Halloween Costumes

Stormfly's face is based on the bird masks from last year, but with a new nose horn (a little shorter than the real thing) and a different paint job.

Shoulder pads:
I bought some foam sheets from a craft store. This is great stuff, easy to use, flexible, strong, and takes a coat of paint. Perfect for making the armoured shoulders of the costume.

First I cut strips of the same length and width, (xcm x 5cm wide), then trimmed them to the shapes above. Each set of four makes one shoulder.

These were then glued in place, and all four held in place with corn forks till the glue dried. By placing them the right way, they were curved into shape. Small circles were cut and glued in place to make the rivets

The shoulders were then sprayed with dark silver paint, and dry-brushed with a lighter silver for the highlights.
The biggest issue was how to hold the shoulder pads onto the fur material of the clothes we had in place for the fur collars. I tried staples, discarded stitches, as they would cut through the foam, and decided glue would not hold on the fur. In the end, the ideal solution were those little brass round headed fasteners used to hold paper together. The kind of thing that is never used as stationary, but only in craft projects. These things.

One of the features that distinguishes Astrid's costume is the little bird skulls all over it. These were moulded in a cool lightweight clay, and baked for 15 minutes, before having the lines an eye-socket marked out with black paint. Super-easy. They're also very easy to hold in place with hot-glue, due to their lightness.

The whole ensemble for the top half in place.

The skirt was the part I was to have the most trouble with.