Halloween!

With all the costume work, we neglected to get pumpkins. On the way home from the Comic Convention we tried Supervalue, then Sobeys - both of whom were out. Luckily Safeway still had a pair so we were able to get some for the kids to carve, albeit a little more pricey than usual.


We also managed to get a fair amount of decorations out. I fixed the pvc joins on both the Pumpkin Jack scarecrow and the Jack Skellington. With the lights and the cool but nice weather, we had over 50 kids.




D3 went out as the Doctor with his friend and Gee grudgingly wore her Hit-Girl. She had been concerned that no one would know who she was. But a few of the houses recognized her so she felt better about it. We were actually out for quite a while - from a little after 6pm and not back until almost a quarter to 9.

Hit-Girl - finished?

I touched up the tubes on the belt with pink paint. I sewed extra buckles on the tactical vest and made a grenade from a plastic easter egg, a pen bit, some twist ties, and a keyring. I put one of the retractable toy knives in the sheath and taped it down to the tactical vest. I stitched some gun holsters out of the canvas apron and am finishing sewing on the belt loops.


I finished assembling the sonic screwdriver. I added a finger light inside with a switch that allows it to be activated from the body and lights up a marble. I'm not sure how well the epoxy will hold the marble, but we'll see. I haven't got around to painting it however the colors aren't too far off on the bottom pieces. The top pieces definitely will need a splash of silver and brass to look more accurate.


What did the kids wear to school today for their Halloween parties? Gee went as a vampire cheerleader and D3 didn't wear a costume. So why the extra work on Hit-Girl and the Doctor? There is still the comic convention this weekend and trick-or-treating on Sunday.

Hit-Girl - more refinements / Who-driver

I finished up the pink tubes from the Hit-Girl utility belt. I may touch them up with a second coat of paint but, if not, they are done. I finished stitching the tactical vest for her as well. I may still add some rings on it and maybe some small pouches, if I have time tomorrow night. If not, the only thing I need to do is tape on the knife sheath and maybe make a grenade.


We had made two masks - one to tie in the back, and a shorter one to use with elastics. I finished sewing in the elastics in the shorter one today. This should fit better under the wig.

Today, I started on the sonic screwdriver. I had some oversize pens I had bought at Dollarama. I cut various pieces down and epoxied them back together. I used some of the large plastic clothespins for the fins on the top. I even figured out a way to light it using a finger light and a marble. I won't have time to paint it for tomorrow but it should look pretty good anyway. I just hope it holds together through the afternoon party.



So, all-in-all, a bit of fiddly work to do tomorrow, but I'm in a pretty good spot. So far.

Hit-Girl - refinements

I fixed the bow tie for D3 - by putting in a hook and eye as well as shortening the elastic. I haven't started of the sonic screwdriver though. That may be a Thursday project.

For Hit-Girl, I made three stops on Monday - looking for supplies. At Value Village I picked up a backpack ($3.99) and Cannon pouch ($1.99). At Princess Auto, I picked up a flashlight/knife holder for $1.99. At Dollarama I picked up a pair of lanyards, 2 dog harnesses, 2 trick knives, and a canvas apron.


Today, I cut out the padded straps from the backpack and switched the hardware for that from the lanyards. I used one of the other straps from the backpack to make loops that would connect to the belt we had picked up from Value Village earlier ($3.99). I cut a piece of the canvas apron to make a connection piece in the back to connect the padded straps to the other strap from the backpack to allow it to be adjusted in the back. Although I will probably stitch it down once it has been adjusted, this will allow it to be altered easily if I need to increase the length.


I also did more work on the pink tubes from her regular belt. I finished wrapping the other two and put the small strips around the ends. I will add loops on the back to attach to her belt tomorrow.

Socks!

I played basketball in Junior High and in High School. Because of this, and my weak ankles, to this day I still wear high-cut sneakers and like knee-high socks. I even wear executive length dress socks – this way the bare leg doesn’t show when you sit. It’s getting harder and harder to buy sports socks of this length.

When I was working, I would buy the knee high sports socks from the Bay. They had a pair for $8 but they were very nice. I would pick up a few with every paycheque. Then it got harder to find them. Shan had been able to find me some in Montreal before we were married.

There was a sports store from which I used to be able to buy some on our trips to Gencon. Each year I picked up a few packs and that would last me through to the next year. But after our second child, when Gencon moved out of Milwaukee, we stopped making the annual trip.

When we’re in the states, I pop in to the Super Walmart and Super Target and have picked up socks down there with varying success. The tube socks are often only long enough to come up to (or partially on) my calf – which means that they soon fall down off my calf.

This year, we stopped into Scheels when we were in Fargo. We’ve driven past them on the way to the Space Aliens restaurant for the last several years and always meant to pop in, but this year we did. Wow. It’s a two level sporting goods store, with an electronic firing range and a ferris wheel.

Plus they had the same brand of Wigwam tube socks that I used to buy from Milwaukee. At $17.99 for 7 pairs, I easily picked up two packs to tide me over until the next time we are down there. I was even happier to find out that they rang up at only $15 a pack.

Now I can start phasing out my older, shorter socks and start replenishing my stock of long ones. I am very pleased with this discovery. Even more so as there is a Scheels in both Fargo and Grand Forks – so I should be able to get these for a while.

Hit-Girl - Valleycon update

The costume contest was a bit of a muddled affair this year. They didn’t have a marshalling area and didn’t take info beyond name and costume name. They also didn’t have a kids category – which is fine as we had put enough work in it to be judged with the adults.

D3 didn’t want to go in the contest. A few people did recognize his costume though –
'Fezes are cool!' There was even another Eleventh Doctor there, and a pair of other Doctors in the costume contest. But we failed to get a shot of D3 with any of them.





Gee was in the contest. D3 was sure that she was going to win. She had a bit of presentation but mostly just zipped across the stage and was off - as did most of the costumers. This gave me a spot of concern as her costume is a bit obscure and involved. Without being checked in the marshalling, and explanations in the pre-judging, and the minimal presentation, I thought she might get overlooked – especially for the Clone Trooper who both looked great and had good presentation.
Luckily, they called them up again to get another look at them before judging. When the audience called out for Hit-Girl to step forward to pose for some pictures, I figured she might have a decent shot.




When the judging was done, Hit-Girl had indeed won.

Hit-Girl update 4

Thursday I did a flurry of work on the staff. I used the screw-joint from a broom to allow it to separate. The pvc pipe I had around the house. I cut it to length and epoxied the screw-joint inside. I added the foam swords to the other ends and wrapped the entire in hockey tape for grip. The tip of the pvc that goes inside the join was colored with a sharpie.

A thinner pvc was used for the belt tubes. I had to dash out and get smaller diameter foam balls for the ends. These were hot glued to the ends and then painted pink. I though about just painting the pvc tubes but ended up using the contact cement to wrap them in vinyl. I didn't manage to finish them for the weekend.
I finished the other two belt pouches, and finished the belt and drew the design on the belt buckle with a sharpie.


The skirt that was a closer style was much too small to use with the pants. Instead we used the larger, more-inaccurately-styled skirt. It did not need to be dyed though.
I finished sewing the eyeholes for the mask, and sewed up a bow tie for D3 out of felt. I also added the tassel to his fez. I sewed the buttons to his pants for his suspenders.

Both costumes still have some work we can do on them, but both are also basically close enough that if we don't do anything else on them, they can be called finished.


Of course I will try to continue to add to them.
I'm going to try to add a tactical vest to the Hit-Girl costume and scratch build a newer model sonic screwdriver.