Dante
Garetto
← All play

Head Base Pattern

August 2024

Since my journey making costumes started with the help of a downloadable pattern off Etsy, I decided to try making one myself from scratch. Using scraps of packaging materials and a mannequin head, I sculpted a slimmer form factor and smaller snout head base that matched a more Japanese 'Kemono' style, and then turned that into a pattern. The end result was a PDF containing instructions and the paper pattern, which I currently sell on my Etsy store.

  1. A mannequin head wrapped in teal cling film with a rough cardboard and tape muzzle built out over it, seen from the side — the armature the pattern will be taped over.
    1/7First step was padding up the base around the mannequin head, for which I used packaging filler, packing tape, packaging plastic wrap, and cardboard
  2. The same head from the front, now fully covered in overlapping white tape so the whole face is one smooth blank surface.
    2/7Front view of the taped head once I was happy with the shape
  3. Side view of the taped head, the white tape shell stopping in a clean line partway back where the bare teal cling film continues to the nape.
    3/7Side view of the taped head
  4. The taped shell held up in one hand, drawn over in dark pen: a centre line down the face, the brow and jaw seams, and small registration marks in the panels.
    4/7Dividing the taped head into general shapes and sections, limiting the twisting or bending each piece of EVA foam would have to do when assembled using the pattern
  5. The drawn shell from above and behind, showing the crown seams and the numbered panels marked in pen before the shell is cut apart.
    5/7Top view of the taped head with pieces each marked by a unique symbol
  6. Two printed sheets of the finished pattern on a desk — flat black outlines of each panel, with notches and small shape symbols marking which edges join.
    6/7Cut the pieces off the head, attached them to paper, scanned the paper, cleaned the shapes up in Adobe Photoshop, and created a PDF of the pattern
  7. A black foam head base built from the pattern, sitting on a green cutting mat with its ruled grid, the glued seams visible as pale lines across the panels.
    7/7Used the pattern to cut and assemble the EVA foam pieces, creating this base

Skills

  • Fabrication
  • Patterning
  • E-Commerce