Easy Haunted Scarecrow Costume

My 18 year old son usually doesn't dress up for Halloween, but at the last minute, he decided he would like to attend a friend's costume party. We can't exactly run to Walmart to grab a costume as he is 6'4" and a size 3XL. I have some masks in my craft room, but they were too small for his face. Using a few things I had at home, I put together an easy costume that fit, looked good, and didn't wreck any of his existing clothes (I'm looking at you, ripped shirt with blood on it "zombie").

Supplies:

Burlap, Twine, Duct Tape, PVA Glue, Old Paintbrush, Helmet, Binder Clips, Black Acrylic Paint, Scissors, Iron, Plaid Shirt, Garden Gloves, Blow Dryer (optional), Book (optional)

I used an old skateboarding helmet as the base for the mask. If you are making this for a smaller person you can use the foam heads that are available at most craft stores.

To make the shape for the eye sockets, cut a strip of burlap roughly eight inches wide from the roll.

Fold the strip in half (as shown) and cut at the fold to make two separate pieces.

Role one of the pieces of burlap and twist into the shape of an oversized eye socket.

Secure the role to one side of the helmet with duct tape.

Role the other piece of burlap, twist and secure on the opposite side to create the second eye socket.

Cut another strip of burlap about six inches wide, fold and cut in the center to make two more pieces.

Role one into a sausage shape and secure it with duct tape directly underneath the eye sockets. This will create the upper lip.

Role the other piece of burlap and attach it with duct tape underneath the first lip. Leave a small gab between the two lips.

Cut a large square of burlap and cover the structure you have been building.

Cut a second square the same size and cover the first square in an adjacent directing. You can see through a few layers of burlap, but you do need to crisscross the weaves so you can't see the human face underneath.

**Note: I did not need nearly this much burlap, but since it was the first time making a mask like this I thought it would be better to have extra and trim it afterwards.**

Using the binder clips, pinch the overlapping burlap onto the roles underneath. This gives you a clearer view of the shapes before you put the glue on.

Using and old paintbrush, start laying down the PVA glue. My glue was a little too thick to penetrate both layers so I added a bit of water.

Push the glue down into the weaving in order to connect both layers of burlap.

When gluing around the binder clips, remove them one at a time while working in that area and re-attach them to hold the shape while the glue dries.

Wash the glue off your brush.

You can wait overnight for the glue to dry, or use a blow-dryer if you need it to dry faster.

The big bulbus nose didn't strike me as scary so I needed to get rid of it the best I could without loosing too much width in the mask. Not only is a very big guy going to be wearing it, you want space on the inside so the burlap isn't rubbing up against the face.

Cut a rugged line down the center of the mask. A perfectly straight line will look odd against an organic shape like a humanoid face made of burlap.

Push one side of the cut underneath the other. It should hold with tension long enough for you to add some details and decide if there are any other alterations you want to make to the shape.

With black acrylic paint and your old paint brush, dry brush black acrylic paint in the recesses of the mask and along the line up the center of the face.

Wrap a small strip of duct tape around the start of your twine. This holds it together when it is being pushed through the burlap.

Using your scissors, poke holes in the top and bottom of each eye socket and both lips.

Push the wrapped twine in one hole and pull it out of another. You can crisscross the twine, make vertical lines, or even V shapes across the black recesses of the mask.

At the end of each tour, use a small amount of duct tape to secure the loose twine to the inside of the mask.

**Note: It was at this point I decided the nose needed to be even more defined. I cut more of a triangle shape into the burlap and glued a small piece of burlap to the underside. I then dry brushed black acrylic paint to match the rest of the mask.**

Trim the excess burlap from the front, leaving enough to cover the neck and collar of a shirt.

Trim the burlap slightly shorter on each side. When/if you reach a glued overlay that is facing the wrong direction, make a one inch cut inward and fold the piece towards the back of the head.

Trim the excess burlap from the back, leaving it roughly the same length as the front.

Flip the mask over and check the underside. Since this will be against someone's face, put a piece of duct tape over any loose twine, burlap, sharp glue edge, or anything else that could injure or irritate the wearer.

A mask does not make an entire costume, so a few extra steps are needed to pull this look together.

Using twine, wrap several layers around a book and cut a line directly through the center by putting the bottom portion of the scissors into the pages. A book make it easier to cut and leaves you with bunches that are easy to work with. You can risk cutting the pages though, so don't use a book that is precious to you (or anyone else).

Wrap bunches of the cut twine in duct tape to hold them all together.

Iron the top of the twine to straighten it out a bit, giving it more of a straw look.

Gently place one of the bunches into the front pocket of the plaid shirt.

Using duct tape, secure the other bunches to the top inside portion of garden gloves, boots, even back pockets of pants.

Duct tape is quite easy to remove from the gloves, boots and pants, so after Halloween you can use your clothes again with no damage and no lingering straw particles.