Kudu Krampus

A particularly large Krampus  topped  with 24″ Kudu horns will wander the streets of LA this December.  A cardboard and fiberglass creation crafted by LA Krampus co-founder Al Ridenour.  Hair and beard to come.  Photos below show the construction process. (Note: drop of blood from X-acto knife mishap on tooth. Blood is now part of Krampus.  It feeds him.)

While alpine goat, sheep, and ram horns are most common and traditional, all manner of  exotic animals have lent their horns to European Krampus festivities including African Ibex and Kudu.

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Kustom-Kulture Krampus

Krampus LA co-founder Al Guerrero’s  has completed a Big-Daddy-Roth-inspired mask so monumental in scale  we need a wider lens for those towering horns and endless tongue. As you might guess, Al is also the designer of our So-Cal inflected Krampus LA logo featured in the banner above.  Our European cousins overseas may have four centuries more experience, but we’ve still got hometown pride!

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What? No Masks?

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Finally an answer for those of you who want a Krampus costume, but just can’t bring yourselves to buy or make the mask! There is, in a certain region of Germany, a style of Krampus  that does not wear a sculpted mask (actually, it goes by a different regional name, but let’s not quibble).  Along with the unusual substitution of fur hoods for maks, they also use atypical bull horns and even deer antlers (vs. the usual goat horns).  So, now you have an excuse to dodge the mask.  Just don’t scrimp on the horns!

More and More Cowbell!

If you’ve ever seen a genuine Krampus run, you will never forget the sound — dozens or even hundreds of huge cowbells, or even larger purpose-made bells “frog-mouth bells” (Froschmaul Glocken).   Unfortunately, these special bells are impossible to find stateside, and impossibly expensive to buy and ship from overseas, but LA Krampuses are coming up with alternatives.

Below you’ll see how LA Krampus Al Ridenour started with a hefty double-wide workbelt, aged a bit with sandpaper and acetone, added chain and chain-hangers (inverted picture hangers) rusted in a corrosive baths of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.  As an extra — not necessarily traditional — touch, he added bits of bone and antler.  The bells are either from eBay or new items  antiqued with paint or treated chemically.

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Finished belt…

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