Halloween Fast Approaching

Crunch time. Christian's costume is nearly complete. I offered to make Erika any costume she wanted and she said "Leopard." We already have a Leopard costume so instead of working until midnight on another elaborate costume I breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief. As for Juliet, well she's almost two and we have half a dozen costumes that will fit her. Care to guess what I'm making for Christian?




I found a child's motorcycle helmet for a couple dollars at a second hand store and applied some foam strips to it. The foam is easy to work with but its not easy to paint. I thought I would flood the foam with several coats of primer, sand it, and paint it, but it was a lot more work than I anticipated. Next time I'll use Apoxie Sculpt because its pliable, dries hard, and is easier to paint.

The backpack is made from foam flooring I purchased from Costco. I hardened the backpack by applying some fiberglass resin because I expect Christian will play with it long after Halloween. Another lesson learned? - I thought the resin would be enough but next time I'll throw a little fiberglass cloth in to strengthen it.

Here's a leg. You can see I turned the diamond plate pattern inward and used the smooth bottom of the flooring for the exterior. Straight cuts are easily made with a bandsaw. I also made a jig to hold a razor blade on a perfect 45 degree angle and cut the corners where the pieces joined. Gorilla brand instant glue worked best for joining the pieces. I later reinforced the corners with thing foam and a more glue. No resin on the exterior - I want it to remain flexible so he can walk.

First coat of primer. I brushed on primer to the boxy peices because I really wanted it to soak in. The backpack and helmet were sprayed. Stay tuned for the reveal!