Mola Ram Indiana Jones..help?..please?

[Venom]

Hey all I'm a new member here..but I wanted to ask this question because I'm having problems with this costume. I really enjoy cosplaying and I cosplayed as Vexen from Kingdom Hearts last year but this next costume I have in mind is pretty difficult looking. I've looked all over the internet for help or anything but no one has attempted this before it seems so I haven't found any information. I was just recommended to try something called "Friendly Plastic" but I haven't even heard of it before so I'm curious as to how good it works because maybe I'll try that. Well the character I'm trying to cosplay as is Mola Ram from Indiana Jones Temple of Doom and I'm trying to find out how to make his headdress (for those who don't know the movie or character here is a picture of him in the headdress http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n302 ... la_ram.jpg

It looks really difficult but it's a costume I really really want to make and try out. I have no idea where to start by making this headdress out of whatever material would be best (I don't even know what material would go best for it) So I thought I would ask here since there's fellow cosplayers here. Does this headdress look even possible to make on my own? Is there anything I could try out to make this? Is there anything at all I could do? I would really appreciate any help or posts cuz I'm lost lol

[mrs.tomoe]

I bet you could make that. It seems to be based on a water buffalo skull or some similar animal.

For the skull cap portion (part that fits onto your head), you could probably use papier-mache. The actual headdress looks somewhat lumpy and irregular there anyway so the natural bumpiness of papier-mache would work in your favor there. Plus it's fairly cheap, non-toxic, can be formed around a balloon, can be painted, etc.

The horns are where you'll want something that can be smoothed & varnished. Paperclay might be a good option. Never used it personally, but others like it for certain tasks. Possibly bondo (the car body repair stuff) over a wire mesh frame (chicken wire or steel window screen). Bondo is heavy in large amounts so you'll want a hollow frame for it if you choose to use it. It can be sanded. Really, I suppose you might want to use a hollow frame for any material you decide to use because of weight issues, and if you reduce the amount of material that way, you'll keep your costs down too.

The shrunken head in the center will be interesting. You might be able to find "toy" shrunken head in a Halloween shop. Otherwise, sculpt it from papier-mache or paperclay. A cheapo Halloween wig would do for the hair: remove the wefts from the netting by picking off the stitching. Keeping the wefts intact will make the hair easier to glue to the headdress and reduce mess (no hair clippings all over).

Good luck! Hope to see photos when you're done.