How to make your own Sackboy costume

So, after spending 10 hours making something that was, ultimately, a bit rubbish I went back to Homebase, bought some new materials and began again with a more robust frame around which to construct the head.

Step 1 – The bin

I bought a regular plastic bin that wasn’t too heavy and after some lengthy debate with Natasha, my studio mate, I eventually gave in and cut the top off it to improve the proportions. The bread knife was actually better than a saw to do this with…

Step 2 – The smile

Sackboys are extremely cute little characters and a big part of that is their wide, expressive mouths. It was with some considerable trepidation that I started cutting the shape out of the bin with the bread knife as I knew that messing things up at this stage would be pretty ruinous to the finished piece. It all seemed to go surprisingly well and the smile was completed without me losing any digits!

Step 3 – Bulking up the shape

A sackboy’s head is about as wide as it is tall so the bin needed some serious padding before it could be wrapped with fabric.

Photo credit Bus Stop on Flickr

I went to Brighton’s Foam Shop which has been open as long as I’ve been in Brighton but had CLOSED before the first time that I actually needed it. AAAAARRRGGGHH. After a quick think with Tash we decided to go in search of other materials and eventually found some heavy duty bubble wrap that seemed to be perfect for the job and wasn’t too pricey.

When we got back to the studio I set about layering the bubble wrap with an extra layer or two at the opening to create the bell shape that the Sackboy’s require.

Step 4 – Let’s warm this little fella up!

A fair amount of thought went into what I was going to finish the Sackboy in as they can (as far as I know) be any material. I also had to take into consideration the fact that my body would have to be the same material as the head. Initially I was thinking that I’d make a loose fitting body suit that I’d stuff with something to create a nice soft round shape but I realised that not only would doing that boil me to death it would also throw the proportions of the head even further out of proportion than it already was (I reckon the head should be 5 feet wide for a bloke of my size – I couldn’t make it that big with any ease).

For this reason I went to – I dread to say it – Primark and bought a bunch of tops and bottoms in matching grey flannel. When I got back I was delighted to discover that an XL fit snuggly over the whole head! You can see where I’ve cut the mouth into the material above.

Step 5 – Attaching the material to the framework

I had used masking tape to keep the initial layers of bubble wrap and wanted to make things a lot more secure so bought a glue gun that kept things firmly in place and gradually stripped away the masking tape while applying the glue.

Step 6 – The smile!

Finishing the mouth was a great moment for me as it had worked so well and the snug fit of the sweater had created a brilliantly smooth shape for the whole head. Awesome! The arms had to go though…

Step 7 – Look no arms!

The arms are gone and are now patched and atop the head you can see the patch that will finish the top off. At this point I am totally in love with the glue gun as it makes the whole process about a million times easier than sewing would be.

Step 8 – Sizing up the eyes

They are too big but it gives you an idea of what the face will look like.

Step 9 – Ooooh, accessories!

Yep, I made some shades!

Step 10 – Lowering the ceiling

There’s a fair distance to the top of the bin from where it would be sitting on my shoulders so I made this little cardboard plinth to lower the ceiling a bit.

Step 11 – Reducing the wobble factor

I needed to pack the sides of the bin so that my helmet would fit more snuggly so packed the arms I’d cut off earlier with polystyrene packing beads.

Here you can see the arms in place.

Step 12 – Let’s try it on for size…

It’s not exactly perfect size-wise but I wouldn’t want to go any bigger in these materials! The strap you can see on the left is from the snowboard helmet that I wanted to use to keep things a bit more stable.

Step 13 – More accessories are needed!

Every year Bestival has a different theme and this year was Under The Sea so I needed to adapt the outfit at least a little bit to fit that theme.

Some plastic guttering should help with that!?! But how?

That’s how! Kev Butcher, another fantastically helpful member of Workhaus, very kindly let me use a powered saw of some sort to cut out the goggles, Tash picked me up some elastic for the strap and happened to have some fluoro and reflective card too.

Step 14 – What about the eyes then?

Wolfram Löhr is an expert with leather and he generously gave me some beautiful, thick brown leather for the eyes and they worked brilliantly with the grey fannel. He even let me cut it on a strange leather cutting contraption and I didn’t balls it up!

Step 15 – Had to try it on didn’t I…

Two sweaters and two pairs of pants help to make me even softer looking…

Step 16 – The wiring begins

I had decided that lighting would add an element of weirdness to the outfit that may freak a few people out so ordered some bits from Surelight. Wiring this was a challenge to say the least as I really didn’t have the right kit. Fortunately James stepped in with a suggestion and borrowed a wire stripper for me from Stuart the electronics expert. I had to keep going back and pestering him for it…

From the inside

From the outside, you can see where I’m going with it…

As you can see the loom got a bit complicated! There was some serious fixing to be done with some heavy duty duct tape but it’s pretty much there.

FINISHED!

I hope this was helpful to anyone who fancies making a Sackboy, it went down a storm at Bestival and the lights were well worth the effort too!