Halloween 2024 Costume Build: Porcupine

Halloween 2025 is just over a month away, so I'd better finish last year's post.

For Halloween 2024, I made a porcupine costume:

The Inspiration

I got the idea from a video (a TikTok laundered through Facebook Reels) for a relatively simple kids' porcupine costume, using just black straws and white tape hot-glued to fake fur and velcroed to a hoodie.

The concept looked pretty good, and I figured I could upscale and over-engineer a grown-up version.

The Plan 

After a few quick searches, I saw that others had done similar versions using zip ties, so I decided to go that route, using two sizes: your run-of-the-mill 11-inch ones, and then some 24-inch ones. 

Because zip ties are heavier than straws, I decided they needed to be set into a mounting plate. I'd been thinking cardboard (foam core wouldn't have any bend), but then I realized I had a leftover sheet of 10mm thick EVA foam (conveniently black, though it would be covered by faux fur I picked up from Michaels), as well as some some heavy-duty (not industrial strength) velcro tape.

Oh, and I didn't have a black zip hoodie, so I bought one. (Zip-front is easier to put on/take off than a pullover.)

After sketching out the general layout, I had a small plate for my head, a thin strip for my neck and upper back, and a wider plate for the middle of my back:

The sketch shows the order of the layers (I glued the hook side velcro directly to the EVA foam), as well as the rough placement of the 11" and 24" zip tie quills, which I canted at different angles and deliberately didn't line up perfectly.

The Build

I stretched out the build over four days, including waiting for supplies from Amazon. I took a chance and didn't do final assembly until the Saturday before Halloween (Halloween was actually the following Thursday), because I was confident that I'd anticipated most of the pitfalls, and oddly, I was mostly right.

1. Collect your zip ties and make stripes by cutting and wrapping white duct tape around them. I used the 11-inch zip ties for my head and the outer edges down the back, and 24-inch ties down the spine. I ended up using 35 24-inch and 70 11-inch ties in the costume.

   

   Bundles of zip tie quills, with foam backers and faux fur on a hoodie.

2. Cut the EVA foam backers to size.
    
   
3. Cut the fake fur to size (just slightly bigger than the foam base). (Tip: From the back side, use a sharp hobby knife to start a cut in the backing, Then grab both sides and tear. This minimizes the fake fur you need to cut; if you cut all the way through, you'll get bits of fake fur everywhere.)

   

4. Cut holes in the foam (small enough to fit the head of the zip ties, snugly). I used a hollow punch set, which I strongly recommend over using scissors or a knife.

   

   Hole-punched foam backer for the head piece.

   With my punches, the 20 Harbor Freight 24" zip ties only required one large hole, but the ones I got from Amazon had bigger heads, so they needed two holes. (The foam stretches, so you don't need to be perfect. You actually want the holes to be a little smaller so they snug down around the head.)

   

   Hole-punched foam backers for the upper- and middle-back pieces.

   Note the heads of the zip ties are rectangular, so angle the holes as needed to create the pattern you want. (I angled them out to get a wider spread.) Here you can see holes for the small (S) zip ties, and the single- and double-punched holes for the two different kinds of large (L) ones.

5. Dry fit the zip ties in the base to make sure they fit, then take them out.

   

   Dry fitting the head piece, seen from underneath.

   

   Top view of the head piece after dry fitting.

   

   Dry fitting the upper back piece.

6. Use the foam base as a template and mark the holes in the back of the fur with a paint marker.

   

   Marked fur and hole-punched foam backer for the head piece.

7. Use your hobby knife to carefully cut slits in the back of the fur. Test each slit to make sure the zip tie will fit through it. (You don't need to be super exact, it's pretty forgiving.)
    
   
8. Put the fur side down (with the marked back side facing up), then use spray adhesive or other glue to glue the base to the back of the fur. Make sure the holes line up with the marks.
    
   
9. Insert the tips of the zip ties through the holes in the foam base and the slits in the fur.

   

   Starting to assemble the head piece.

10. Push the zip tie heads into the holes in the foam, and when done, glue them in place. (I used hot glue.)

    

    

    Finished gluing the head piece. As you can see, I used 22 small zip ties for the head.

    

    Finished putting the quills on the head piece. Just need velcro now.

11. After the glue dries, cut strips of velcro tape (the scratchy hook side) to size and stick them to the back of the foam.
     
    
12. Cut matching strips of velcro tape (the fuzzy loop side) to the hoodie. Use extra loop tape to give yourself some mounting options.
    

    

13. Stick the quill plates where you want them on the hoodie. Be careful if you reposition them, since the velcro tape might pull away. (You can always glue or sew them down.)

    

    Fully assembled and laying on the rug.

After a test fit, I glued some extra strips of fake fur to the head piece to hide the edges, but that seems optional.

I also made some extra quills, just to have and hand out.

That's about it. It's pretty easy to wear, and you can tie the hoodie strings under your chin to keep the hood up. 

View from directly behind.

Three-quarter (I think?) rear view.

Taping the quills took the longest time, but I watched most of Amazon's Patriot season 1 while doing it.

Materials:

• 10mm EVA foam sheet
• Fake fur
• Black zip ties (11" and 24")
• White tape (I used duct tape)
• Black zipper hoodie
• Velcro tape

Tools:

• Hollow punch set and hammer
• Hot glue gun
• Spray glue
• Hobby knife
• Scissors
• Light-colored paint marker
  

My Weekend, Without and With Pictures

Saturday:

Passed by the in-the-process-of-opening Simply Social Coffee Shop (they were setting up for a private event).

Went to the H Street Festival and left before it got too, too crowded. (Did not stop into The Pug, though.)

On the way back, stopped at East Falls Church Metro and walked to Clare and Don's Beach Shack End of Summer Party:

 

Sunday:

Went to the Foggy Bottom Book Crawl at the GW Campus Store, featuring authors (L-R) Kyla Sommers, Alexandra Petri, and Joe Davidson:

Did a brief drive-by on the Columbia Heights Day. 

Stopped by the just-opened JW Marriott Reston Station: 

 Saw many spotted lanternflies, squished some.

Also had a chocolate creme-filled donut at the new Tous le Jours. 

53 Items About 53

Once again, it is my birthday. 53, for those counting. And once again, I accumulated 53 bits of trivia, knowledge, and random occurrences involving the number 53, then used them to respond to the first 53 birthday greetings on my Facebook. (All in a batch, which I posted only after work, because of *gestures* all this. Also, Facebook strips out formatting and hyperlinks when you paste comments, which is annoying when you're doing something like this.) 

53 icon used under license CC BY-SA 4.0 by user T2ng

Methodology: As in previous years, I found 53 bits of data from Wikipedia and assorted Google searches, then used Google Sheets to randomize the list. So any associations with the poster are strictly coincidental (unlike when I first started to do this, maybe).

I do note, though, that just like last year's entry, this list ends with a bit of fluff about an astronomical object.

1. Super Bowl LIII (53) was February 3, 2019. The Patriots beat the Rams 13-3.
2. The AMG E 53 HYBRID Sedan is a 4-door, plug-in hybrid with an MSRP of $88,000.
3. Title 53 of the US Code is reserved for future use.
4. 53 is a studio album by French jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson, available from the Blue Note label.
5. 53 by the Sea is a restaurant in Honolulu, Hawaii. Its dress code is business casual.
6. A round, white pill with the imprint F 53 is prescription antidepressant Escitalopram Oxalate 5 mg.
7. This is skibidi toilet 53; I don't claim to understand it, but it doesn't seem any weirder than any meme videos of the 90s or 2000s. I just need to figure out the watching order.
8. Route 53 is an Amazon Domain Name Service (DNS) web service.
9. The Lycoming T53 is a turboshaft engine used on helicopters and (as a turboprop) fixed-wing aircraft since the 1950s.
10. The Zoeller M53 is a 3/10 HP sump pump with a 25-foot cord.
11. F53 is the FAA location identifier (LID) for the Franklin County Airport in northeast Texas.
12. Darien EMS-Post 53 is a volunteer ambulance service that serves Darien, Connecticut and is composed of high school students.
13. T53 is a category in wheelchair athletics where competitors have full use of their arms but limited or no trunk function.
14. Fifty-three is the 16th prime number.
15. The Q-53 is a US Army ground-based radar system made by Lockheed Martin.
16. Area 53 is an indoor adventure park (paintball, ropes course, etc) with two New York City locations.
17. 53 in Morse Code is ..... ...--
18. R53 is the model number for the Mini Hatch.
19. The X-53 was a research program that was a full-scale proof for active aeroelastic wing control surfaces.
20. In hexadecimal, 53 is 35, that is, the same characters used in the decimal representation, but reversed.
21. COUP 53 is a documentary about the 1953 Iranian Coup
22. P53 is a gene responsible for a protein important in suppressing certain cancers in humans.
23. 53 is the telephone country code for Cuba.
24. 53 is the atomic number for iodine.
25. Pope John 1 was the 53rd Catholic pope, from 523–526.
26. 53 in binary is 110101.
27. Messier 53 (also known as M53 or NGC 5024) is a globular cluster in the Coma Berenices constellation. It is considered a metal-poor cluster.
28. DHCPv4 option 53 is the DHCP message type option that declares whether a particular message is a discovery, request, or another message type.
29. R53 was the pennant number for the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Undaunted, sunk for target practice in 1978.
30. ASCII code 53 is the number 5.
31. 53 is a sexy prime (a prime number 6 away from another prime) with both 47 and 59
32. The M53 is a Yugoslav copy of the German MG42 machine gun.
33. "Fifty Three" is the third track on the album Arch Stanton by instrumental stoner rock band Karma to Burn.
34. FiftyThree, Inc. was an American technology company that made products for Apple, including the Paper iPad app and Pencil digital stylus.
35. The Type 53 is a licensed, carbine-style Chinese version of the Mosin-Nagant rifle
36. X53 is a low alloy carburizing steel melted as VIM + VAR.
37. Division 53 is the American Psychological Association's Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
38. The F-53 is a Ford motorhome chassis.
39. The Chevrolet Corvette was first produced in 1953.
40. The 53rd District Court in Livingston County, Michigan accepts in-person appearances on Felony, Misdemeanor, and Civil Infraction warrant matters Monday through Friday, between 9:00–9:30 am.
41. 53 in roman numerals is LIII.
42. F-53 is an SAP Transaction Code for manual payments.
43. The 53rd US Congress was in session March 4, 1893, to March 4, 1895, during the first two years of Grover Cleveland's second presidency, with Democrats controlling both the House and Senate.
44. The M53 motorway is 18.9 miles (30.4 km) long on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is also referred to as the Mid Wirral Motorway.
45. "How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days" is a recent article from The Atlantic [paywall]
46. Iditarod 53 started March 3, 2025 in Fairbanks, Alaska (instead of Willow) due to lack of snow, and tied for the smallest number of mushers (33).
47. R53 Suspension is a division of British engineering company R53; they make suspensions for rally cars.
48. Liberty Public School District 53 is in Liberty, Missouri and has 11 elementary schools, four middle schools, two high schools, an alternative secondary school, and an early childhood center.
49. The F.53 was the export version of the English Electric Lightning, a British fighter interceptor aircraft in service from the 1960s–80s.
50. 53.com is the domain for the Fifth Third Bank, which operates in 11 US states. The name comes from the 1908 merger of Cincinnati's Fifth National Bank and Third National Bank.
51. Article 53 of the UN Charter is about the use of regional arrangements or agencies in Security Council enforcement actions.
52. 53 is a Chinese restaurant in NYC located at 53 W. 53rd street (between 5th & 6th Ave)
53. 53 Kalypso is a large and very dark main belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Robert Luther on April 4, 1858. 

Lastly, Wednesday birthdays are kind of lame.