Cool Zoo Keeper and Peacock Couple Costume

For the Peacock costume, I will start with the top and work down.

For the headpiece, I sewed together 4 fascinator hat bases in blue satin to form a dome shape. This “hat” was them covered in swirled pipe cleaners. I made the corona feathers by painting shish kebob skewers white, then glueing feathers on the tops. These were inserted on to a foam base that was covered in floral clay, painted blue. The base was then glued on to the cap, and circled with more pipe cleaners for stability.

My garments were just a body suit and tights. The pre-made feather skirt had its original black band covered with a turquoise trim.

The piece de resistance, the tail, which moves up and down, was made with instructions I bought on line for the mechanism. About 180 feathers were weaved into 7 layers of netting. There are two wire supports weaved into each layer. The wire supports have a hook at the end that get threaded through a hinge. Hidden between the feather layers are two rigid pieces of plastic that act as lifters. There are cords tied to these lifters. When I pull on the cords, the whole tail goes from being down behind me to up over my head and fanned out.

The entire mechanism is strapped to the belt round my waist. The harness is hidden by an array of feathers . This was made by creating a felt cap stiffened with interfacing. Feathers were glued on. The whole thing sits os a hinge at the top of the back plate so it can go up and down along with the tail.

I used theatrical make-up to paint on the peacock face.

For my Zoo Keeper costume, we bought a khaki colored shirt and shorts, pith helmet, wore hiking boots and socks. He carried a small riding crop and a bag of bird feed. I stenciled on the letters to a satchel. I made id patches and name tags to look official.

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