the Gopher - the head and final stuph

I originally wanted to construct my head like we did for a previous project called "Xanadu", and Nora used the technique for Lady Miss PC, but I had to get this thing done fast ( I had something like a couple of weeks left), so I used strips of foam instead.
	I built it up the head from some nice reference photo stills of the little varmint at from Caddyshack Central. Again, however, because of the eyesight problem, I know it wasn't going to look a whole lot like it. I started with a hockey helmet and glued some stiffer foam pieces I had on hand (kind of a cross between Styrofoam and closed cell foam) to it.

As can be seen in the lower right photo, I also used some quilt batting to fill out some curves where the foam wasn't quite the way I wanted it. (Nora made the nose by folding a piece of vinyl)

Once the head was complete, I started applying the fur by spraying the back with Foamfast 44. It stayed on relatively well, but I had some spots where the fur pieces didn't meet as closely as I would have preferred, so I whipstitched some of them, just to save time.

As I mentioned earlier, I used plastic canvas (used for cross-stitching) for the eyes. While they allowed a fair amount of vision, they didn't take magic Marker too well, so the eye balls weren't quite as distinct as I would have liked. Also, I discovered that the mouth was too far away from my face, to any kind of moveable mouth was out of the question. It was just as well -- I didn't have time to make one anyway.

Final stuff: By the late stages of this project, I was working non-stop, and didn't take many pictures. Here are the feet as I was gluing the fur onto them with Foamfast 44.

For the body, all I had to do was use the pattern pieces for the body and add seam allowances. Then, I sewed the whole thing together (with a good sewing machine), added a zipper, and then stuffed the foam body inside it.

Oh, and I don't want to forget the arms -- Just basically made them like regular sleeves and stuffed some rectangles of foam down them for bulk in the forearms. I didn't have time to make the claws for the paws, but that was no big deal.

Finally, I had to make some quick leg tubes and hand-stitch them to the bottom and I was done. I didn't get the cuffs done, so I wound up having someone in the Archon green room pin them to the foot collars. the whole thing worked, though.

The costume was slapped together, but it looked okay from the stage. Right now, it's all packed away into a big bag. I'm thinking I'd like to re-do it with more care. The main problem with its original design was it restricted my leg movement. So, I'll probably tear it apart and start almost completely over. The next time, I'll try making the body more like the Bear in the Big Blue house, which appears to be in two pieces -- an upper and a lower.