How I made Darkness - The Headpiece

This was the most challenging and time consuming part of the whole costume. I had no idea how to even start. I was able to contact the designer, Miles Teves and he was kind enough to send me photos of Tim Curry having the original makeup and headpiece applied. They had used a fiberglass headpiece with anchors attached for the horns made of vinyl. They simply slid into the sockets and locked down.


Since I had no idea what to do I decided to follow suit. Lets make a fiberglass headpiece! First off I needed a mold of my head. I used a paper mache / plaster compound I picked up at the local art supply store. I wrapped my head in plastic wrap to keep it out of my hair.


The paste was a compound called by AMACO called 'Sculptamold'. It worked very well and was easy to mix and dried fast and hard to make a good mold of my head. *Note : make sure to put a layer of padding or wear a beanie cap BEFORE wrapping in cellophane and applying the molding compound. I found that an exact cast of my head left little room for padding and did cause some comfort issues.



It took about 30 minutes for it to cure. Once off my skull I let it dry for a few more hours to make sure it would not fall apart.

Now for the fiberglass. I found reasonably priced materials at the Lowe's hardware store in the paint department for around $30 bucks. It was made by Elmer's and consisted of a can of resin and hardener compound. I had to by the fiberglass cloth, also by Elmer's, separately. It came in a clear plastic bag and covered nine square feet. More than enough. *Note: Make sure you do the fiberglass outside if at all possible. The fumes are extremely toxic.

First step is to remove the lining that covered your head while the mold was setting. (You used a padding buffer right?) Cut the fiberglass cloth into small manageable strips. This is to avoid wrinkling. I used small pieces of clear tape to hold them in place. In retrospect small dabs of Elmer's glue would have worked as well. Once in place, I mixed the compounds from the resin kit and applied in generous strokes to the cloth with a paint brush. (Buy several brushes! This stuff does NOT clean off the brush and is worth spending about $10 bucks on half a dozen cheapo brushes) Be careful no to use too much when applying to the cloth! It will pool up in the bottom.

It needed to cure for about 45 minutes outside on a warm day. I applied at least one more layer after that to give it a little more strength. Once completely dried, I peeled away the mold, trimmed it to fit over my ears and forehead. I sanded the edges (Fiberglass will cut you!) and put a small strip of duct tape so avoid scratches on my skin.

Now on to attaching the horns. First I needed a socket of some sort for them to fit on the skull piece. What I wound up using, believe it or not, were two clear plastic covers from one of those bulk blank CD disk spindles you would pickup at a Fry's or Staples. The diameter of the horns was an almost exact fit. First I eyeballed where they should sit on the skull piece then i did a mock up with some duct tape. Once I felt good about the position I drilled about four holes through the skull cap and plastic covers. The holes were drilled out a bit wider than the diameter of the screws I was using in order to make the head more flush with the inside of the skull piece. (Remember when I said I goofed and left no room for padding let alone my head?)