Realistic Bunny Head Costume

Well, it is that time of year again Halloween! I have always loved trying to go all out for this holiday. Now that I have children it's fun to get their ideas and thoughts on what I should be. I asked my 3 year old daughter "what should I be for Halloween" and she said, "a bunny." I'm not going to be just any bunny, but the Easter Bunny! I was initially thinking of making a creepy or scary bunny head, but decided to go more of a realistic route. I will also be using this for Easter egg hunts in the spring so its used more than just one time.

For those that decide to try this Instructable for themselves, you can use the techniques and tools included to make any kind of creature or animal head. Another great idea from a friend was to use this bunny head to be the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

The possibilities are endless and I hope you learn something new while learning how I figured out this project.

Happy Halloween!

In the pictures you can see the majority of the materials I used. The list is not inclusive and there are many alternative materials and tools that could be used but here is a list of what I decided to use.

1. I used the 3D software Blender to create the 3D model I would need to create a paper model. Blender does take some time to understand but you could use any 3D software that allows the creation of a 3D object. I love Blender because it is free.
2. Pepakura- another 3D software that allows you to import a 3D model and turn it into a printable model that you can then cut and tape or glue together, as you will see later. Pepakura is around $30-40 US dollars, but worth the price if you plan to use it for more than one project like I did.
3. The other tools include your basic crafting supplies including: card stock paper, electric dremel, tape (duct and masking), multiple types of glue (super, fabric, and hot glue), sculpting supplies and tools (epoxy putty), acrylic paint, paint brushes, fiberglass and fiberglass resin, scissors and x-acto knives, and faux fur. Again this is not comprehensive but is a basic list of what I used.

Attached you will find the files I created with Blender and Pepakura if you want to make this yourself, or if you want to use if for reference as to how to make your own object/costume.

The first step of this project was to make the 3D model. I have 3D printers and even thought about printing the "helmet" of the bunnies head, but changed my mind since I wanted to experiment with Pepakura.

So in blender, as seen, I modeled the bunnies head and ears separately and kept them as "low poly" (small amount of 3d geometry) as possible so they would be easy to cut in Pepakura. What's amazing is that even in Blender you can make a paper model, but Pepakura makes it so quick I decided to do it that way. So if budget is an issue Blender does it for free with some extra work. If you are unfamiliar with 3D art and modeling/sculpting you should check it out on YouTube; It is an amazing realm of art.

The next part of the model/design aspect was to bring the STL file out of Blender and into Pepakura. Once you have the model imported its just a matter of getting the dimensions sized appropriately, cutting the model, and aligning and printing it out so you can cut it out.

*there is another way of making a paper model to fit you head. You can use tin foil and wrap it around your head and then cover that in some form of tape to make a "shell" of your head so that the model fits you specifically. It's a little awkward but it does work*

After printing the Pepakura files onto paper, or like me, card stock, you can then cut them out and assemble them. I used masking tape as this was not the final thing holding it all into place and it worked well. One of the things I really like about Pepakura is that the fold lines for the models are the same as used in Origami. In origami you have two folds that make up any model: mountain and valley folds. They are called this because of the shape the paper makes. Basically, one fold is onto itself creating a "valley" and the other the opposite which makes a "mountain". A dotted line on the paper means valley and a dotted and slashed line means mountain. If you follow this and pre-fold everything before taping it goes together much better.

This is the first time that I had ever used fiberglass and fiberglass resin to make a structure durable and if I did it again I would honestly have used paper mache. Another alternative is to put all the pieces of the cut model on EVA foam or some other kind of cosplay foam and make the helmet/head that way.

Anyways, this fiberglass thing is straight forward on paper, but messy and time consuming in reality. I don't have a garage so I had to do it on my front porch and it got all over the cement and that made my wife really happy. Just cut the fiberglass mat (fabric) into small squares, mix the resin as directed on the bottle, and use a dabbing motion to get the resin on the fiberglass mat while its on the model.

It worked wonderfully and did make the bunny head very durable so it will last a long time, but again it was just messy and paper mache would have worked just as well.

After that was dry I marked out where the eye holes for vision would be as well as the main shape of how the "pattern" would be cut up.

In the end, I did not sew the parts of fur together, and I am so thankful as that would have been problematic. However, I think this is a great tip or trick to know for anyone wanting to know a good simple way to make your own pattern for a complex shape.

1. Wrap whatever you are wanting to make a sewing pattern out of in saran or plastic wrap. If you have to use tape to keep it in place at first that is okay.
2. Cover everything you wrapped in duct tape. Try to keep all the pieces somewhat short.
3. Draw on the duct tape the way you want to cut the pieces with a sharpie or other kind of marker; this is where you want to pay attention to the size of pieces and their shapes. It's important to remember you are making something round become flat so you can sew it together. If more cuts need to be made to flatten it that is okay.
4. cut out all the pieces. I marked my pieces so I knew what they were and where the front and back of the model was.

• Pictured you can see I have the eyes set in as well as the holes for vision cut out. I also have some unseen lips and nose pieces. I cut it before with a dremel so I could know where my pattern would be to include the eye holes. I go into detail in the making of the eyes and other elements later.

Up to this point there has been a lot of behind the scenes cutting and there is more to come. Now that we have all the peices of the pattern we have to cut them out in fur or some other kind of fabric that will cover the head. As is pictured I also decided to make some gloves since I had pleanty of extra faux fur.

1. Trace each piece of your duct tape pattern; remember to flip them over so they lay correctly with the fur on the outside.
2. Cut them out. When cutting faux fur it can be messy with hair everywhere if you don't follow a simple trick. I watched the attached YouTube video and it was a lifesaver for this. Check it out.
3. At this point, if you are going to sew the pieces together you would do that now. I just decided to glue mine on instead of trying to sew them and stretch them onto the head.

One thing is for sure have yourself a good pair of fabric scissors; it makes all the difference.

Now that we basically have the bunny head out of the way here is how I decided to go about making the eyes and ears as well as small details to make this thing come alive.

1. For the ears I did the exact same process of modeling, using Pepakura, printing, and cutting. Then assembling them and covering them in duct tape. The difference is I then used liquid latex and covered each ear in 3 separate layers.
2. After they were dry I carefully peeled them off the duct tape and was left with a rubber shell. I used 16 and 14 gauge wire to make a similar shape to the ear and inserted it into the rubber shell. This made the ears shape able.
3. The last part of the ears was to paint them. Since it was latex and I knew they would be moving a lot I didn't want to go and spend a lot on latex paint that doesn't crack so I used alcohol inks and they worked great. Then it was just a matter of glueing on the fur for each ear and test fitting them.

The eyes were a much simpler process:

1. Get back to Blender and model to half spheres
2. Print them on my resin 3D printer in clear resin
3. use my wife's cricut machine to make a perfect round pupil out of sticky vinyl
4. paint the back of the printed sphere in gold and brown acrylic paint and spray with a clear coat

Then I simply glued each eye making sure they were as symmetrical as possible.

The final detail you see is made using epoxy putty and acryilc paint. Rabbits have some funny looking lips under all their fur and so I wanted to make that well defined. I used the epoxy putty for the nose, around the eyes, and for the lips. Then I painted them with heavy body acrylic paints.

Okay, we made it. After dry fiting all the pieces to make sure they were the right size and they fit nicely I started glueing them in place. It was easier to glue the ears in solid and then add the fur on top of both of those. I just took my time with the hot glue gun and fabric glue and slowly glued everything in place.

After that it was just a matter of putting in a welding helmet visor so it fit on my head comfortably.

And that's it...

I hope you enjoyed this instructable and, again, learned something along the way.

The next time you see Jelly Beans remember those are the Easter Bunnies poo poo.

Happy crafting and Happy Halloween Everyone