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| Another hobby of mine is making costumes. It started out as just
Hallowe'en costumes but they've branched out a bit into the occasional
costume party or parade. |
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Iron Man
Hallowe'en 2005
I knew what I wanted to do this year the day after Hallowe'en
last year. It would have been cool and easy. In November, though,
Cal and Sandy of Strange Adventures asked me to join their entry
in the Halifax Santa Claus Parade as Marvin and I had such a good
time that I vowed to do a costume for 2005 that was superheroey.
So that brought me to my all-time wish-I-could-do-it costume,
Iron Man.
It was a TON of work. It was expensive. I almost didn't pull it
off. As it was there were serious technical flaws when it came
to degrees of freedom and I never did get around to the energy
pods on the belt. I did manage to make the faceplate removable
and the repulsors/unibeam light up on command (via buttons hidden
in the gloves).
I'm glad I did it but I'm resolved to a simpler idea next time
around. Also, a gym membership. |
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The Fly
Hallowe'en 2004
This year I wanted something easier so I decided to do something
that wasn't full-body. I also wanted something a bit more "classic"
scary - in this case, a scientist who'd had a nasty accident.
I can't deny some influence from the 1958 movie but I wasn't trying
to duplicate the character (mine, for instance, had no claw hand).
It turned into a lot of work anyway. I was able to actually drink
through the proboscis (the straw) and my voice was altered with
a high-pitched buzzy quality but the head was tight, unbalanced
and steamed up really fast.
Luckily I'd bought some busted-up spectacles so I could "transform"
back into my nerdy scientist self on occasion and socialize a
bit more. It was like the "Tweety turning into the monster" cartoon. |
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Tron
Hallowe'en 2003
I have wanted to do a Tron costume since I was a kid. It took
up a lot of time and interfered with just about every aspect of
my life but I managed to have it pretty much done in time for
Hallowe'en.
I stitched the bodysuit together myself and dyed it but the grey
wouldn't match the painted bits so I ended up spray painting the
suit. It was pretty stupid but it worked. The lines were painted
on while my brother wore the suit.
The helmet and upper shoulder bits are real sporting equipment
but the gauntlets, upper arm guards, belt and boot uppers were
all made by me from scratch - and the disc really sticks on the
back! Magnets, baby!
I think I'll be wearing this one again. Except for the helmet
(a bit too tight with my long hair in there), it was really comfy. |
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Hellboy
Hallowe'en 2002
A really cool comic and a really fun character to dress up as
- he even has a small ponytail and a goatee but I wasn't willing
to shave the rest of my head.
The best part of the whole thing was The Right Hand of Doom. I
made it with a cardboard/yogurt container base with a hard exterior
made of papier mache. Painted up, it looked like a good stone
texture. The big hand was a ripped-up baseball glove.
I even had cloven toes and a tail but they never made it into
a picture. |
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Tetsuo
Hallowe'en 2001
I had planned on doing my Tron costume this year but I was having
trouble getting a bodysuit and had some concerns about my physique
anyway. My last-minute inspiration was Tetsuo: I already had the
boots and the red cloth so I was halfway there.
I considered using silvery makeup on my arm but I thought it would
be cooler to do it up as it appears later: bursting with techno-organic
junk. So I shaved my arm and wrapped it in duct tape with bits
of wire and semi-inflated balloons poking out. The balloons felt
really creepy to touch. (Even though there was no hair to speak
of on my arm it still hurt like hell taking the tape off.)
I didn't want to shave my face or cut my hair so it wasn't as
accurate as I'd like but for a Hallowe'en costume it turned out
pretty well.
KANEDAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Marvin the Martian
Cartoon costume party 2001
A bunch of us who like dressing up in costumes decided that once
a year wasn't enough and starting making having a party in early
spring. I missed the first year (a superhero theme) but managed
a comeback the next time around with Marvin.
The head & helmet is a big papier mache construct formed around
the biggest balloon I could find and some coat hangers. The skirt
and shoes are foam. The gun shoots bubbles! |
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Satyr
Hallowe'en 2000
The fuzzy pants! My Mom helped me with the sewing on this one.
It had designed it with a ton of padding on the front of my thighs
and on the back of my calves to help the backward "goat-legs"
look so there was no pattern I could possibly use. A lot of pinning,
checking, re-pinning, sewing, ripping, re-sewing, etc.
I made hooves and bolted them under the front of some old sneakers.
It looked cool but it meant I had to walk on my toes all night.
Makes you walk in an effective way, though. Clompy.
This one was borrowed a few times for some stage shows. One was
an Alice Cooper tribute show as Satan. Ol' Scratch was really
sweating under the lights - an easy target, I'd say. Alice even
ripped one of his horns off! |
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