In the middle of my deliberating a costume for October's convention, they announced a free 1 day con in August.  Can't go without dressing up :D  So, I settled on Fozzie Bear cosplaying Jayne from FireFly:



The head will be an incrased Pinhead and I will be using the Borsa hand pattern as a base for the arms.  Eyes will either be sheer fabric with sharpie or painted plastic canvas.  Going to attempt moving mouth on my prototype and hope to have it in the full size.  

Any thoughts on the fur used?  I can see it is a shag fur and the head is shaved down, having trouble determining the color.

Cute idea. I looked up the shirt on the Shirtoid site and see there are other mash ups (not sure if that is a correct term here or not) Muppet characters.  Is this something common in the Cosplay world?

I think your plans for building sound pretty reasonable. See if you can find some L200 or EVA foam in your area. You can use it on the inside of the head to reinforce the shape and structure of the head. I like using a bike helmet to build off of which helps keep the shape of things but I've seen body character heads that have a helmet of sorts made out of the L200. Both give you a solid base to attach things to.

On the fur as long as you can find a light brown I think you'll be ok since you need to "dirty" it up for the character. I would use Design Master (floral paint) to do that if I was building him. It is like spray paint but can be used on cloth and fur and will dry completely. Don't use regular spray paint, it will never fully dry for you.   I do a light spritz of sorts to get an effect like this. For this you might be able to use some black charcoal to dirty it up. It might get a bit messy though and rub off a bit.

Here is an interesting history of Fozzie Bear over at the Muppet Wiki http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Fozzie_Bear_Through_the_Years

Thanks for the tips Shawn

Is this something common in the Cosplay world?

It is done, but not that common.  I mostly see it done with StormTrooper armor.  Mashups generally stay on sites like DeviantArt.  Regarding Muppets, there is some cosplaying out there with a Google search, but I haven't seen it live.  For me, I enjoy planning live size Muppets out, but it is a con so I think it is fun to plan them dressing up as well   Big Bird will happen one day, it is my goal!

Wow...he sure has changed through the years. 

So...in my planning, it didn't occur to me that Jayne's knit cap wouldn't fit Fozzie's head.  And I can't knit.  So, the plan was to switch to Fozzie as Chewbacca.  My daughter had other ideas, she wants to see me dressed up as Elmo.  So I will be picking up a white Gi top, tan pants, and a leather belt to go as Elmo cosplaying Luke:



I will be enlarging the Mostro head and using the Borsa hands.  Any suggestions on Elmo's eyes?  I haven't looked, is there a large sports ball that resembles a ping pong ball?  Or is Fleece covered styrofoam my best bet?  

Depends on how big of an eye you need, but the clear plastic acrylic round ornaments that you can open and put stuff often come in pretty large sizes. You could paint the inside of them with the pupil and white of the eye. They would have the seam on them but they also have a small tab on them meant to hang from a string or hook. you can use that on the bottom help anchor it into the head. These here are 100mm which is around 3inches: http://factorydirectcraft.com/catalog/products/1302_1039-22512-bulk_case_of_24_acrylic_100mm_fillable_keepsake_ball_ornaments.html?utm_source=googlep&utm_medium=gpfeed&utm_campaign=gpfeed&gclid=CMr3lbD4078CFUKCMgodAgkArg  That is a bulk site but you can often find the same thing in hobby stores.  Here is another link that shows options from different internet stores. http://www.thefind.com/crafts/info-fillable-ornaments

Hmmm... 3" diameter may not be big enough. I found this 6in diameter foam ball: http://www.amazon.com/Foam-Ball-Diameter-Polystyrene-Sphere/dp/B00AXY2C90  Looks like they have other larger diameters also: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AShape+Innovation\c+Inc.&keywords=Shape+Innovation%2C+Inc.&ie=UTF8&qid=1405861821

Another suggestion is to check out the lighting section in the hardware store. I am thinking something like this: http://www.lightbulbsurplus.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1862&cPath=711&gclid=CLGh1Pn8078CFYhcMgodylUAUQ#googlebase

That light fixture looks perfect!  Thanks for the suggestions Shawn   It always amazes me what can be used in these things.

Oh yes I love the hardware store. The best ones or the mom and pops stores.  You never know what you are going to find in them if you really start digging. 

This is cool stuff