The Hiss-tory of Medusa

 Hello lovelies! 

I have been wanting to make a Medusa costume for years. Even though she can turn people to stone by looking into their eyes I believe she is a tragic figure. I mean, she didn’t start off all snaky, did she? No. She was raped by Poseidon in the temple of Athena and Athena punished her by making her hideous and so that no man could ever love her. Victim blaming much?

To start this costume, I needed some snakes. I started going around to charity shops to see if there were any rubber snakes about. Carmarthen Free Books gave me one they had been hiding around the shop to scare each other (which made me laugh as that was one of the many games that Spiderman and I played). A few friends posted me some rubber snakes they found in their house. A lovely customer came by with a few (and then a few days later a few more). I bought a packet of small ones from Amazon. Now we were set!

Most of the tutorials I found had them attached to a hair band. I was worried that would be unsteady and slide off every time I looked down. I planned to wear it at work and hopefully to Swansea Comic Con so it needed to be comfortable and stable.

I decided to build a bespoke crown to the shape of my head with support straps over the top. I bought 2 dog leads from Poundland (£2 each—when did Poundland stop selling everything for a £1??) and created a base.

Then I used some tiara bits I got at Poundland for £1 and used hot glue and wire to attach to the sides to give the snakes some scaffolding to hold onto.

front

Then I started draping the snakes and using hot glue and wire to keep them in place.

back

Next I had to wait until it stopped raining to go outside and spray paint them gold! My friendly customer also gave me a huge heavy snake which works perfect as a necklace.

I am really pleased with the results. My only issue is that it is a bit heavier than I intended. It weighs about 500g (a little over a lb/pound!) but luckily it sits very well balanced on my head. I added strips of black felt in the inside so any wires wouldn’t poke my head. I also decided to wear the black chiffon scarf under it to give the illusion of long hair but also be able to hide any padding I might hide under the crown.

VERDICT: I *love* the way it looks but it was very heavy. I don't think it will suitable for Comic Con but it definitely works for one Saturday a year dressing up at work. I think I just got carried away adding snakes, but I am very proud of how it turned out.