Thread: 2010 Costumes: Nevermore & Lady Reaper In Progress

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Greetings, all!

I’m about to finally get back into working on my two costumes for Halloween 2010, and I figured I would start a thread not only to offer ideas to others about my techniques but also as a way to hopefully get advice as I go along, encountering plenty of projects that I have never even remotely attempted before. I’ll probably need all the help I can get! Plus, I would like to have a single place where I can reference back to and really see whether the projects are sticking to my original plans or if (as they often do) they wander in a direction I don’t wish them to go. As much as I would love to post regular updates, for now I’m a busy college student and I may go a month at some point where I just can’t get anything done. But if you do have advice or questions, please bring them up – I’ll try to keep track of the thread, even if I haven’t made progress.

So what’s on the slab?
>Nevermore, a costume I started for Halloween 2009 incorporating not only a nod to E.A. Poe’s The Raven, but other works by Poe that I’m particularly fond of. I didn’t get as far with it as I would have liked last year, and I had to make many last minute solutions that I hope to redo and improve upon. I would love to work in some Steampunk elements as I want a fantastical Victorian air to it, but we’ll see if that happens.

>Lady Reaper, a new costume for 2010, which will hopefully be an elegant and unsettling rendition of the grim reaper. I’m going for a fairly timeless quality, with a lot of Victorian touches and a few more raw, old Old World details upon closer inspection. This will probably become my main costume for 2010, and I have a heck of a lot to do on it. I’m literally starting from scratch.

Again, any advice is more than welcome. While I have a fairly clear idea in my head for both costumes, I always appreciate your view and welcome critique. I’m still very new to costuming, and am learning as I go along. Nevermore was the most extensive costume I have attempted, going well beyond the simple mask and minor modifications to thrift-store garments like previous years. While I’m not really sewing any new garments for it, the Lady Reaper costume will call for multiple techniques and materials that are totally new to me, like fabric dying, metal working (perhaps), and the construction of an expanding set of stylized wings.

First, some cruddy, quick sketches. These are pretty much the most recent designs for Nevermore and Lady Reaper that I've put down on paper. Not quite the most recent designs I have in my head, but close enough to give you an idea of what I'm going for.

Nevermore:
The costume has already changed quite a bit from this, and I've bailed on the jacket and added the top hat.



Lady Reaper:
Actually, this is my first sketch of the idea, but I think it embodies the idea pretty well (just lacking all the little details).


This really isn't far from my final concept. The wings will get be redesigned because this won't work with the mechanism I'm working on, but I'd like them to look as close to this as possible. And I am in no way nearly this skinny, but when making fast sketches of my costumes to get all my ideas down I never seem to incorporate my more, er, curvy body type.

I'm going to do a process post on Nevermore, i.e. what I have up until now. I went into a little more detail in the album for both costumes, so if you want more info you can look here:Halloween Forum - Zombie Machairodont's Album: 2009/2010 Halloween Costumes: Nevermore and Reaper. And yes, I type too much there, too. I'm afraid I'm prone to these "wall-of-text" posts.

Raven mask
I added a metal mesh beak-shape to a plastic mask form that matches up with my facial feature-placement pretty darn well. I covered the whole thing with wet paper towel strips (which hug the mask's shape). I covered the whole form that I want to use, which was in this case from the beak edge up to the top of the plastic mask, with several layers of Rigid Wrap plaster cloth. When everything was dry, I removed the plaster layers (which became the core of the mask) from the plastic & wire form. The paper towel strips act as a sort of releasing agent, and only the top layer remains attached to the plaster.


I peeled off the paper towels and cleaned up the eye holes and border of the plaster form. Then, to smooth out the wearing-side of the mask and to make sure I'm not poked by an unpleasant plaster shard, I added paper mache to the inside and along the edges of the mask. I also made a wire loop on either side of the mask so that I can attach ribbon ties later on.


I applied Creative Paperclay to the outside of the plaster shape, covering all the visible surfaces and smoothing as I went along. I also sanded the surface with a fine-grit sandpaper when it was dried.


Then, it was just a matter of painting the whole thing with black acrylic paint, spraying it with a matte Krylon finish, and adding the ribbon ties.


The rest:
I decided to undertake my first big sewing project: a vest. It was also my introduction to tailoring a pattern. It was once based on a McCalls vest design, but was pretty much unrecognizable when I was finished with it.

I bought an imitation velvet top hat, and decided I would make/modify charms for a new hatband that reference some of my other favorite works by Poe. Most were made with polymer clay, though there is a painted button and a metal charm in there, too.


I also wanted an actual image of Poe on the costume, so I made a choker with a false-cameo using Fimo Liquid and a few other odds and ends. The letter squares, which were scrapbooking items, spell out "Nevermore."


I like having a themed bag to go along with my costumes, so I made a book-purse disguised as a collection of Poe's works.


For the rest of the costume, I bought a thrift shop black velvet skirt, heavily-worn black evening gloves (which I cut knuckle-slits in and sliced off the fingers to make wearable), and added other costume elements that I already had.

The costume, as it appeared as of Halloween 2009 (excuse the goofy pose, I was just trying to keep the purse on my shoulder and show the winglets' design):


Soooo, I still have a few things I need to do before I'm satisfied with the costume:
>Tailor the vest a bit better as it is still a bit more roomy than I'd care for.
>Make another raven mask. I want to add feathers and a little lace to one of the masks, but I also like the smooth form of the first mask. I'll add feathers and such to the mask that I like least.
>Maybe get a different, nicer skirt (something a bit more Victorian in style), and possibly make a "skirt-lifter," raising the skirt's front just a little and suggesting a raven's tail in the back.
>Make expanding wings that can do double duty on both Nevermore and the Reaper.
>Get rid of the winglets on the sleeves, which were a last-minute add-on since I didn't get a proper pair of costume wings. The expanding wings will take care of that. I just need to figure out what to do for my arms; maybe some lacy sleeves.
>improve or remake the book purse.

This is about it as far as my progress on Lady Reaper: I picked up a fairly tattered old thrift-shop wedding dress today for $22! I have a lot to do on the dress itself, including getting rid of the train, dying it a dark gray or (optimally) black if I can, adding some additional beadwork, and making it even more ratty than it already is.


Question: Any ideas on a name for the costume? Lady reaper just doesn't really appeal to me (though I suppose the concept is obvious enough). Should I just go as "Death?" Lady Death is apparently a comic character, so I want to steer away from that. I'd consider Madam Death, though the "madam" part can hold some undesired connotations. I was thinking about "Reaperess," which kind of sounds like "repress" which interests me to an extent, and is probably my favorite of the options I've thought up. So, what do you think?

Wow!

Really great costume ideas.

I really liked your Nevermore costume. And the idea of a lady reaper is great.

The lady reaper will be one scary costume. If I can think of a good name I will let you know.

TC

After looking at your first sketch for Nevermore I thought maybe you could modify this pattern. Sewing Patterns : Simplicity Patterns : Misses Costume - Sheer Fantasy

Great work i love the designs.

Thanks TC, Maleficent, and Bobamaltz!

Maleficent: You're spot on! Actually, I bought that Simplicity pattern a while back when I was originally going to make a sheer undershirt that flared out under the bottom of the vest. Time didn't allow it and I had to make my last-minute "winglets," but I would really like to give it a try this year. I'm a sucker for layers, and even if I find a more Victorian-looking skirt (I really don't want to make one myself yet), I'd like to add a sheer over-skirt, maybe painted to hint at a feathered pattern. Actually, another Simplicity pattern that I would love to incorporate (but not sure if I will have the time) is this one: Simplicity Creative Group - Misses Costumes. The Victorian-tinged costume in the upper right corner was sort of vibe I really wanted, but failed to achieve. Plus, I would love to make that jacket.

That jacket is gorgeous.

It's been quite a while since I updated, but school has kept me so busy that the costumes had to be put on the back burner. However, I have been doing odds and ends on the reaper costume when I can find the extra time, and I finally feel like I have enough new stuff to show some progress.

The wing mechanism itself is mostly figured out, though I'm still working on how I want to initiate the wings' expansion. I got a little burnt out on it a few weeks ago but I need to get back to it. Maybe a visit to the hardware store will help. This is what I have mocked up at this point, with one wing expanded and the other in the 'resting' position:


The reaper mask was made the same way as the Nevermore mask, starting with a plaster strip base and building up thin layers of paper mache on the back and Creative Paperclay on the front. It also dons polymer clay incisors and canines. Please excuse the 'day off' look of the first photo. The second photo shows the mask as of this morning as well as the template for the jewelry-like skeletal glove armor (which will use some of the techniques as discussed in the fun foam armor tutorial here: Craft Foam Armor Tutorial ). The mask needs to be sanded and painted, but I'm relieved to finally have it sculpted and ready for the finishing stages. I'll probably also add scrims to both the nasal aperture and orbits.




I would like to pose a question to you: do you think the mask really REALLY needs more teeth behind behind the canines? I don't particularly want to add premolars/molars but if it looks flat-out wrong without them I'd consider doing so. I've been looking at the mask and designs for so long that I'm not sure if it really needs the additional teeth or not .