Post original costume ideas here!

[XemaSab]

(and I will tell you how sadly wrong you are about your illusions of originality. either that or i'll congratulate you and bogart your idea without giving you credit tomorrow at work.)

[LeftyMom]

1. A friend of my sister's is the American pie kid. Took some preppy clothes,

an aluminum pie plate and a cheap dildo. He looks like the kid, so that helps.

[XemaSab]

2. That is original...

Risque, but original. :)

[Ghost in the Machine]

3. I went as a gram of cocaine one year...

cut 2 pieces of vizqueen or other plastic where it's comfortable enough for you to staple around your torso. Stick a tube from a roll of wrapping paper in one corner by your shoulder. Spray the bottom of the plastic with white paint or fake snow...

Watch the looks on peoples faces....

[bridgit]

4. no...

:+

[Hudgie DeRobertis]

5. A cheap, easy costume.

My brother one year went as Charlie Brown. Just get a white sheet,
you can either cut holes or make black spots with a marker and
get a paper bag with some rocks in it and your done.

[Lisa]

6. white T-shirt with a "+" marked on it in black electrical tape

And carry a yo-yo with a "-" on it.

You're a hydrogen atom.

Works especially well if you can do tricks with the yo-yo.

[DarkTirade]

8. That's one of the geekiest costume ideas I've heard in a while.

That just might work... wait... nope. I can't do tricks with a yoyo. Damn. :P

[Lisa]

10. so just carry the yo-yo -- and tell people that you're not excited enough

.... for your electron to jump to the outer "transitory shell" (now THAT'S geeky!)


http://www.physics-edu.org/line_spectrum_of_hydrogen_atom.htm

[DarkTirade]

11. ... Oh, you're good. :)

[ZombieNixon]

7. Heavy Metal Jesus

[DarkTirade]

9. I was hoping to get a chance to work on it, but I haven't.

Maybe I'll have it ready for time travel day in December. :P I was gonna use some of the leather I already have and get some car siding from a junkyard and hammer it into makeshift post-apocalyptic armor.

Might actually be easier to do now that I'm moving, since I'll be off the night shift once I'm there and they have a barn I could use as a workshop. :)

[Lisa]

12. if you really want to do the makeshift armor thing ...

.... how about getting some old vegetable steamers (the kind made up of folding metal plates with the little holes in them) at a thrift store? You can take them apart and make nifty scale armor by sewing or riveting them onto the leather!

Auto steel is what, 16 or 18 gauge? You can cut the 18 gauge stuff with aviation snips, but anything heavier can be a bit of a pain and take quite a while (unless you've got access to a metal shear or specialized power tools).

Plans for various styles of armor here:
http://www.armourarchive.org/

If you want to do rounded ("cup") shapes, it's possible to do this by cold-working the metal, but it will turn out a bit lumpy unless you have wood or metal dishing forms, or are able to do a lot of grinding. Just cutting strips of metal and bending them into curves, the way the ancient Romans did, requires fewer tools (I did it in my garage).

Roman armor plans:
http://www.larp.com/legioxx/lorica.html

[DarkTirade]

13. I'm cool with lumpy and uneven. I want it to look hastily constructed. :P

Post-apocalyptic and all.

I don't have much experience with the metal-work, just leather. I'll probably end up doing a lot of bands and plates, don't want to take the time to make and rivet/sew all the scales.

Although I could fake it, and have a band with a ridged edge so it LOOKS like scales. :) I've used that trick with leather before, saves a lot of time and effort.

[Lisa]

14. a Roman lorica is pretty easy to make and adjust ...

It's articulated on leather straps, so it's quite flexible. And splinted protection on the legs and arms is a snap, if you already do leatherwork (just add metal strips to buckled or laced arm and shin guards).

For rounded knee, elbow, and shoulder cops -- a wooden dishing form can be improvised out of a log end (make a hollow using a chisel or repeated cuts with a circular saw). I've also heard that some people dish into a sandbag. A large ball-peen hammer will give that "lumpy" look (armourers who want a more finished surface use rawhide mallets or specially-rounded hammer faces ... general rule is to use a hard hammer on a soft dish, or a soft mallet on a hard dish).

[DarkTirade]

15. I was actually thinking about doing a roman-type shoulder piece just on one side

then figuring out some way to add more plate armor down that arm, so the armor would have one arm made for blocking, whereas the other is lighter with mostly just leather and more free to wield a weapon or something. Of course, I'd want to keep a few metal plates on the forearm on the weapon hand, just in case a block gets missed by a few inches and hits the arm.

I wouldn't want it to look too sophisticated though... this would be scavenged armor made by people just starting to rediscover the art of creating armor. And since I'm just starting to get into the metalwork part, this would be me discovering most of these techniques for the first time too. :)

[SteppingRazor]

16. One of the more original ones I've seen...

A girl went as the ball and chain -- had a big spikey ball around her torso, with a plastic chain attached to it, the other end of which was attached to her boyfriend.

[lost-in-nj]

17. Wear a beige t shirt

with a large P on the front and back

then make your eyes black around the edges and go as
A black eyed P!!!



lost