Launchpad McQuack Costume Commission

This Wednesday was Halloween, easily my favorite Holiday. What better excuse to make a costume and force all of your friends to dress up than to throw a party? 

This year a friend of mine, Mark, wanted to be Launchpad McQuack from Duck Tales. He knew I'd worked with foam before so he asked me to make him the beak and feet. I was happy to help. 
I still had a big pile of scrap foam and yellow stretch velvet left over from Ms. Pacman. I stopped by my favorite craft supply store SCRAP and picked up some durable brown polyester for the feet for about $2. Then midterms happened...
And I went to California for my Pop's birthday...
And all of a sudden it was Halloween week and Mark had a party to go to.
So, I pounded a press full of coffee and banged out a beak and some duck feet in 4 hours. 
He arrived just in time for a fitting before I ran off to watch the World Series (Go Giants!!)

So here's Launchpad:

The results weren't as sharp as they would have been if I'd had more time but I was pretty pleased, and so was Mark. I still think that for my first time, under pressure, I did a pretty good job. 

As a bonus the beak was comfortable enough to wear all night, speak and drink beer through!

Halloween 2012!

I had high hopes for Halloween this year. It's my favorite Holiday and this is the first time that I've everlived in a house where we actually had Trick-or-Treaters! I wanted to keep Hallow's Eve scary, and I started to think what would be unsettling to little kids but also intriguing...
Inspired by the Arachno-wonderland that is my front porch I decided to go with a spider theme, and I would embody my least favorite arachnid, the Black Widow. It was cathartic for me...they were very common in the California Redwoods of home, where I developed a deep ICK for anything that has both pointy/ crunchy and squishy parts (grubs, lamphrey, giant squid). Blegth.

When Halloween time came around so did midterms, and a trip home, so I only had 2 days to throw everything together. The sewing machine was put away and the hot glue gun was plugged in. I'm still happy with the results, even if they're not as tailored as my original plans. Now that I have the basis, one day I can make something truly tailored.

I picked up some cheap eyeball party favor rings from Lippman's party suppy, cut off the ring part and embedded them in latex for my spider-forehead.

The blouse is an 80's cast off that I pulled out of a dollar bin because it has a Victorian mourning dress look. The spider legs were wired, and were*almost* functional.

I had a blast decorating the front porch to attract the kiddos. Body parts from the dollar store hung in old stockings that a friend of mine generously donated. My boyfriend helped me create cocoons out of newspaper and plastic trash, held together with masking tape and covered with cheese cloth. They cost a couple dollars to make and most stores sell much smaller versions for $20 and up.

It was all worth it for the giant grin on one little boy's face - future horror movie maker?

Glitter Fiend, Student Short Film 2008

Inspired by The Cockettes and John Waters, Glitter Fiend is a short piece about addiction to all things sparkly, starring my burlesque troupe at the time, Kiss Que C'est. Filmed in San Francisco. Watching it fills me with nostalgic bliss for being young, sloppy, dripping in sequins and making movies with my friends just cause. The video:

Birthday

It's my party and I'll make everyone wear little hats if I want to!