25th Anniversary DS9 Morn Mask and Costume

[Roughest]

I have always been a big fan of DS9, while this may spur some debate among Trek faithful, I feel it was the best series from the point of story and character development, especially through seasons 5, 6, and 7. All favoritism aside I decided that I wanted to put together a costume for the 2013 Las Vegas Star Trek Convention that was different from the run of the mill.

After searching through countless sites, forums, and google images, I found that there had been next to no attempts on recreating the Morn character head piece or wardrobe. The lone exception was a custom commission sculpt to accent the actual screen worn Morn costume. Having found my target I decided to begin.

Please join me as I detail the progress and journey from start to completion of the dubbed "Mobile Morn Project".

I started the project using a lifecast of my head that was barely serviceable due to issues that were out of control from the previous Hirogen Borg project.

The intent was to sculpt on the exact head match and then cast the head using foam latex to render the final product. Upon 80% completion I realized that I did not have enough bust area to complete a cowel to cover enough of the lower neck area and shoulders.

 

[Roughest]

At the point where I decided that I needed more area to finish the sculpt I met Hollywood FX master Rufus Hearn. After volunteering in his studio to help with hair punching on various silicone masks I decided that I would re sculpt the Morn head on a reduced core and then cast it in silicone. Below are more images from the first sculpt. The other issue that I found was that my resource pics for Morn were not at the right aspect ratio so my version was FAT! Knowing that I needed to adjust my aspect ratio I set to sculpting Morn 2.0 on a CFX core my family dubbed "Headward".

 

[Roughest]

Using Headward gave me the increased area needed to sculpt a full face (Morn has the world's biggest chin and jowel area ever!) and give a large enough area to provide a cowl that would stabilize the head area and give the neck wattles tension to provide the natural creasing and wrinkling in the final production in silicone. The other aspect of the Morn project that was starting to become challenging was procuring an economic source of leather for his suit. Leather running around $80 per 10sq feet was proving to be a bit expensive. Mulling this dilemma I was cruising through the local DI thrift store and noticed a leather couch that was was the perfect color for most of Morn's armor and leggings. I looked at the tag and it was only $20. What a deal! I loaded that sucker up and took it home. My boys and I skinned the couch in the front yard much to the amusement and odd looks of my neighbors. The final rendering was way more high quality leather than I needed plus batting and stuffing for the padded areas! What a deal!

 

[Zeppo]

Wow, I'd recognize him anywhere. Nice work!

 

[Roughest]

Some of the biggest challenges with the Morn sculpt so far have been keeping the head geometry to scale. Another issue is the absolute insane amount of folds, wrinkles, and bumps that encompass it. I began to lose count of the amount of times I had to go back and deepen and redefine the area around the eyes based on new pictorial evidence showing the need for modification.

 

[Riceball]

Looks cool, Morn was a great character and it's good to see someone attempt someone as different as Morn. Btw, I loved your story about the sofa, I'll definitely have to keep cheap sofas in mind if I'm ever in the market for what would normally be expensive material.

 

[blubeetle3]

MORN!!!

 

[Apollo]

Nice sculpt you really caught his likeness.

Now just don't go talking everyones head off like Morn did. :lol

 

[Angelus Lupus]

According to the guy behind the original mask (I can't recall where I read this) every time the mask was put on the mouth was articulated. In his first scene Morn actually had a line that was cut, and the joke just built and built.
I always thought it would have been cool to have him say maybe one word in the final episode.

 

[Roughest]

According to the DS9 Companion, Morn's makeup was made to be functional, but the early season one was less functional than intended, and it had become such an injoke by the time they got it fully functional, that he still never spoke. I don't recall the page numbering for that, but I can try to hunt it down when I get back home tomorrow.

 

[Wes R]

I actually liked DS9 and always found their tribute to Norm amusing. Didn't he finally speak in one episode?

 

[Roughest]

One of the most difficult aspects in researching this sculpt was defining what the skin texture for Morn was. After looking at a multitude of photos in various light saturation and light configurations both on and off the set I came up with an average that I thought would work. The other side of the decision was that the only people who would see the difference would be the artists, actors, or possibly the director from the show. The ultimate goal with any makeup or mask is the suspension of disbelief from the point of the observer and with that in mind I created the skin texture.