just some portfolio process shots

My theatre design background has trained me well to take lots of pictures of my creative process for portfolio purposes. I haven't updated my actual portfolio in years, but since this blog is like the portfolio of my life, I thought I should put these process shots of our Hobbit Halloween Costumes up for archiving purposes.  Yes, I am a dork so just bear with me.

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Once we finally nailed down which dwarfs the boys were going to be, we decided our first project should be Jimmy's weapon for Bofur.  It is an axe called a mattock.  We looked at tons of pictures of it and I carved it out of foam from an old computer box. Then we glued the pieces together and I coated it all in glue so that we could spray paint it (otherwise, the paint would eat away at the foam).  We attached it to a fairly strong cardboard tube.  Jimmy was eager to help with as much as possible and did a lot of the painting.  He loved when I showed him how to paint some black over the silver to make it look more like metal  Perhaps I have a little designer in the family?

He was so eager to make every part of his costume (and quite frankly completely nervous that I wasn't going to get it done in time because I was just not working on it often enough).  He actually had created his own version of the costume using all things he found around the house one day.  It was pretty darn cute, but he really wanted "the real thing."  He was always happy to try on whatever pieces we had as soon as they were ready.

We did some test runs on facepaint using blue and red so we wouldn't waste the colors we actually needed.  

I could go into the details of how I made Gus' wig, but I think it would just take me too long.  Let's just say, it was the most time consuming and yet my favorite thing.  It helps that he is adorable in it. 

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There were a few items that I can't rightfully include in my own portfolio such as the awesome scarf and gloves Aunt Cathy knitted for the boys.  I was super impressed.

Emily and I decided to do a trade because she had originally made the Bofur hat for Dot to wear, but Dot wanted nothing to do with it and was legitimately scared of it.  She would say, "No, no." and shake her finger at it.  So when Jimmy decided to be Bofur instead, I agreed to make Dot a cute cape so she could be a little Hobbit girl.  Gus ended up being my model.   He loved it because he thought it was a super hero cape.  I guess I need to make him a real super hero cape now.

And like a the theatre design dork that I am, I took all these pictures for posterity.

Bofur Costume:

Bombur Costume:

Smaug Costume: