Kitchen Costuming

Ugly witches, bed-sheeted ghosts, and ghoulish zombies are on the prowl again.  There is a chill in the air and…wait a minute, wasn’t it in the low nineties today approaching 100 degrees by this coming weekend?  It’s not Halloween?  Oh! I know!  There are lords and ladies, gypsies and pirates swinging swords and turkey legs. The Renaissance Festival is commencing!  But of course… now that I think of it… Ren faire just ended about a month ago.  Let’s see…the stormtroopers are out in force along with the X-men and Ghostbusters.  It must be Comicon! No…hmmm…we already did that… or, are we going to do that?  Now I know I saw Batman, Catwoman, Scarecrow, and the Joker.  I guess that means it could only be one thing…

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

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AZspidey and friends are really trying to get some mileage out of their Halloween costumes this year. (continue reading…)

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!

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…)

This is a request from my other son, Shaun, about this site and some of the things he would like to see here.  Shaun like many others out there knows little what it might take to make a decent costume.  Here are some of his questions…

•  What tools are needed?
•  What type of thread works best ( I know some threads come apart in the wash)?
•  How do you know when to hand stitch something versus sewing with a sewing machine?
•  How much could it cost if I were to try to make a costume from home?

What tools are needed?

Well this really depends on what your project is.  Are you making a hat, shoes, a garment, props that go with your costume, or all of those things?  I hope as I cover each of the projects I have on my plate, I will be able to give you specifically what tools will be needed.  If you really want to tackle costuming, a sewing machine is essential.  Singer has some nice inexpensive sewing machines.  I tend to like brands that I know have been around for awhile.  Do some research on the internet of various brands and styles and look for feedback from customers.  You might be able to find a sewing machine at a thrift store, but buyer beware.  Just because they run when you plug them in doesn’t necessarily mean they will sew.  I had a friend who picked up a working sewing machine at a thrift store for what he thought was a reasonable price only to find that the timing was off.  To have it serviced plus what he paid at the thrift store, cost him more than if he had bought it new. If your mom used to sew, maybe she would be willing to let you have her machine or at least use it.  Don’t forget to oil it or have it oiled if it hasn’t been used lately.  I suggest if you want to buy a new machine that you don’t get one with a lot of fancy stitches.  I have a few different stitches on my machine, but basically I need straight stitch (backwards and forwards) and zigzag for stretch fabrics/edge finishing.

Where to start? Part II  What type of thread works best?  Upcoming post!

In my attempt to get more content on this blog, I decided to create a new category that barely had anything to do with costuming or props.  It is not that I don’t like sharing those things with my readers, but there is a lot that goes into some of these blogs making them of almost epic proportion. It can take days or even weeks of preparation to even write something (Why have a blog if it isn’t updated frequently?).  And of course, I know my audience (of two) is just sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what I come up with next.

Okay, so I thought about this all day yesterday (even as I was mowing the lawn). What would be a good title for this category?  I wanted this to be like a daily journal where I could exercise my creative writing skills and basically be about nothing in particular.  The thought that I latched onto for most of the day was to call the category “Kitty Litter.” Sounds strange, I know, but when you live in a household with 8-9 cats, thoughts of kitty litter never quite leave your mind (or your feet, the bed… or anywhere else).  Anyway, my reasoning was a little skewed, but it was so perfect that this is where I could deposit all of the “crap” that didn’t quite fit into Kitchen Costuming.  The rest of the day was spent on trying to come up with a cute acronym for CRAP. As my mind worked overtime with things like “Cookster’s Ranting Against Passivity” or “Central Repository About Props,” I gave myself a massive headache (of course, that could have been from the huge dust bowl I funneled into the air mowing the lawn earlier). At one point, I considered doing a blog like the new “Daily Wag” on Martha Stewart’s website written by her two French Bulldogs.  I have lots of cats that would love to get in on the action and let their voices be heard.  But then I remembered how opinionated they all were.  I can see them fighting over who gets to write for the day, and I would get bumped to subscriber of this blog.  CRAP would now stand for “Cats Rule Amongst People” and the only content would be cats in tiny Harley Davidson garb or pirate costumes.

I decided the category should be called Blog Shorts.