Costume Material Advice?

[wuher da brewer]

I've been asked if I can create three costumes for a tv commercial. The client wants costumes similar to the pictures below with the rating on the front and the back of the costume. I mocked up one from foam core and showed it to them. They told me that the costumes needed to be able to handle a large degree of physical use.

Admittedly, I'm not the most costume experienced. They brought this to me because I'm the props guy. So, I'm asking for help from my RPF friends. I was hoping I wouldn't have to sew. I haven't tried sewing since I took home-ec my senior year.

 

[TheNickFox]

Are they looking to make the costumes enclosed rectangular cubes, or will it be more like a sandwich board, just with a front and back, but no sides?

If it were me, I'd be leaning towards a cloth-clad closed-cell polyethylene foam with a decent wall thickness and density (if they were meant to be fully enclosed cubes) but there are many other options.

-Nick

 

[wuher da brewer]

I'm not above farming this out if I need to. All help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[wuher da brewer]

Nick, you replied while I was writing mine. The foam sounds good. Where can I check it out? I want to see the material before I get any ideas. Also, is it good enough for the camera or will it require skinning it with something? I've previously asked them about the sandwich board idea, and they really want this to look like a costume.

 

[TheNickFox]

Actually, I may have confused myself, I may be thinking of MicroCell foam which I believe is technically an EVA foam, though I think some PE's may have similar densities which is the source of my confusion.

Either way, with MicroCell or PE, I'd still skin it with fabric, just to make it a little friendlier for the camera. Otherwise you may find it absorbing light irregularly when compared with the human who is wearing it. You'd probably want them to have similar reflective indexes so you don't have to drive the lighting guy crazy.

Most of the places I've seen the proper densities for MicroCell or Polyethylene have been online. If you call around to local foam and rubber distributors you may be able to find some to play with so you don't have to buy it sight unseen. Ask if they carry EVA foam.

-Nick

 

[Vermithrax 4]

Not to toot my own horn but...we do this sort of thing. Check us out at Dale Morton Studio Mascot Costumes - Home .

-Dale.

 

[wuher da brewer]

Thanks Nick. I'll look into that.

Vermithrax, thanks. I intend to try my hand at it myself first, but I'll keep you in mind. It's not my purse strings though.

 

[the_batdemon]

Nick is on the right track. That's how we'd do it in the shop I work. If you're looking for foam, try foam-mart. While this would be a no-brainer for us, I'm not sure what the shop's schedule is like or your due date. I know we're pretty busy.