Build Plans: How to make a giant sandwich costume

POSTED BY , 28 May 2007

How to make a giant sandwich costume

by Erik Beck

Hey everyone and welcome to the technical blog for Episode#3 (giant sandwich). I know not everyone needs a giant sandwich costume, but I like to people most want one. I built this for the awesome guys over at Naked Castle. As always we invite viewers to improve our design and send us video clips of your projects. All you have to do is upload, and you could be featured in our monthly user submitted podcast.

Shopping List

1. Two big pieces of cardboard.
   (These will act as the large surfaces of our bread. If you can't find a big enough piece you can tape smaller pieces together.)
   
   
   
2. A bunch of 1-1/2 inch thick foam.
   (I used about 3 sheets, with each one being about 3 feet by 8 feet.)
   
   
   
3. A big can of Foam and Fabric Adhesive Spray.
   (You might even need two.)
   
   
4. Spray Paint ( Cream, Black, Brown, Green, Yellow, Red)
   (A certain giant evil retail store, let's call it "Tal-Mart" sells all the basic colors for .99 cents. Good feeling in your soul sold separately.)
   
   
   
5. Gaffers Tape
   
   
   
6. Black Handerchief
   
   
   
7. 16 Wooden Paint Stir Sticks
   (I grabbed these when I was buying the Spray Paint and they gave them to me for FREE!)

Building the bread

Keep in mind that you're going to have to do everything in this section twice. First thing you need to do is lay out a piece of cardboard and draw on your giant slice of bread. Make sure it's the size and shape you want. After you start cutting there is no turning back.

Here is a picture of me holding up the cardboard to check the size.

Now we can add our crust. Take some of our 1-1/2 inch thick foam sheet and cut long strips that are about 5 inches tall. You'll need an electric turkey carver to really get this job done right. Then using some spray glue attach our foam crust to the outer edge of the cardboard. Spray adhesive is a contact glue, so you'll have to spray both the cardboard and the foam. Let it dry enough to get tacky, then stick it together.

Next we're going to re-enforce the flimsy cardboard with some wooden paint stir sticks. The reason I used these is because they are fairly strong, light and most importantly FREE! I taped the sticks down across the inside of the bread.

Once your bread is dry you can start painting. I started with a base coat of the off-white or cream color. Then brown around the crust, taking care to blend it in nicely.

The Fixings

This is the part where you can get really creative. My sandwich ended up being a roast beef looking meat, lettuce and American cheese, but your sandwich can be whatever you want. It's time to take all those years of making edible sandwiches and apply it to a giant person suit. Lay out some more strips of your foam on the edge of the bread. Mark off the places you'll need to cut so that your foam lettuce, meat etc. fits right. Then start cutting! I really just started stacking everything on top of each other until it look right.

Once you have the general shape, take some extra time to carve out some details. Little grooves along the edges of the lettuce made it look really cool. Now paint! Some one told me I had to use floral spray paint on foam, but regular spray paint works fine and is much cheaper!

Repeat this basic process for your meat, cheese, pickles...whatever you want! Just make sure and lay everything out on the sandwich as you go to check for a snug fit.

The face (optional)

The guys over at Naked Castle wanted there sandwich person to be angry, but your sandwich can be happy, sad or even faceless. The angry face was a good way to hide a secret opening for the person inside to see out of. The secret is a black Handerchief. When glued in place on the front of the sandwich it just looks black, but from inside you can see right out. Like looking through a screen. The rest of the face is just poster board I stapled to the front!

Putting it all together

It's time to start gluing the heck out of this thing. This step is fairly easy and by far the most fun. Using generous amounts of our spray glue start at the bottom bread and work your way up. Glue each layer on top of the next. It's like making a real sandwich, but instead of mustard or mayo you're using toxic glue. Did I mention you should be wearing a paper mask when using glue and paint? Use a decent mask when applying large amounts of glue or paint, even if your outisde.

 Remember, someone is actually going to wear this monstrosity. Stick together 3 long pieces of gaffers tape and you've made some pretty strong cloth straps. Once the sandwich is put together, crawl inside and tape each end of your straps to either side of the bread. When your done you should have 2 shoulder straps that keep the sandwich in place.

 Congratulations, you're now the proud owner of a ridiculous costume. Please post your questions or comments. 

 Check out this build in action, from Episode 3 of Backyard FX