In 2024, my son wanted to be a Super Axe Hacker, which is a fictional log harvesting vehicle featured in the book “The Lorax”, by Dr. Suess. (My other son went as the Lorax, I was the Once-ler, and my partner was a forest of Truffula trees).
This was a challenging costume in that the vehicle isn’t designed rationally — it’s not balanced, the proportions are whimsical, and nothing is square. I thought that the only way to really make this easily was to create an armature from chicken wire and paper mache it.
I used vinyl-coated chicken wire to minimize pinprick cuts. In order to cover the whole costume, I had to apply the paper mache in stages, since it doesn’t stick to the armature when it’s wet.
I made “axes” out of cardboard, painted them gray, and used spray adhesive and glitter to make the axes sparkle. I used flexible plastic tubes as the axe handles.
I hung the whole costume from my clothesline and hit it up with spray primer and paint.
I used pipe insulation around the opening to protect the wearer from being poked by chicken wire. This mostly worked.
This costume was immediately recognizable by most of the parents and younger kids on my street, especially next to everyone else’s costumes.