More blasts from the past

The previous pictures were all from stuff I did in graduate school. I went even farther back in the way back machine and found pictures of two of my costumes from college.


I don't have pictures from freshman or sophomore year, but those years I was trinity from The Matrix, and a Demoness, respectively. I wish I knew where a picture of the demoness was because that was a cool costume. I made a wig with horns, sewed big fabric spikes onto a top, and made a huge tail. I still have bits and pieces of that costume laying around in my dresser I think.

Junior year, 2005, I was Willy Wonka from the Tim Burton version of Willy Wonka. I made the costume before the movie came out (as I also did with the Quorra costume). The pants I had, bought go-go boots (which were later incorporated into the Quorra costume), and the hat I bought (and still have, vintage top hat). The rest I fabricated. I got my dad to cut the W pin out of aluminum, and I sewed the coat and the top. The top mimics a waistcoat and shirt, although you can't really see it in the picture. The cane is made from a dowel, that my dad shoved into a bit on a giant drill press, and then sanded while the drill press was running. That was fun, broke at least one in spectacular fashion that way. The top of the cane is a painted bouncy ball hot glued on. I wore the costume all day, and walked around with a huge bag of candy, giving it out to people in class.

Senior year, 2006, I was a "warlock" from WoW. That's World of Warcraft. I have been characters from 2 of 3 of Blizzard's cornerstone games, no Diablo costume (yet). I guess my previous statement of not having original costumes is false, because the demoness, the warlock, and the blue fairy are all original concepts.

I actually welded for this costume, the back piece is a metal frame, with chain draped in between. The dress I made, along with the arm things and the hair is my hair. Braided into yarn to make yarn dreads. I had a yarn in hair phase, because why not? I did it about 4 times within a year (including the blue fairy) for costumes and funsies.




 I had to go digging through my email for these, but I found some pictures of my Quorra costume from 2010. It was the first costume that I made that lit up, with EL wire running through the front and back. Unfortunately, no pictures of the back (that I can find right now, although I've seen them somewhere).

I do have an identity disc that velcroed to the back that can't be seen in the pictures, and the costume is one whole body suit, and the white piping is pretty much all hot-glued on to the suit. The sleeves are attached and not separate. This was fun to do, and it is easy to wear, unlike a lot of my costumes. If I'm going to wear it again, I want to get a wig to make it more authentic.

Blasts from the past

 While I'm in costume downtime mode, here's some pictures of Halloween's past. I don't have any pictures of my 2010 costume for some reason, although I still have the costume. It was a Tron Legacy costume, the suit worn by Quorra. Maybe I'll find a picture of that later.

Anyways, 2007, to the left, I was a Blue Fairy, although with the giant peacock wings, most people thought I was a peacock. This is probably one of my only true original ideas, and I made it in maybe 2-3 weeks? This was the first year of grad school, and it was the first year I made it on my own without anyone's help. Also the first year I made wings. Fairly rudimentary design, but it worked for the costume. Yes, I am wearing that in a lab.

 2008, I decided to be Dark Helmet. Space Balls is one of my favorite sci fi satire movies, and one of my all time favorite movies hands down. I still had the helmet, which is paper mache, until recently. It had started to really break down, and was getting really sad. I still have most of the rest of the costume, although the boots were cannibalized for the Commander Shepard costume, so if I were to ever be Dark Helmet again, it would require some major reconstruction.

Gloves I bought, shirt I made, along with the shorts and tie and cape. The pants are spandex I had. Again, it didn't take me as long to make this as more recent costumes, and it was mostly sewing.

 2009, I switched gears and decided to be Marie Antoinette. Mostly because I wanted to make a huge dress. This costume probably has the most money in it, due to the expensive brocade material I decided to make it out of. It turned out really well, but I only ever wore it once on Halloween of that year. It is huge and bulky and hard to move in. However, I'm hanging on to it, just in case I ever have occasion to need a huge dress.

It did sustain some damage being worn out on halloween, and I only recently pulled it out to clean it, but again, with some small fixes, totally wearable again.

2011, I did a complete 180 turn in the direction of my costuming and was the Queen of Blades. Previous costumes had mostly been fabric and sewing, and I wanted to expand my costuming skills repertoire. This was the first year I worked with foam and paint, and it came out decently.

If I wear it again, and I probably will, it needs a lot of reconstruction with the wings, and fixes to the paint and boots. The costume needs a lot of small fixes to be wearable again, but they are easy and will make it look a lot better.

2012 was Commander Shepard, which I posted about a ways back, and this year was obviously the weeping angel.

2014 and beyond: who knows. I'll probably also start to make things all year round at this point.

Halloween: complete

The costume is complete, and Halloween is over. The costume turned out great, and I scared the pants off quite a few people. Only problems were the mask and the wig were very tight and ended up hurting my head after awhile. Max wear time for this costume is about 3 hours before it gets too uncomfortable. It will be worn again in the future, either to a con or any other event that requires a scary costume.


Probably won't be a ton of activity in here for awhile, until I start my next costume project. Next up (I think) is The Monarch and Mrs. The Monarch, from Venture Bros. I am also planning on restoring the Queen of Blades costume, and re-engineering the wings and wing attachment so I can wear it again some time. Also in the planning stages is the long fall gravity boots from Portal 2. I really want those boots.