What I've Been Doing Instead of Writing, Halloween Craft Edition

I’ve watched some soccer and started teaching an adult literacy class. But mostly I’ve been working on Sonar Halloween costumes. Please click to embiggen any photo.

Last year Sonar X11 was a headless guy. This year he started with a conceptual costume, “The Balance of the Universe,” but may transform this piece into a black and white jester or clown. Oh, and no, I didn’t do this. He is eleven and needs me only to run the sewing machine from time to time.

Sonar X11’s Halloween maskLast year Sonar X8 was Gimli the Dwarf. This year, continuing the martial fantasy theme in a slightly different direction, he wants to be Sir Lancelot. He made the sword. This one gets to reuse the Santa boots that Sonar X11 wore in third grade. En garde, villein. 

Sonar X8’s Knight of the Round TableLast year Sonar X6 was a recycled Harry Potter, so this year he wanted something splashy. I balked at the Instructable for the Indiana Jones Lego Minifig, but we came to a compromise: regular minifig, built my way. We still need to cut out the face so he can see when he wears it.

Sonar X6’s Lego Minifig headThe primary materials here are two pool noodles and an empty oatmeal container. Plus some yellow sheets of foam and a good amount of duct tape.

The guts of Sonar X6’s lego minifig costume piecesWe spent Sunday morning goring up the front of the house. We inherited the grave stones from awesome neighbors (I think they’ve been pictured here before), but the bloody paint sheets are ours. The cheerful mums are for irony, of course. Not pictured is the entire scene backlit by a red porch light in the dark, a smoke machine, and a Sonar dispatched behind a sheet to surprise passersby.

Instant graveyardVisitors must pass through the bloody plastic to get to the front door. Plus mums.One view from the front door. The little guy makes a lot of noise. 

Random Friday in NaNoLand

1. Today’s NaNoWriMo wordcount is 12,954. The one-quarter mark. 

2. Total revision time this week: three hours.  I’m two hours behind in my revision goal, but the day isn’t over!

3. No more lunch food has appeared in my street, but I have a suspect.  Notice that there was no dessert left in the street? No juicebox? I’m guessing that the eight year old living in the house next to the tableau was generating an impromptu art installation with the undesirable portions of his lunch. 

4. We had a Halloween. That’s a Mad Hatter hat from last year, and my shirt say “I’m Under the Thrall of the Dark Prince.” Yep, Lord of the Rings, check. Harry Potter, check. Buffy reference, check. And Sonar X10 got his costume out of The Encyclopedia of Immaturity.  We know how to get our geek on around here.  

Gimli, Harry, Mad Mama, Headless Kid

Halloween

I strongly recommend you keep a trained photographer on hand at all times.  Pictures are so much cooler with a trained photographer.  Evidence: First is my pic (yes these kids are delicious, but the photographer has no eye for arrangement), second is our friend Carrie’s (I love the motion and intensity of the four boys).  

Please click to enlarge.  

P.S. Two of these children visited the barber between photo-ops.

Sonar X4 (Entling), Sonar X9 (Mad Hatter), and Sonar X6 (Artemis Fowl)

Sonar X9, Honorary Sonar (Batman), Sonar X4, and Sonar X6 on a Candy Mission

Halloween, Beta-test edition

Last weekend our town had a Halloween party in the park.  Snow cones, bouncing things, costume contests, trick-or-treating.  It was fun.  And it gave us a chance to test-drive this year’s Halloween costume.  Which is good, because we definitely want to do some small tweaks and one big revision.  I love love love Halloween!

Sonar X4: An Entling

Sonar X4 impersonating a treeCan you tell that we’ve been reading Tolkien for several months?  The brown clothes (made from a big t-shirt) worked great.  But the many-colored felt leaves looked more like sleeve-ruffles.  The floppy hat was a last-minute improvisation because I had nothing else ready.  I’m going to add some purchased leaf-garland to the sleeves and make a crown of leaves.  He does not want me to remove the felt leaves though.  He likes those.  

Sonar X6: Artemis Fowl

Sonar X6 as Artemis FowlOn our edition of Artemis Fowl, Artemis is wearing a suit and sunglasses and holding a small, glowing book.  From the back cover: “Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius, and, above all, a criminal mastermind.”  I found the shirt and jacket for a few dollars at a thrift store, and made the tie.  I bought the pants new, figuring that we could get some good wear out of a nice pair of black pants.  Yes, I’m going to hem them.  For the fairy book, we covered some tiny notebooks with paper from a glittery, golden gift bag.  He’ll have a fresh haircut on Saturday, I think, so his slick look will be even sharper.  

Sonar X9: The Mad Hatter (Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version)

Sonar X9 as Tim Burton’s Mad HatterThis costume was fun to put together.  He’s wearing another thrift-store jacket.  This one a ladies jacket with flared sleeves.  The striped pants are pajama pants that belong to Sonar X6.  He has orange-striped fingerless gloves and a Burger Kitchen tea cup.  I made the hat and neck bow out of stuff I found around the house (fabric, foam, plastic cardboard, a wire hanger, and a lot of glue).  I used the Threadbanger How-to for that one.  Threadbanger does a wig, but he preferred to paint his own hair orange (he thought that part was really really cool).  We may swap the Burger Time cup for a slightly more Mad cup, and I’m going to add some embellishments like a hat pin and size tag.  We’re going to skip the spool-bandolero.  

The Goblin Retrospective

2004

Lion and tiger.  But where’s the bear?

2005

Peter and…

Willy Wonka

2006

A stack of cards.  But where are their paintbrushes?

2007

A ninja and two Harrys

2008 

A magician (with hat trick), Santa, The (hopping) White Rabbit, and one Crazy Mama

The End.  The Tail End.  

Watch out for that light sabre, Rabbit!