
Deer-Skull Creature
I wanted to create an original costume design that used some techniques in mold-making and resin casting that I had just recently learned. 7 years after creating the original costume, I accidentally broke the mask and decided to take the opportunity to refresh the whole character. I purchased a resin mask online to replace the broken one (which was much lighter and professional than the original resin I’d used,) added hooved stilts, and created a battery-powered victorian-style street lamp prop to double as a walking stick for balance.
Process and materials used:
- Sculpting
- Mold-making and resin casting
- Prop fabrication
- LED wiring
Photos
Construction Process
I started by designing the character, which was just a simplistic animal skull with glowing eyes. I liked the look of deer skulls, but felt that I wanted to add a few more features which were drawn from canine anatomy, in order to create a more unique creature. I sculpted the skull and jaw separately, using a styrofoam wig head as a base. I made indents on the head where the base of its antlers would be fixed, and then I then built a casting box and mixed up a large batch of silicone rubber to create the mold.
Once the mold was made, I removed the clay and cleaned up the edges before mixing a batch of light resin to pour. I poured the skull and jaw separately, then once they were cured, pulled them from the mold. I then primed them both and painted over with a bone-white spray paint, going back in to detail some of the fissures and overhangs to give them more depth. I attached the antlers to the skull by drilling through the base of the skull up into the antler.
I stretched two pieces of black stockings over the eye sockets to block visibility in, but still allow the wearer to see out. I added resin eyes (which I purchased online and included white LEDs embedded in the resin,) and blacked out the back of them before gently gluing them to the black stockings. The battery pack for the eyes was velcroed to the top of the nose cavity.
I then attached black faux fur around the edge of the mask to create a hood down to my shoulders. The rest of the outfit was created by layering various stringy fabrics and halloween gauze over top of a fullbody black morph suit.












