Dance Leaders

Today I started making the dance leader costumes - a set of 3 headresses with two giant horns, one of which will act as the 'head' to the giant slug. For the headresses I am using 12mm plastazote. I chose this thickness as for the height I need something thicker and more solid to provide stability.

I tested the shape with some scrap plastazote from the scrap store;

I chose to go with the left shape, as it more closely mirrors the slug masks. I then drew on and cut the shape out of the thicker plastazote. Even though the plastazote is very thick and secure, there was still a measure of movement when I tested it on myself. To combat this I used heat to curve the plastazote horns inwards, again mirroring the slug masks. I achieved this my tying the plastazote into place and then applying a constant mid-level heat to allow the shape to fix.

Flat

Curved

As the above photographs show, the curved horn stays straighter then the flat one, and this will also provide resilience against the wind and potential bad weather on carnival day. The height of the headress overall is 56cm, which will definitely help them stand out.