Sometimes, a costume is more than just the clothes you wear. Sometimes, a costume is less than just the clothes you wear.

Makeup is something we haven’t talked too much about around here. That’s because makeup is usually an accessory to the costume, something that finishes the costume to make it more complete. It’s not often that a costume is defined by the makeup alone—but sometimes, it can be.

The brilliance behind zombie costumes is that you can wear whatever you want—or just whatever you normally wear. If you had really turned into a zombie, that’s what you would be wearing. As far as costumes go, it’s about as simple as it comes. It’s the makeup that’s really the costume.

To be a zombie, you’ll need pallid, sickly-looking skin. Maybe with a bit of a greenish tint to it. You’ll need at least one wound—that’s the zombie bite that turned you. And if you want to be really dramatic, blood splatters are the way to go.

Fake blood can be easily made by mixing corn syrup with red food coloring. Adding a little cocoa powder to the concoction will give it a darker blood color and ensure that when it dries, it will look just like dried blood.

Making your wounds takes a little more work, but it’s so much more fun. There are plenty of recipes for this kind of thing. I’ve done it with cotton balls and gelatin. I have a friend who made amazing realistic-looking zombie wounds with marshmallows. You can experiment with other textures too, like tissue or corn flakes. The wounds can be glued on with latex (the kind they use in theater to attach fake beards and the like), and painted with makeup and fake blood.

You don’t have to wait until Halloween to do this, either. Grab some friends and make a fast and fun zombie film. Or better yet, participate in one of the many zombie walks that occur every year across the country! Zombiewalk.com is a good resource for finding one, or organize your own in your neighborhood.

Having been deemed as the writer with the most costuming experience, I am here to share with you–

A Short History of My Own Costuming Experience.

Part Two: College

The next few years saw a little improvement in my costume-making skills. Of the sewing I did at this time, my creation efforts were mostly redirected to making normal clothing, and I only made three real costumes during my years of college. One was a cosplay of Victoria Everglot from Corpse Bride, one was a Queen of Spades costume, and the other was a new, more awesome pirate costume.

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Here are some amazing costumes made from duct tape! And yes, we’ve blogged about duct tape costumes before.

These particular costumes are modeled after the characters Mal and Kaylee from the TV show Firefly. In one of the episodes, Mal and Kaylee go to a fancy shindig all dressed up. It’s remarkable that a costume made from duct tape could look so similar.

The costumes’ creator posts about his efforts on Fireflyfans.net.

I decided to enter the “Stuck at Prom” contest sponsored by the company that makes Duck Tape. In this contest, high school students from all over the country create prom outfits using duct tape. Ten finalists are selected from all of the entries, and online voting determines the winner. To demonstrate my devotion to Firefly, I created my duct tape ensemble inspired by Mal’s tux and Kaylee’s dress from Shindig. These outfits made it into the top ten.

I used over 20 rolls of duct tape, and had to overcome laws of physics (all those ruffles are heavy!) as well as wear the outfit in Phoenix summer temperatures exceeding 107 degrees.

Wow, great job! I hope you win.

You can see all of the Top Ten finalists at stuckatprom.com.

UPDATE: Watch the video HERE.

Remember these guys from Sesame Street? Yip yip yip yip…

Well, thanks to Instructables.com, you can learn how to make your own Yip Yip alien costume! They offer a step by step guide using fleece, sponges and mesh. Looks great!

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BugsandFishes is a top-notch maker who blogs daily about her crafts and creations.

She’s just published some photos of her new felt masks and disguises. They look great!

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WTF Costumes has some great costume photos on their website.

Check ‘em out: www.wtfcostumes.com.

Duct tape has so many uses, and can solve all sorts of problems. So should we be surprised that it’s also great for making costumes?

Take a look at Kimberly Timmons and Christian Price as they attend their high school prom. Wow! Using over 50 rolls of blue and silver tape, they created costumes that rival the elegant dress of Cinderella and Prince Charming.

Kimberly entered a contest sponsored by the Duck brand duct tape company, hoping to win the $3,000 prize. According to GTR News, her dress weighed a hefty 25 pounds. Let’s hope she wins.

Looks fun, but is it painful to take off? Fortunately for Kimberly, she planned ahead. By sticking two pieces of duct tape together, she was able to don the dress without having it stick to her skin.

Apparently, duct tape costumes are immensely popular these days. Many duct tape companies and organizations sponsor these artistic contests. Check out more great pictures from ducttapeclub.com and ducttapeguys.com.

Are Star Wars fans synonymous with steampunk fans? Two worlds of the imagination couldn’t be more far apart than those two, but it seems that someone thinks they belong together.

In an unlikely marriage of these non-realities, a fan decided to make a Darth Vader steampunk getup for the tech/futuro-curious. According to the creator, this is a first time with anything Steampunk. Not bad on the bids for being a first timer, eh? Here are the words of the creator:

Welcome to my first venture into the art of steampunk. This Vader mask was sitting on my shelf for about 14 years.

It was originally purchased for me on my first trip to Disney World. Rather than get rid of it, I decided to have a little fun with it. I was inspired by some art from the Vader Project, and some other cool steampunk Star Wars stuff I found online. The mask itself was a Don Post mask. Not the best quality, but not the worst either. It is made of plastic and comes in two parts, the front face mask and the back dome. The two pieces are held together with velcro, wich actually works quite well. I modified the helmet by carving out detail to make it look like brass plate and adding several tacks to simulate rivets. This process was tedious and took forever. I finished it off with a WWI style helmet spike, which is actually a ceiling fan pull chain and an antique paint job. The chest plate was made from a shadow box frame (8 inches tall x 6 inches wide x 3 inches deep) and a bunch of cannibalized clock, and other device parts. I wired a green LED to a switch in the back that runs on two AA batteries. The steam tank was made from a piece of PVC pipe with a vintage pressure valve inserted into it. There are two holes drilled in the end of the tank which a rubber hose can be inserted into and then into the holes in the mask. I drilled out the spot where the tusk pieces should be. I am not going to permanently affix the hoses to the mask or the tank, in case the buyer wants to change them. The chest strap and shoulder straps were fashioned from a set of two men’s belts. the total width of the chest strap, including the chest piece is about 53 inches. The shoulder strap is in two pieces 22.5 inches and 18.5 inches in length. I did not cut any holes in the shoulder strap. I will leave that up to the buyer to measure. A lot of time went into making this piece. It would be a great start to a cool costume for either roleplaying or a convention, or just use it as a nice display piece. Dragoncon is right around the corner. Good luck and happy bidding!

Although this piece isn’t the caliber of some of the more focused steampunk DIY we’ve seen on the site, it’s on target for a first timer. Check it out and make a bid if you dare show your face at a fan fest any time soon.

In the first segment exploring this topic, we discussed the questions that most would-be DIY’ers may ask themselves when deciding just how much they want to make their own costume. Ultimately, we stressed thinking outside the box and being as creative as you can be. Once you’ve crossed that road, you just have to execute.

So what happens when you’ve got the ideas? You’re not short on inspiration, but short on direction… where do you go from there?

Well not to be a dead horse, but preparation is key. You need to know what you’re going to use, where you’re going to get it from, and how to plan to use it properly.

Materials make the outfit

Taking a nod from Tobey Maguire in the first Spiderman movie, you should have already planned everything out. But now you need to know what to use. Depending on what you’re making, you can find most of your needs at a fabric store. However, the right material will be essential.

Some costume designers get real clever with their getups, and move outside the typical reaches of fabrics. This Big Daddy for example really called for more heavy duty and artistic production. Whatevier your choice, remember that the dfference between going big or cheaping out can make or break a good outfit.

Get some expert advice

By expert advice, we don’t mean go have a pro costume maker tell you what to do. That would eliminate the fun and excitement behind the whole process. What’s more important is that you find those who have some know how and that they give you ideas. You want to go into your first costume making experience with the varying options that are out there. It’s one thing to not try something, it’s another to never know it was an option.

So what does that mean? It means you can talk to anyone you know who has expertise in any type of costuming. Try theater friends. Maybe you know people into cosplay. Find a crafty friend, an artistic professional, a web celeb who has made their fame on making cool things. They’re everywhere and they love to talk about themselves.

Time to begin already?

Well, there comes a time when you can plan no more, and it’s just time to get ready and down to it. Check all needful things off the list. Sketches? Check. Ideas? Check. Materials? Check. Supplies? Check.

What else is missing…

As for right now, you’re ready. If you’re planning early enough in advance, you already know you’re going to be running into some issues and you have time to make mistakes. We’ve given you all we know in terms of plans and ideas on how to get things done in the pre-phase.

If you’ve made it this far, you are surely ready to get some DIY costume making under your belt. Stay focused on your goal and you may end up the guru you thought you could be.

Bonus Ideas

• Check out Instructables for some ideas on how to make some convincing effects and elements
• Try Craft Magazine for clever spins on ideas you already have.
• Take your questions to forums. If you’re going Cosplay, you have a number of specific sites just planned out for you. Cosplay.com has one of the most active cosplay forums online.
• Also try your questions at Yahoo! Answers. You’re likely to find all manners of ideas.
• Plan to show off… look for groups, events, and other exciting reasons to get your costume noticed. If you have a firm deadline to work for, you’ll hit it. You also can afford the captive audience. Kostume Kult is great for news here, and soon we’ll be covering the Burning Man festival.

Instructables has always been a knock out for good DIY content. Without enough time to scour the pages frequently enough, I don’t see everything. Upon loading up the front page today, I came across this instructable on how to make an effective and convincing gunshot wound. It’s pretty sick looking, and not for the faint of heart, but if you’re making your own costumes it’s a must.

Since Instructables is always good for a step-by-step tutorial, you can check it out and plan out your costumes accordingly. Instructables user, Trumpetneel, seems to have a knack for these discusting flesh lacerations and wounds, so he’ll have more for you when you check it out. Now, to figure out how I’m going to manage breakfast…

We talk a lot about DIY on the blog, and for good reason. Although you can find some great costumes to buy, it’s real satisfying to say you’ve made one from the ground up. After all, costumes are about getting attention and having fun. What better way to do it than by getting people curious about your sense of style and craftiness?

If you’re like most people, you don’t make anything too fancy. A lot of costume fans are intimidated by the intensity of work or creativity that goes into some of these home made outfits. So it begs the question, how worth it is it to go the extra mile and make a custom costume? In this first segment, we explore what it takes to get into DIY and feel ready to take on a big project.

Do I have the "know-how"?

A lot of people talk about costume making and how they don’t do it because they can’t sew, paint, draw, or whatever. These are legit concerns, as it seems that general creativity has to be supplemented by good craftsmanship. Ultimately, that is true but only to an extent.

A great costumer and artisan knows that thinking outside the box, using unique media, and being different from the norm are essential to making something that stands out. What do we mean? We mean, if you can’t do it one way, you can try another. Here are some tips.

• Find your own creative ability and try to exploit it - Awhile ago we talked about a mechanically savvy individual who made a Ghostbusters pack out of metal and parts he put together. No sewing, painting, or anything like that required. In the end, it had to be one of the most unique DIY projects we’ve ever seen.
• Enlist a group for brainstorming - It’s more than important to get minds rolling. Sometimes, creativity is spawned from some terribly uncreative ideas. People bouncing ideas off one another is a prime way to get this accomplished.
• Enlist help for the things you don’t do well - Making it a group project is way more fun than a tub full of silly putty. Try bringing in the people you know who are good at what they do. Artists and craftsmen always love a good project, and you can learn a lot on the way.

Ultimately, you have to ask yourself what you can and can’t do. Once you know these things, you can begin the process.

Some of the best DIY costumes we have seen weren’t necessarily amazingly crafted. What makes a wonderful DIY costume is the faithful tribute it is to your imagination. Whether you’re recreating a classic costume with exactness, doing something so strange and so funny, it’s unmatched, or whether you are trying to make people gasp in disbelief, your final effect is where the masterful nature of your craft comes out.

In the next few segments, we’ll talk more about getting into DIY. We’ll explore the planning and preparation process, what sort of things to get involved for some attention once you’ve made a costume, and finally we’ll talk to some big DIY fanatics who are pros at their craft. Stick around for more if you’d like to set your heart on DIY costumes and crafts.

It’s time that we brought steampunk culture to MyDisguises, and made it a frequent topic.

Steampunk is “a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction” that borrows heavily from 18th century industrial age mechanics and styles. The marriage of that with fantasy settings has evolved to adapt a large fan base that is in love with the juxtaposition. Even more traditional fantasy settings in film, games, and literature have grown to adapt some of the mechanophiliac interests.

Steampunk culture is responsible for some of the most unique costume and setting design ever before seen. Although I’ve never personally seen a steampunk costume in the flesh (or the metal), it doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done. The genre has showed itself into pop-culture on a number of occasions:

Steampunk Guitar (via Thunder Eagle)

Custom work like this is typical in steampunk DIY. It’s one of those kinds of DIY you just have to get right, or it doesn’t work at all. Common themes of rust, gears, and bronze metals are typical of steampunk work.

So how would steampunk work with costumes? After browsing around, I grabbed some photos and added some links to get the mental cogs turning. Maybe we can inspire a steampunk costume off for next Halloween. In the meantime, take a look here.

Links to steampunk work and images:

Steampunk Costume Update

Ocular Thingy Fixes Our Steampunk Craving For The Day

Steampunk Blog - Brass Goggles

Steampunkopedia

We hope to write more about steampunk soon, and will be looking into a costume contest for the best DIY steampunk work. I’ll keep the links here updated as I find more. Keep tuned and bookmark us for more steampunk in the future.

2007 brought us upon some of the coolest sites we have seen in a long time. We thought we’d pay a quick visit back to some of the big ones and see just what’s up…

Project Rooftop

I fell in love with this site immediately, as it’s something I’ve never seen before. Comic book artist Dean Trippe put together this blog with the endeavor to re-costume some of the most well known super heroes in pop culture. In the end there are some terribly clever adaptations on classic looks that we have seen on Project Rooftop.

Rooftop likes to host contests for wardrobe redesigns and new looks. I browsed a few of them and must say they attract the most creative artists and gung-ho enthusiasts.

Most notably is the Fights, Flights, and Tights contest. This is where they trade pen and paper for fabric and mask. The annual costume contest brings in some of the more clever comic fans, so you can expect some real classy looks.

Don’t miss the contest and leave some comments. There’s sure to be a MyDisguises reader that will be submitting to the contest soon enough.

Handmade Detroit

Handmade Detroit isn’t quite all about costumes. However, they have their share of content that is great for anyone who is into the DIY thing. Whether you’re dressing up your body for Halloween, your house for the holidays, or your wardrobe with something flashy, it’s good to get tips here.

Since we were last at Handmade Detroit, we noticed plenty of posts covering the Holidays. Regrettably, I personally didn’t get the chance to implement any of the suggestions for my own personal holiday celebration. However, there’s always good content flowing in and out of the site.

My personal pick for the Handmade Detroit contribution not to be missed is the “12 Days of Crafty Projects” segment. It’s classy and looks like a lot of fun.

retroCRUSH

Ahh retroCRUSH, I love you. This site is worth more than all the Garbage Pail Kids you can muster (Actually, I bet they’d love to see your collection). It’s a respectful, light-hearted, and amazingly fun tribute to all things of the past worth remembering. I get a warm feeling every time I even peek in to see what’s going on.

retroCRUSH always has gems, and it’s hard to pinpoint their best. Personally I’d take a look a few particulars.

First is the retroCRUSH Toy Box of Glory. Here you’ll find all the cool toys you played with as a kid and couldn’t let go of. Slinkys, Stretch Armstrong, Weebles, Ouija Boards, you name it. The gallery is pretty comprehensive and there are videos and pictures to accompany everything.

I’d say that the Gallery of Retrobabes is something for the guys, but there’s just too much good nostalgia for women to not appreciate. On the costume side of things, it’s real fun to see some of these old actresses and celebrities decked out in some of their famous garb from popular films. It’s an enthusiasts hot spot.

Heck, even the web site’s layout and design is pleasantly retro.

Costume Craze

This is some sponsor love, because we really mean it. Costume Craze has had a wonderful year, and they are growing to become one of the fastest growing and reliable companies in the U.S. today. Over the past year, they really expanded their costume offerings, and have done a great job keeping our blog alive. How else would we deliver such consistent content?

Since we last checked in with Costume Craze, there’s been a lot to see. What’s most notable is the exclusive offering of custom costumes by Valerie Tabor Smith. There’s absolutely no other way to get costumes this cute for your kids.

We try not to be too preachy, but we owe it to Costume Craze for being so great and for having such a wonderful catalog. Check out the exclusive costumes you can even stock up for next year ahead of time.

It’s funny how most of the world who spends significant time on the Internet somehow develops this sense of humor that’s unrecognizable to the non web browsing community. Call it geeky, call it socially strange, sure whatever. But in the end, there’s just some funny stuff out there.

I’m not a person who loves cats hardly at all. I don’t hate them, just not a lover. But, this strange indescribable phenomenon that is LOLcats has somehow captivated me with enough ridiculous charm to rival Hulk Hogan’s debut into the music business (If that’s too tempting to tickle your curious bone, then check out Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band. It’s gold, I swear).

A blogger, Google employee, and purveyor of grand knowledge of the interwebs, Matt Cutts took the LOLcat phenomenon and combined it with the spirit of homebrewed costumes this last Halloween for a costume never seen before. It’s not necessarily anything we would award with medals of high honors in construction and design. However, he does get about a billion points for being the first to ride the crest of the LOLcats wave. Bravo, Matt… I lol’ed.

Real LOLcat in the wild.

Nice Job, Matt.

Bioshock’s Big Daddy is a phenomenon in these days of digital entertainment. The video game title has scraped up massive awards and recognition since it hit Xbox 360 consoles and PCs this year. The immediate attention has led to a large established fandom that is going strong. How large?

Well, two creative artists took the time to construct a very authentic life size Big Daddy costume and got it out on the Internet. The costume got the buzz it was entitled to in short order. Not to mention the fact that 2k studios invited the Big Daddy costume to be at the Spike Video Game Awards show as they reaped in some healthy recognition for their game.

To further the hype, the artist posted the auction on ebay, which is still running. There are 7 days left on the auction and it already has over 16,000 views. It’s an expensive costume, but hardly enough for the amount of work that went into it.

We don’t know much more about it, but did want to link the massive set of photos created for the “making of” album on this costume. Hop over and check out some of the work done on this huge achievement.

Flickr photo set here.

I feel somewhat negatively guilty for finding these web gems and slapping them up like a 1st grade ’star of the week’ presentation. Really, I swear I’m not regurgitating information. However, seeing as how we have costume enthusiasts coming here, I couldn’t resist.

In the past, we’ve managed to post a thing or two about Transformers D.I.Y. costumes. We do so without regret, since the phenomenon seems to grow. Furthermore, one who pulls of an accurate and effective Transformers costume should get all the attention in the world. Auto blog Jalopnik posted this and then attracted the Digg community like teenagers on a Hannah Montana free tickets tree.

Drool.

If you can go back to the insane obsessive time when Halo 3 released, you may remember the story of Andrew Valentino. The kid made up his own Master Chief outfit and stood in line for a copy of the freshly released digital drug. Another Halo fan was so pumped at his dedication, he outright bought the endeavoring young Chief a shiny, dust-free Xbox 360. Well, this time Andrew is back, and he’s not doing it for free stuff.

The D.I.Y. this time is an 8 1/2 foot Halo Arbiter costume made entirely of cardboard and duct tape. It’s pretty impressive, considering he’s  not necessarily working with the budget of places like Nightmare Armor. Needless to say, it’s the true spirit of being a fan and doing your own cosplay from scratch. Great work!

[found via Albotas]

Instructables is always a veritable treasure trove of awesome stuff. I love the clever crafts that people come up with and share. Some of them, I’ve nearly stood up from my computer and pursued crafting immediately.

That’s why I have to share the Living Severed Hand instructable with the bloggees today (does that word work?). This particular craft may seem a bit late for Halloween, but it’s fun anyway. The user who crafted this goes by the name a grain of alt.

The basic gist of this is to get a matching pair of gloves but create one as a stuffed “dummy glove” to slip the hand into. If the glove is stuffed well, and attached properly, all you need is to make a semi-realistic looking stub and you’re set. However, if you’re running around with your fingers wiggling on the severed hand, we have confidence people won’t be looking at your stub so much as they will be running from it. Either way, it’s a pretty ingenious costume piece and deserves a good try.

Good Work!

Not all Final Fantasy fans are Cosplayers, but a lot of them are. In fact, Final Fantasy boasts some of the most cosplay out there. The series has been going on for years and has seen numerous remakes with time. For the most part, the fanbase is strong.

In the early part of the decade, Square Enix released Final Fantasy XI, their online version of the game, to the world. Already a huge success in Japan, the game made some great leaps and bounds for the franchise. The game is still alive today, and is freshly awaiting an expansion due out just a short number of days. This will be the fourth expansion to the game.

As the game has had a steady pace of popularity amongst online gamers across the world, Square Enix has made a tradition of holding fan festivals to honor the gamers who keep the world of Vana’diel alive. Enter the cosplay. With some of the most creative art, Final Fantasy XI cosplayers are popular among the world of cosplay. This year, to honor the upcoming festival, we’re highlighting the world of Final Fantasy XI in our weekly cosplay highlight.

This picture is of the Red Mage that clearly these players are quite fond of. The suits look, as all cosplay, totally hand made and are very cleverly done. Here’s a look at what the costume looks like in the game.

I do say, not a bad job at all. Well anyway, there’s the cosplay for the day. If you’re interested, pop over to the Fan Festival site and take a look at what they’ll be holding this upcoming weekend. It looks to be like quite the event. Costume competitions? You bet. It wouldn’t be the same without it.

If you have any sort of pictures, ideas, stories, or things to add about FFXI, the upcoming fan festival, or anything FFXI cosplay related then go ahead and pop on in. We’ll be more than happy to host any user images!

The came and went is irrelevant to us here. We celebrate costumes as long as we can without going over the edge. That is why it is with good spirits that I scour to find the best of costumes of ‘07. I’d be flattered if someone dressed like me one time so I could put that on the list…

Anyway, this list today comes with a bit of a theme. We noticed more than ever that geek is sheik this year. People just love to dress up geek. So bow down and pay homage to the best geek costumery ever to exist since… well since Tron costumes were awesome.

1. Big Daddy and Little Sister from Bioshock - This one is a clear tribute to all the game nerds out there. The highly stylized art of Bioshock is just begging for some good imitation. There are a few of these costumes that have cropped up all over the Internet.

2. A YouTube Video - I wanted to hit that “report” button so badly. Will we ever just look back at a costume like this with nostalgia, or will YouTube own the world in the future???

3. Working iPhones - I see a terrible underlying theme starting here. Can’t pass up this hilarious idea though. These Apple die-hards decided it wasn’t enough to look like an iPhone, but you had to work like one as well.

4. The Weighted Companion Cube - If you don’t know what the weighted companion cube is, then pick up a copy of Portal immediately. Besides, your cube will stick with you through thick or thin. Don’t you think it’s time to get to know it?

5. Team Fortress 2 Squad - Yeah, this is getting into the uber geeky. It’s one thing to geek yourself out. It’s another to commit your friends to it and travel in packs.

EA Los Angeles Crew - Not Bad!

The real team behind the costumes

Up for consideration, but didn’t make the list:

• Comic Book Characters - Although the comics themselves are geeky, the Hollywood touch has blessed these particular getups with coolness. Sorry comics, you’re going to have to let go for this year’s title.
• Renaissance Costumes - Although inherently very geeky, many of the types to dress up in RenFaire clothes do so on occasions other than Halloween. Therefore, we deem anyone who wears these costumes as “not actually dressing up”.
• Harry Potter Costumes - There are many reasons why Harry Potter is no longer geeky. Although I feel sad for those who are in geek denial when dressed up in this genre of clothing, their sheer numbers validate them as “mainstream”.
• Ninjas, Pirates, or Chuck Norris - Very much a product of geek culture, these paragons to ownage typically are followed by rediculous inside jokes that only the truly nerdy get. However, there is a degree of awesomeness that follows this crowd. Therefore, we have to take them off the list.