It is August, which means that it is high time around our crazy household to start planning our Halloween costumes. Crazy? Absolutely! but the Wife and I take Halloween super seriously, at least in terms of the effort we put into it. We have constructed join costumes every year that we've known each other, and if we don't have a plan by this time of year, I start hearing grumblings from my better half.
The Wife has actually had her costume idea for some time now. A while back she ran across a concept for a feathered cloak... probably from one of the drag queen reality shows she is obsessed with. She latched onto the idea and decided that she wanted to go as some sort of dark raven queen. Okay Spork, what goes with raven queens?
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| MEAT HAUNCH! |
Well, this weekend I figured it out! On Saturday, the wife and I went to the
Bonney Lake Midsummer Renaissance Faire. As we wandered the aisles of shops selling wares of dubious historical accuracy and scoped out the colorful costumes of the fair-goers, I began to envision a costume anchored by a helm or crown with a pair of antlers protruding from the top.
Now please understand, that I'm thinking more
Oberon or
Cernunnos like this...
than something like this...
Anyway, as is my usual procedure when creating a costume from my imagination (rather than from a movie or other pre-existing creative property) my first stop was to
HeroMachine to sketch things out. Here is what I came up with.
Behold! The Woodland King! Thus begins the long march towards Halloween 2013. We purchased some rabbit and coyote pelts at the fair to serve as costume elements, and the Wife has already began pricing fallen deer antlers. Making the hooves will require some sort of shoe-topper combined with fur leggings. Those and the helmet and/or crown will likely be the most challenging parts of this year's build.
I'll keep you posted as the costume progresses. Hopefully by starting early, this year's effort will be less stressful than last year's craziness.
P.S. The Wife and I tried out the axe throwing booth at the fair and both did surprisingly well for first timers! I stuck four axes in a row (clearing the target after the first three) and the Wife stuck three of hers! Moral of the story, don't mess with us when we're carrying axes!
I was actually inspired by the evil queen's cloak from "Snow White and the Huntsman" that is on display now at the EMP Museum. http://www.empmuseum.org/at-the-museum/current-exhibits/fantasy-worlds-of-myth-and-magic.aspx
ReplyDeleteand here's a better pic: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2012/05/snow-white-and-the-huntsman-kristen-stewart-charlize-theron-chris-hemsworth-colleen-atwood-costume-gallery_slideshow_item3_4
Jeez, not ALL of my inspiration comes from Drag Queens ;)
Pegacorn, I knew exactly what he was talking about before your comment. A friend of mine also wants to make that cloak, but she did the math for feathers and figured it would be upwards of $800.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing your costumes this year because your foamies from last year were great! Definitely post progress pics, not just the finished item. Nice reference to Old Horny too ;)