preferably not composed of actual snakes
October 17, 2011 4:06 PM   Subscribe

If you were to make a mohawk-shaped headdress composed of snakes, how would you go about it?

I'm thinking post-apocalyptic Medusa for Halloween. Mainly, a mokawk-shaped, snake-centric headdress, which means I better get crafting. There is much potential for awesome, but also potential for droopy snakes, so I am seeking help from the craftmasters of MetaFilter.

Basically, I need something that will sit on my head, in mohawk fashion, and not fall off when I dance to Thriller. I can hawk my hair too, if necessary, but I'd rather have a headdress than weave snakes into my hair. It'll give me more time to make it great, and also the chance to rewear it. You can never predict when a future occasion will call for a mohawk-shaped headdress composed of snakes.

Other thoughts:

-- As light as possible, because eventual ow
-- I imagine it dark, maybe glittering or metallic, sort of post-apocalyptic; in other words, not neon orange plush snakes from Petco
-- Not crazy expensive to make
-- Relatively easy to make. I have zero sewing skills, but I do have a glue gun and a spouse with a hammer

Other than that, I'm flexible. Materials help is also very much appreciated. For example, if you suggest rubber snakes, where do I get them on short notice? I have Amazon Prime, if that helps. THANKS! If this works out, and works out awesomely instead of droopily, I'll post pictures later.
posted by changeling to Grab Bag (19 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Toy stores or nature stores still have plastic snakes, right? I would think you could . . hm. I'd start thinking about it from the point of view of a roman soldier's headdress.

I'm thinking that you are going to want some way of making the snakes "stand up" - it's been a long time, but I think if you cut the plastic/rubber snakes in half, they are hollow, so you could essentially put a skewer up in there to give it some additional heft. I'd think you'd want something more substantial than a skewer, b/c the wooden ones are cheap and will break easily, but you get my drift. Then you could use something like Craft Goop to stick the snakes to the headdress material of your choice. I used that stuff to reattach my mail box so it's for real.

I'm trying to think of something you would want close to your head, but that would hold the snakes. If you could get your hands on some buckram that would be what you would literally make a hat out of. Otherwise, you could get some heavy-duty craft interfacing at any sort of shop like JoAnn or Hancock Fabric (possibly also Hobby Lobby) and cover that up in whatever fabric (it will be fusible - you can iron fabric on to it, there are always instructions) and then you can go about attaching your snakes.

Honestly, this is going to be a lot of trial and error. I would love to see the results, though.
posted by Medieval Maven at 4:51 PM on October 17, 2011


When you say mohawk-shaped, do you mean you want the snakes in a line from front to back? It seems like it would be easier to have them in a line going from ear to ear instead. You could start with a sturdy headband as a base and work from there. The cheapo rubber snakes (there are a ton on Amazon, I just looked) are usually hollow in my experience which would make it easy to shape them to how you want using some kind of thick, bendable wire from a hardware store. I'd also suggest using a better glue than the stuff from a glue gun if you're working with rubber, like E6000 which can also be purchased from a hardware or craft store.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 4:56 PM on October 17, 2011


If you can find a skull cap or helmet-shaped cap that's rigid, you can probably fasten wire hangers to it, and then impale the snakes (lengthwise down the straightened out hanger) onto the wire. You might have to find some way to tie the cap onto your head, so as not to lose it while bopping around.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:21 PM on October 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


1. Start with a bicycle helmet, because they strap to your head, are comprised of sturdy foam, and, you know, for safety. Strip off the plastic shell.

2. Get a bunch of wiggly rubber snakes from the toy store and lots of plastic skewers. Skewer the snakes and secure the skewers in the foam of the bike helmet with lots of hot glue gun action. Trim any foam from the helmet you don't want around (like the sides). You could always just paint those parts black too (see next step).

3. Paint the whole thing however you want.

4. (optional) Wear some sort of wig under the helmet or don't skewer some snakes so they fall down like sideburns and cover up the chin strap. But exposed chin straps are soooo post-apocalyptic.
posted by carsonb at 5:24 PM on October 17, 2011


Bald head wig.

You could put that over carsonb's bike helmet (or this thing). Wire cutters plus wire hangers (better ones) would be the way to go, or else you're going to want to go to Home Depot and look for the wires used to hold up insulation.

Man, now I'm invested in your outcome. Photos are becoming kind of mandatory.
posted by Medieval Maven at 5:29 PM on October 17, 2011


Response by poster: You guys are AWESOME!!
Great ideas so far. I will say, though, I'd rather not wear a helmet if at all possible. I can imagine it getting on my nerves after not very long. Though I understand the complication of affixing something mohawk-shaped to my head. I keep looking at Mohawk hats on Etsy -- wonder if there's any way to start with a softer hat, & maybe affixing something rigid down the mohawk to brace the wire-stuffed snakes?
Though I did see a ton of bike helmets at the Salvation Army the other day, so maybe I can see what prying off the plastic shell looks like.
posted by changeling at 5:37 PM on October 17, 2011


Response by poster: also, the construction of this is interesting, though it doesn't seem very sturdy.
posted by changeling at 5:39 PM on October 17, 2011


The snakes will flop about a lot more than those feathers. I kind of wonder if you could essentially cannibalize a bike helmet, and lengthen the straps so that you are still strapping it on your head but it's not covering your whole head. The plastic snakes (typo: snapes, that would be awesome) will exert a lot of pressure on whatever you do and I think a chin strap is really going to be the thing to keep it in anything approaching the desired position.
posted by Medieval Maven at 5:44 PM on October 17, 2011


Yeah, I think the helmet could get uncomfortable. But I think wired snakes would be too heavy on a soft hat and kind of pull it off your head.

Maybe a combination of soft hat, and some kind of ultralight snakey-thing? Do they have to realistic snakes, or just snakelike? Could stylized feathers or pipecleaners work?

(IANA Snakehat Maker)
posted by pantarei70 at 5:46 PM on October 17, 2011


Response by poster: Snape mohawk ftw.
I think a combo of snakes and something else would be fine; maybe like yarn dreads with wire through or something, twisted in cool shapes. I'd want to avoid feathers, though, because I wouldn't want to be mistaken for a Native appropriator. If you think the snakes will flop, Medieval Maven, do you think I could fill them (assuming they're hollow) with, like... foam? That spray insulation stuff? To stiffen them, and then jam the wire inside?
posted by changeling at 6:00 PM on October 17, 2011


I think that there would be nothing more fun to document than filling rubber snakes with Great Stuff and seeing what would happen. I would experiment with a couple to see if it made them too heavy.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:21 PM on October 17, 2011


Could you get a largish hollow snake (or piece of hose), slit it open along the back, and fill the cut with smaller snakes (and glue)? the edges of the tube would help support the small snakes and keep things in place while the glue sets. And then you're just worrying about attaching one thing to a hat/helmet/whatever.

I know I've seen bags of little rubber snakes sold as party favors. Party stores aren't very fun to visit this time of year, but that would be a way to get lots and lots of toy snakes cheaply. I do think that trying to skewer solid snakes would be an exercise in futility and jabbing yourself though.
posted by Akhu at 7:52 PM on October 17, 2011


if you have longish hair you could give yourself an actual Mohawk, and they hairspray/goop the remaining hair into snake shapes and paint with body paint.

pretty drastic though
posted by edgeways at 8:16 PM on October 17, 2011


You might be able to copy the headband construction of the feather Mohawk if your snakes are very light - I might try making them out of paper mache, styrofoam, or (my favourite) foamcore.
posted by Bergamot at 8:35 PM on October 17, 2011


I think the head band idea could work, either in plastic or stretchy fabric with a larger snake forming the base of the forehead to base mohawk. Head facing either direction will be cool.

You could use floral wire to mold the snake base and potentially the small snakes as well.

A combo of rubber snakes and fuzzy pipe cleaners could keep the weight down.

Good luck
posted by Heart_on_Sleeve at 6:00 AM on October 18, 2011


I like the look of this feather mohawk. You can use floral stryofoam like this peron to add height and something to attach the snakes to. Toy snakes are going to look cheesy and small. You could get some cyberlox (tubular crin) and thread a 12-guage wire through it for shape. Add some snake heads and it could look good.
posted by KathyK at 6:58 AM on October 18, 2011


In the Target dollar bins near the front of the store I bet they have cheapo packages of small rubber snakes this time of year. Alternatively, I would second the party supply store suggestion. Also, Oriental Trading Company will definitely have several varieties of rubber snake, I would guess they even have glow in the dark ones. The question is if they can ship fast enough.

I am picturing getting a smaller, non-hollow snake and cutting them so you can affix them at a thicker point. I bet a silicon glue like E-6000 would create a secure bond (popular with crafters, available at joann's or hobby lobby in a gray metal tube with "E-6000" in big letters).

The base is the hard part. I'm wondering if you could find a costume or army surplus aviator-style skull cap with chin strap. If it were made of leather or sturdy vinyl it might be sturdy enough to support snakes but not a large a profile as a bike helmet. Here's one for 15 dollars (with scarf and goggles!)
posted by dahliachewswell at 12:44 PM on October 18, 2011


OK, I am bumping this up so that maybe we can find out the fate of the snake mohawk.
posted by Medieval Maven at 8:40 AM on October 27, 2011


Response by poster: I love you guys but I am totally failing at the snake mohawk. longer update tomorrow after I give it a final go.
posted by changeling at 6:35 PM on October 28, 2011


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