Living Statue Help

[Lee Nelson]

Hey I have to create four living statues for this weekend. They are going to be white and closely resemble actual renaissance statues.
White make-up and a sheet covering the main part of the body.
The problem is that I have no experience at this at all. I dont know how to make the sheet match the off white make up.
My ideas are painting it. Or covering it in plaster.
Anybody have any practical experience or advice on this matter, it would be appreciated

Bless
lee

[gav]

I recently made a statue of liberty costume for a tourist agency.
Fabric dye and/or acrylic/latex interior house paint.
The paint makes the material stiff and mixing some liquid latex with the paint makes it stiffer but flexible. If you know what I mean.
You should be able to get a close colour match with the paint.

[Lee Nelson]

Gavin they should take your blood and bottle it!!

[Pele]

We've done the paint the fabric with housepaint. It sucked. Even with *some* flexibility it is a pain to paint it (fabric soaks it up, unless you use gesso first) and hot to wear. I've also had cracking issues.

I learned my lesson with this and now airbrush the costume and the person at the same time, doing some blending and such. Works so much better and with my airbrush, I can get more details.

If the paint is off white, why not go to the nearest fabric store with some of the paint in hand and purchase cotton muslin, which comes in off white. Match it to the closest one. Muslin is cheap too, at less than $2 a yard.

If this doesn't work, try tea/coffee dying. It's not as drastic as a fabric dye so it's easier to get the subtle tones gradually, which might help you match it to the paint better.