesn’t trust” birds, I decided to make myself into a giant raven.
I started with a plastic costume helmet as a base, then built out the structure using thin bamboo slats, duct tape, and twine. I sculpted the eyes with modeling clay, then covered the whole structure with paper mache. Finally, I painted it using cheap craft store acrylics. The whole helmet came together for less than ten dollars.
Building out the original structure with slats of wood (which I harvested from a set of window blinds going out to the dump) on top of a costume helmet.
The completed skeleton structure, built out with duct tape and twine.
The final layer of paper mache.
©Sam Rauch 2024