Camel Costumes

CAMELS!

(Please read Disclaimer at the end of this post for any inquires regarding these costumes.)

I spent the entire month of October helping to make two camels costumes, one adult and one baby, for a theater production called Aladdin and his Winter Wish, preforming at The Pasadena Playhouse December 11-29, 2013.

Once again, an awesome Swazzle fabrication project. Check out their Facebook Page for more awesome puppet related stuff.

I was on the team in charge of covering the foam bodies of the camels in fur, camel pants and an assortment of fur and saddle details. We also had to make sure the bodies were both light, durable and also collapsible for easy storage!

To make the camel collapsible, we used a series of tubes shaped in to rings and sewn inside the camel belly. Needless to say I spent a good amount of time doing this.

And I thought they smelled bad on the outside…

Also this…

And after all that was done we ended up with this,

IMAG0030 — It looks very strange without a neck and head…

But soon everything came together including the heads! Check out these camel pics!

CamelsStage — Adult and Baby Camels in Action!

*Photo courtesy of Swazzle’s Facebook Page

Aladdin and his Winter Wish will be preforming at The Pasadena Playhouse December 11-29, 2013. If you interested in seeing something I helped make in action go check it out! Fun for all!

Disclaimer

I do not own these puppet costumes. Please email Swazzle at contact@swazzle.com or call them at (866) 792-9953 if you have any questions.

18 Responses to "Camel Costumes"

Shannon Peterson says:

November 9, 2023 at 4:33 pm

Hey there! Did you use a pattern for the camel head out of foam?

Reply
Dimitra says:

March 6, 2020 at 5:17 pm

Hello! I am interested for a camel costume for 2 adults for Aladdin production in Greece.. do you make and sell here? Please let me know! Thank u!

Reply
1. Allison says:
  
  March 17, 2020 at 1:44 pm
  
  Hello! If you are interested in a camel costume I suggest you contact Swazzzle. They are the awesome company I helped build these camels for and can help you out! Click on the Request a Quote button on the Custom Puppets section found HERE
  
  Reply
  1. Candy says:
    
    November 6, 2023 at 11:38 am
    
    I need 3 camel costume plz help
    
    Reply
Jennifer McMillin says:

February 27, 2018 at 12:28 pm

I have purchased the foam to make the camel body I just can’t tell how you made it from the picture. Any tips? Any more pictures of the steps you took making it?

Reply
1. Allison says:
  
  March 1, 2018 at 9:47 pm
  
  Hi Jennifer! Thanks for visiting my website.
  
  I wasn’t actually part of the team that made the foam camel body, just the outside fur and details so I don’t have any making of the foam body pictures. Swazzle actually had a smaller camel puppet that they had made a few years prior and I think they might have just enlarged that pattern to the size they needed.
  
  I sometimes make (or purchase if available) a small physical version of whatever project I am working on (in your case the object would perhaps be a plastic camel) and then I take a pattern off of that as if it was a dress form. I use either fabric or tape for the pattern material and then enlarge the pattern to suit my needs using a projector trace method on to a large piece of paper or the enlarge by percent function on a copier.
  
  Here’s an instructable tutorial about making tape patters from physical objects. There are even more results if you Google/internet search “making patterns with tape” so you can see the different methods peoples use this technique to make patterns.
  
  http://www.instructables.com/id/Cast-or-Pattern-Anything-with-Duct-tape/
  
  I hope this helps you, Let me know if you have any further questions and I’d love to see your camel when you are finished with it!
  
  Reply
Catby says:

November 11, 2016 at 3:47 pm

Could you please tell .e what type of tubing you used for the skeleton? Would something like hula hoops do? And how did you space them and attach them? I will be building a camel for a chidrens production of Aladdin in February, 2017, here in Canada. Need to get started on it soon.
Your camel is awesome.

Reply
1. Allison says:
  
  November 17, 2016 at 3:16 am
  
  Hello! Thanks for visiting my website!
  
  The camel head and the humps were made out of foam and the neck was just loose fabric attached to the head and body. The belly is made of fabric and different sized loops of tubing attached to the inside of the camel belly.
  
  I believe the tubing we used was some sort of flexible tubing but I’m not exactly sure what specifically type. Any flex tube piping (Polyethylene tubing) from Home Depot or other hardware stores would work as long as it isn’t to stiff to work with or hard to cut.
  
  To attached the flex tubing to the inside of the camel, the team I was working with sewed fabric channels (or sleeves) into the inside of the fabric camel body. Once the sleeves were attached, the flexible tubing was fed through them afterwords and the camel body ballooned in to shape.
  
  Hula Hoops would probably work but you would need to find a way to attach them to the inside of the camel belly in a different way since a Hula Hoop cannot be fed through a fabric sleeve. Attaching string to the inside of the camel belly and tying the hoop at different points inside is a possible solution.
  
  Let me know if you have any other questions and Good Luck with your camel construction. I’d love to see a photo of the finished camel when you are done with it!
  
  Reply
  1. Catby says:
    
    November 17, 2016 at 2:58 pm
    
    Thank you so much for your reply. I had thought that channels would be the way to work in the tubing and your swift response confirms it. There is a Home Depot close by, so I will check there for the tubing . I think the hula hoops might be too stiff.
    Thanks again. ?
    
    Reply
Cheryl says:

December 24, 2015 at 3:23 pm

In the one photo you have the body suspended between two stands. What are the stands called?

Reply
1. Allison says:
  
  December 29, 2015 at 5:08 am
  
  Hello! I don’t have the exact name of the stands. I believe they were some sort of heavy duty lighting stand but we had to duct tape a wad of fabric to the top ends so it wouldn’t damage the inside of the foam camel hump.
  
  If you do not have access to heavy duty lighting stands I would suggest custom making a stand out of PVC pipes and PVC connectors. Here is a tutorial I used to make some small custom light stands. I’m sure the design can be modified to hold up any number of projects! Make a PVC Light Stand for Under $5
  
  Reply
  1. Cheryl says:
    
    December 30, 2015 at 6:32 pm
    
    Thank you!
    
    Reply
Cheryl says:

December 27, 2014 at 2:51 pm

The camels are awesome!! I was looking for some ideas for our Breakfast with Baby Christmas pageant in 2015. Your creations are far and away the best that I have seen. What kind and size of foam did you use?

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1. Allison says:
  
  December 30, 2014 at 3:49 am
  
  Hello! Both camel bodies are made from 1 inch thick sheets of L200 foam, which is a closed celled foam used in industrial insulation, packaging material and in flotation equipment. I believe at least three 72 inch x 48 inch sheets of white L200 foam was used for both camels, possibly four. The company, Swazzle, that I worked for gets their foam wholesale from Atlas Foam in Sylmar, CA that has to be picked up in person. For ordering online to be shipped to your home you can visit either of these two websites FoamMart and Foam Factory.
  
  If you decide to fabricate a camel for your pageant I’d love to see the finished product!
  
  Reply
  1. Cheryl says:
    
    December 30, 2014 at 2:02 pm
    
    Thanks for the information! Last year the men crafted the stable from tv boxes. This year the ladies helped make banners and the men the stands. I haven’t yet decided whether to try a donkey or a camel. Your camels are so appealing …
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201951739553382&set=a.3067160976293.100469.1781632748&type=1&theater
    
    Reply
    1. Cheryl says:
      
      December 30, 2015 at 6:37 pm
      
      Thank you for the info about the stands. I did not do a camel as I had wished but did do a donkey. https://www.facebook.com/BreakfastWithBaby/photos/pb.326821034113342.-2207520000.1451500624./798176053644502/?type=3&theater
      
      Reply
Irene P. says:

January 8, 2014 at 6:53 pm

Hi Allison!

First of all, I am in awe with the details of the camel costumes. I am a drama teacher at a school in Florida. This year’s production will be Aladdin. We would love to be able to include at least one camel that a 10 year old child could ride on for one of the songs. Would you be willing to share the steps that you took to create that camel so we can replicate one for our own show?

Thank you in advance for any information you could provide.

Irene P.

Reply
1. Allison says:
  
  January 9, 2014 at 6:28 am
  
  Hi Irene!
  
  Glad you like the camel, they were really fun to make. These costumes are actually only walking and dancing camels and were not built to support anyone riding them. They are made of foam and fabric with a tummy support skeleton in order to be as light as possible for the actors when dancing around the stage. While I could give you some pointers on how to go about making your own camel costume for your production, making a costume that could be ridden by someone is much more complicated. Having never built one myself before it would be difficult for me to give you the proper steps in order to insure that your costume would be able to support someone riding it.
  
  If you wanted to look in to purchasing a camel like the one in this post (non riding) you can email Swazzle (the company I helped build the camels with) at contact@swazzle.com or call them at 1-866-792-9953 for more information.
  
  If you have any more questions feel free to email or reply to this post again. Good Luck with your production!
  
  Reply

****Disclaimer****

I do not own these puppet costumes. Please email Swazzle at contact@swazzle.com or call them at (866) 792-9953 if you have any questions.

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