I didn't know if it would work or not since there were so many random little bits that had to come together for it to actually happen the way I wanted.
I needed horns obviously, so those were pretty much ready to go but I'd only worked with them once before and had no idea how well they'd just stick onto the forehead - it wasn't until I was making the attempt that I realized I hadn't bothered to glue down the cowl, just the face over top of it. Luckily it worked, it pulled a little, but you can't really tell and ultimately held up really well.
The cowl piece itself was essentially invisible but I needed it to make sure all the other things worked properly. It was done pretty quick and dirty but worked in the end. I pre-painted it, pre-glued all the hair down and attached the ears as well, so it was really just a matter of getting it place, gluing it down in a couple key spots and getting the face on.
I happened to already have the dentures and fake hair, so that was pretty simple to deal with. The contacts I already had as well as the claw fingernails.
The face piece gave me the most trouble. It just didn't feel Krampus-y until it was all put together and I didn't have time to do a proper mould - I would've liked to have been able to sell it - so I did another quick and dirty stone mould. It didn't hold up very well, at least I got one good copy out of it though and I can use it for reference if I decide to make another.
Aside from all the makeup, the part I felt I might've left too much to the last minute, and might have to call it off, was the costume. I had no idea how to dress Krampus, but then I remembered I still had the costume from the Dwarf shoot I did a couple years ago and it all worked perfectly.
Other than that I had a replica bell from the Krampus movie and a staff already on hand, so with some styrofoam and Worbla I whipped up a little hok sort of thing at the top of the staff and that was taken care of. The switch was just some tall grass that was dead in the yard, that was easy enough.
Night shoots are always tricky as the lighting in Charlottetown outside at night is pretty limited, but we managed to find a couple decent spots - and it wasn't too cold out so I didn't feel rushed - and with a bit of patience we managed to get quite a few really great shots.
I'm glad I finally got to do a Krampus shoot and do a good one at that. Overall with the right pieces - and I might even work on doing a whole Krampus set of prosthetics for sale next fall - I might try it again next year if I come up with some new ideas for a shoot.
