Coolest Smoke Breathing Dragon Costume

ROAR!!!

As expected, this Smoke Breathing Dragon Costume is very imposing. At nearly 12′ tall, it definitely stands out in a crowd on on the street. Definitely my most elaborate and possibly my most favorite costume ever. The entire project took about 80 or so work hours, and was well worth it. It’s height and texture add the the overall effect, as does the glowing eyes.

The head is mounted on an aluminum backpack with a “skeleton” of PVC Piping bent to shape for the spine of the head. The head was then added, in stages, by making a basic shape out of piping and tape, with a layer of spray foam insulation to create the overall neck. The head was created in 2 parts and then attached to the neck.

The armor is made from a black foam carpet under pad cut out from a cardboard template that had been made out of various pieces. The foam under pad was heated with a heat gun to remove the existing diamond grid pattern, and provided the metal look, once sprayed with some metallic Silver paint.

Teeth and claws were made from hot glue sticks, melted together with a heat gun/blowtorch and shaped with wet fingers to the desired shapes (be careful, this stuff is HOT).

Smoke machine was made from a piece of old toaster element, cut and wrapped around a clay post, which was soaked in smoke machine fluid. That post was mounted within an old peanut butter jar, with a 1 way valve and a small fan to help push the smoke through the tubes built into the nostrils. It’s powered by a portable 12v flashlight battery, which had 2 switches. One to turn the element on, (so some smoke could build up first), and a 2nd for the fan to push it through the nose.