Red Dragon Costume

In 1996, I made what I would consider to be my first reasonably successful costume.

The mask still has that same cardboard/papier mache base that I used on the raptor and black dragon, but I deliberately made the mask much less heavy. Most of the detailing was done using pieces of felt.

I treated this costume more like an art project, and I think the overall design was better for it. It was quite simple, really... a long-sleeved t-shirt and leggings, a cloth "tube" of a tail. The scales were all either painted or pieces of attached felt. The claws were just felt hardened with glue, and the three-fingered gloves were crocheted, as I was doing a lot of that at the time. The wings were just cloth contained dowels that I could brace against my hands to hold the wings spread out, as you see in the photos.

While there are still a number of things I would do differently today, I still love the look of the mask. And judging by the fact that I still get people messaging me about this one, I'm not the only one!

Categories: Costuming, My Costumes, Older Costumes
Tags: 1996, costume, dragon, early, moving jaw, older, red, tail, wings, wyvern
Live Date: 12/31/2000 | Last Modified: 12/31/2000