Modesty's Costume Closet

Prop making has always been kind of a challenge for me. The skills, tools, or materials are just a step or ten out of my comfort zone. So, what does one do if they want to add a prop to the costume? Here are some of my suggestions.  Purchase the Prop Commercially  Store bought Sword  The character or costume may be popular enough where the iconic prop is available commercially. They can come in different price ranges too which will affect the quality or final look.  Hire a Prop Maker Maybe hire someone who knows what they're doing... If the character or costume is a bit more obscure or niche, you can hire an artist/craftsman/Prop Maker to recreate it for you. Commissioning a prop from someone might be an unfamiliar process and knowing how to find a competent artist in your area can be a challenge. But at least we have the internet these days.  Some independent prop makers may have an online store which is kind of like purchasing the prop commercially.  Modify a Toy or other Closely

 For Halloween 2021, my costume was the Armorer from Disney Star Wars The Mandalorian. I did not intend for it to be a very intensive pattern-making project. Many things are made from patterns by someone else. I was going for close accuracy but not detailed accuracy. It was close to perfect except for the portion that I did not have a pattern for, the apron. The belt had some struggles.  Some of the major take-aways: Hot glue weakens against my hot body. LOL.  Velcro isn't always the strongest or best way to close things up.  Don't cut shaggy fur with scissors, use a craft knife 3D printing is awesome The Original Plan My intention was not to make a 1 to 1 accurate remake of the show's costume. That was more work than I wanted to do. I did know that I was going to 3D Print a lot of this costume! So I purchased some STL files for the helmet, the chest piece, and the hammer. There were some free STL files for the belt doo-dads and the Grogu head. I also found pre-made pattern

 Know what's dope? A tail that moves on its own! If the ears move too, bonus! However, you've given yourself a challenge that I myself have little to no expertise in...robotics or animatronics. So I'm going to offer some suggestions for further learning if you want to DIY as well as methods for the non-engineer types. (warning: May still require engineering.)  Full DIY Tutorials  3D Printing a simple Wagging tail - limp tail 3D Print skeleton Instructables Fox tail Pre-Built Tails/Ears Heads up, these are generally expensive!  MiTail from The Tail Company The Tail Company Cosgear  Halloween Moving Fox Tail Semi-Crafted Tails These are just alternatives to purchasing the tail or full DIY. Helpful if you don't want to spend a fortune. These are just my ideas and I will admit are at this point untested. Although I do have the flopping fish toy and can confirm you can take the device out of the fish without hassle.  Flopping fish Cat toy - charges, touch-activated, Inexpen

For the discussion of how to make hooves, my focus is going to be on the front legs. However, that is not to say that we ignore the hind legs! The size of your hooves should be similar. So we may want to handle the front legs before deciding how to make the hind legs.  Hoof Approaches In the centaur design, our human legs act as the front legs for the horse, so our human feet will be where the hoof goes. But we run into a problem. Humans are plantigrade, meaning we walk on a flat foot. Horses are digitigrade, meaning they walk on their toes. Right away we will run into a challenge that will pit us against form and function!  If you do stand on the balls of your feet, then your heel and ankle look like a fetlock on a horse. However, this is not a comfortable or natural position for a human to stand in for a long period of time especially if they're dragging a horse rear-end behind them! It's not impossible, people wear tall heels every day so these muscles can be trained. This i