This year I wanted to try something different. I didn't want to dress up his Wheelchair as a different chair. I brainstormed for weeks and then all of a sudden there was only 2 weeks till Armageddon!
I saw this really cool image on Pinterest of a paper dragon and I thought that maybe I could make something like that but then cover it in my old comics.
I felt like Ive seen every wheelchair costume on the internet. My ideas were just too crazy and impossible to do for the time I had left. So heres how I did it and I definitely learnt a lot making this costume so maybe you can learn from my mistakes!
Special thanks to my sister who came over to help me every day!
Also I realise in these photos his right hand is right over his crotch but thats because he has a numb arm. Haha it looks a bit rude but its not meant to!
HOW TO MAKE A DRAGON COSTUME
You will need:
Wire
Wire cutters
Plyers
Newspaper
Paper mache glue
White newsprint (Optional)
Masking tape
Paint (Green, yellow, red, black, white)
Plastic string (For the fin/mane)
Thin cardboard for the teeth
Hot glue or PVA for gluing the teeth
Hula skirt string for fin
Velcro
I started with the head and wanted make it so that it would rest on the shoulder. Crush the newspaper into a ball and start wrapping pages of newspaper around the ball to make it bigger.
Cut some wire to make the wooden antlers. I used on long piece of wire and shaped it with the pliers. Then wrap strips of newspaper to make the attachment to the head. Masking tape it down onto the ball and secure with masking tape.
Fashion a snout out of newspaper and tape it to the ball head. For my snout I used two seperate shapes so that it looked as if the snout was slightly open for the teeth.
Now use more newspaper for the details. I created the brow and the angular cheek bones for Shenron.
Paper mache about 3 or 4 layers. Then cover with white newsprint. I saved the antlers for last so that the head was secure.
Now for the body. I had quite thin wire so I went back and forth making it stronger. Then I shaped it into an S and got my husband in the wheelchair so that I could make sure the shape was right. The head would rest on the shoulder then go around the neck, across the chest like a seatbelt then around his feet.
Wrap lots of layers of newspaper around the wire then paper mache. Now heres a good tip kids- You dont need to do tiny, ripped strips for the body! I realised on my 4th layer that I could have thick strips and cover the whole body so fast. Doing the small strips was for the last layer. There were parts that felt a bit weak and thats cos I ignored them but its very important to mache every bit to keep the shape strong.
Start wrapping the body with the white news print. By this time I was lazy so I kept up with the big, long strips.
Painting time.
My sister painted the face by just looking at the picture of Shenron. The bottom of the face us yellow, then green face, brown antlers and red eyes. Paint black lines on the antlers to make it look more wood like.
After that was drawing in details with a vivid or black permanent marker.
After that hot glue or PVA glue the teeth onto the mouth. My sis wanted to paint it on so that would be fine too.
Then I did the same thing to the body. Painted green on the top half then a thin red line in the middle and finished with a yellow belly.
Then paint black lines on the belly. Paint it slightly curved so that it looks more 3D rather than straight lines.
I painted the dragon body so that the bottom part was showing the belly because the character Shenron always looks like hes in motion but it wasn't necessary.
Paint or permanent marker scales randomly on the green part of the body.
To attach the head to the body/ shoulder you can see at the top of the body there is the white bit wrapped in masking tape. I attached velcro to the top of the body and the bottom of the head.
Now I didn't have time but I had wire that I shaped to the hubbys shoulder I would have masking taped or hot glued it to the body so that it would sit on his shoulder. It kept slipping off so having this wire frame would have been great.
The fin: It was last minute but this was made from a sort of plastic string. Its sold in most $2 shops/ dollar stores. Its the string that makes hula skirts. Its very easy and I thought it made more of an impact.
-Take 3 strings of the same length and plait. You can do this by tying a knot and putting that knot between your toes. Then plait. Or you can sellotape to a surface and plait.
-Put the plaited string between 2 chairs by sellotaping the ends to the seats.
-Then cut lots of small pieces of string. Mine were around 15cm.
-Take a string and bend it in half.
-Put it behind the plaited string. There will be a loop. Weave the ends of the small string into that loop and pull. Continue till the plaited string is full.
-Hot glue onto the body. Its an easy addition to the costume and I thought it made our costume that much better.
