Whatever you do, don't blink!
So for DragonCon this year, I wanted a costume that was nifty, challenging, and Doctor Who. Well, the choice was obvious:






(I don't know who to credit for this picture - my brother-in-law emailed it to me. If you recognize it, please let me know so I can credit!)

DON'T BLINK!!!


(Photo by mal00005)

Well, I did try to warn you.

Despite being really miserable to wear physically, this costume was SO MUCH FUN! I got to terrify people and attack people and pose really really still and then jump out and scare people and just generally indulge my evil side.

I hadn't gotten to try the entire thing on before the con, so I was very pleased with how it turned out to come together. That said, I'm already planning improvements. I am COMPLETELY happy with how the dress and the wings look - no changes there. I do want to go back in and alter how the dress closes and the strap assembly on my wings so that I can get in and out of the costume entirely by myself, because I felt really bad for inconveniencing my roommates.

The arms and neck are allllmost perfect. They're made from tights, cut and sewn into gloves, with fake fingernails added and painted with fabric paint. The top of the sleeves kept slipping a bit and showing skin, so I want to fix that, and they need a slightly better paint job, but those should be easy fixes.

The mask looks good from the front, but from the side not so much, so I want to make a new mask that extends further back and looks more natural. The wig is just plain too small. I'm going to make a new wig that is larger, and I'm going to try to figure out some way to sculpt it instead of going the yarn route like I did this time.

It was pretty dern hot and miserable to wear. Fortunately I had hidden pockets in the skirt, so I could stow a bottle of water in there. The eyes were covered in grey hose, so I could only partly see. It wasn't too bad during the day, but at night when they lowered the lights everything just became a grey haze with people-shaped blobs in it. I probably passed right by any number of people I know, just because I couldn't see them. Also, the only breath holes were in the nostrils, which worked better than expected, but I still had to have 'breathing breaks' where I flipped the mask up and got some deeper breaths. Also, the only way to move effectively in it was on tiptoe - which actually was good, because it gave me a gliding motion that really freaked people out.

And a lot of people noticed the Bad Wolf graffiti, which rocked!



Just a couple more photos:

I'm SO happy someone got a shot of this! This kid was absolutely adorable - not scared at all, but just fascinated. He stood there for the longest time silently holding my hand and staring at me.


(Photo by Hueyatl)

And my funny story for the con:

I was lurking in the Hyatt corridor late at night in my Blink Angel, the better to terrify people with. I was standing in the weeping pose, holding absolutely still, when I heard a couple of people come by. They stopped and started whispering together, and then I heard someone come closer and felt a hand touch the 'stone' of my dress. I instantly spun around into 'attack' mode, whereupon the pretty woman who had been touching my dress let out a shriek and jumped back about ten feet. She and the man started laughing uproariously, and the man said that she was absolutely terrified by that episode would probably have nightmares now. They asked if I could pose with her for a picture like I was attacking her. I said sure and posed. They shouted, "Strangle her! Strangle me!", so I did. Funny photo, we all laughed, they went their way.

Apparently that was Jewel Staite from Firefly.


Photo by Ray Radlein

Only at Dragoncon...



To all the folks I met at the parade (in which is was the girl burgandy 4th Doctor) and dinner and costuming panel (I was the girl with the realllly long hair) and just wandering around (I was also a steampunk fairy) - you ROCKED MY SOCKS OFF. There were so many brilliant costumes and so many cool people wearing them. Y'all are so creative and just plain nifty to talk to that it really made my weekend getting to hang out with you. Thank you!



p.s. This is the in-costume post - if you want to see the 'making-of', check out my post at crafty_tardis.