Ever since the twins were born I've been coming up with DIY costumes. The first year we made them Mandrake Roots from Harry Potter (we made like Terra cotta pots from felt, it was cute), last year we made them House Elves.
This year we broke away from Harry Potter & opted to embrace Pixar by doing the whole family as emotions from "Inside Out." (Fingers crossed, next year will be Star Wars)
My wife will be Sadness, my daughter is Disgust, my son is Fear, & I'm taking on Anger. I've always wanted to take a crack at a really creative costume, so this one seemed right up my alley.
Wardrobe-wise it's simple: white short-sleeved shirt, red tie, tweed pants. The rest of the look is kinda tricky though.
I've seen a few other Anger costumes but most revolved around red face-paint & a crown of flames. Good in spirit, but aesthetically lacking, in my opinion.
I wanted it to look true-ish to the design, which meant a boxy, neckless, red noggin. I'm already a thick guy, so it shouldn't be too tough to pull off. Here was my concept design:
Everything in black is a single piece: head, collar, & tie. One head that'd fit on my shoulders. Originally there was supposed to be a fan in the top of the head that'd blow the flames like streamers, but it wasn't really feasible in the end.
To start, I needed a base for the head. I measured out how much room I'd need to comfortably fit my oversized gourd inside. Turns out I'd need a medium-sized box or trash can to accommodate my needs (10" wide, 14" long, & at least 14" deep). I wanted it to be kinda rounded, so I went looking for a trash can.
This led to a short montage of me measuring trash cans in a number of Home Goods stores and sheepishly looking up & down the aisles for witnesses before upending the cans over my head to see how well they'd fit. I bet the video surveillance guys were having a few chuckles.
I found one that fit the bill at Wal Mart. From there, I took it home trimmed away about 10" of the can, contouring it so it'd fit on my shoulders & chest. I used a pair of sturdy tin snips to cut the plastic. I tried to keep the trimmed section in a single piece, since I'd new it later. Then I drew out the basic layout of the face on the can, first in pencil, then Sharpie.
I took some paper & traced the shapes of the eyes, eyebrow ridge and teeth (adding about 3-4" to the teeth since I'd have to glue them in place later). I used Elmer's glue stick to paste the paper shapes onto the trash can portion that I'd removed earlier. The trick at that stage is to figure out what you want the front to be, then glue the paper to the backside, that way you aren't marring the pretty exterior.
I used my tin snips to cut out the general shapes of the eyes & teeth. I took the cut outs to my family's shop & made use of a bench grinder to refine them down to the marks of the paper stencil. I used about a 7/8" drill bit to make a circular cutout for the eyes. I probably wouldn't have been able to make such a precise cut without one.
I went back to the house & used an exacti knife to put the final touches on the eyea & teeth cutouts. I took a heavy duty box cutter & trimmed away the entire mouth and eyeholes from the head. I didn't have to be too precise with the eyes, since the cutout eyes would be glued on top of them.
I decided to end tere for the day, so I blue tacked the cutouts in place to see how well they'd work.
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| The red irises are cut from a sheet of red foam |
Starting the next day, I set the cutouts aside & started to work with the red felt. I wasn't sure how to apply it at first, sonce I've had mixed results with fabric glue, but after a bit if research I decided to use a Hot Glue Gun & treat it like wrapping a gift. I drew two lines down the back, one centered, & another an inch off center. I glued one edge in place off center, then wrapped the felt around (pulling it snugly) so the next edge would fall on the center line & overlap the first. Te trick with a hot glue gun is to apply the fabric as you glue. If you wait more than a few seconds your glue with set & you have to scrape it away.
I then took scissors & cut away excess felt from the too, bottom, mouth & eyes, leaving about 1" of trim that i wrapped to the interior & glued in place.
For the eyebrow ridge I cut the form into a section of thick fabric backing & wrapped felt around it as well. Fortunately you can still barely see the sharpie outlines of the eyes & ridge through the felt, so it wasn't too hard to place. Here it is with the eyes & ridge blue tacked in place.
The next step was to create a collar. I cut two pieces of the fabric backing into a collar shape, hot glued white linen cloth around it, & glued the top edge of the collar onto the head. That way, even though it rests on my chest it still looks like a regular shirt. I have a tie that's close enough to the real Anger tie, so I simply loosen it enough so it hangs in place at the base of te head.
For finishing touches, I glued everything in place, & glued a lightweight black nylon cloth around the inside of the mouth. It's light enough that I can kinda see out of it, but dark enough so you can't see inside the head itself.
The whole project took about $35 and 7 hours of solid design & work to complete. Here's the finished product:
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