What I did for Halloween – part two

On to photos from the costume ball.  You see, Gandalf Murphy came out as 4 different acts – their pirate personas, their hillbilly personas, their extraterrestrial personas, and as the band.  Aerialists performed between the acts.  A whole lot of pictures follow:

Part 1 – Pirates

 

Part 2 – Hillbillies

Part 3 – Extraterrestrials

Part 4 – The Circus

Pictures of others:

See those lovely stickers on S’s shirt and Mr T’s hat?  That was the only way they were allowed to film the show.  We’ve learned all about the intricacies of the videographer’s union in New York from this experience!

It was over 4 hours of nonstop fun.  Unfortunately, I had arranged for a driver at midnight – silly me for assuming it would be over by then.  We missed the last few songs and encores.  Neither of us were thrilled with the thought of walking home after the show with video equipment.  We had an early flight the next day anyway.

In the meantime, back at home, the Girlie Girl informed us that we had at least 500 kids come by for halloween, and Grandma was overwhelmed.  Next time, we may just have to take the whole family and take a pass on halloween at home….

A morning ritual… Now with more kitten-y goodness!

We will resume halloween photos after hubby gets some stills from the video he made.

In the meantime…  Allow me to show you how a kitten will change your morning ritual!

First, you must now dry the seat or you will be in for a great big shock!

You must also close the all night buffet that kitten took upon himself to open.

And if the water from the toilet wasn’t enough, you should always check your shower for exciting changes!

Our suspect is usually found in various hiding places, such as seen below:

…You’d think we starve this fella.

…”Feet are food, not friends!”

“Hey!  Who put the drain back together?!?!?!”

What I did for Halloween – part one

Hubby and I went to New York City!

We flew in Friday.  Hubby unfortunately had to work the night before, so he crashed at the hotel while I explored the fabric district.  Mood and Metro Fabrics were too busy for my country mouse mindset to deal with, but found the AWESOME Spandex House!  Bought a few pieces of beautiful cotton lycra there, and admired pieces at the trim stores across the street.

Saturday we went to the American Museum of Natural History and to Central Park.

While we were there, children everywhere were dressed up in costume.  As we were leaving, we realized that it was their halloween party.  Many cute outfits – astronauts, butterflies, princesses everywhere!

Two characters dressed up like John and Yoko were there as we were leaving, but darn, we didn’t get a picture!

That evening was the Grand Slambovian Extraterrestrial Hilllbilly Pirate Ball.  That will be part two.

What a pair!

And such lovely matching jackets too!

 

 

And now for something completely different – bread and fashion!

Bread sculpture inspired by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Ah, my two worlds meet.  Wish I could go….

One more halloween costume nearly done…sort of… maybe…

So….  I had to make an executive decision – the neon had to go – it wasn’t working as I hoped it had.  Here is a picture before I removed it:

The overskirt simply wouldn’t lay right at all.  If I had wanted an external hoop on a skirt, it might have done the trick, but the wire was just too inflexible.

It looks better without it….

What is very subtle here is the lighting under the planets – they do sort of glow in daylight, but when the lights get turned off:

I actually have two more items to complete for my costume.

I need a black petticoat, as I used one from a long ago costume to take these shots, and it really doesn’t fit anymore (hmmm, maybe that was WHY it was in the daughter’s dress up box!).  I just couldn’t wear it for two nights in it’s current state.

And I need a nice-plain-not-filthy-looking-or-festooned-with-slutty-’pirate’-lace pirate hat.  They don’t exist this year.  Why does every pirate hat either go with the pirate mini dresses, or look like it was dragged through the mud to emulate Jack Sparrow?  I bought black denim and a small piece of ultrasuede for edging, and will make a nice, plain pirate hat from that.  I will use the same method as used last year for the miniature pirate hat, and just enlarge it.

S’s tuxedo needs more gold spray paint, and then someone needs to paint the skull on the back.

Thank goodness I still have a week and a half!

Hmmmm – maybe the neon would make a good hatband.

A preview of things to come

More later when I have time to write….

Progress on my costume

One more piece finished – the underskirt for my costume is done.  It is a 3/4 circle skirt – I simply didn’t have enough of this fabric to do a full circle, and was pushing it as it was.

Note the planetary fabric in the background.  That is the overskirt.

I recognize that they totally don’t match – no worries as the underskirt matches the pirate corset.

Hopefully, it will look like the following in the dark when I use my LED’s and neon:

The neon will go on the outside, and I’m going to sew the LED’s to tulle beneath the planets.  We all agreed that they were a little too bright to endure as an external lighting – they needed something to dull down the shock of them.  Now the skirt becomes a projector of sorts!

We are going to an extraterrestrial pirate ball, after all!

Now the question I have to figure out is if the tulle should be attached to the planets, or if I should keep them separate…

…Did I mention that the neon lines can flash?  I may be responsible for sending someone into seizures…hehehe.  Or, maybe I’ll be nice and just leave them on a normal setting.

Boy, I’m going to need a place to hide all the spare batteries!

And, a parting photo of my studio guest, who prefers to sleep while I sew – Mickey:

Off to do more geometry for this skirt – nothing like trying to remember how to measure ellipses and circles!

One costume down!

Here are the finished efforts for Glitter Glue Princess’s costume.

She is going as a Mummer Pirate, and if you don’t know what a mummer is, look here and here..

The hat is her homage to the lead singer – Joziah – of Gandalf Murphy (she saw it at the store and HAD to have it)….

We found the skull button set at Jo-Ann’s, and she hot glued them to the hat.

The skirt is a clearance item from J.Jill.  It is a cool ragged silk number.  It was the smallest petite skirt I’ve ever seen there, and it is a bit long for her, but works great with the costume.  The ragged bias strips make it move and shimmer when she walks.

The shirt was previously posted, and the corset was just finished.  How do you make a corset for a girl?  You make it comfy, that’s how.  Note the shirring on the sides – looks like a corset, but fits like a comfy tank top…  I think we can use it for at least a couple years.

Now she wants some glittery dorothy shoes to go with her jingle-y red belt!

Racing for the cure!

Glitter Glue Princess and I participated in the Komen Race for the Cure.  I was part of a team, and I registered her as an individual.

She earned $105 for the cause!

A big thank you to both Grandmas and Grandpas, Kath, Rosemary, Cheryl and Renee for supporting her!