SJ Costume for Megacon 2012?

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db

MemberOvomorphFebruary 06, 2012

I should start by saying this is a new thread requested by some of you so you can track my progress on a costume I'm making (of an SJ) for possible inclusion in Megacon 2012 in Orlando, Florida in 2 weeks. I'll post pics and descriptions as I go (or have gone), since I've been working on this thing part-time for the last week. My full-time job is teaching video and audio production (with a side of art direction) in Central Florida. My media of choice to create my sculptures (seen elsewhere) and costumes is: chicken wire (basic structure), paper covered with masking tape (for general sculpted sections/shapes), and twisted masking tape (for detail), covered with more masking tape for a skin. I'll cover everything with either liquid latex (for pliability with costumes), or resin (usually for sculptures). Check back from time to time if you'd like to see my progress. Hope you enjoy!

db
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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/donfossils.png[/IMG] Back in the day... This pic is fron the mid 80's. I've been a fan of Giger's art since "Brain Salad Surgery" back in high school. I also SCUBA dive for Pleistocene fossils in area rivers, springs, and off the west coast of FL. So, I've been around bones for along time. This is part of my private collection. In college, I incorporated my knowledge of said bones into my first costume of a "classic" Giger Alien. (If I can slavage a pic, I'll post it).

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/AprilDonTusk.jpg[/IMG] Fast forward... this last Thanksgiving. My wife April, and I excavate (and soon plaster jacket) 2 Mastodon tusks found in Daytona. Sometimes we get calls from local museums to help them get the fossils safely out of the matrix. (Google: "Daytona Mastodon" for more info.)

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/AprilDonJaw.jpg[/IMG] Last "boney" inspriation pic... still from last Nov. April and I hold a section of Mastodon mandible with a nice tooth in it. (All this stuff gets donated to our local museum). Right about then, I begin to have the itch to build something "Giger-like"... along came this site and you guys and my inspiration to make an SJ costume after 33 years.

db
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February 06, 2012

OOPS... forgot one more fossil pic worth showing... [IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/Tuskwithtip2.jpg[/IMG] This is a 4 ft. section of one of the tusks I finished cleaning for the museum around Christmas. Notice the tip is intact! (That's rare.) Now that I'm properly motivated... on to the costume building...

Frantz
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February 06, 2012

Very interesting ...but now you are raising the bar ..im expecting nothing short of exceptional !

db
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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_0345-1.jpg[/IMG] First I quickly sketch what I'd like to make. I know I can't finish a complete costume in 3 weeks (part-time), so I'll attempt covering the SJ in some sort of "other" costume (business suit?), maybe carrying a Giger-esque briefcase labeled "Prometheus"... or maybe he could carry an ampule with a handle on it like a briefcase?... Haven't quite decided. This choice allows me to go back and finish the entire costume at a later date.

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_0346-1.jpg[/IMG]

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_0347-1.jpg[/IMG]

db
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February 06, 2012

I'll probably only have time to make the head & shoulders and hands.

db
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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_0348.jpg[/IMG] Tools & supplies... at this point, it's important to not go cheap. I hit the Home Depot and bought the contractor's package of Scotch masking tape. "If it don't stick good" you're in a world of hurt when you begin sculpting with it. 5 rolls=$20... not bad.

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_6371.jpg[/IMG] Start creating basic shapes; bones, head, shoulder pads, with chicken-wire.

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_6372.jpg[/IMG] Rough shape of a bone (no it's not that... stop thinking so Gigery).

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_0350.jpg[/IMG] Head & shoulders shaped from chicken-wire (be sure to round off all sharp parts with pliers!)... or you'll regret getting in it.

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_6373.jpg[/IMG] I used to use newspaper for paper-mache', but I realized I enjoyed sculpting with it dry and crumpled up (covered with masking tape) more. It's also a lot lighter, and less messy/smelly.

db
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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_6378.jpg[/IMG] The back half of the head (the smoother part) gets covered with flat newspaper to hide the chicken-wire pattern. Then covered with masking tape.

Ender
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February 06, 2012

Db this looks very exciting - please keep the pics coming! Also sounds like you could give some authoritative input on whether you think the original SG is fossilised or not!

db
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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_6376.jpg[/IMG] I start to shape crumpled paper and small sections of masking tape (sticky side out) to adhere to the head to begin to detail it.

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_6377.jpg[/IMG]

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_6380.jpg[/IMG]

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February 06, 2012

[IMG]http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p495/dbshark94/SJ%20Costume/IMG_6381.jpg[/IMG] Making progress with the right side of the head. By this point (3 days in, about 12 hrs. of work), I've pulled as much tape off and started over, as I have added. My original idea was to have the mouth open like the original SJ in 1979. But once I saw the concept of the closed mouth (around the front hose) online, I decided to have the mouth nearly closed.

SJ Costume for Megacon 2012?

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