HAIR... the final frontier

My goal was to improve the volume of my hair this year using my blond Marie Antoinette wig. By a lot of teasing and brushing and spraying I have definitely achieved new heights of poofy blond hair. I started really trying to secure decor in my hair but its hard without a bunch of wire poking me in the head and sewing each piece in takes forever! So tonight I will work on it more. Here is the progress so far..

Mermaids Progress

I did a lot of work today on the revamp, recharge, and make way bettering of my Mermaid costume. Luckily since the organizing of the costume closet, it was easier than ever to find all the pieces!
So I collected all the parts and started on the new additions. First I went shopping at House of Spandex in midtown. Found some fun sparkly stuff and some fun net-like very oceanic stuff. Spent about $18 dollars there which was pretty good. Luckily the guy let me by a 1/2 yard of the expensive fabric because I smiled real big and batted my eyes. Anyway, I knew I had foam in the craft closet already so I set out trying to cover the foam with the sequined fabric. I cut the foam first and ran two wires on each side for more support. Also I left the length of wire long so maybe I could also use it to attach to other parts of the outfit. Spray adhesive to the flat areas, pins and hot glue to the edges & corners and TA-DA! Its a scalloped shell shaped Queen Elizabeth collar!
Finally I added the pearls for even more shell detail. Now how to attach it to the net cloak to that it remains standing??

Find out next time...

Plan B for my wings.

Its a good thing I go to these Pre burn meetings for the Kostume Kult because last night I learned, courtesy of Squirrel :) , that the playa is not feather-friendly. Ok time to revamp my wings. Oh and I am planning on building some big wings. I always wanted to do a Victoria Secret fashion show type wing but NYC parties are just not good for wings. Its basically an evening of apologizing for running into people with them and possibly poking their eyes out.


SO I am thinking to give structure and keep lightweight I am starting with a long piece of thick wire which I will run through one of those pipe covers that looks like a skinny pool noodle. That way I can shape the top of the wings to my liking then cover with fabric. I want foam sheeting covered with fabric like the stuff that I used to make my wings/shell when I was a cockroach. I was able to run it through my sewing machine. Its flexible and lightweight. Stay tuned for pictures of progress.

Mermaids Emerge from the Sea!

Mermaid Day Parade 2010 is June 19th @ 2pm.
Official Site

This event is special to me because my roommate and very dear friend Erin and I have been able to go together for the last 3 years in a row. Last year was the wettest year we've ever seen, but it didn't stop us from being in the parade! Erin and I were Victorian mermaids last year and it was a total success. Everyone said we would've won best costume if we had gotten there early enough to register. It was such a fun theme that we are going to keep it again this year and do bigger and better versions of our costumes from last year. I'm going to work on my wig/crown headpiece as the show stopper of this look. It must be much BIGGER! More feathers, more jewels, more, more, more. Cause as you should know the motto that Erin and I stick to when costuming is "MORE IS MORE!"

Burning Man Meet up

As Burning Man creeps up on me (only 3 months away) I went to my first official Kostume Kult Burning Man Meet N Greet. It was awesome and very inspiring. Everyone at the meeting was super friendly and ready to get things started. From what the more experienced Kostume Kulters shared, contributing to the camp will really enhance your experience. KK has a piece of prime real estate, near the Man himself, however they do not have unlimited space. After talking to a few more people I let one of the organizers know I was interested in camping with them this year. So now I just have to keep going to events and meeting the members so I can see where I fit into the scheme of things. I figure I'm a crafter, designer, decorator (of sorts) surely my skills can be applied somewhere.

My costumes are so big and vivid in my mind, I better start sketching so they are sure to come to fruition.
More to come soon... wings... things.... googles.... and fins

Black & Light

http://www.kostumekult.com/events/blb2010/

The Kostume Kult's Black and Light Ball is May 15th!

Burning Man

So I've bought my ticket to the place of a costumers wildest dreams. I'm going to Burning Man at the end of August. My close friend Rob will be coming with me.
I'm nervous. I'm thrilled. I'm NOT READY! How will I pack for 5 days of no society rules of dress. Will I go topless? Will I pack enough sunscreen? I have a vision in my head of what it will be like, but I get the feeling it will be more than I could have ever imagined. Time to buy a tent, a headlamp and a LOT of facepaint.


So far this is what I have on the list for costumes:

Desert Zombie - easy because it requires mostly facepaint and fake blood. I can wear a raggety bikini & boots!

Harajuku burner - colorful twist on armaggedeon Tank Girl look. Hair buns, glow sticks, lots of plastic jewelry & face paint.

Cheshire cat costume (Burn Edition)- hot pink bikini made of fur with tail on back, crazy glasses (goggles) and again of course FACEPAINT!!

Goldfish with LONG fins - I'm very excited about this one because I feel it could have big results for small effort. I'm going to modify my goldfish costume that I wore to Vegas (see picture) by adding much MUCH longer fins on the arm pieces. I'm thinking about 15-20 ft each. We will see because I will still need to be able to travel (possibly on a bike) with it.
Steampunk Desert Survivor - this is still vague on my mind. The color scheme is tan, biege and brown. The goggles are a must. I just haven't figured out how to make it more interesting yet.

So that is what I have so far. Planning is still in the infant stages. I really don't do my best work till right before an event, but in this case I must prepare ahead of time in order to pack/ship things out there. Only 4 more months!!