Before I talk about my costume of choice I shall raise my glass to the organizers and thank them for the lovely and exiting evening, which hopefully will turn into an annual event! It’s great to see enthusiastic and active people who make things happen and actually turn ideas to functional concepts. Even if the schedule didn’t hold and things changed bit on the way it really didn’t bother anyone. The overall atmosphere was joyful and relaxed.
And all the costumes! The organizers had set a dress code; smart dress, cosplay optional. There were lot of official costumes but also recognizable characters in formal attires. I myself thought about taking Diva with me, but having to travel by train to Helsinki and back set some limitations. I bet the dress would have been in terrible condition if I had stuffed it in my backpack. I ended up crafting a version of a character (in one evening, crazy business). I call the costume as a version, because I didn’t replicate the design directly from the reference material. Instead I used different features of the characters clothing ands appearance to create the look.
The character I chose was Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family. I absolutely love Wednesday by Christina Ricci!
The dress was moderately easy to make. I used matt polyester with teeny bit of elasthane and for once I made a dress without lining it. Instead I used a petticoat to give the hem some volume. I used traits of Wednesday’s signature dress to define the fit and the lengths of hem and sleeves. The details I also picked from the movie dress; button list on the front and white collars. I found old lace collars my mother had used when she was my age and decided to use them as part of the costume.
I wanted to make a prop to go with Wednesday. Marie Antoinette would have been wonderful to have, but with the time I had, I just had to abandon it. The first idea after the doll was a poison bottle. That was a good idea, but when I was raiding third pharmacy trying to find green food color I sort of regretted my decision. Christmas coming, green food color… Duh!
Finally I was able to find one jar with a helpful employee. She noticed that the expiration date had gone months ago, but it was fine by me. I just noted that I was not going to use it on anything edible. I got a weird look, but in the end I bought the product for half of the price.
The bottle itself I snatched from Yoki’s shelf, but in the end I found out that it was actually my prop bottle from the time I still LARPed. The bottle itself wasn’t waterproof thanks to the half crumbled cork. I couldn’t just color water, which was my original idea. Instead I made gelatin, poured it into the bottle and let it set on the refrigerator overnight. The result was really odd looking green wiggly… content.
The wig I had was bit thin to split on two braids, but I managed to pull off the hair style somehow. I was just happy that I even got a somewhat suitable, long, black wig! Everything happened in such short notice, that I really didn’t have time to buy anything new for the costume, except the fabric.
Contact lenses I also happened to have from previous projects and shoes I got from my mom. They were her dancing shoes, but thanks to our lovely dog who decided to sharpen her teeth on the pair years ago, I was able to snatch them for costuming purposes.
Altogether, I really enjoyed the ball! The atmosphere was great, my costume turned out fine, I even got recognized and I didn't miss my train home. The only shame was that I had to leave early, just before the disco started. Dancing and meeting other cosplayers out of con environment was a good mix indeed. All the people who I chatted with; you made my evening! Here I insert smiley faces and rows of hearts, even if that might be little out of character!
Photographs: Kyuu Eturautti
Cosplay and model: Hiron/ Casualty Cosplay
