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Costume Design & Construction

Making Display Mannequins of Found Materials

What you need 

• Cardboard tube from the center of a roll of  carpet  about a 3 inch diameter   

• Styrofoam  wig head. 

• Styrofoam roughly shoulder shaped. (Michael's crafts carries these in their floral department as a base for hanging wreaths)

• Corrugated card board (a good sized box will work)

• Hot glue 

• White glue 

• Tee shirt 

• Nylon netting 

• Cheese cloth

• Sheet of Masonite or appliance weight cardboard

Complete Book of Sewing

The Costume Designer's Handbook : A Complete Guide for Amateur and Professional Costume Designers

The Costume Technician's Handbook : A Complete Guide for Amateur and Professional Costume Technicians

 

Stage Costume Step-By-Step : The Complete Guide to Designing and Making Stage Costumes for All Major Drama Periods and Genres

The Magic Garment : Principles of Costume Design

Costume Construction

Elegantly Frugal Costumes : The Poor Man's Do-It-Yourself Costume Maker's Guide

Take your Styrofoam wig head and carve out the shape at the base of the neck so it will work with the shoulder piece.  Hot glue these together.  

Mix white glue and water fifty-fifty.  Take the cheese cloth and either dip it into the glue mixture or use a brush and cover the head and shoulder with the cheese cloth using the glue water mix to make it stick.  Allow to dry.

Cut strips of the cardboard from the box 8 to 10 inches wide and as long as you can cut easily. You want the ribs in the cardboard running across the strips, not lengthwise.

 Make sure the base of your cardboard tube is even. I find it easier to peel off the outer layer of the corrugated card board it makes shaping it simpler.  Take your peeled cardboard strips and wrap them around the base of your tube.  You want a snug fit but not so tight it's a problem .  Secure the wraps with hot glue. Do Not glue the corrugated cardboard to to the tube. This is what hold you mannequin up. Oops forgot to mention the base. ours are masionite about 2 feet square. I think that he extra heavy cardboard from an appliance box might also work but haven't tried it yet.   Using hot glue glue the wrapped part to the base. Secure it further with duct tape.  Cut your tube to the right length . Remember the head and shoulder go on top of this..  Cut notches on the top of the tube so the shoulder head structure will fit snugly. Use more cheese cloth and glue/water to make sure you head and shoulders stay put. Let dry  paint the color of you choice.  

Take you t shirt fit it on the form.  Stuff with nylon netting run a drawstring or elastic thru the bottom hem.  Oops again. forgot to mention the waist piece. That is made of pink foam. A type of insulation found here in AK. The waist piece is roughly oval.  The center hole is slightly off center.  it is placed on the pole at roughly a back neck to waist measurement.

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