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Elf ears

Started by Tipsy Gypsy, September 15, 2008, 06:26:56 AM

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Tipsy Gypsy

I've browsed the garb threads and haven't seen any discussion on this, so, begging your kind indulgence if the question's already been asked...

I've been racking my brain for a halloween party costume, and finally decided I've got most of what I need for an elf (Arwen-esque) look, except for the ears. I've never used prosthetics, and I'm wondering- how can I make a pair of costume elf ears blend in and give them a little credibility? Will a makeup base and powder suffice? This is most likely a one-time thing I'll do for a few hours, and that's all, so I want to keep it inexpensive,  but I also don't want to look like I just glued on a couple of pieces of cheap latex on the sides of my head! What do you folks suggest?
"It's just water, officer, I swear. And yeast. And a little honey. How the alcohol got in, I have no idea!"

sealion

My daughter's latex ear tips have makeup on them to help them blend with her skin tone. She and others I have seen wear them with their hair down to conceal the seam and let the tips peek out from their hair.
Cindy/Ciana Leonardi di Firenze/Captain Cin

escherblacksmith

If you get a decent woochie, all you need is a little makeup to match it to the normal ear-coloring. 
--

Rahne

Our party city store sells the ears, they also sell "theater make up" and the spirit gum for attaching them. You would need a flesh tone, and maybe a Little red to blend in to the deeper part of the ear where it tends to be a little pink in color.  then put the ear on and blend the make up around the seam to help it blend in.  And as stated earlier if you can style your hair to cover the seam that works the best.  My daughter has ears she wears to the faire. So I do this every year.  The past 2 years she has gone as a Dark or Drow elf.  I used the dark purple makeup to do the ears and all of her exposed skin, it turned out pretty good.
"Don't part with your illusions.
When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live"
Mark Twain

Mythrin

Along with the above suggestions you can push an ear ring through the latex and that gives a different look.  My daughter has two huge dangly ones on one side and a single on the other for her fairy character and it makes those ears look more like her own.
Chris
Founding member of the Living History Company

"go Secret Squirrels"

Elennare

From my experience with elf ears:

To really make the ears blend in takes a bit of work.  Absolute best way to hide the seam is to buy liquid latex and put it over the seam, thin layer by thin layer, making sure it's dry between each application, until you can't see the seam any more.  Make sure you've got the edge tacked down really well with spirit gum.  It will not work if part of the prostetic edge is sticking up.  This process takes a long time, and is hard to get right.  A much quicker and easier way to do it is to make sure you have a piece of hair that hangs down in front of your ear to cover the seam there.  To hide the back seam, put an ear cuff over it.  As long as your hair stays relatively in place, you're good to go.  To help the hair stay in place, in addition to the hair that naturally hangs down in front of your ear, pull a little piece that would normally fall behind your ear to the front.  This causes it to "wrap" around the base of your ear and it covers the seam a little bit better.

To make the ears match your skin tone (assuming you didn't buy a brand that comes already painted.  I have no experience with those, so I can't really give you advice on them), you're going to either need grease-based make up, or prostetic sealer.  Castor oil substitutes for the prostetic sealer for much less money.  If you're not using one of these, the prostetic will change the color of the make up you apply to it, and it won't matter if you put the same color over the ear tips and your entire face, your ear tips will be lighter.  If you put some sort of make up on the ear tips without the sealer, the difference in color isn't as noticable if you have a piece of hair dangling down in front of your ear (like you will if you're hiding the seam that way.  Conveinient, eh?)  If you use the Woochie (or any other non-painted brand) ears, DO NOT skip some sort of make up application on them, or no matter what you do, it WILL look like you just "glued on a couple of pieces of cheap latex."  Personally, I recommend going the sealer + other makeup route, as grease paint isn't too good for your skin, and if you don't powder it REALLY well, it'll smear/wipe off on things (like your hair).  If you don't want to buy theatrical makeup for a one-shot costume, go with your normal, everyday makeup instead of the cheap "halloween" makeup (small pot of Woochie stuff is theatrical make up.  card-mounted "fairy/vampire/etc" kit type stuff is cheap halloween makeup).

Another way you could color the ears, especially if it's for a one-shot deal, is to use acrylic paint.  You'll still need the sealer/castor oil, but you have the advantage of having the ear in front of you while you color it, instead of trying to do it while it's on the side of your head.  You won't miss spots, and it's also easier to add the appropriate shadows and highlights this way, since you can really see what you're working on.  As long as you seal the prostetic before painting, and have a bit of artistic skill (about what you'd need to put on makeup) you can get pretty realalistic looking ear tips this way.  If you plan on using the ear tips many times, I wouldn't recommend this method because the paint cracks after awhile.

If you want to go really crazy, you can make custom ears, and those are much easier to hide the seams on then anything you'll buy from the store.  I would not recommend this for a one-shot halloween costume, since it's a bit pricy and VERY time consuming.  You do get really good looking ears from it, though, once you finish.

Let me know if you have any questions, or want something I said explained better.  Welcome to elf-dom! :)
My (infrequently updated) costume blog: http://manufactorumbrandis.wordpress.com/

Randal

No experience, but I did have this site bookmarked after a discussion on the old forums. http://www.aradanicostumes.com/index.php

Randal
Vive Ut Vive

Joyce "Delfinia DuSwallow" Howard

#7
OHHHH-Thats a great site that Randal put up for elf ears, be sure to check it out. :)
MDRF Dandy  "Delfinia DuSwallow"
Sun'n Penny - Clan O'Morda
LandShark #71
Maker of Buttery Nipples

Tipsy Gypsy

Thanks everybody- what great input! Interestingly, I ran across the same site Randal mentioned, just last night. It is a good site, indeed.

Thanks again!!
"It's just water, officer, I swear. And yeast. And a little honey. How the alcohol got in, I have no idea!"

Ista Sharrasi

Superglue. *nod* The easiest, cheapest way to make elf ears without buying prosthetics and make-up and powder and blending agents is just to put superglue on the foreward-facing side of the top of your ear, and pinch it into the shape you want, holding it until the glue dries. To remove it, there's a superglue remover stuff that is safe and easy to use. It produces amazing results! My friend Havolas does this for his ears, and gets quite a good result from it, as you can see below.

"We're not always doing business, but we're aalways open." ~ Boondock Saints

Tipsy Gypsy

I've hard about that, and actually considered it... :D. How long does it last for him?

My concern is whether the skin might be sensitive to something as harsh as superglue, and if it came loose, might it take some skin with it?  :o
"It's just water, officer, I swear. And yeast. And a little honey. How the alcohol got in, I have no idea!"

gypsylakat

superglue is used pretty commonly for field medicine... I wouldn't worry too much about skin coming with it if it came loose because if it comes loose it will come off of the skin (in theory the way I worked it outin my head) but it might be one of those things to try on like the inside of your wrist to make sure you don't have any reactions to it first, somewhere you can see it before it starts burning too badly..
"A kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point.
That's basic spelling that every woman ought to know."

Tipsy Gypsy

Good point. I've gotten it on my fingers a number of times of course, but fingertips aren't nearly as sensitive! I hadn't thought about it being used in field medicine, but it makes sense.
"It's just water, officer, I swear. And yeast. And a little honey. How the alcohol got in, I have no idea!"

Elennare

You might want to check out this webpage for some other quick/easy ear options:  http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/makingem/Makeup/AllEars.htm

Some of the ideas there are pretty hokey, and won't look that great, but there are some good ideas in there.  They also don't involve chemicals that were not meant to be used on skin.  (While I wouldn't use the superglue method, I'd actually be more worried about the remover hurting you than the glue, since superglue is used by the medical community to close wounds.  The remover likely contains acetone or something similar, which will go through your skin and is not good for you.  Yes, it's the same stuff as nail polish remover, but you have MUCH thinner skin on your ears than your fingertips, plus you're going to be applying it directly to your skin, so you're likely going to be absorbing more of the chemical than you would taking nail polish off.  Unless you somehow manage to pinch your ear in such a way that you're pinching off blood vessels, the glue method shouldn't be TOO bad for you, as long as you aren't putting acetone/similar on your ears.)
My (infrequently updated) costume blog: http://manufactorumbrandis.wordpress.com/

Knevolin

I've bought Halloween stuff from this site before (http://www.screamteam.com/) and they sell an instructional DVD on applying and making-up prosthetics.  I found it very helpful.
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