# Mascot Costumes



## RinRin (Oct 6, 2012)

Hey, this is my first post here, I'm a bit nervous so I hope I do it right, and I hope it's in the right place. XD I swear I read through all the stickies too!

Anyway, I've been in love with Japanese-style mascot costumes lately. Does anyone else like them?
I've been brainstorming ideas on the sorts of characters I'd want to try this way too! I figured the forums here would be a good place to get input on what's viable and stuff like that.

I've been hunting vigorously for tutorials, the best I've found though are just WIP images from HERE like this, and videos of them being put on like THIS ONE. What kind of foam do you think that is for the head? Is it carved out completely first? Regular fursuit heads are definitely made of a much softer foam than this... It's rare to see things like the inner workings of the head (I know helmets are sometimes used inside). The bodies appear to usually be fabric-covered foam bases. Does anyone have experience with costumes like this? Even though I've seen a lot of tutorials on padding, I still don't understand much about adding thickness to arms and legs.

These are some of the ideas I've had personally... 





Melonpanna from Anpanman





Sawk, this one might be way too complext for a beginner like me though, Since you'd have to somehow get the body foam into the right shape... or perhaps pad out the torso instead??





Emolga! I really wanna make something like this. I'd really have to brainstorm about the tail though.





My favorite design idea. Again, the tail and the pants will need some forethought.


If anyone else wants to share their thoughts, ideas, or their own stuff, please do! Crossposting to the LJ community as well.


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## Ozriel (Oct 6, 2012)

I can't say because I never work with making big things like that. I know some companies use a combination of a wire frame (?) and foam.


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## mirepoix (Oct 8, 2012)

Heeeeeyyy, you made that animegao kigurumi Iris costume!  I really like it!  I did a butt-load of research on animegao kigurumi for my own fursuit, and I learned a lot from reading your blog.

I don't really have a lot of useful things to say... I mostly just wanted to comment about your Iris costume >_>.  The first thing I thought of was my recent trip to an upholstry fabric store to browse their foam selection.  Generally, fursuiters use thick, dense open celled foams (the kind you make couch cushions with), but I think you would really have to empty your wallets to make a head that massive out of solid upholstery foam.  However, they also carried an extremely thin foam that had a webbing on one side... I really wish I could describe it better, but it wasn't what I was looking for, so I didn't study it.  It was very thin, and I imagine it could be used to bulk up a costume piece or arms and legs, similar to a heavy interfacing, but with more spring to it.

What I'd do is visit some local upholstery stores and see their foam selections.  Jo-Anns sells foam at freakishly inflated prices; I can't recommend it.  A place in central California that I can suggest is Bob's Foam Factory.

Dude that series of progress pictures of the deer you posted is really cool.  (I love tutorials and progress pics...)  It looks like they used regular, closed cell (little balls stuck together) styrofoam.  You can buy 1.5" thick sheets of that stuff at Home Depot or Lowe's in the insulation section.  You can glue it together with Great Stuff (but you can only use the can once) or Gorilla Glue (a little difficult to sand).  There has GOT to be cheaper distributors for that kind of styrofoam, but I honestly don't know any.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN5_yMSFvFs  <--- also dis


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## RinRin (Oct 8, 2012)

mirepoix said:


> Heeeeeyyy, you made that animegao kigurumi Iris costume!  I really like it!  I did a butt-load of research on animegao kigurumi for my own fursuit, and I learned a lot from reading your blog.
> 
> I don't really have a lot of useful things to say... I mostly just wanted to comment about your Iris costume >_>.  The first thing I thought of was my recent trip to an upholstry fabric store to browse their foam selection.  Generally, fursuiters use thick, dense open celled foams (the kind you make couch cushions with), but I think you would really have to empty your wallets to make a head that massive out of solid upholstery foam.  However, they also carried an extremely thin foam that had a webbing on one side... I really wish I could describe it better, but it wasn't what I was looking for, so I didn't study it.  It was very thin, and I imagine it could be used to bulk up a costume piece or arms and legs, similar to a heavy interfacing, but with more spring to it.
> 
> ...



Wow, small internet! Thank you so much! didn't know many people looked at my blog at all XD I'm glad to have been a help! I looked at your page and wow your work looks really cool! We should discuss technique sometime c: you seem knowledgeable about a lot of stuff!

Thanks for the foam info, that's something I was definitely worried about. I looked up EPS and dang that stuff is expensive! When I get the chance I wanna try to browse a hardware store to see what kind of stuff they got. Maybe I'll try to see what's in Orlando when I get back down there... I've bought some upholstery foam before to make paddings for the inside of Iris and it wasn't too expensive.. if only carveable foam/styrofoam was the same haha. I'm also trying to think of ways I could buy less foam, since the heads are hallow so maybe I could cheat is somehow... that might be too much geometric plannign to be worth it though, lol. I also need to figure out a good harness structure for the inside.

The name of the glues helps too! That's also a topic I was kind of lost on. The How It's Made video is indeed very helpful, but they unfortunately can't mention brands of glue or fleece or whatever on TV...

And yeah, I've scoured lots of the WIP photos on that website for anything with any possible new information in it XD

thank you again!


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## newthing (May 17, 2013)

First I have to say that you design is adorable, and they are likely to be a hit. Though I do not know much about mascot costume making and design but I had the experience which wear some fursuits, we who as wearer I know that we will attach more attention on ventilate and vision. May a installation of a Mini fan can make breath get better, but from your perspective drawing, I think you will get a problem on vision, wearer's eyes have a overly distance with head's eye holes. I just think so and speak it. Hope you can think it useful.


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