Sandflea Completed

Hey guys,

So, as you know, I've been working on a Sandflea costume for about eight months: here, here, and here.
Well, the costume is completed! Not only is it completed, but I recorded an episode of AO on how to make it. =] View that HERE.

For those of you that would prefer to have a written instruction of making it, well, you came to the right place.

MASK
Materials:

• Black, Stretchy, See-Through Fabric (1/2 yard)
  
• 2" Diameter SmoothFoam Balls (2, or how ever many you want)
• Thumbtack (one per eyeball)
• White Fun Foam (about a 5" square)
• Safety Pin (1)
  

Tools

• Sewing Pins
  
• Sewing Machine
• Chalk (or Fabric Pen)
  
• Markers (black, and other colors)
• Hot Glue Gun

Resources:

• Sandfleas Website
• Sandfleas Mouths

Procedure:
Hood:

1. Take black fabric and pull it tight around your face.
2. Pin it in the back around the shape of your head.
3. Use the chalk to trace the curve of your head onto the fabric.
4. Sew along the chalk line. Test and sew until it fits the shape of your head.
5. Cut off excess along the outside. (keep it long though, to tuck into sweater)
6. Flip hood inside out.

Eyes:

1. Take foam ball and using a marker, draw a black circle about the size of a penny.
   

Mouth:

1. Go to the Sandfleas website, and go to the "In Your Face" game. Pick your desired mouth.
2. Draw out mouth on fun foam.
3. Cut out mouth.
4. On back out mouth, horizontally tape or hot glue safety pin.

Mask:

1. Put on hood and chalk where you want the eyes. (I like putting them right above my actual eyes, on my forehead)
2. Take of hood. Stick tack through the back of the chalk mark and stick on the eye. (repeat for each desired eye)
3. Try on again to make sure it's what you want, before you make it permanent.
4. Take of hood. Take off eye and coat tack in hot glue. Replace eye.
5. Put on hood and pin mouth where desired.

SWEATER
It's a Freddy Kruger sweater. go find one. If it's Halloween, go to Hot Topic.
Hey guys,

IRON CROSS NECKLACE
This one looks good.

PANTS
These are important. If you forget these you'll look silly. And possibly get arrested.

If I think of more things to add to this, I will.

-Awesome Lad

Sandflea Insider Info

Hey guys,

So last Friday I went to the opening reception of the Yo Gabba Gabba Art Gallery at Meltdown Comics(which I recommend checking out if you can). While I was there I struck up a couple of conversations with Parker and Tyler Jacobs, one of them being about the Sandfleas.

Following is some of the fun little factoids about the Sandfleas that Parker told me about.

-The eyes were made out of the same eye used for the Floating eye of death cover. The eyes were stress balls(that I believe he sculpted/designed). They would cut off little bit of the ball, making it flat on one end. They would attach them to the mask using heavy-duty Velcro. (During battles the Sandfleas would take off their eyes and throw them at people.)

-Even though you could sometimes see the veins(like in the pictures from earlier), they were always painted white. The only reason you could still see them was because the veins were raised. The eyes were supposed to be "CookieMonster Eyes", white with black pupils.

-The mouths were attached my giant Velcro with the mouth stuck on it

-Based on what he was saying, with the Velcro and stuff, I'm assuming the masks were like wool ski mask type things.

-There were tiny eye holes in the masks so they could see.

-For the sweater he said to just get a Freddy Krueger sweater, or a striped tee-shirt.

-"And you can't forget the iron-cross necklace."

-The reason the Sandfleas stopped performing was a simple reason: They ran out of eyes, people kept taking them. This tempts me to attempt to cast some eyes and try to talk them into performing again... =]

I just want to thank Parker and Tyler for being nice and telling me info and stuff. =]

For more of a frequent update on what I'm doing, Check out my forum thread.

-Awesome Lad

Sandflea Project

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been such a long time since I've posted. I'm not the best at making sure I post, especially since I'm sure no one reads this. But alas, I have a reason to post!

As you guys may know, I've been working on making a sandflea costume.

I thought I'd share my progress.

EYES
for the eyes I decided to use smooth foam balls. This way I could have them looking smooth without having to actually do anything.
For all of the eyes I started with a light sanding to smooth out the seam(some brands sand better than others). I then drew on the black, blue and red parts using markers.
The first size I tried was a 3" diameter.

As you can tell, a 3" diameter is much too big. Although I was pleased with the look of they eyes.

Next I tried sphears with a 2.5" diameter

Again, too big.

Lastly I tried a 2" size.

I think I looks great, and it's light enough to not droop down.

EYES: Done

MASK
The mask aspect of the sandflea costume was easy. I found a fabric that could be seen through when right next to it, and pinned and sewed it to fit my head.

Luckily I can wear my glasses under the mask without it being (too) obvious.
To attached the eyes I stuck a thumb tack through the inside of the mask, put some hot glue on the tack, and stuck on the eye.
{image to come}

MASK: Done

MOUTH
The mouth is something that I feel is vital to how the sandflea looks. I think the key is to draw out a mouth that really emulates Pook's* style of art. I, being not that great of a drawer, prefer to mimik existing mouth designs. This is a great place to look at lots of mouth designs.
For now, I just simply drew it on stiff-ish paper. As far as attaching it, I still need to figure out a good way to do that...

MOUTH: Still working on it

NECKLACE
This is just an ironcross necklace. With a ball-chain, not a chord. I found two on ebay that should arrive this week. Hopefully they're the right size.

NECKLACE: Almost Done

SWEATER
Basicly they wear Freddy Krueger sweaters. They should be easy to find, right? Wrong. Find an olive green and red sweater that has not been shredded and burnt is extremely difficult. To make matters more annoying, in October of 2010 Hot Topic sold the exact sweater I needed, completely intact, and for cheap (like $26). But of course they don't sell them anymore.

So for this, I'll Probably just buy a red sweater and paint it.

SWEATER: Not yet started

PROPS

I'm gonna make the famous "The Aquabats R Dumb" pickit sign. I also have an "I <3 MDAM" Button I made(boardies will get the joke).

I'll post more once more happens, but to get more of a frequent update on what I'm doing, Check out my forum thread.

-Awesome Lad

Sandflea

Hey guys,
I want to make a Sandflea.

Here's the resources I have.
SWEATER
IRONCROSS NECKLACE
PANTS: Probably just Dickies.
SHOES?

EYES: From what I understand, the eyes were left over from the Floating Eye of Death album cover. I guess they got a bunch of the eye balls with the veins and pupils.

Here's some more reference photos(taken from their website):

If you have any more info one these guys' costumes, let me know.

-Awesome Lad

P.S. Here's a fun picture.