How to build a Mouth of Sauron costume

  
From the minds and hands of and
I am costantly updating, cleaning, adding links and erasing typos, hiding URLS,
and clarify info as I can.

  ^{The following is more or a less a pictoral tutorial on how to construct a
Mouth of Sauron costume reproduction.}      

I won't waste much time lecturing on the needed skills and time needed.
  I am a semi-professional woodworker, craftsman, artisan, so on so forth.
So much of this is was easy for me to do, especially with my talents and a shop
with almost all the materials already purchased.
_{How long will this take?}
I only worked on my spare evenings, and the grunt- work took me a year. It will
go faster for anyone else, you have tutorials.
_{How much will this cost?}
As I said, almost all the materials I had purchased, the materials for the
clothes my sister and I had been selecting at random for about 2 years.
I can't answer that honestly, if you are starting from scratch, you might end
up spending several hundred dollars on fabrics, resins, wood, etc.
Be resourceful! Butcher clothes hangers, find stuff at thrift stores. Take your
time. Don't be assailed.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Alright, move it you slugs!
The Helmet  
~~~
The following 7 thumbnails link to the helmet construction. There is some text
on each page, but PLEASE read the description accompanying each, right below
them.


~ More helpful pictures with descriptions about the helmet;


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The Gauntlets and accesories--



The Pendant was custom made by a dear friend , and she has a
thorough tutorial here- www.yvettes.net/MoSPendantCons…
She took my redimentary ideas, came up with a very appropriate intircate design.
Check it out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Under frock, capelette, layered collar, and over-apron---


Image of costume on dummy is WITh over-apron, the other one with me wearing the costume iswithout the over-apron.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Morgul Blade~   

~~~~~~~~
MAKEUP-   

There are so many better sources forinexpensive and really nice FX makeups.
I bought my fake teeth from a place called Dental Distortions, which appears
not be around anymore. Fake chompers are eareer to get than ever, and don't
just search under fangs for vampires and wearwolves.
Mine were called scraecrow shredders, check out all different kinds!
(Though honestly I got a better response when I wasn't wearing the teeth.
  )
Face makeup is just for your neck and chin, work on some nice dead tones of whites
and greys. (If you watch the movie on slo-mo enough, you can clearly see where the make-up line ends below the collar.   )
Watch out that it won't rub on all your clothes.
And don't just get cheap kiddie white-face makeup, just go to the makeup
department, get the palest ladies foundations for a base. Tone the other parts unremarkable dead greys.
The splits can be achieved with various lipsticks, and there are lipsticks that
won't come off with a jack-hammer and are very versatile. Actual lip color in
an array of dead and colorless greys to almost black.
  Good Luck!
My version is not the only way! If you see ways to improve, do so.
Heck, I can't see out of my helmet, you can do better.
What are you waiting for? Give it a try.
If you'd like to ask questions, comments, share ideas, so forth,
just pop me an email at gorthaurrockatansky@yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Resources and links~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  For the best observations on the costumes, rewatch the whole scene with the
MoS on slow-mo, watch how the fabric moves or helmet rests. Sounds nutty?
Do it, you might learn something.
The very best, go to the galleriers in the appendix/documentary DVD's.
The costume gallery is the very best, and you get to see some gallery shots of
it. (Though the person wearing the costume is obviously not the actor and a bit
smaller, so some things don't drape the same.
And be sure to watch the 'WETA WORKSHOP' documentary, it has a segment that talks very much about the costume and character.
Plus, you get some untouched (but grainy) outside shots of the costume in daylight, as
well as the costume with the helmet and head drapes off.

And if you happen to have the Weta Bust/head reproduction, do some research
there, it's pretty accurate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Hope you don't mind me using you stamp, ! )
Other Mouths
Have made a Mouth of Sauron costume?    Send me a link via my email gorthaurrockatansy@yahoo.com,  and I would love to link it here, even if you
don't use my tutorial! It's such a rare costume, I'd love to meet others who are
demented enough to attempt it.
~
<www.wetanz-forums.com/viewtopi…">2DIE4'S MoS Costume</a>
  He did his before I did mine! Check him out.
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                       _________                         _______
The following links are get resources for everything else-   
If you have relevant ones, note me or mail me at my adress. Combing through my files, it's evident many sites no longer exist that I had before.
~~~~
My wonderful sister who ran the sewing machine and did most of the frocking .
  The fabulous folks at the LOTR Yahoo costuming page- movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/…
Belluthien's MoS Pendant page www.yvettes.net/MoSPendantCons…
www.elvish.org/gwaith/movie_ne… The helmet runes, more specifically
here- www.elvish.org/gwaith/movie/ro… for thee 114 helemt runes.
  And while you are at it, brush up on your black speech-
www.thelandofshadow.com/mordor…
   Great source of hi-rez screen caps- www.framecaplib.com/lotrlib.ht…
THe Best Morgul-dedicated site around, The Land of Shadow, has an irrresitable MoS page- www.thelandofshadow.com/mordor…
Check out the rest of the graphics and audio blazing site for artwork and all sorts of Evil trivia!
  Where would we be without Wikipedia?- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mout…
  War of the Ring photo forum, great screen cap site, just search for a key
character- www.warofthering.net/photoforu…
The holy Alleycat Costuming site, no MoS costume there (yet), but if you are
thinking of pursuing costuming, there is so much info (LOTR and other films),
check them out!- www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/
  The one Ring net scrapbook, mostly the action figure-
www.theonering.net/scrapbook/m…
Bruce Spence Yahoo group- movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/…
Sorry, you have to join to get in, which is a pity, I (and my chums) have
uploaded many Mouth of Sauron screencaps to the photo section. Not to mention some of the make-up application shots.
Here is a quick link to my DD selected picture of this costume with my FAQ- inkibus.deviantart.com/art/The…
Yes, I have gotten asked so many questions, I have a FAQ.
~~~
There are too many people to thank for all of this...
       
My sis and my mum for their work, my dad for his technical help,
Belluthien for hers, The LOTR yahoo costuming group, Jules and SithHaldir and for some priceless screengrabs, The fabulous Howers who know who's the bunny , Bondo for being such an amazing substance, Warren Mahy, Richard Taylor, and the resourceful Weta people who made the movie character so unique and costumable, Mr. Spence for doing such a fabulous job for so little screen time , the marvelous Deviants I have met durning and after this project, and for
selecting my work as a Dailey Deviation.