Ben's Alarming Costumiery
Terrifying Masks, alarming beards, surprising sheep, etc.
For some while, I've been handcrafting animal masks, cloals and fraudulent facial hair, here in the jolly old land of Leeds. It was always my intent to create things of beauty, but my dilettantish hands produce, instead, somewhat nightmarish creations. Are you wanting to make a fantasy adventure or horror short, but find yourself in sudden need of a hand-sewn head? Or a rubbish beard? Perhaps an oblong-shaped sheep? Well, coax me, and I'll furnish your fabric needs. I'm open to ideas for new designs, as repetition is tedious, though satisfying.
Info and commentary can be found in the F.A.Q.. Below are exciting pictures and turgid technical details. Over on the left, at the bottom of the beard, are my contact details. Go on, get in touch - Ben Swithen, 2009
Costumes and Full Masks
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SECTION SEVEN CONCEPT
Purpose: A pair of masks and collars with sci-fi intent
Date: Lent 2010
Type: 'Funky Foam' sheets, sewed with thread, and oil painted
Notes: Made, unprompted, for Section 7, uniform guards in 'Salvage' (2010 motion picture, Retrograde Productions). Tolerable visibility. Highly flammable.
Click here for alternate and larger image
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COW
Animal: (pantomime) cow, of course
Date: November 2009
Type: Full, lined and padded, velcro fastening
Notes: Made for Strange Twig theatre company. Breathable and with good visibility.
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PIRATE COATS
Made for Strange Twig theatre company, in their swashbucking and pasty-pushing capacities, three pirate coats, and accoutrements.
Date: November/December 2009
Type: Three pirate coats - one short white/crimson, one medium pink/purple, one long red/gold
Materials: The finest curtains the riding has to offer. Some of them would look terrible as curtains, so I hope in some cases I've actually reformed 'em. A wealth of felt, velvet and bits of stuff for trimming.
Notes: By and large crafted from curtain, and derived from eighteenth century patterns. I'd hold the red coat to be my best work in the medium.
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NAHUM
Animal: a dog, probably? Or a horselet?
Date: September 2009
Type: Full, single layer of fabric, back zipped
Materials: Denim, and furry purple fabric lining the ears
Notes: Good visibility. Made from a pair of jeans, the fly providing the rear zipper
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TALTALIAN
Animal: Monkey
Date: August 2009
Type: Full, four-layered, back lace fastening
Materials: Striped white curtain, disassembled headphones (mouth, ears, nose)
Notes: Contains working headphones. Easy to breathe in (a useful facet).
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THOTH
Animal: Fly / Ibis
Date: April 2009
Type: Full, four-layered, back lace fastening
Materials: Dark brown fur, green net eyes (very good visibility)
Appearances: The Creator in 'The Millennium Bug' (short video, Summer 2009); Flymon in 'Harriet Potter' (short video, Summer 2009)
Notes: Has eight inches of tucked-in torso fabric beneath the neck. Initially based on plague-doctor masks
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FAFNER
Animal: Dog, or a perhaps small horse
Date: August 2009
Type: Full, four-layered, back lace fastening
Materials: White curtain
Notes: Poor visibility/breathability, to be improved in near future. Has five inches of tucked-in torso fabric beneath the neck
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3/4 masks, beards and bits of fluff
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| Tamburlaine | |
Gazellus | |
Robinson Cosroe |
The above three masks hail from the Fez of Etymology's 'Tamburlaine: The Lion of Persia (Not a Real Lion)'. They are, respectively, a young cat, a gazelle (with now-floppy antlers built on cardboard scaffolding) and a lion (whose mane was never attached). A badger completed the set, but the mask was thrown out due to damp.
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| Jehosophat Beard | |
Dr Scroll Beard | |
Rasputin Beard |
Would you believe, the above are beards, the fruits of 2005, 2007 and 2008. They're beautifully strokable. With such lovely frauds as these, who would ever grow a real one? Tsar Nicholas II would, that's who.
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| Mannis head-dress | |
Sheepy | |
c00c00 Cape |
The above have such thrilling stories behind them that none currently have sufficient photographical reference available. Please imagine them to be much more impressive than the average quality shown in these images.
