Have to make a headdress?!?

So, I have a big body painting event coming up next week (totally snuck up on me!). Anyway, I have to make a headdress. I am going to probably do either a dragon, a dragon chinese dress or something along those lines. I have to have an over the top headdress. I have googled it and have some ideas but I didn't know if anyone has experience with this for competitions or anything like that. I am super crafty, sew and can mold stuff out of clay but how do I stick it all to the head? Any help and suggestions would be great - anything that really didn't work? Also, any lights or special effects would be killer bonus (I can do lights but how do you add smoke out of the nostrils?).

Thanks for any help anyone can offer - also, any different suggestions on designs, it will be painted partially behind scenes and mainly live.

Depending on how heavy it is going to be, I would use a baseball cap as a base, then build off of that.

As for the smoke, maybe dry ice??

I was gonna suggest the ball cap too. Cut of the visor or turn it backwards and use for support.
I had a costume shop head in college (did costumes in college, still do) who made these stunning head pieces. The bases for them all was a grocery bag she put on her head then covered with scotch tape. She then build paper mache or buckram off that, and frequently would cover the whole base in fabric. This way it was custom made to her head, including the size of the bun she was hiding, and she could form it to be as big or as little as she wanted it to be. I was a bit shocked when she showed me one of her headpieces, but then I tried it. And it worked!

Ow wait!
Where is the topic of building a wig with a foam base? I made one, you can hot glue everything on top you want!
*runs of*

http://www.facepaintforum.com/t9465-headpiece-for-daughter-now-i-just-need-to-paint-her

Found it! In one of her posts there is a link to Illusion magazine.
Maybe this will work?

Thanks everyone, this helps a lot. I will try to photo once I am done.

I used thin fleece sewed it to fit daughters head then added strips of white cotton fabric with fabric glue for stability and shape. Let dry overnight and play play play. Just dont burn yourself as much as I did. lol [img][/img]

LOVE this, Daffy! Great job!

Thanks it was fun & frustrating at the same time.