Halloween

So for the last couple of weeks I had been telling kids at school that I was going to win the costume contest. They would ask what I was coming as, but the only hint that they ever got was that Helga (this is Collyn's fake name that I tell the students) was giving me a ride because my costume was too big to fit in my car. Halloween came, and my costume caused a sensation. I did indeed win best costume at the lunch costume contest. The sad part is since I was in the contest I didn't get to take pictures of some of the others. There were some ensemble groups based around tv shows, the best of which was all the characters from Pooh corner. The most creative contest was two kids encased inside of a large bag made of pink lycra spandex, going as bubble gum.

For the evening, Collyn and I went dancing at Atomic Ballroom, our usual Friday night dance. Again, there was a costume contest. Due to a poor preliminary selection process I was placed in the group for most creative, which since I won, then barred me for contention for best costume. I took solace in the fact that the prize was the same, free classes and dances all November. Collyn, however, was still in the running and thanks to her secret weapon, made a dark horse run in the final judging and pulled off the win. You see, years ago I realized that what makes a winning costume is not the actual costume. Costumes can be thought of like a wedding cake. The costume provides the basic form and structure, but what gets all the attention is the icing and decoration on the cake. For costumes, the icing is accessories. If you want a great costume, accessorize like crazy. And now, the winning costumes:

I went as an WW1 German flying ace:




Can you tell what you're looking at? I made a pvc frame laced with wire to a home depot bucket. Then I faced it with cardboard, coated the whole thing in duct tape and silver paint, and added some black foam board and some custom vinyl decals made from material loaned to me by my neighbor. It's my bi-plane!









Remember what I said about accessories? The knickers Collyn sewed up for me for the 20s event last summer, and she also sewed my white scarf. The fake fur collar took some work, first deciding on the design, then mocking a paper prototype. Collyn sewed it together from some fake fur I purchased and puffed it out with some batting left over from the duct tape dress form we put together for her a few weeks ago. We're going to use the extra fur to make a a couch arm pillow for my cat, which he is going to go crazy for. I made the goggles out of some leftover suede I soled my dance shoes with and the lids from some tree top applesauce containers. Then, in what may not have been the best use of an entire eveing, Collyn and I took turns stitching the border with black craft wire. The strap was made using some D rings I had lying around and the bottom cuffs from some work out black dockers I had set aside to use as scrap fabric.

Collyn went as Maria from "The Sound of Music". One would think it's a bit too plain of a costume to win an award, which it is. But when one carries a guitar case as well as a carpet bag out of which she pulls a few of her favorite things (warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with string, a glass vial containing paper snowflakes) and then excitedly runs around showing them to everyone (see the final picture in this series) it's a winning combination. I want to note that the wig was cut by Collyn while I was wearing it. Considering how hard she was laughing, I'm surprised she didn't chop off part of my ear.






And to end things off, here are a few more pics, including one of me with a friend who also made a wearable costume, a gondola.








We also went dancing on Wednesday night. Collyn dressed up but I didn't. Collyn owns a lot of stuff with skulls and crossbones due to a pirate thing she has going with some friends, so she decided to dress as the angel of death...from Texas. So she wore a ridiculous amount of make-up and talked with a horrible accent and called everyone sugar. I told her that one the night when many adult women dress provocatively to catch guys' attention, she had managed to dress as one of my complete turn-offs. I did end up stealing her hat and am going to wear it to school next week for Cowboy day (It's homecoming week).