The living room was one of the casualties of the costume-making processI didn't take nearly as many pictures of our finished costumes as I thought I was going to, but if any one wants ideas for future years, I'm putting up a bunch of pictures of the creation process.
When my boyfriend turned to me and said, "It's a Harry Potter themed party, what could we be?" I didn't skip a beat and immediately exclaimed, "DRAGONS!" This was on October 26, leaving us 4.5 days to pull together elaborate costumes.
a sort of ridiculous model for the Chinese Fireball dragon I was going for
...and the Hungarian Horntail that we wanted to turn my boyfriend into
Step 1: Brainstorm & Trials
Luckily for us, we quickly agreed on what we wanted to be and some of the key details as well. My boyfriend wanted articulating tails that would wiggle when we moved, and soon started mocking up potential ways to achieve that with scrap paper. He decided that the best method would be to make concentric cardboard cylinders out of an old moving box and figure out how to attach them later.
Step 2: Material Gathering
We already had cardboard on hand, as well as an entire blue outfit and most of a red one, some clips, paint brushes, wire hangers, twine and glue. I went out to buy the following: 2 headbands, 2+ pairs of knee high panty hose, red, blue, black, white, and gold paint, and gold snakeskin leggings which may reappear periodically. For paint purposes, I bought tempera at Pearl Paint. I thought I would need a lot of red and blue, and consequently bought 500 mL bottles of those. That was completely unnecessary, I could have gotten away with a third of a 250 mL bottle. The gold tempera was only available in a 500 mL bottle, and what can I say, I like shiny things, so I'm happy to have the extra of that on hand.
When my boyfriend turned to me and said, "It's a Harry Potter themed party, what could we be?" I didn't skip a beat and immediately exclaimed, "DRAGONS!" This was on October 26, leaving us 4.5 days to pull together elaborate costumes.
a sort of ridiculous model for the Chinese Fireball dragon I was going for...and the Hungarian Horntail that we wanted to turn my boyfriend intoStep 1: Brainstorm & Trials
Luckily for us, we quickly agreed on what we wanted to be and some of the key details as well. My boyfriend wanted articulating tails that would wiggle when we moved, and soon started mocking up potential ways to achieve that with scrap paper. He decided that the best method would be to make concentric cardboard cylinders out of an old moving box and figure out how to attach them later.
Step 2: Material Gathering
We already had cardboard on hand, as well as an entire blue outfit and most of a red one, some clips, paint brushes, wire hangers, twine and glue. I went out to buy the following: 2 headbands, 2+ pairs of knee high panty hose, red, blue, black, white, and gold paint, and gold snakeskin leggings which may reappear periodically. For paint purposes, I bought tempera at Pearl Paint. I thought I would need a lot of red and blue, and consequently bought 500 mL bottles of those. That was completely unnecessary, I could have gotten away with a third of a 250 mL bottle. The gold tempera was only available in a 500 mL bottle, and what can I say, I like shiny things, so I'm happy to have the extra of that on hand.
cardboard pieces for two dragon costumes, less than one medium-sized moving boxboyfriend's costume at left (larger belly plate), mine at right
Step 3: Cylinders
To make concentric cyclinders, you have to score the cardboard with an x-acto blade so that it will actually make a cylinder and not just fold willy-nilly on you. He cut out rectangles for the smaller two and the largest piece was more of a saddle shape. We used regular Elmer's glue and and put cans of food and bags of dried beans on the joints to set up overnight. Some pieces also had the benefit of a few clothespins and binder clips.
The conical tail ends were more difficult to score because the corrugating is parallel, and my boyfriend had to cut across the grain, so to speak. A wide isosceles triangle or nearly triangular isosceles trapezoid affords an excellent cone tip when scored, rolled, and glued. In the photo above you can see that he wound twine around the cones to make sure they didn't shift before the glue dried.
To make concentric cyclinders, you have to score the cardboard with an x-acto blade so that it will actually make a cylinder and not just fold willy-nilly on you. He cut out rectangles for the smaller two and the largest piece was more of a saddle shape. We used regular Elmer's glue and and put cans of food and bags of dried beans on the joints to set up overnight. Some pieces also had the benefit of a few clothespins and binder clips.
The conical tail ends were more difficult to score because the corrugating is parallel, and my boyfriend had to cut across the grain, so to speak. A wide isosceles triangle or nearly triangular isosceles trapezoid affords an excellent cone tip when scored, rolled, and glued. In the photo above you can see that he wound twine around the cones to make sure they didn't shift before the glue dried.
Step 4: Painting
After thorough online investigation of Harry Potter dragon specifics, I came up with a good paint color scheme. My boyfriend would be a dusty gray-blue with bronze accents, and I would be red and gold. I mixed a touch of red and black into the gold to make bronze.
For each tail, I painted the bottom 1/3 either gold or bronze, and the upper 2/3 the body color (blue or red). This simulated belly skin like a crocodile. I also painted our belly plates in our respective belly colors. After the gold and bronze sections dried, I painted reptilian scale patterns in a dark gold (black+gold paint) over them.
After thorough online investigation of Harry Potter dragon specifics, I came up with a good paint color scheme. My boyfriend would be a dusty gray-blue with bronze accents, and I would be red and gold. I mixed a touch of red and black into the gold to make bronze.
For each tail, I painted the bottom 1/3 either gold or bronze, and the upper 2/3 the body color (blue or red). This simulated belly skin like a crocodile. I also painted our belly plates in our respective belly colors. After the gold and bronze sections dried, I painted reptilian scale patterns in a dark gold (black+gold paint) over them.
my underbelly scales
boyfriend's assembled tail: bamboo skewers held in place with duct tape spacers
allow the tail a natural movement
allow the tail a natural movement
Step 5: Tail Assembly
We tried hanging the smaller tail sections from the top of the cylinder above it. This resulted in tail collapse. The optimal solution was to use bamboo skewers that I had in the kitchen to make hinges. My boyfriend wrapped duct tape around each skewer segment so that they didn't fall out or allow the cylinders to collapse. The result was a sturdy and yet wiggly tail. We poked holes and tied twine loops to attach a belt and put on our tails. Reinforcing those support points with duct or packing tape is a good idea.
Step 6: Wings
I found a wiki of how to make wings. We used wire hangers from the dry cleaner, bent them to shape, pulled panty hose over the frames, and then painted them with tempera. My thoughts on wing-shapes: make them much fatter/rounder than you want them to be in the end. The pull of the panty hose makes them much thinner.
despite the fact that our model above has no spikes on its tail,
we thought interpreting "horntail" literally was best
Step 7: Final Details
I attached small painted cardboard horns to headbands and also to a "shoulder-plate." I added extra bronze-painted triangles to the end of my boyfriend's tail by cutting small slits in the scoring and wedging them in there. We also put some of those bronze triangles on the exposed bamboo skewers. That was a serious horntail.
self-timed picture: askew and exceedingly dorky
We tried hanging the smaller tail sections from the top of the cylinder above it. This resulted in tail collapse. The optimal solution was to use bamboo skewers that I had in the kitchen to make hinges. My boyfriend wrapped duct tape around each skewer segment so that they didn't fall out or allow the cylinders to collapse. The result was a sturdy and yet wiggly tail. We poked holes and tied twine loops to attach a belt and put on our tails. Reinforcing those support points with duct or packing tape is a good idea.
Step 6: Wings
I found a wiki of how to make wings. We used wire hangers from the dry cleaner, bent them to shape, pulled panty hose over the frames, and then painted them with tempera. My thoughts on wing-shapes: make them much fatter/rounder than you want them to be in the end. The pull of the panty hose makes them much thinner.
despite the fact that our model above has no spikes on its tail,we thought interpreting "horntail" literally was best
Step 7: Final Details
I attached small painted cardboard horns to headbands and also to a "shoulder-plate." I added extra bronze-painted triangles to the end of my boyfriend's tail by cutting small slits in the scoring and wedging them in there. We also put some of those bronze triangles on the exposed bamboo skewers. That was a serious horntail.
self-timed picture: askew and exceedingly dorky
1 comments:
i believe i have told you this before, but something about the pictures you take makes them very pleasing to mine eyes
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