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Jack Pumpkinhead

My Halloween costume was Jack Pumpkinhead created by Frank Baum and brought to life by Brain Henson and Stewart Larange in the film Return to Oz.

The head was created from a polystyrene hollow sphere. The eyes, nose and mouth were cut out using a hotwire cutter. To get the pumpkin texture, I carved lines into the polystyrene surface, then sanded the edges to get a smooth finish and the right look of a pumpkin. 
The surface of the polystyrene was painted with Rosco foamcoat, so I could spray paint the polystyrene without damaging it.  I used two shades of orange to get the right blend of colour.  I finished by adding some black, brown pastel to dirty it down and applied a final mist of orange spray paint to blend it all back together.
The inner surface edge of the eyes, nose and mouth had a mix of peach and yellow pastel applied to get the look of the inside of the pumpkin.
The eyes, mouth and nose were covered from the inside with tight (Hosiery) material so no one could see in but I could see out.
I also cut a hole in the bottom to get my head through and a hole at the top.  The polystyrene cut out from the top, had some expanding foam sprayed to it so I could carve/sculpt the stalk back into it.  The top piece was painted like the pumpkin and then glued back into place at the top.
The inside of the head had a strip of aluminium glued all away round the head.  This held and secured two metal rods which held a plastic head harness (Same as a hard helmet).  This meant it was very easy to wear and stayed on my head very securely.

The wooden arms were created from EVA foam.  I cut a rectangle of foam, rolled it around, stuck it with UHU glue to get a branch like shape, I then used a Dremel multitool with a carving tool to carve in the lines to make it look like wood/bark texture.  I then coated the foam with the same foam coat and sprayed them dark brown.  The fingers were cut from a length of EVA foam rod, sculpted and stuck on with UHU glue, coated and sprayed as above.

The clothes were items bought from charity shops and modified.  The waistcoat was a jacket which I cut the arms off and then sewed up any openings.  I had to draw on the polka dots to the pink shirt with fabric paint pens and fill in with a thicker white paint pen.
I then added some fabric patches to the waist coat and purple trousers to try and match the original costume/character.

Instagram - robwhitmarsh_propmaker

Thanks

Rob
Post edited by robdeperla on

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    Thats a pretty big pumpkin...very nicely done...hope it wasn;t too heavy/awkward to wear :)

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