Halloween 2005: Mild mannered computer programmer to dragon, Release 2.

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Once upon a time (October 2002), I decided to use liquid latex as the basis for a halloween costume. It was, it was, it was an experience. It took hours to prep the surface (shave off body hair), hours to apply the liquid latex (and it was cold), and then it was excruciatingly painful to remove because the surface prep hadn't been thorough enough (equivalent to waxing presumably). The costume impressed many people at the Halloween Howl, despite its many flaws, but I swore never to use liquid latex on my body.

Come 2005, the idea of going as a dragon rears its ugly head again. In theory, enriched by my previous experience, I could produce a much better costume, and I would take it a party that was known to have a costume contest. As usual for me, I started in early September, researching and collecting materials.

Ruling liquid latex left me with two options: some other form of body paint or fabric. While my chest isn't a rug, there is enough hair on it normally that body paint wouldn't look that great. In addition, it would take several hours for a friend with a great sense of humour to do the job, and I would depending on their artistic abilities, not mine. Fabric, on the other hand would be more work, but the costume wouldn't be one-shot, I'd be able to use it again another night if I chose.

A random search of halloween pages on the internet led me to the description of “duct tape dress maker's dummies”. What a concept: create a replica of your own body shape so you can essentially have a clone of yourself to prepare the costume on. If the costume fits the dummy, it will fit you, at least in theory.

On the first of October, I enlisted the aid of one of my neighbours. Jan lives next door and we have a common passion for organic gardening (and a tolerance for dandilions). Jan also has a quirky sense of humour like my own, so I figured she'd be game to help me construct the dummy. So, with several rolls of duct-tape in hand, and some clothes I didn't want to wear again, I knocked on her door.

In the picture, I'm holding the duct-tape because I tore off strips for her as long as I was able to (ie, until my arms got wrapped up). If I look rather tall in the picture, its because I am. 6'4” which is about 192cm.

In this shot, you see greater the legs getting fairly good coverage. The stern look on my face is probably an attempt to inhale; the duct tape doesn't have much stretch. Its also getting really hot as there is now minimal heat loss from my legs.

I think I'll call this my early vulcan look, if Vulcans needed a haircut.

I saw somebody do this as a costume once. I hope he didn't have any exposed skin.

Next, the back, legs and arms were each given a slice so I could pull myself out of this artificial skin. You can see a lits in one of the legs.

A big round of applause to Jan (who actually did all the work), and Michele (her husband), who took the pictures.

With the duct tape dummy in hand, it was time to begin work on the rest of the costume. I wanted to try making fingers that actually moved. I was inspired by the flexibly wooden snakes you can buy in import stores. A string of fabric glued to pieces of wood acted as a hinge. An elascticized strip (as used in clothing) held kept the fingers outstretched. Some fishing line run through eye hooks acted as tendons.

A bit of plastic scavenged from a dollar store note pad holder made the palm. The fishing line was tied to the finger tips of the glove (which was in turn glued to the plastic).

The next step was to construct a top and bottom. Except, with my height, buying a body suit is a bit of struggle, and being a typical guy, I didn't know how to sew. However, one of my friends, Darlene Adamschuk, happens to be a home-economics instructor for a middle school. Darlene turned out to be an excellent instructor! A single lesson from Darlene and I was able to use a sewing machine I had inherited from my mother (a Bernina Sport 810). I chose spandex because I wanted it to fit like a second skin, and because if I goofed the measurements, it would just be rather tight instead of not fitting.

I was able to buy 7 meters of black spandex at Capital Iron for $45. Nothing shows on black unless it reflects light, so a trip to Opus Art supplies resulted in the suggestion of a silver ink pen (used to outline the scales) and some Pearl Emerald paint which I painted inside each scale. I tried not to cover too much area with paint in case it reduced the elasticity of the spandex.

In the lower left, you can see the beginnings of the mask. The lower jaw is hinged. It built on an old bicycle helmet (you should replace them every two years). A party blower is connected to a bicycle CO2 pump (used by racers) so I can have a tongue that jets out to surprize people. A rubber ball, cut in half, with glow tubes in it served as “eyes”.

Next, I added some spiny bits carved out of 2 inch thick foam, and then painted a light blue. I added a few wings (carved from ¾ inch foam, and then covered in fabric, getting good mileage from that sewing machine), and some enormous feet (more foam with holes for some old running shoes to fit in). More fabric, more painting, some velcro.

Originally, all this effort was for a halloween party someone else was hosting, I was going to be helping with decorations for that party. However, their life got a little crazy and they asked if I would host instead, at my place. Well, I sent out the invites for Sat the 29th, but it turns out I didn't have quite the drawing power they did. Prehaps it was my policy of wrapping obnoxious drunks in duct tape. There were like 4 confirmed attendees, and that included me! Everybody had a different party to attend.

You can either be blown onto the rocks by the winds, or you can tack against it. I decided to tack. I sent out an invite update, transforming the party into a Halloween night mini party (7-10pm), and started looking into a commercial party to attend, one that had a costume contest, and called up some friends to join me. After some deliberation, we decided to go to a Halloween party at Vertigo, a night club on the University of Victoria campus.
Here I am in all my reptillian beauty! Spines, horns, lovely teeth.

Here is a back side shot of mine. You can see the spines on the back as well as the wings and tail. As you can see, I didn't make the back of the mask quite long enough.

I posed for a number of shots with others. One of the two pretty cowgirls below (at least I think it was one of them, I didn't have great vision in the mask) asked, “Are you a boy?”. She had to ask the question a few times because the noise level was incredible. My body is pretty lean and slender (vegetarian diet plus working out in the gym), my fanny shows the signs of much cycling instead of owning a car (not flat, but rock hard), so I guess she wasn't sure. Given she was probably half my age, I didn't explore which genders she was hoping it turned out to be.

Epilog: the DJ called out the first prize winner of the costume contest. Somebody dressed as a dinosaur. Wow. I hadn't even seen the person. Talk about bad vision inside the mask! Then one of my companions said, “Eric, I think they were talking about you. I've looked around for a dinosaur and there isn't anything else remotely like one.” Her conclusion was confirmed when a gentleman not in costume came around with an envelope for me, labelled Dinosaur -first prize $250.

My thanks to Morgan, Claudine, and Tanya, my companions that night, for staying up long for me to boogy my buns off, helping me put on various bits of my costume. I promise I won't subject you to staying up that late again :-). Morgan also took the photos at the night club.