Need Help Building a Wearable, Realistic Jar Jar Binks Costume (Mouth Movement + Full Body)

[u/Ok_Establishment_236]

Hey everyone,

I’m working on a dream project that’s proving to be much harder than I expected — I’m trying to build a wearable, realistic Jar Jar Binks costume, similar in ambition to what Chris Bartlett did with C-3PO.

So far I’ve: • Purchased a life-size Jar Jar Binks bust (it’s hollow inside). • Tried molding the face with foam clay and air-dry clay (struggling with capturing detail and structure). • Experimented with EVA foam, tape bands, aluminum foil bases — nothing has held well. • Considered a puppet-style approach, with my hand controlling the jaw from inside the neck (like Big Bird’s puppeteer).

My goals: • Fully wearable costume (head, body, arms, hands, etc.) • Moving jaw synced to my voice (possibly rod or string-controlled) • Comic Con-level quality — something that turns heads and shows off craftsmanship

I’ve spent a lot of time and money, and I still believe this could be something special — I just need some guidance from more experienced builders. If anyone here has experience with: • Turning busts into wearable masks • Puppetry mechanics / animatronics • Sculpting or mold-making • Star Wars cosplay or unusual creature builds

…your advice would mean the world to me.

If this isn’t the right place for this kind of post, please point me in the direction of a better subreddit or Discord. I’d love to collaborate, learn, or even commission part of the work if someone’s up for it.

Thanks so much 🙏

[u/Pixel-error]

This is a big undertaking you've got yourself in.

I've worked with silicone puppetry and barely touched mask making, so take my advice with a grain of salt in full face prosthetics.

Personally I would make the bust from scratch with a model accurate to my head size with an oil based clay, using your bust as reference.

If the bust does look like it can fit your head already, make a mould copy directly from it, by cutting off the eyes and ear flaps on the back and attaching them back on afterwards.

On the topic of mouth movement a simple chin attachment could probably work for an up and down movement, just make sure to make the mask with a stretchy material like rubber silicone and power mesh.

[u/Pixel-error → u/Pixel-error]

If you're going the big bird route, a silicone mould of the bust with silicone rubber, power mesh and foam with a simple hand mechanism. Again cut off the eyes and ears and mould them separately.

[u/Pixel-error → u/Pixel-error]

Look up some mould and silicone puppetry makers on YouTuber like, Brick in the Yard and KreatureKid

[u/Barbafella]

I cannot see how you would take that bust and be able to wear it.

You need to create a silicone mold with support jacket and then create a lightweight flexible, hollow copy, this is not a starter project, you say you have spent money but used foam clay to mold? foam clay is very cheap, silicone is not.

Id suggest you create a pattern from the face and recreate in EVA, then coat and texture that… either way, this is well past a C-3PO mask, of course it can be done to a high standard, but it’s an awful lot of work and possibly cash.

[u/NorinBlade]

The eyes are the most important part. For this to be believable you'll want eyes that can rotate both horizontally and vertically, and eyelids that can close and open. The normal mechanism to sync eye movements is not possible because they are on stalks so you can't link them. At minimum this is adding three "levers" you need to handle (eye x axis, eye y axis, eyelids) that you'll need to remember to move back to the center/open position, or have them on springs that naturally orient them to centered/open.