Halloween - DIY Costuming and Body Paint

Halloween is my favorite time of the year!  I love to dress up and in New Orleans, it's all about having a wildly creative costume.  I'm fortunate in that I've been gifted with a knack for art but my costume this year wouldn't be too hard to reproduce.  I was a Voodoo Priestess and Nate was my doll.  Here we are in our full get up:

Things we made ourselves:

1)  The Burlap Shirt:  All of this stuff is pretty easy to do because the more primitive it looks, the better!  I went to Joanne's Fabrics and picked up two yards of burlap, some black yarn, and crafting needles.  I was not feeling to hot the week before Halloween, so  Nate actually did the stitching himself.  We cut out two pieces to look like and over sized t-shirt and just stitched up the sides.

2)  Pins:  For the pins we cut some knitting needles down and stuck styrofoam balls on the top and then simply painted them black.  Add some glue between the needles and the balls so they don't slip off.  Nate got them to stay by adding a little foam under his shirt where he stuck the needles.  Then we put some stage blood around the holes because we like to look scary.

You can see both a bit better in this photo.  We did a heart where the heart should be because we thought it added a little more interest to the shirt:

3)  The Head Purse:  This was super easy and SUPER AWESOME.  I bought a severed head, with the chains already attached, from the Spirit Halloween Super Center.  Nate did all the hard work for me by cutting the head open, pulling out some foam, adding a cardboard bottom and then sewing a zipper to the top.  Voila!  A super creepy accessory and perfect prop to carry all your crap around in!

4)  Rat Necklace:  You can see it pretty well in the picture above this and all you have to do to make it is buy a bag of mice or rats from whatever costume store you shop at, use a heavy duty craft needle, and string 'em together.  I added lots of face blood to mine.

I also painted a leotard to look tribal but the show stopper is the wig.  I got it for payment when I did make up for this photoshoot.  Fifi Mahoney's styled it and it was much heavier than I thought it would be but totally worth it to wear all night.

Now, just for fun, some of the face and body painting I did this Halloween season:

I'll be selling at Freret Market this Saturday.  Come say hi if you're there!