Horton the Elephant Costume

I was Horton the elephant. I wanted to choose a character who brings joy to children while teaching how important it is to be kind, self-less, and not to give into bullies and peer pressure. Bullying is a huge issues and we could use more Hortons in this world. "A person's a person, no matter how small" ~ Horton. I want to live in a world where all people feel safe to be themselves and aren't judged and bullied by others.
I started by making his trunk, which is made with 3 recycled water bottles. I cut the top and bottoms of the bottles off and made slits in them and hot glued a strip of paper to the 3 bottles to connect them and be able to shape them. I wrapped strips of gray felt around them and painted the lines on it with black fabric paint to make it look like the Horton from the book. I added elastic on it so I could wear it. Then I started making the ears by drawing an outline out of a recycled cardboard box. I cut them out and covered them with gray felt and used black fabric paint to make the lines. I used a headband and spray painted it gray and hot glued the ears to it. The only things I had to buy for the trunk and ears were the gray felt (less than $2 worth) and the elastic string (less than a $1). Next, I made Horton's body. I used three 1/2" pvc pipes(around $3 worth). Before I cut the pipes I made a sketch of how to structure it. I had to take some measurements of myself like shoulder to shoulder, shoulder to lower back, and the length of my legs. From this I figured out the measurements for my pipes. I measured the pipes and marked them and wrote on them the measurement and where to put them. I cut them out and connected them with pvc pipe connectors (around $4 for a bag). After I got them all connected I recycled some bubble wrap and wrapped it around the structure to form the shape and used some zip ties I had in the garage to keep the bubble wrap in place. I bought 4 yards of gray fleece material ($5.00 total) and draped it over Horton's back end leaving all the extra material in the front of the structure. I cut a whole in the material the was right in front of the structure to put my head through. It is a lot like a poncho. I made some lines on it with black fabric paint. In order to maneuver the structure I weaved some rope in the pipes and mad straps that went over my arms. I took one of my scarves to tie the straps together. Since my hands aren't seen I can hold onto the rope and keep the back structure supported. Then I created me front legs with semi-ridged dryer vent ($10) and cut them into 10 2" pieces (5 fir each leg). I had to buy some more fleece material ($4) and cut them in rectangles that would wrap around my legs and go from my thighs to me feet. I hot glued each of the fabric rectangles to the dryer vent rings and used some recycled Velcro to put on the ends of the fabric in order to keep them around my legs without falling off. I used uncut dyer vents and cut the tube in half to make my back legs. I covered the with the rest of the gray fleece and made some lines on the legs with black fabric paint and made the "toenails" with white fabric paint and outlined them with black fabric paint. I attached the back legs to the pvc pipes. I dressed in a gray shirt, pants, and toboggan. The last thing I mage was the flower puff where the little Who's live. I used a Styrofoam ball I had on hand and a pink marabou feather Boa($2). I hot glued the boa around the ball. I painted a dowel rod green and wrapped some yellow ribbon around it and glued the stick to the nose. I found a bead in my craft supplies to glue on the ball to represent the Who world. I used gray and white face paint and made the black lines on my face with some old liquid eye liner.

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out"~ Dr. Seuss