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   lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:57 JST lizzzzard

   #Halloween #costumemaking for the 8 year old kid: a thread.
   This year's briefing was "chicken, but scary" (we own chickens).

   Do you know how UNSCARY chicken costumes are? This is how. No one can look scary in orange leggings!

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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:48 JST lizzzzard

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     Finished!

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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:49 JST lizzzzard

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     I used a mixture of a plastic sheet (from a lid) and hot glue to do the lenses. I'm not at all happy about how it looks with the lights off, but it'll do the job of diffusing the LED light. Oh and also I put a coat of clear nail polish on because I thought it would look nice. It did, but the glue lenses kinda ruined the look in daylight again.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:50 JST lizzzzard

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     So now I use modeling clay and two empty rolls of sticky tape to make the eyes. Did I mention that I'm a crafting materials hoarder?

     The eyes have little holes that will hopefully allow me to sew them into the hoodie's hood, but I'm worried they might have turned out too heavy. We'll see...

     The glowy stuff will happen in the center, and I'll need some kind of diffusor there. But I have an idea for that already.

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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:51 JST lizzzzard

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     Kid wants the eyes to glow red. This I'm too lazy to build from scratch, though we probably have enough wires, battery packs and LEDs in the house to make the costume look like a Christmas tree. Instead I ordered a pre-soldered set of red glowys.

     But I want more than just red dots, so I go googling "how to make eyes". Thanks go out to the furry community for great instruction videos and articles on everything costumes. I find amazing wings that I will NOT build because Halloween is in less than two weeks, and I know my limits, but they are so cool! 😎 Maybe next year?

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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:52 JST lizzzzard

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     Then I corrected the fitting of the oversized hoodie. No pictures of that. I made the arms shorter so kid can actually use their hands. Then made the arms tighter because otherwise you couldn't see the feathers as well.

     I also made some feathers for the head that fall into your eyes, emo-haircut style. Kid is worried that this will make the costume look too cute.

     Boy, an 8-year-old in a costume is inherently cute, what you want is HARD!

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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:53 JST lizzzzard

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     Working on the beak: corrected the pattern, cut from some cardboard (thanks, Amazon packages), and painted black. Glued together using hot glue. It still shows and isn't neat, but I actually like that.

     But how to articulate the joint? I tried using string, but that blocks the movement itself. You end up with engineering questions every time you build something, even with costumes.

     I got the tip to use book screws (which I just learned recently existed), and that got me thinking... After some rummaging in the basement I found a set of colored push buttons that were left over from when I was convinced I would have time to sew baby clothes 🤣

     For the blood, I used a liner color that dries with some volume. It's the stuff that puffs up when you heat it up, but we're not doing that here.

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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:54 JST lizzzzard

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     I ordered some black felt and an oversized hoodie. I learned last year that Halloween costumes should be large enough to be worn *over* the jacket if you don't want the kid to be freezing -_-

     I cut the feathers with a fabric pizza cutter. These things are sharp! Also on the back side, where my thumb goes! 👍🩸

     Sewn on by hand, because my sewing machine's thread tension is off, and I don't know how to fix it. Probably easier this way anyways.

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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:55 JST lizzzzard

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     Trying on the beak to get "sewing"patterns. This one was discarded as "looking too friendly".

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     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Saturday, 01-Nov-2025 11:05:56 JST lizzzzard

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     So we settled on "Raven". Black is good, much easier to look scary in black leggings, right? 👍

     So, I started thinking, and taking measurements. Here's some concept "art".