Pennywise bald head appliance

Ghostsoldier

Ghostsoldier

Sr Member
Guys and gals,
I'm needing help with a issue I'm having with a costume. I'm building a Pennywise the Dancing Clown costume from the Stephen King IT television series, way back in 1990 (among 3 other projects I've got going--one can never have too many projects!), and I was wondering what would be a good way to construct his "bulging bald head" appliance? Here's a couple of pics of Tim Curry's face...

IT107275.jpg

pennywise-mv.jpg

it-pennywisewp09.jpg


Notice how big his head is at the top...now, that ain't natural, and I was trying to figure out a good way to replicate it. I can get a clown bald wig that has the stretchy nylon center, but it won't make that "bulge" I am looking for, and I don't know much about appliances...any ideas?
Rob
 
Are you sure that it's not just his hair? Tim Curry has fairly thick, curly hair. Or at least he did, when he played Pennywise. I also wonder if he might have worn 2 bald caps to assure that the curls were not visible underneath. If you really need to pad it out, maybe you could use some interfacing or quilting stuff. Or if your hair's not overly thick, even just try wearing a wig underneath a bald cap(or two).
 
phase pistol said:
Or, you could just use my head. :sleep
Click to expand...
Phase, dude...that's a huge gob you have there! :lol

Hey...thanks all, for the tips. I think I might try a couple of the higher-quality, thicker bald caps, one inside the other, with some type of batting between the layers, and see if that will work.

But, if I were to wanting to make a latex or rubber appliance....is it something that I could possibly do at home, in my costume "shop"? Are the materials readily available at a craft supply source?
Rob
 
Love that flick, Tim Curry was by far the best part of it and closest to what I imagined It to be like of any Stephen King character ever. Can't wait to see your costume etc...

Dave :)
 
I loved that book when I was in my teens. The film (was released as video flick here in Sweden) was a bit disapointing. I found the clown to be over the top.

I do think its a cool costume! My guess is that they made the head like that on purpose, not because of his hair.
 
Ghostsoldier said:
Phase, dude...that's a huge gob you have there! :lol

Hey...thanks all, for the tips. I think I might try a couple of the higher-quality, thicker bald caps, one inside the other, with some type of batting between the layers, and see if that will work.

But, if I were to wanting to make a latex or rubber appliance....is it something that I could possibly do at home, in my costume "shop"? Are the materials readily available at a craft supply source?
Rob
Click to expand...

You could try sculpting the "ideal" shape onto a bust and then cast that. You could then use that mould to make a silicone prosthetic but... If you don't need the detail then the easiest/cheapest way is normally the best! Try a swimming cap (they have that round look) under a baldcap and make sure the hair line goes around the back of the head to accentuate the bulge.
 
Dude, your absoutly right....If I didn't have 5 projects going on at a time I wouldn't know what to do. :lol

Can't wait to see some progress pics! :D
 
I could cast my forehead and send it to u.

:D Joking...about the sending it to u.
I do have a large forehead LOL
 
That vid was great! That's the kind of idea I was looking for...except, like ITG suggested, I could use a balloon, or perhaps even a child's vinyl ball, attached to a foam head, as the base for the latex.

Speaking of latex....is there any certain type that would be thicker to use for repeated wearings, i.e., so I could remove the cap and hair and reuse them over and over again? The video shows it to be a bit thin; this video shows how they are just ripping them off after use....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-fpl-8qRbE&feature=related

I'd like to be able to "be" Pennywise again in the future, if I can make an appliance that's thick enough to re-use....
Rob
 
I would think some open cell soft foam of the sort that you can buy at fabric stores would work. It usually comes in sizes around a half inch thick, just layer a couple together and cut to shape.
 
I'll check that out, Trev....:cool

On another note, I just received my pattern that I'm going to mod for the Pennywise suit....view "A"...
2849.jpg

2849fb.gif

Rob
 
my girlfriend and I spoke to a guy about bald caps because she's researching Ventress. He said that regardless of the bald cap you get, they will eventually wear out. The more expensive ones tend to give you more wears. But, if you use that video's method, with a bottle of liquid latex, you could make it yourself and if it dies, make another one. It would be cheaper in the long run and I'm pretty sure you could just make the layers thicker if you think it was too thin. I thought it looked good on a thickness level.
 
Ghostsoldier said:
I'll check that out, Trev....:cool

On another note, I just received my pattern that I'm going to mod for the Pennywise suit....view "A"...
2849.jpg

2849fb.gif

Rob
Click to expand...
This is the same pattern (The A costume)I used for the pennywise costume I made :) It's a good choice. I did have to alter the shoulders though because Pennywise's shoulders are actually yellow, well you can see yellow from underneath the shoulder section on his vest. The shoulders on the above pattern would make the shoulders the striped pattern because of how it would all be put together. I was that picky with this. It was a bit more time consuming but well worth it in the end to mess around with the pattern. That and I also dropped the crotch section about 3 inches. Those were the only changes I did to it though.
 
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