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Susan's Horn:
Centaur:
Lady Eowyn wrote:Well, I wrote up a bit of material, but I had to jump up from the computer and recklessly saved it - but into a text file, so I retained all the nice words and lost my nice links. again.
However, after that I realized that you asked where to find a centaur costume, not make one. Well, my answer is, to the best of my knowledge, you're not going to find one... It seems that those daring enough to make a centaur costume aren't selling - and I certainly haven't seen any commercially developed patterns.
If you'd rather look into some costuming work, you can take a look at what I've found below. However, it would be some pret-ty serious costuming if you want to be a centaur and not look absurd. (unless you want to find a faithful friend to pay off to be the back of the centaur? )
A cheaper and faster way (especially since you're shooting for halloween) is talked about here, just scroll down to the second-from-last reply. I've included the relevant part below. This person started this for a child two years ago, I don't know if it was ever finished.Marie wrote:Wow, I thought I was the only one crazy enough to try making this costume. I found a few sites that give basics on all types of animal costumes, but nothing for a horse. I'm currently making this costume. I have only ten days, but have already made the frame. I bought my supplies at home depot and Joann Fabrics. I personally don't think you need a pattern if you're creative enough. I bought: bendable metal (approx. 2in by 64in) with rivets (holes) all down the center (so bolting pieces on would be easy), nuts and bolts, small chicken wire 19 guage, 1 inch thick foam (Joann's) and brown short fur for the top part of the body and thicker brown fur for the waist and lower legs. I'm using a synthetic ponytail from a wig store to give the tail a realiztic look. Right now I have the frame done. I simply started by bening one long strip starting at the lower part of my back and bent it gently to form the top part of a horses back, all the way down to it's rear end. I then used two other metal strips and crossed them and bolted them just at the highest part where the thighs would be. Once you get a sturdy basic frame, you then form the chicken wire over it and secure it all together. I use metal wire and twist it with pliers. I then formed the legs and just attached them to each bar (leg). Then I fit the foam all around it and shape the horse. You can double it up and glue it in areas where certain leg muscles will be. If the foam you get is thicker, you can just shave areas off with a razor or electric knife, which is quite easy. Then simply take measurements of your form and copy to the fur. If you get long fake fur, it hides a lot mistakes. For the hooves, I used a very thick pleather from the fabric store and pounded snaps into each so they would fasten in the back. So far, it looks great. One additional idea is to make sure you use cotton leggins for under the costume. You would build up the leggins by attaching the foam right to the leggins. Make sure they're heavier so nothing irritates your legs. Right now I'm contemplating changing the legs out so they have joints and can somehow move. Very difficult and I'm struggling with ideas on how to make it work. That's all the info I can offer you right now. If anyone else out there has any pointers or suggestions, I'd sure love to hear about it. It's obvious people on this site are into making their OWN costumes. This is great. Good luck.
Original source
You're going to want structure and padding and fur; you'll want to research getting the shape of digigrade legs for the back legs. There's a good page on digigrade legs here. Of course, that's not going to do much good for the back legs, as they wouldn't be your own, and can be structured without having to worry about bending your own joints. That links to this tutorial for front hooves, which is very good.
What would be definitely tough is how you will be... mobile! A structure on wheels? Light enough to move around? A structure on wheels that automatically moves the back legs forward and backward when you move? That's getting a little complex, but it's been thought of for those with time on their hands. Here's a few ideas for a centaur costume sturdy enough for a passenger.
Work in progress...