Satyr Costume Tutorial

sa·tyr

ˈsatər,ˈsātər/

": one of the forest gods in Greek mythology who have faces and bodies like men and ears, legs, and tails like goats" -(source)

A satyr is what my son wanted to be for Halloween this year.  He was inspired by the books written by Rick Riordan.  We were even lucky enough to snag a signed copy of his latest book!  Exciting!

Here is the finished costume and how we made it...if you would like to create a similar one yourself.  It pretty much consists of a hat, shirt, pants, and shoes.

You will need a hat, orange t-shirt, sweat pants, slippers, fur fabric, Sculpey Ultra Light Polymer Clay, paint, hot-glue, a strong glue (like E6000), and inkjet iron-on transfer paper.

 1. the hat: My son had the great idea of attaching the horns to a hat, instead of a headband or something like that.  We couldn't find a "trucker" style hat while shopping, so we made one by painting a black hat.  I sketched and painted the word satyr on the white painted portion of the hat to get a graffiti look.  I made the horns using Sculpey Ultra Light Polymer Clay.  It was my first time working with it, and it really is super light!  It felt like taffy!  I made the bottoms flare out to anchor them in the hat.  After I baked the clay, I painted them and sealed them with mod podge.  To attach the horns to the hat, I made an "X" like slit where I wanted them in the top of the hat, pushed them through, and hot-glued them in place.  You can use a stronger glue too.  I also hot-glued felt over the exposed clay on the inside of the hat to make it more sturdy and comfortable.  

2. the shirt: This was easy, and I'm sure there are multiple ways to do it (like using a freezer paper stencil).  We just found an image online and printed it on inkjet iron-on transfer paper, then ironed it on the shirt.  Camp Half-Blood is from the Rick Riordan books.  It's "a state-of-the-art training facility for young demigods"-(source). 

3. the pants: We used gray sweatpants.  I cut two large circles from the fur fabric (purchased at Jo-Ann Fabric), using a plate to trace out the shape.  I also cut long rectangles to wrap around the bottom of the legs, using the pants as a guide.  I cut out a small circle, cut it in half, and folded it to use as the small tail.  I attached the fur to the pants with hot-glue, but also stitched around the edges to hold in place.

4. the shoes (hooves): For the hooves, I also used the Sculpey Ultra Light Polymer Clay.  I shaped them to fit around the slippers we purchased.  The fake ugg type slippers would work well too.  We lucked out and found the perfect slippers in gray to use, so we didn't have to cover the entire slipper with fur, just the front.  I baked the polymer clay hooves on glass bowls, so they would keep their shape.  After they cooled, I painted them, sealed them with mod podge, and glued them (with a strong glue, like E6000) to the front/toe portion of the slippers.  You will also want to rough up the underneath of the hooves, so they adhere better to the slippers.  I used a plate to trace and cut a circular piece of fur fabric for the tops of the slippers and cut a slit down the middle, then hot-glued in place.  They turned out so cool and are really comfortable!

Oh, and we purchased pan pipes for him to carry!  I forgot to get a photo:/

Overall....both my son and I were really pleased with how the costume turned out!  Plus, he has a shirt he can wear after Halloween!  

Feel free to email me with any questions!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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