Figured it was about time I updated this thread and let you guys know how things turned out. I can't often share my projects with you guys but since this one is a school mascot and not trademarked or copyrighted figured you might like to see the end results and a couple of photos along the way.

We ended up enlarging the pattern another 155% on a copier. I then laid the pieces out and cut them out of EVA (some folks call it L2000) foam. I knew that I wanted the final result to not be quite so plump in the face so I cut tow of the pieces in the lower half of the cheek area and cut down the height of the first piece in that line. You can kind of compare the two here.



I also did not use the piece of foam in the eye socket and shifted the back head piece up just a bit.

Next I glued the bike helmet into the head. This was an adult helmet the fit me pretty snug (I have a big head) but also was able to tighten down and fit my cohort in this project who has a pretty small head. This mascot is actually for her sons school so we wanted to make sure it could fit a pretty large range of folks since you never know who is going to end up wearing the mascot.

Not sure if you can tell in this picture but at the back nape of the head on this helmet is a band that you can tighten down with a little wheel. These things are great! Not as good as the Disney design but still well worth the $50.00 price tag. Plus you can find them at stores like Target or Walmart.

I simply contact cemented the top of the helmet to the foam on the inside of the head. In hind sight I think It might have been a good idea to make this a velcro attachment. I could have contact cemented male velcro inside the head then put the soft female on the outside of the helmet. Would have made it so the helmet could be changed out pretty easy in case if broke or for some reason you really did need a smaller or larger helmet.  I doubt it well really be a problem but would have been nice.

This helmet had a nice little visor of the front of it which worked well with the design and it gave me a lot of nice surface area to glue to.

Now just some quick shots of the eyes. We where going to use the clear plastic eggs and paint the insides but could not find any in town right now so ordered them off the net. Guess we where not really paying attention because when they came in they where really small not even the size of a real egg.   I had some stryo eggs left over from another project so we used them and I covered them in white Lycra with a black Lycra pupil.  The pupil was cut out then back with iron on bonding fabric. We then just ironed it onto the the white Lycra.



The nose was covered in black stretch netting and then a piece of window tube insulation was glued over that.



I did not get a shot of it really but I took a piece of black plastic screen (You normally find it in the area where there is needle point stuff) and covered it in the balck netting.  It then glued this inside behind the mouth opening. I wanted the plastic screen to help give some support for the open mouth. This guy actually has pretty good sight lines and you can see out of both his nostrils and his mouth.

I then cut teeth out of white 1/4" craft foam and glued them in between the screen and the outer lip. The are just a strip of the white that I cut little triangles in one side really.



I don't have a great shot of it but the area where I left out the original pieces of the pattern ended up being covered with a piece of foam I cut into the shape of the jowl I wanted in the final shape.  Quick note here. I don't always cut my foam pieces on a 90% angle. For instance the pieces on the top half of his snout are cut on more of a 45% so they come down instead of out. Also this piece I added on top I wanted to blend into those pieces so on the top cut I shaved it at an angle so it would be a smoother line coming off of them. On the bottom I left at a normal angle because I wanted the ridge. This is where the electric knife is really nice. Makes it a bit easier to get that angle cut in.



Above you see the finished head and then a shot of when I was covering him.  People ask a lot how to make a pattern for the cloth covering.  I don't... I just start draping the fabric and hacking away at it. You can see that I have a hunk of the fabric cut about the size of the lower jaw here. I pinned it kind of in place at the jowl line and a couple along the lower lip then I pinned my curve from the outside.  I then took this off cut the curve into the fabric and sewed it up on the machine. 

This guy was covered in stretch velvet.  Not the easiest fabric to work with but we thought it would give a nice sleek look to the mascot. They and us did not want the typical fury character.  In fact the body of this guy is not really padded out that much. We ended up getting some soccer ball shoulder pads that the kids can wear under the costume.  Since this is used for different events we made things simple on the body. Just the pads then there are "pants" that are kind of like wadders with suspenders. over that is a tunic that has long sleeves that come down to a point that loop over the middle finger. This tunic zips up the back.  We have no idea if this is going to be worn by a 7th grader or a 12 grader which is kind of a large range in body types not to mention it could even end up on a teacher or parent.   Figured if we split the costume in half it would be more versatile. Over this they can wear either the football, basketball or other uniform depending on what event they need it for. Heck they could even dress him in a tux if they wanted to for Prom.

Ah one more thing I wanted to highlight here. My cohort actually did these but I think they are ingenious. Like I said we used soccer padding for the upper body of a character. With these pads came some arm pads.  They where in three sections. Upper arm,  elbow then lower arm.  Well we started looking at these and thought... hey they kind of look like hoofs! So here you have it. Hands and feet for our character made out of soccer arm pads. The pads got covered in headliner foam then covered in the grey velvet and black shiny Lycra. The feet fit over any regular shoe kind of like a spat then the "hands" fit over the persons hands. We got some black gloves they can wear with these to finish off the look. Figured this way they could have cool looking hooves for hands but still be able to carry the school flag across the field on a touch down! 

Love it!

Outstanding work, and so functional.  Wish we could see more of your projects.

I'm blown away! It turned out fantastic! 

Thanks guys!

Tip: The enzymes in your saliva act as a natural spot remover for your blood.  Invariably when hand sewing on something I end up sticking myself with the needle and seem to end up with a spot of blood on the fabric. A quick rub of your own saliva into the spot will make it go away. Not sure how well this would work if you really bled a lot on something but work great for those small mistakes.

Great job Shawn............... It is good to see you back at work. Thank you for sharing!

Funny, always thought it was 'blood, sweat and tears', now I know it's spit.

It is really nice.  Would love to see it in person.

Julie

Well Shawn, I am VERY impressed. In the final analysis, I like your horse more than mine...particularly  because I like your style. Yours has more character. You are quite a craftsman. I take my hat off to you. By the way, the blood and spit thing, don't do a youtube video showing blood, you will get lots of comments from the self appointed internet safety people. Both you and I know it is a hazard of the job and you generally don't die from it... but they don't seem to know that. Excellent work. Show us more of your work please.

Thanks guys!

By the way, the blood and spit thing, don't do a youtube video showing blood, you will get lots of comments from the self appointed internet safety people. Both you and I know it is a hazard of the job and you generally don't die from it... but they don't seem to know that.

Why does that not surprise me.