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Friday, October 29, 2010

Making Jack Skellington Costume

My son's YMCA held a Costume Contest on Friday.  The rules were basic--no store bought costumes.  Therefore, I decided I would use my "talent" and make something on my own.

Jack Skellington

When my son informed me of the Costume Contest, the idea flew out of my mouth, "How about Jack from the Nightmare Before Christmas." My son loved the idea.
I started to think of all the things I would need to make his costume. When I got a list of stuff I needed, I visited Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart and bought all the material I needed.

On Monday, I found myself on the floor of our galley kitchen with glue-paste, a balloon, and strips of newspaper.  I began to work.

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I started layering newspaper around the balloon.  The next morning, I started the second coat.  By the following day, I had three coats around the balloon. 

While I waited for the head to dry, I worked on the bat-bowtie.  The bat-bow tie, which can be seen on the left-hand side of the photo above, was the first to complete. 

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I thought about how I would make his eyes to give it a three-dimensional appearance rather than a round face.  I scrunched up newspaper, taped it to the head where I wanted the eyes, and began covering the area with paper mache.  I did the same for his mouth.

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While I waited for the head to dry, I worked on Jack Skellington's suit.  I bought a long-sleeved t-shirt from Wal-Mart, turned it inside-out and drew what I wanted the suit to look like with chalk. 

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I then traced the chalked-markings with a white-paint marker and acrylic paint. 

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After Jack's head dried, I cut out his eyes. 

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I then paper mached around the cut out areas and painted it with acrylic white paint.

Making Jack Skellington

After the second coat of white paint, I painted in his mouth black.

Jack Skellington

I found black handkerchief at Hobby Lobby and decided to use that for its eyes.  The work was done by early Friday morning. 

My son was excited when he tried on his costume.  He said he felt his costume would definitely win a prize a the Costume Contest.

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Sure enough.  When I picked him up from YMCA, he enthusiastically waved his "MOST CREATIVE PRIZE" envelope. 

He said that when he walked into the cafeteria, his friends were yelling his name.  He felt proud. 

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