For Halloween this year our family decided on SpongeBob as our theme. Our youngest wanted a homemade Gary the Snail Halloween costume. The main body, spats, mittens & hood were based on a bear pattern (minus the bear ears), with a green oval shape added to the belly section.
For the shell piece – the framework was made from ½” PVC pipe for the inner structure, a piece of 3/8 Dia Plastic pipe (used for sinks & toilets) was used for the single center Arc. The smaller Arcs were made from plastic coat hangers (the bottom straight section), that were slowly curved into shape (I broke 3 in my task of making 7).
The shell framework was then covered with fabric and felt detail pieces were glued on. A harness made like that of a backpack was made from 1 ½” wide course ribbon material & fastened to the framework. The eyes were attached to the hood, by using a head band underneath the hood, that had two holes drilled in it 3” apart. Then a piece of 12 Ga Electrical wire was run thru the holes (see picture).
The eye Antennas were also made from the 3/8 Plastic pipe cut to 12” length each, then inserted over the electrical wire. The eyes were (2) 3” Dia Styrofoam balls. The Antennas were inserted 1 ¼” into the balls. A small slit had to be cut in the hood for each Antenna to pass thru. Also a piece of elastic string was added to the bottom of the head band, to work like a chin strap.
Our youngest loved her homemade Gary the Snail Halloween costume and was “Meowing” like Gary all night while riding on our Krusty Krab float.
Great job!! I am making a Gary costume for my daughter this year and your post has really helped me with ideas. She actually got the eyes form a burger king kids meal. Thanks for the post :)
Brent!
How much would it cost for you to make and ship me one like this?