Need a big sphere for a costume...

Pangea250

Every year, I take the kids to the Catskills to a working farm. It isn't much, but a lot of my father's side of the family also go, so it's nice to spend a week with aunts, uncle and cousins. One of the highlights of the week is the masquerade contest for the kids. I made my daughter's Campbell's soup costume last year and she won first prize! I don't know if I can outdo it this year, but I can try.

Alexandra mentioned making an Earth costume. I love the idea. I'm sure I can make it look fantastic, but I'm lost on how to start with a sphere that will fit over her. It has to be big enough to allow me to show features of the planet (continents, mountain ranges, etc.) and have holes for her head and torso. I'm thinking 3 feet in diameter.

I can't think of anything that will allow me to do that. Can anyone think of a spherical object that I could use? I giant beachball would be great, but I can't think of a way to have it keep its form when I cut the holes. Any thoughts?

kgagnon7779

Every year, I take the kids to the Catskills to a working farm. It isn't much, but a lot of my father's side of the family also go, so it's nice to spend a week with aunts, uncle and cousins. One of the highlights of the week is the masquerade contest for the kids. I made my daughter's Campbell's soup costume last year and she won first prize! I don't know if I can outdo it this year, but I can try.

Alexandra mentioned making an Earth costume. I love the idea. I'm sure I can make it look fantastic, but I'm lost on how to start with a sphere that will fit over her. It has to be big enough to allow me to show features of the planet (continents, mountain ranges, etc.) and have holes for her head and torso. I'm thinking 3 feet in diameter.

I can't think of anything that will allow me to do that. Can anyone think of a spherical object that I could use? I giant beachball would be great, but I can't think of a way to have it keep its form when I cut the holes. Any thoughts?

I'm thinking doing something with a hula hoop? Maybe you could use one horizontally and one vertically and duct tape them together? and then wrap around with bubble wrap and then drape all of that with some blue fabric??

torregro

Depends on how much time/effort/fun you want to put into the costume.
You can buy one huge balloon at a party supply store, and then cover it with a light layer of paper mache. The balloon, of course, would be popped once the paper mache was dry.

If you sew, you could also stitch up an 8 sectioned "ball" shape like a beach ball and then stuff the resulting sphere with batting once the costume was on the child (think about all the pumpkin costumes you've seen).

DancinSMartiPants

If you look up pumpkin patterns online I'm sure you'll come up with several viable suggestions, but here are my two cents:

Either make it with vertical panels (think basketball) and stuff it from the inside OR use horizontal panels with pockets every 6-8 inches in which you insert heavy gauge wire (think hoop skirt).

Good luck!

Jenna70

I would base the costume on a round rice paper light. The largest I've seen is at Ikea and is only about 20" diameter, so you'd have to build one yourself. Buy a light so you can see how it's constructed (I think they are less than $10 at Target and I know Ikea has one that is 12" diameter for about $10). Then get heavy gauge wire to make the hoops in varying sizes and rice paper to cut sections (as in beach balls, basket balls, etc.) and use Elmer's glue to piece it together. You will also need vertical strips of paper or ribbon to sandwich the hoops between the outer rice paper and inner strips to keep the hoops in place... I have one of these lights in my closet. The added benefit of this method is the ball "folds" flat for traveling. Not sure how well it would fold after painting the continents and water though.
You could also use some type of thin, lightweight wood for the hoops. I have seen "wire shaped" strips and skinny flat shaped strips used in basket making that can be purchased at crafts stores.
Good Luck! I'd love to see a photo of your finished costume if they let you post photos here. I also frequently make my own Halloween costumes and get a kick out of seeing what other folks come up with.

frostiegurl

I would definitely go with the papier mache idea and giant balloon. Seems to me that would be the easiest to fashion.