Costuming

For many years I was a costumer - mostly specializing in strange parody costumes. In fact, I have/had quite a reputation for fairly off-the-wall costumes. It has been a fair number of years since I have competed seriously as a costumer, but I do still do the occasional costume at small conventions.

The following is a selection of costumes (primarily ones I remember/have pictures).

	Screw up on the beam down - This is one of the first costumes I did - I think that I first wore it at Star Con in Denver in 1990, and then at Costume Con 10 in Nebraska in 1992. It won a spazzy! The idea was that Troi and Riker got stuck together in a teleporter accident. Naturally, they got into a fight, and Troi ends up slapping Riker. When Riker complains that it hurts, Troi of course, already knows - "she can feel his pain". I made the costume, with the makeup done by my friend Heather Harvey (who also helped come up with the idea for this and many others of my costumes).
	San Fransisco Worf - This one was originally called "Mirror-Mirror Worf" - The theory being that, if good guys are bad in the Mirror Mirror world, tough, butch Worf would be a little light in the loafers. The pink in the material was so pink that it was almost impossible to look at directly. The sash was green, covered in rhinestones. The much (in my opinion) better name - San Fransisco Worf was yelled out by someone in the audience at Star Con in Denver (1991 ?). I wish I'd thought of it! Nowadays Klingon costumes are pretty common, and there are simple kits for doing the prosthetics. That was not true back then. The prosthetic for the head was painstakingly created in layers by Heather over plasticine while I lay very still for hours. Strangely, before this convention, Klingons were very rare, but at that convention, there were a number of Klingon costumes. My friends Stephen and Marion Clark did some great, very detailed Klingons (back ridges and everything), and there was even a Klingon baby. Here is a picture of me and Stephen together.
	Cowthulu - The costume for which this site is named! Cowthulu is based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulu - one of the nasty old gods of wrath and tentacles. Cowthulu is a little friendlier (as cows tend more towards the vegetarian). When I did the stage presentation it was, of course, to the sounds of Cowmina Burana (with apologies to Carl Orff). I will attempt to locate and post a recording at some point. I designed and built the costume with much help from my friend Heather Harvey. Cowmina Burana was recorded with the help of a number of people including Heather, my girlfriend Anna, my mother and my sister.
	Data Overflow - Hard to see in the picture, but Data's guts are hanging out - lots of flashing lights and spinning items. On stage, I "threw-up" gears and wires. For some reason, Star Trek just seems to lend itself to parody! As per usual, made this myself with makeup help from Heather. I wore this at a Star Con (I think) and as a hall costume at a number of other cons.
	Agent 57, Master of disguise - This one takes a little bit of explanation. This was done at a Mile Hi Con in Denver (I think around 29, but I will have to check). The MC (Rose Beetem - who was in on the gag) went through a number of the costumes. Then, at about costume 23 (ish), she introduced Agent 57, Master of disguise - at this point, the podium she was standing behind got up and left. I had built a (much lighter) replica of the Sheraton's podiums, and was hidden inside. In fact, I was inside for about an hour before the costume contest, and my legs had cramped so badly that I almost collapsed on the front row of the audience. My replica of the podium was so good that the hotel wouldn't let me leave with it - they were convinced it was one of theirs!!
	The Spocketeer - The picture is pretty lousy, so some explanation is needed. In 1991, there was a movie called The Rocketeer, in which the hero flies about using a jetpack, and wears a helmet with a fin down the middle. The Spocketeer's helmet had two large fins, but when the helmet was removed, the fins remained - they were Spock's rather large ears. The rocket pack was a model of the Enterprise.
	Edward Dishpan Hands - Edward turns in his scissors for cleaning implements - mops, dusters, etc. When I wore this costume on stage at a Mile Hi Con, I started dusting around the judges table, and accidentally knocked over a pitcher of water - fortunately, I managed to stay in character, and used the mops to frantically clean up the mess. This costume was literally created the night before the convention, with Heather doing the makeup.
	A Company of Wolves - This is by far the most complex costume we ever did. The masks are foam latex over an articulated fiberglass shell. The mouths worked, and had proper dental-quality teeth. It took us months to make, starting from a head-mold (of my head), sculpting, reverse molds, etc. The presentation involved a slimy lawyer (Joe Bilodeau on the far left - no mask) talking about how wolf-like their firm was, and how they would have no trouble dealing with this new law-firm (the rest of us, in wolf-masks). I am the wolf in the background. Anna Wood is on the left, and Heather Harvey is on the right. We took this one to a couple of conventions, but didn't do too well (I think that a number of judges thought that the masks were store-bought).
	Star Trek, The First Generation - Fur uniform, tom-tom communicator and club-phaser (actually shot rocks). This one was another quickie that was a lot of fun. Did this locally and at a Costume Con - in the historical category! Most historical costumes are incredibly detailed, and the Historical Contest at Costume Con requires detailed documentation to back up the costume - I did write up documentation, although it was not quite serious (If I can find it, I will create a link). The most fun part was the pre-contest evaluation. For the historical contest, judges examine the costume in detail, count stitches, check materials, etc. For mine, they were a little bit lost (but took it well)!
	Pushpin Head -  From the HellRaiser series, a slightly less serious bad guy - instead of a head full of nasty pins, just pushpins. Instead of shooting nasty chains with hooks at the enemy, he shoots links of paperclips. Did this one for KarvalCon, a mini-convention run by my friend Rose Beetem (who also does the programming for Mile-Hi con). Spent a lot of time latexing push-pins to my head! The picture was taken off of video, so there is no large version, and the small version is almost impossible to see the details - trust me, though - those are pushpins!
	Hercules Poirot - The hulking hero of Greek myth fame, sporting a bowler hat and a Poirot-style mustache. Another quickie for KarvalCon (Thrown together an hour before leaving for the Con - my sewing, however, seemed to go quite well). Apologies for the poor quality of the picture - it was taken off of video.

There were a few others as well over the years, but I either don't have pictures, or don't really remember them - There was a weird Phantom of the Opera/clown thing I did, Bjorn Borg (pretty obvious), Bruce Wayne's World (Party on, fight crime, excellent!), The Flash (a costume so fast you couldn't even see it), Silence of the Lamb Chop, and probably a few that I have mercifully forgotten.