Costume Retrospective: 2008
Wedding Capes, Saucy Polly, Wigwam Bam, Captain Shotner, Geuse, Steampunk SupermanTony Stark, Explorer from IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, Sonic the Hedgehog
The year we put our friends and family in capes. Also got married. But JR and I sewed every single one of those capes, we did. And everyone looked fabulous.
It was also the year of the last episode of Aliens You Will Meet, done what has turned out to be my last Dragon*Con (though I still hold out hope for the future, mad though that may be). JR and I pulled out all the stops for this one, making some of my favorite puppets yet, full of charm and blinking lights. There was a space battle, and everything. It was epic, in the true sense of that word.
Also at Dragon*Con, as well as What-The-Hell-Con: Steampunk Superman. The Guild of Justice-Minded Citizenry was the last of the Great Costume Groups I was a part of. Only fitting that this final outing would get Boing-Boinged. Since started this retrospective, I’ve been talking of doing another large costume group with friends of mine. But now that I think about it, I doubt I’d top this one. If I never do another large costume group, this was a grand one to say was the last.
I spent most of IRON MAN thinking about how I had a piece in my parts box that looked just like Tony’s chest-mounted arc-reactor in the film. Then I spent an hour in the basement once we got home making it. True story.
I’ve always been fond of the work of Propnomicon, so when I decided to do a costume based on Lovecraft classic IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, his mission patches were something I had to have. The Shuggoth on my shoulder is one of my favorite costume accessories, an has an honored place on our bookshelf.
My first major costume commission—done to raise money for the fore-mentioned wedding—was also my first mascot-style costume and the first where I couldn’t measure the client. Luckily, he was child, so it was pretty basic. This was made in performance fleece, which is a material I love to work with but rarely have any call for. Even with that, it was a challenge, but one I believe was met successfully. And we had extra money for the wedding. Which we needed.
