Costuming for Nerds, Part 15
Nov. 7th, 2017 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilWe decided to try something very ambitious for Halloween this year.
We've done more than a few Star Wars costumes before, obviously. But my husband has always wanted to dress up as Han Solo frozen in carbonite, and I always hesitated, because what could I do as his counterpart? The one that makes the most sense, canonically, is Leia in her bounty hunter disguise. But surely that was beyond my skills, wasn't it? The metallic helmet, the dozens of accessories -- sounds like something for professionals. And yet, as I've spent the last few months throwing together costumes for my One Woman Star Wars nonsense, I've discovered you can accomplish a lot with little more than cardboard and duct tape. I decided to give it a try.
First off, though, our kids' costumes. They thankfully decided on some very easy ones this year. Emma used her dinosaur pajamas and a set of wings to be a dragon, and Ryan re-used Luke's knight costume from last year.
It's hard to guess what Luke wants to do since he can't talk, but he seemed happy with a simple Captain America costume. And now he has a nice warm hooded sweatshirt he can wear whenever.
Mark and I, meanwhile, had a few more hurdles to overcome in completing our costumes. I started on the Boushh helmet first, because I knew if it didn't get that part right, the rest of the look wouldn't be particularly recognizable. I used lots and lots of cardboard scraps, taping them together until it started to look sort-of right. The top was made of a stiffer kind of cardboard, while the lower parts had to be more flexible so I could bend them at the sides. Then I painted it would silver, copper, yellow and black. Not a perfect match for the original colors, but close enough. I knew I wouldn't be wearing the mask most of the time, just carrying it, so I didn't bother trying to devise any way to see through it. It's also not fitted with perfect accuracy; it rests too high on my head to cover up all of my neck. Ultimately I decided the best makeshift solution would be to use a turtleneck as part of my costume. Whew!
I bought a couple of men's shirts from the thrift store and re-made them into a tunic and a cloak. Then I used copious amounts of duct tape to turn two ordinary belts into well-stocked utility belts. Duct tape, as well, to transform two soda bottles into the air tanks Leia/Boussh has on her back. I could not, unfortunately, find the right type and color of boots in time, so I just used a pair of Mark's brown socks to cover up my black boots. The only thing I'm missing is a thermal detonator, but I figured with one hand carrying the helmet most of the time, I'd better keep the other hand free. :)
After that, making the carbonite costume seemed pretty easy! Mark had the good fortune of getting a spotlight delivered to the school auditorium where he teaches theatre, providing him with a very large box to bring home. It was a little wider and shorter than we wanted, but we made a few adjustments (with lots more duct tape) and cut out holes for his face and hands. He decided to put together an actual Han Solo costume for the times when he would need to get out of the box, including a silver wig that would be visible through the face hole. I painted the outline of the rest of his frozen body with my bare minimum of artistic talent, and the end result was pretty darn satisfying.
(This one has a darker wig, as we took the picture before he went out and bought the silver one. But you get the idea.)
Naturally, I've already started wondering what we'll do next year. Definitely something more comfortable than a giant box you have to carry around everywhere. But probably equally ambitious.
We've done more than a few Star Wars costumes before, obviously. But my husband has always wanted to dress up as Han Solo frozen in carbonite, and I always hesitated, because what could I do as his counterpart? The one that makes the most sense, canonically, is Leia in her bounty hunter disguise. But surely that was beyond my skills, wasn't it? The metallic helmet, the dozens of accessories -- sounds like something for professionals. And yet, as I've spent the last few months throwing together costumes for my One Woman Star Wars nonsense, I've discovered you can accomplish a lot with little more than cardboard and duct tape. I decided to give it a try.
First off, though, our kids' costumes. They thankfully decided on some very easy ones this year. Emma used her dinosaur pajamas and a set of wings to be a dragon, and Ryan re-used Luke's knight costume from last year.
It's hard to guess what Luke wants to do since he can't talk, but he seemed happy with a simple Captain America costume. And now he has a nice warm hooded sweatshirt he can wear whenever.
Mark and I, meanwhile, had a few more hurdles to overcome in completing our costumes. I started on the Boushh helmet first, because I knew if it didn't get that part right, the rest of the look wouldn't be particularly recognizable. I used lots and lots of cardboard scraps, taping them together until it started to look sort-of right. The top was made of a stiffer kind of cardboard, while the lower parts had to be more flexible so I could bend them at the sides. Then I painted it would silver, copper, yellow and black. Not a perfect match for the original colors, but close enough. I knew I wouldn't be wearing the mask most of the time, just carrying it, so I didn't bother trying to devise any way to see through it. It's also not fitted with perfect accuracy; it rests too high on my head to cover up all of my neck. Ultimately I decided the best makeshift solution would be to use a turtleneck as part of my costume. Whew!
I bought a couple of men's shirts from the thrift store and re-made them into a tunic and a cloak. Then I used copious amounts of duct tape to turn two ordinary belts into well-stocked utility belts. Duct tape, as well, to transform two soda bottles into the air tanks Leia/Boussh has on her back. I could not, unfortunately, find the right type and color of boots in time, so I just used a pair of Mark's brown socks to cover up my black boots. The only thing I'm missing is a thermal detonator, but I figured with one hand carrying the helmet most of the time, I'd better keep the other hand free. :)
After that, making the carbonite costume seemed pretty easy! Mark had the good fortune of getting a spotlight delivered to the school auditorium where he teaches theatre, providing him with a very large box to bring home. It was a little wider and shorter than we wanted, but we made a few adjustments (with lots more duct tape) and cut out holes for his face and hands. He decided to put together an actual Han Solo costume for the times when he would need to get out of the box, including a silver wig that would be visible through the face hole. I painted the outline of the rest of his frozen body with my bare minimum of artistic talent, and the end result was pretty darn satisfying.
(This one has a darker wig, as we took the picture before he went out and bought the silver one. But you get the idea.)
Naturally, I've already started wondering what we'll do next year. Definitely something more comfortable than a giant box you have to carry around everywhere. But probably equally ambitious.
