Handmade Donkey Kong Costume

This is a Donkey Kong costume I made. The base of the head piece is paper mache. I covered the base with batting and then the brown fabric. I stuffed bits of fiber fill into the peak of the pointed area on top of the head.

The mouth was added over the brown fabric. I made a separate upper and lower lip. The lips were hand sewn onto the brown fabric. After attaching the lips, I stuffed the mouth with fiberfill.  I covered the opening of the mouth with white fabric sewing it in place.

After the white fabric was in place I penciled in teeth.   Then I painted over the pencil marks with black acrylic paint. The area of black behind the eyes is a sheer black fabric to see through. The eyeballs are stuffed circles of fabric with black painted pupils. The eyebrows were sewn on as were the nose and ears.

There is a bike helmet inside the head to keep it in place while being worn.

To get the right size and proportion for the the head, I looked for images of the character  and printed out one I liked. I made a rough sketch of the expression that I wanted him to have. I opted for the toothy grin. I also made rough sketches for the body and hands. After measuring my body , I then estimated the size I needed to make the various character parts.

The head piece was difficult as most of it is hand sewn. My daughter and her friends frequently borrow this costume. I recently wore this costume to a local trunk or treat event. It was a huge hit. I think the adults got the biggest kick out of seeing an iconic figure from their youth. Everyone wanted to get their picture taken with Donkey Kong.

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