How do I make long hair, moustaches, and beards for large (mascot-size) costumes?

October 11, 2009 4:59 PM

How do I make long hair, moustaches, and beards for large (mascot-size) costumes? The fur fabric that I've found is fairly short (just a few inches). I'd like to make a long white dwarf-like beard. Here is a picture of a small gnome statue. How would I make a beard like that for a 24" wide face? Here is the best example I've found so far. This costume actually has a long beard. Does someone actually sell fur fabric with hair that long?
posted by HappyEngineer to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total)

Costume places sell fake beards and hair - buying a cheap costume wig and trimming it to shape might be your best answer.
posted by leslies at 5:13 PM on October 11, 2009

Places like Joann and Hancock have a lot of "fun fur" now because of Halloween. Some of it is really long like that, but you might be best off choosing something like this. Look in the drop down; you can choose white.
posted by Medieval Maven at 5:20 PM on October 11, 2009

To clarify - buying TWO of those might serve you well. Sorry. Itchy trigger finger.
posted by Medieval Maven at 5:21 PM on October 11, 2009

You can buy crepe wool in yard lengths. The amount you require may make the total price rather prohibitive, unfortunately.
posted by contessa at 7:12 PM on October 11, 2009

What about using cheap yarn (maybe even recycled yarn from an old sweater) punched through holes in the face (or maybe tape if you don't want to weaken the matrix)? At any sort of distance it will create a very acceptable facial hair.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:53 PM on October 11, 2009

Response by poster: I eventually went with the following: I cut some furry fabric in the shape of a beard twice then sewed the sides together, inverted the results and stuffed it with padding. It actually worked really well! Feel free to check out the results at:
http://g42.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/Gnome
posted by HappyEngineer at 11:17 PM on November 3, 2009