Make Halloween & Cosplay Fun

Halloween is just around the corner.

PaNiC!? Nope. Taking my own advice, because Halloween and dressing up, don't have to cause panic.

A dress-up holiday? A DIY extravaganza? Yes, and yes! We love to Cosplay... for Comic-Con, for Burning Man, for parties, for Monday-got-nothing-beter-to-do... make-believe and make-up can be fun all year, but Halloween is special.

This post is chock full of links to Ol'Halloweens Past and other dress-up occasions, lots of pictures and a few reminders to myself: Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best~

Of course not all simple ideas are simple to execute: Like being a bale of straw, for example. A box, some paint and glue, and straw. Even with spray adhesive, getting all of that straw to stick to the box was more difficult than expected. However... it did work, and would have been less traumatic if we weren't scrambling at the last minute to complete this costume.

In the end this was an excellent costume for a shy guy.

He could pop in and out of the scene at will. We added fallen leaves to the top, where he was wearing the cut out for his head as a hat. Arm hole flaps... and voila! Straw Bale.

The same year Max was a bale of straw, and Maria was a Pumpkin Princess, Alex was Dex, a character from a favorite movie. It's all about the goggles and the ray-gun. Accessories are everything when it comes to making a costume. And the shirt? Thrift shop. Anyone looking to fill out their costume and prop shop absolutely must haunt their local thrift stores. Start early, be open-minded. You never know when that weird shirt, or huge dress is going to be the perfect thing for your next costume.

To be Young Indiana Jones Max added an old binocular case, and a lantern. The safari hat was already on hand. The pumpkin costume? I made that for William's first Halloween, so that means it's been through 17 Halloweens by the time we see Maria wearing it, again. Children aren't always too particular, and I never feel disappointed when they ask to be a skeleton four years in a row.

This DIY costume reminds me of all kinds of essential ideas for Halloween success:

1. Let children follow through on their own ideas. Maybe you can do it "better," but Alex's expression has as much to do with his own accomplishments, as the prize basket he won for Scariest Costume at Legoland! He made his paper mâché armor, and painted his sweatshirt.
He's the Scorpion Knight, by the way.

2. Freezer Paper! If you don't have Alex's confidence for painting your own clothes, then look for Freezer Paper. You can achieve great stencil painting results with this crafting, and sewing, wonder resource. It sticks to fabric, and it peels right off. I use it to make pattern pieces, and for painting on fabric, it's indispensable.

You will love what you can do with Freezer Paper!

These blank masks are everywhere. Clear the dining table, lay down some newspaper, bring out paints and glue and glitter, and bolts?? Sure, why not.

Acrylic craft paints are affordable (always print or clip a coupon before heading to Michael's or Joann's) and easy to use... these same paints work on clothes, and even rocks... ooh! I am thinking of the fun Halloween themes we could paint on rocks. They make glow-in-the-dark acrylic paints, too!

Painting masks is a fun party theme, too.

On our way to a party, and I had nothing to wear. My go-to costume is a hat and dramatic make-up... glam it up! Maria was tickled about her ensemble... tulle skirt (off the rack, of course) a hat, and her cat mask.

Hats, hats, hats... they're always making an appearance. A top hat, a bowler, and the witch's hat. All off the shelf, and easy to find. And there are those goggles, again. Alex added a flour sack to his regular, everyday attire, but with those black gloves, and the creepy puckers of the flour sack... he's scared up a great costume. No one will recognize Max the Gentleman Ghost. I never pass on white sheets when I see them in the secondhand shops. 2-4 dollars, and endless possibilities. Max's face was drawn on with a Sharpie pen, and holes cut out for his eyes.

A little soft focus around the edges, and the effect is completely haunting!

It's more than dressing up... the fun is in the play. Be sure to take pictures, look for props, and think about lighting... just before sunset is nice, because they aren't blinded by bright light, or lost in a mix of light and shadows.

Of course, dramatic lighting has its own effects! Mood, lighting, the natural seasonal touches of fall, any of these can make a costume more interesting.

When taking photographs, I try to keep my subject in mind. Mostly, this means: Ignore the background! Don't try to get the whole forest in the picture, if it means losing sight of your fairy! If I don't have a blank wall, then I at least try to be sure and get in close, and focus on the child.


You can sew without knowing much about sewing, or even without a machine. This was a dress I bought in 1998! Stretchy top and gauze skirt, and perfect for repurposing! I cut the short sleeves out, then tacked down tulle all around the neckline, with ribbon. Then I took apart flowers, and stitched them all over... just a needle pulling a thread! Around the waist is a wide ribbon with more tulle stitched to it... it ties, like an apron. Maria is wearing it with a head lei from the party store. It would work very nicely with a floral wreath, too, and this link will show you how to make one, easily!

Another way to top your fairy costume is with a flower cap. I made this one by taking a plain cap from a yardage store and then hot gluing rows of flower petals around... start at the bottom edge, and go to the top, so the petals overlap, then I covered a twist of wire in florist tape, to make a curling stem at the top. Any old hat can be refashioned with flowers, tulle, spiders, birds...

This vision was Maria's scheme... a seemingly innocent and frothy princess, but in her hat?

A murder of crows!

And her smile, all fangs! Chilling.

And easy... all thrift shop finds, and borrowed bits from the dress-up drawer. No sewing required!

Borrowing is a Halloween save! Max got his hands on a plague doctor's mask, and he punched in the point of the witch's hat, but the lovely, dark cloak was loaned to him by Lucas, who does know how to sew!

I've been trying to make all of this costuming and making look easy and stress-free, but sometimes we cannot help ourselves, and we go all out. Certainly William raised the bar when he introduced his reverently made gravestones.

And sometimes classic jack-o-lanterns deserve star treatment!

This post-link includes a few of our more ambitious Halloween getups, and it may not be tame enough for impressionable ones (like me). Suki made herself up as a zipper-faced beauty pageant contestant, Alex made himself a Clive Barker character. Elaborate and spooky, and very inspiring.

When it comes to costume success, it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to be special. We love thrift shops, repurposing, sharing and borrowing, altering, dramatic make-up, a unique hat, and making. It's even more fun to let your kids rummage through odds and ends and make their own character, rather than just laying down cash for something store-bought... and hey, the year Alex wanted to be Scooby-Do, we went for it! Scooby-Do has enjoyed repeated use over the years, so no regrets.

And sometimes a carved pumpkin on your head is all it takes to make Halloween fun!

And by all means, do get together with friends... themes are fun, company is fun!

If you can't think what to be, maybe you'd rather think about your other decorations...

Make Tombstone Progress

As we count down the days 'til our Halloween party, it's good to see the progression of William's work on the aged and weathered tombstones. He's kept at it for almost two years. And even when he ran into setbacks, he's been single-mindedly determined to achieve the look he was aiming for... I think his effort is really paying off.

Hey, maybe this actual rain we are enjoying will enhance the decayed appearance of the markers.

First William cut construction foam, then carved them with a Dremel rotary tool. Painting them has been very labor intensive, including finding the right application method, and technique, for applying the layers of time... highlights and the green mossy-growth.

Soon, he will be boring holes in the bases, to install PVC, which will act as sleeves for the pipes we will drive into the ground. Then, each marker can be slid onto the PVC in the ground, and we will have tombstones standing and steady in our All Hallow Cemetery. Add real moss, fallen leaves, fog, and nearly full, Hunter's Moon and I think we are going to have something quite chilling!

Keep up the good work, William!

Make a Pumpkin a Familiar Face

This post originally appeared in Chickenblog, October 2010. It's too good not to share again!

Inspired by a pumpkin past, I challenged Alex and William to re-visit their face carving stylings, but this time with someone we know and love:


Happy Stimpkin Day!


Here he is, when he is not a pumpkin, but a dedicated and inspiring physics, and history teacher, and most honorable Paradox coach and mentor. That's right: I threw in a Robotics plug!

Team Paradox is full of good people, exceptional teachers and mentors, and I thought for sure I would find a post specifically about some of them, like George S… evidently I made George S. and robotics synonymous, which is appropriate, but he deserves to be singled out. Like I have said before: This man is FIRST. He teaches it, lives it, exudes it, and his students love him for it.

And it is the team's great fortune that there is more than one dedicated and awesome teacher looking out for robotics and the Paradox. Jason B., I have just the picture of you that would make a pumpkin glow!


Making a pumpkin into a favorite teacher takes planning, daring, humor, and a team effort. Gee, robotics really does prepare us for all of life, you know?

Step One: Find a good pumpkin. Sound, steady, dignified. It should already exude those qualities you plan to accentuate from your subject.


Step Two: Someone has to get in there and clean things out.

In deference to the beret, a signature accessory of Mr. S., I cut the top in a beret-like shape. Trust me, all of this is thoughtfully designed.


Maria, resident Mini-Paradox, was more than happy to help with the scooping.


Now comes the pattern. This picture came from the last all-nighter of the 2009-2010 build season, when the robot had to be finished and crated before 8 am. Mr S. looks to be in good spirits, right? Good spirits is a specialty of 2102 Team Paradox.

Step Three: William played with the original photograph, converting it to black and white, then he used the threshold tool in Photoshop to contrast and highlight Mr. S.'s features.


Step Four: Transferring the image onto the pumpkin.

Someone wished to remain anonymous for as long as possible. Shy. This actually provided some hilarious moments, when we realized how much trouble we could get in if any of our intentions were misinterpreted.


This part is important and time consuming, and also causes hand cramps...


which is why it is so nice to have two or three people working on it.


William did transferring, and I did transferring, and Maria offered to do transferring. Gently poking the tiny holes in the pumpkins skin created an outline so that we could then carve away the lighter sections.


Step Five: Carving away the light sections. This is the part that can cause you to lose hope, give up, surrender, quit. For one thing, we did not have good tools. Again. So, just like when the boys did this three years ago, we were using a variety of inadequate kitchen gadgets, and losing confidence in the outcome.

Step Six: Never give up! Never surrender! Seriously. Working up close with the pumpkin and concentrating on the details in the pumpkin flesh makes it impossible to appreciate the impressionistic effect of this kind of pumpkin carving. So, it pays to be patient, and to see it through to the end.


Because when you turn out the lights, and illuminate the pumpkin from within, then step back...


It works. Somehow, it works, and suddenly you see your teacher glowing back at you, and you can almost hear him asking, "If you're on a frictionless lake of ice, with nothing but you and a cat... what do you do?"

Make Tombstones

William makes faux tombstones. They are works of art with a reverent nod to history, and All Hallo's Eve. He has been working on these grave markers since last year. He's done a lot of research... for historic accuracy and also to learn the best techniques, in carving, and painting, and to determine the best materials. I cannot say enough about how much care and attention goes in to each and every piece.

This is one of the first ones he carved. This was done free hand, using construction foam. He likes to model his designs inspired by genuine graveyard motifs of the 18th century.

Rebekah and I followed William into the carport to see the faux column he is constructing, and when I realized my cousin hadn't seen what William has been doing, I asked William to show her his art.

I can write about how impressed and proud of his work I am, but what I really want is for him to take over, here, and explain his thought process, his methods, the challenges, the successes. It's been a long labor of love, and he has a diligence and determination to adhere to high standards. It makes me reluctant to even try and describe what he is achieving, because I know I won't get it quite right.

Ask him! Anything. Do you have a question about his choices, or how he gets them to look the way they do? They are unfinished. He has more plans for aging them. I am hoping that he will write a post and answer our questions, because I would love to have his thoughts recorded, here.

He's made a lot of them... gravestones, markers, foot markers, headstones... each unique, each nearly completed.

This is the one we came out to see, specifically. He asked me to photograph it before he paints it.

The foam pieces are hand cut, and then were glued onto the concrete tube form. The cheap vase was a thrift shop score.

Do you know about Ouroboros, the ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail?

It might be hard for William to find time to write a post for me... he wants these finished as soon as possible. We want to spook up the garden for Halloween.

He's working very hard.

I promise to keep you posted on his progress!*


*I promised an update on William's progress with his tombstones. Actually, shortly after the post about the tombstones, he had a small crisis of faith. He's put so much time and thought into these, that finishing them, and achieving the quality, aged look that he wanted to get began to feel, for him, close to impossible. He's learning as he goes, and his paint sprayer was malfunctioning, and stuff was... you know doing what stuff does... not working the way he needed it to. I was no help, because all I could see was what looked like a success... really cool, good looking markers. But he was determined to achieve exactly the authentic, realistic, and weathered look of actual cemetery headstones, and he was not about to settle for really cool.

And he was right. The next level is remarkable. He's pleased, too. It took many experiments, and adjustments, and now he is finding the right colors, textures, and layering methods to make the headstones look as though they have been worn by time and nature, by slow decay, cold nights, damp summers.

He's making great progress, and we are seeing a project many, many months in the making come to a happy conclusion.

Construction foam, research, regard and respect for historic craftsmanship, a Dremel- high speed rotary tool, paint, paint, and more paint... he's brought all of this together to great effect.

Somehow, finished with William's great care, these seem so much more than a Halloween prop. They really do convey the thoughtfulness, and esteem shown for the loved ones who have passed on. The motifs, the time spent to create those original pieces... it makes me reflective and mindful of the beauty conveyed in these traditions, and remembrances. Well done, William.