Tips and Tricks based on foam...
4/22/2010
Production of costumes for this years carnival is at full speed in the costume workshops. Different foreign artists with expertise in carnival costumes guide and tips and tricks to creative teachers, carnival groups and others that might be interested. We have gathered some pictures from our first intro costume workshop lead by the British carnival artist Charles Beauchamp (from Mandinga Arts). The work materials are foam and there are no limits to how this material can be used to create costumes as you can see from the pictures and explanations.
Here you will see examples of head ornaments which are very simple to make. On a model for a cap (it can be sewn from a model like a bathing cap) you glue two long pieces of foam - and that's basically it. It makes for a very big and effect full head ornament that even
kids can create. These two girls saw the piece that Charles Beauchamp had brought along and created these within 1½ hour.
Participants in the workshop is turning their templates into masks which are drawn on a thin piece of paper on top of foam and then carved out with scalpels.
A heat gun is used to heat up the foam so it becomes soft and can be formed to your liking.
Britta, who participated in the workshop, is showing us the mask she made in less than one hour. You can see how the flame like points are twisted after the foam have been heatet and twisted. The nose shape is also made by heating the foam and bending it over your own nose.
All the participants working hard!
To create large carnival costumes, like the pinapple costume below, you will need a solid foundation like a backpack that can even be made in foam too. You will need thick hard foam which is cut in the desired shape and then heated for a few minutes in a normal oven. The foam is placed over a person and pressed ind for approximately 1 minut until the foam is cooled down and the "backpack" has the right shape. There you have it - the very basic foundation for large scaled costume just like the pinapple woman.
We hope that you have been inspired to how you can work with foam in your next carnival costume or maybe you feel like participating in one of our workshops! If you have any questions or would like to know more about foam and the tools then you are more than welcome
For more information about carnival workshops give us a call at
98 13 72 11 / 98 13 72 11
See more pictures from the workshops.
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