October 30, 2013

Leo and Mona

Move over, Dan Brown, because we're about to plunder your anachronistic Leonardo da Vinci well for our costume needs!



I made pretty much all of Mr. Forty-Two Roads's getup, with some awesome assists from tutorials on how to make Renaissance flat caps, men's gowns, and a general sense of what some 19th century dude thought Leo might have worn. (And you know how much they loved authenticity in the 19th century. I mean, these were the people who re-staged all the Shakespeare tragedies to have happy endings!) How fun is that brocade cape? Love it.



For myself, I made everything except the wig (natch) and the black dress, which was actually my senior prom dress! Whooo! San Dimas High School Football rules! My general sense of right and wrong for this one came from this wonderful blog post from an actual costume designer, which is where I got the idea to make one of those wire hair caps that was all the rage back in the day apparently. Mr. Forty-Two Roads drew the insanely symmetrical curly-cues on the frame, eyeballing it entirely, because drawing things perfectly without sketching from memory is his X-man power.



... and here we are striking a pose. How's my enigmatic half-smile coming along?

October 24, 2013

A Bit of the Macabre



Come on in, won't you? It's always so nice to see you....OOooOOooOOoo



These? Oh, just a little late present from a friend. Or should we say a present from a late friend?....OOooOOooOOoo



Either way - no need to lose our heads about it.....OOooOOooOOoo

October 22, 2013

We Boo the Zoo

You guys. It has finally happened. The kids - of their own volition, with basically exactly zero input from me, mind you - have decided on Coordinating Halloween Costumes! OMG. Their pick? Well, take a look:



That's right - good old Red and Wolfie at your service.



For Red's trademark, I made a half-circle cloak out of crushed velvet (or rather the faux version I found at Joann Fabrics). The rest is a take on the traditional Bavarian dirndl - I made a simple skirt out of cute corduroy with a print that made me think of the Black Forest, used a regular long sleeved tee, and over it I approximated the dirndl vest by adding some ersatz "lacing" that is actually just glued on to a green tank top. The leggings and boots put the "Riding" back into the mix.



Mr. Wolf is the third incarnation of the sweatpants+sweatshirt based costume. How many years can we keep this going? We'll see. All of this one is cut and glued pieces of felt and fleece (and I'm indebted to this wolf costume for much of the face). The key I think is several different grays, and several different textures of felt. And of course, claws. Always, claws.

Oh, and are you super terrified by that eyeball wreath? Stay tuned for some details about all our spooky decorations.

October 2, 2013

Pedal Power

So, our super nice neighbor just gave Mr. Forty-Two Roads a bike. It's a nice sturdy little mountain bike, and hello - it's free! Basically? Super awesome.

Not as awesome, though? Our neighbor had spray painted the whole thing a matte gray color - I think for theft-prevention purposes. The grey was not all that great-looking to begin with, and it had really chipped away in a lot of places, which made it even less appealing to the eyes. Imagine this, but all over:



But, not to worry, because - acetone to the rescue! Acetone is really great at getting spray paint off non-porous surfaces, with just a little bit of elbow grease. Check out the cute bike now that it's been restored to its former glory:



Now we just need a rack for the car...