Medusa Wig

I am making a Medusa costume for my Halloween party this year. I wanted a wig that was crazy and fun and so I ordered some snakes and went to town. It is time consuming but well worth the time. I hope you like it! This worked very well for my hairstyle, I have a pixie cut. I don't know how well it will work with medium or long hair but good luck!

I kept my wig fairly cheap, I tried to find suitable materials at a great price. I bought 12 snakes ( the large coiled ones) on amazon for around 8.00. I got 24 glow snakes and 24 colored snakes (the small ones) from the dollar store at 12 for a buck. The piece of foam was 2'' thick which I actually cut in half and it was 7.00 at Jo-Ann fabrics. I found the Styrofoam bust at sally beauty supply for 5.00. I really like the foam because you can pin into it before gluing. Other than those things I used: scissors, acrylic paint, paint brushes, hot glue/gun, barge cement or rubber cement and some patience. This project took about 4 or 5 hrs but that could be slightly skewed because I was working on other things at the same time.

I started by just folding and pinching foam to create the shape I wanted. When i had the desired shape I cut a dart (triangle shape) in the foam and tested the fit. Once I had everything in place I pinned the material into the bust and made sure I liked the fit. After checking the fit and making sure it was correct I applied glue to the edges of the foam, let it dry then stuck it together. I then put the form on my head to check fit and decided to give myself foam sides burns and a longer flap in back, those can be seen in the last three pics.

I cut small holes and stuck the end on the tails into the foam but it is not completely necessary because the space gets filled in. I coiled the large snakes and used a lot of hot glue to take up space and give the illusion of curls. I wanted to add twisting, turning, and texture to the wig to give it movement and give the eye a lot to look at. Once I covered most of the area in coiled snakes I took the additional snakes and fed and weaved them through the ones that were already glued adding more glue as I went. Don't be afraid to really glue them on, it takes a lot of glue! Once I had all of the coiled snakes in place I went in and painted the foam a darker green. To paint the foam I dipped my brush in paint then in water to create more of a water mixture for the foam to soak up. When painting make sure to get the inside edges that can be seen as well. The paint will need to dry and because it is mostly water on a sponge it does take some time. I sat my form in front of a fan until it was dry to the press of a finger.

Once it was dry I went in with the smaller snakes and glued them in place to stick off of the foam and give a more pieced and layered look. I really wanted the wig to look as much like a hairdo as possible. I would glue a few small snakes on and test the fit over and over until I was happy and looking fantastic! Also the glow snakes give a pretty cool effect in the dark and in daylight I consider them grays. I hope you enjoy the tutorial as much as I enjoyed making it. costume coming soon!