Kitchen Costuming

My Twitter friend, Sarah, likes to put together haunted attractions.  This year she would like to have some clowns that resemble the ones in the Chiodo Brothers production of Killer Klowns from Outer Space.  The film is a 1988 American comedy horror movie, made by The Chiodo Brothers ( www.chiodobros.com ). The film is about aliens (who look like clowns) that arrive on Earth to capture and harvest people in order to use them as sustenance…mmmm…yummy (More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Klowns_from_Outer_Space).

These clowns are pretty creepy, so I could see how they would work in a haunted attraction. Although I have been known to make a clown costume, it was never as scary as a killer clown.       

The closest I have come to a spooky costume was when I made Frank the Rabbit from the Donnie Darko movie (another cult classic) for AZspidey’s friend, Ron.

Of course the part I was sewing was the fluffy bunny body, which if worn separately from the mask, couldn’t scare a bunch of carrots (Hey, I live in a world around animators; of course carrots can be afraid. They can even scream!).  The mask was purchased online, but was not painted.  AZspidey completed the final touches on it for that special ‘don’t even think you’re gonna to make it home’ look.

How could Ron see (or pee) you may ask?  Let’s just say somehow he found a way!  See you in an another universe, Frank!

Update 5/5/09:  The fledglings seemed to have successfully flown the coop!

Hot, sweltering weather is the norm here in Glendale, AZ.  I just can’t wait! Oh yeah, I guess I don’t have to because it was already 102 degrees last week. 

Well I know I should be making costumes, but before it gets excruciatingly hot and sweaty around here, I need to get my patio cleaned off. Besides, I can always sew with the air conditioning cranked downed to 80 degrees (recommended temperature, more like 75 degrees for me).

I am working on a few posts, but need to get some things together first.  In the meantime, I am on Starling fledgling watch as I wait for the new babies to emerge from the tree only to be chased to their deaths by the three cats that live outdoors.  Hopefully, I will get there as the birds emerge before the cats get them in their sights.

I know we are all connected, but most of you that are commenting on this blog look very much alike. When I sent out notices to my friends and family that I started a Wordpress blog, I also sent them the information on how to get their adorable little faces here too.  But, alas, they all ignored me so I decided I needed to do a post about gravatars.

Actually, David was the one who figured out how to put an avatar picture up first.  Man! I was surprised to see his picture with his comments the first time.  I looked all over the registered profile page to see where one adds a picture for their avatar, but there was nothing.  Wow, I thought this guy was really magic (most of the time he is), but then found out that he had just received an email about gravatars.

What is a gravatar?

“A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things.”  And of course, as far as I know, this is the only way to get a picture on your comments and it is a free service.  Therefore, go to http://en.gravatar.com/ and sign up.  You will be able to then go to any Wordpress blog that allows pictures and see your own unique self when you post a comment.

For Halloween this last year I wanted to display a pirate flag.  The book Pirateology had a design I really resonnated with.  These are the colours of a fictious female pirate by the name of Arabella Drummond.

The pattern was a hand drawn copy transferred to Wonder-Under and ironed onto muslin fabric.  It was then easy to cut out and iron in place on the black fabric.  I sewed a running stitch about 1/8 inch along the muslin edges.  The skull and swords pattern appears on both sides of the flag.

While David took on the task of weathering the sword, I began to create a cover for the plastic sheath.  Leather would have been the preferable material to make this with, but I prefer to cut costs by using vinyl.  This is costuming on a budget, you know.The ones on the left are the original pieces as you buy them.  Most of the (continue reading…)