Building the gnome costume

As always, my the first step in building any big costume is to build the frame.

Next step is to wrap the frame with padding. This is cotton batting which is usually used inside quilts. I didn't shape it at all. I just wrapped it around and cut it until it was roughly the correct shape. I put some clear tape on there to hold the padding in place, but mostly it's kept in place by the skin that I added in the following picture.

Now the skin is in place.

It's a faceless gnome! Also there aren't any shoes and the pants and shirt aren't padded. I also had a pillow in there which made the head rise up quite a bit higher than I had originally intended. I later just removed the pillow and balanced the head in the crooks of my elbows.

The head is off.

The head is starting to take shape. The headband and nose are in place, but the angry eyes just don't look right.

The shoes really look good although they aren't attached to the pants yet.

The head is off again.

The head looks pretty good! But most of the parts are just pinned in place and the angry eyes just don't look right.

Geoff in padded pants looks over at the head.

main gnome page
designing the gnome costume
wearing the gnome costume at iPass
wearing the gnome costume around town