Need help: Planet of the Apes costume(68)

[Friskythehutt]

I have been looking around the net for a good Planet of the Apes(68) makeup kit and I have found a few. I'm looking for anyone on the RPF that has some experience doing the costume and makeup. Where do I need to begin? Or, what should I buy first?

 

[LittleBit]

There's a handful of FoTA members that hang out here, but you might wanna
head over directly to forumoftheapes.yuku.com.

 

[Jessica]

Which character are you planning? I can't wait to see it!!

 

[Friskythehutt]

I want to do a Cornelius. I have been looking at apemaina, but the cost of the mask is very high. I don't want to spend the money to have the mask be torn apart after I use it. I have not found anyone here that has a mask from apemaina to tell me about the quality.

 

[Jessica]

I want to do a Cornelius. I have been looking at apemaina, but the cost of the mask is very high. I don't want to spend the money to have the mask be torn apart after I use it. I have not found anyone here that has a mask from apemaina to tell me about the quality.

I have a mask from Apemania. I have used it (glued it down) three times and it's still pretty much together! If you remove it carefully, you will not be disappointed. She still has a lot of wear left, maybe I can re-use her two more times??? Not sure, but I'm seeing how long I can make her last. Here are photos:

So...here she is, February 2009, as she came:

Before application:

After application (Wondercon, Feb. 2009)

I found a photo of the appliance after 2nd application, from Baycon (May 2009):

After third application to see Planet of the Apes on the big screen in Antioch (May 31). She looks very pasty because I powdered her a lot so that the foam latex would not curl onto itself and get stuck, especially around the edges. The entire face will be repainted with rubber mask grease and re-powdered again.

I am wavering between doing Chun Li for Halloween or going under the goo again, because I have so much fun with putting on the makeup and because the makeup is just so fantastic. You can't go wrong with Apemania. Quality quality quality.

 

[somerset fox]

Hi, like Jess said, the APEMANIA is THE DADDY when it comes to the original prosthetics, however, if you look around the 'net then you find similar products, at a fraction of the cost:

This is from mostlydead.com. Just need to source the hairpiece.

If you wanted to go 2001, (Apes not Odyssey!) then bumpinthenight.com do one too:

Good luck

 

[Jessica]

Hi, like Jess said, the APEMANIA is THE DADDY when it comes to the original prosthetics, however, if you look around the 'net then you find similar products, at a fraction of the cost:

This is from mostlydead.com. Just need to source the hairpiece.

Martin,

Can you talk with this? Do you have to cut the muzzle apart?

 

[CreedsGalBirdy]

Noob chiming in:

My SO and I have the ApeMania prothetics and they are worth every penny. I think we've had them for a solid 3 years and they are still holding up well. Like Jessica has shown, they take a lickin' (and stickin') and keep on tickin'. Plus, the people at AM are professional people...it's nice to not have to hound someone for a costume/prop item. :lol


-danielle

 

[Jessica]

This is how the Apemania prosthetic paints up after the fourth time of being removed. She still looks beautiful, almost perfect. I colored her darker than the usual color I have had on her simply because I got tired of looking pasty in photographs.

 

[Funky]

Martin,

Can you talk with this? Do you have to cut the muzzle apart?

We actually have these. The price was fantastic, customer service was top notch and the prosthetic is VERY nice! Yes, you do have to seperate the muzzle from the chin, but it's very easy to do and easy to apply. You can talk eat smoke, all the usual things and the piece moves with your face.

 

[Lancer]

I wish we'd had a photo of the gas station guys face when you went to pay for the gas.

cool

 

[hjsnapepm]

That is such a cool photo. Makes me want to watch the movies again.

 

[MaskMaker]

I have three Apemania masks. Zira, Cornelius and Zaius. Mine are the full head, slip on style. The masks can be articulated by carefully cutting the lower jaw away and attaching a harness of elastic to hold it to your head. Slip the head on and presto! You now have an articulated APES mask without the hassle of a makeup job. No, it does not have the superfine expressive details of a foam latex appliance, but it will last FAR longer than foam. No matter how careful you are, foam pieces never look as good the second, third or fourth time you wear them. You can see our apes at www.apemania.com on the "Jr G-Man" page under Jeff and Susan Stringer.

 

[James1]

Hi, I have a couple of the apemania masks, the quality of them are amazing!Its almost like wearing the prosthetics, you can move your mouth squinch up your nose up and down on the cornelius mask like in the movie. The hair is awesome and can be styled if needed.I have a custom painted ursus they did for me with the shoulders and the studded cover all front and back and it ROCKS! The details and quality of their masks are so very professional, I doubt that you would be unhappy with them.- James

 

[James1]

Hi, I have a couple of the apemania masks, the quality of them are amazing!Its almost like wearing the prosthetics, you can move your mouth squinch up your nose up and down on the cornelius mask like in the movie. The hair is awesome and can be styled if needed.I have a custom painted ursus they did for me with the shoulders and the studded cover all front and back and it ROCKS! The details and quality of their masks are so very professional, I doubt that you would be unhappy with them.- James

 

[JustStone]

I'm also considering 2 planet of the apes costumes for this halloween, Cornelius and Zira, maybe 3 if I can talk my brother into being Dr Zaius.
Looking at the Mostlydead.com apes masks as well as the screamteam one. don't want all the faces to be the same,
Going to make the costumes, got the fabric, and working on patterns.
But the wigs are a different story,
Zaius not so much, looking at something like this
Chic Wig Adult - Costumes

But for the chimps I'm wondering if a vampire wig like this would be a a good start.
Modern Vampire Wig - Costumes
Dye the white streaks and maybe add length to the back? (mostly for Zira).
Then just a Lincoln beard for Cornelius and Mutton Chops for Zira.

Thoughts?

 

[Jessica]

Yeah...wigs are a different story. You could start with that vampire one. Or you could probably make one. If you take a wig and look at how it's made, you can see that it's just a bunch of wefts sewed down on some kind of lace (like lace curtain material). They sell lace caps that you can stitch wefts onto. For the chimps you want to go with 2B (dark brown) color. The only tough part would be the hairline...trying to make that real...but for the main part of the wig you can practically sew one yourself. Or you could buy several lace front wigs and cut them apart and sew down a new hairline.

I was not happy with the real hair beards I bought for the hairline. It just doesn't cut it, looks crinkled no matter how much I tried to straighten them out with an iron. The best thing would be to chop up various lace wigs and piece them together. That would be the fastest thing to do...or go all out and ventilate some lace. It took me 40 hours to ventilate my wig's forehead. I wish I could ventilate the hair pieces for the sideburns, but life is just too busy and it just takes too long. AND the horrible thing about the beards is that they are not long enough to comb through the rest of the wig when you place it on the forehead. In photos it looks very horrible. This was my first time as an ape, so I know I messed up the hairline.

Look at the hair wefts that I sewed together for my kid's costume. The hairline doesn't look that bad, and the weft was long enough to comb back and through the rest of the hair:

This is my five year old wearing the costume I made for him. Apemania did the foam latex.

If I had time, I would re-do the hairline for my little gorillas...but they don't look bad at all to me.

 

[merfeldma]

I want one, so many projects so little time or money. Not to mention patience from the wife.

 

[Hatter76]

I must admit, I did not have money for Apemania, so I made mine.

 

[ManDrawsPicture]

Woochie also does one of these in foam that isn't too bad . . . the texture and wrinkles are a little more pronounced but the price was right.