Making Lady Ash and Necronomicon Costumes

As you know, I went a little crazy for Comic-Con this year and made Lady Ash and Necronomicon Costumes:

There are lots of great tutorials online for making Ash costumes, Necronomicon costumes, book costumes, and zombie hunter costumes. I drew from those while making ours. So, this is less of a how-to than it is a breakdown of what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I'd do differently next time. 

My costume started as a plain blue shirt from Kohl's. I ripped off the left sleeve with a seam ripper (I didn't want to be too neat and tidy - it needed to look like it was torn off by demons), and let it sit in a bowl of very strong tea overnight to stain it a bit: 

After it had dried somewhat (I never put it in the dryer because I didn't want it to look too fresh), I splashed it with a generous amount of red acrylic paint that I had mixed with a bit of brown and thinned with a generous amount of water. This gave the shirt a "blood-soaked" look. 

Once that paint had dried, I wet a paintbrush with undiluted red paint and splattered it again to give it a look of thick, fresh blood stains. I then did the same thing with brown paint to give it a look of dried blood stains. 

I made the gun holster out of strips of brown vinyl stitched to a fashion ring. (It's the same kind of ring that's used to add interest to swimsuits and women's shirts. They sell them in packs of two at JoAnn's Fabrics). 

I bought my sawed-off shotgun online from Rubie's Costume Company. Once it arrived, I measured a holster and stitched it together. 

Both the gun and the holster were dry-brushed with black and brown paint to give them an aged look. I dry brush by dipping my paintbrush in undiluted paint, brushing it against newspaper until it's almost dry and then brushing it against the gun and the holster. It really brought out some of the wood grain details on the gun. 

My skirt was a simple knit skirt pattern that I stitched before cutting the hem at a jagged angle and staining it with more red paint. I didn't tea-dye the skirt because it was already brown. 

My chainsaw started life as a jug of Target-brand orange juice. I ripped off the label and spray-painted it silver before painting it with a thin layer of red. Then, I dry-brushed it with black. The blade and details were cut off of a toy chainsaw with a heat knife and glued onto the jug with E-6000. I dry-brushed them, too before giving everything a healthy, sloppy coat of red mixed with just a touch of brown. 

The fake blood that I used on my face and arm is a mixture of peanut butter, Hershey's syrup, corn syrup and lots and lots of red food coloring with just a few drops of blue. It looked realistic, clotted just like real blood, and could be sculpted into fairly convincing "wounds."

After that, my female Ash costume was pretty much finished. Pete's costume took a little more work. My first attempt at a Necronomicon did not go well. I duct-taped two tri-fold boards (the type of board that's usually used for school projects) together and duct-taped another piece of cardboard over the front as a cover: 

This was a great idea until I sculpted the facial details on the front cover with cellu-clay: 

The book of the dead is bound in human flesh, and Cellu-clay was a great medium that gave the book cover a lumpy, skin-like look, but it was very heavy when it dried. It also shrank as it dried and curved the book cover away from the book, which was not a good effect. I'd use cellu-clay again if I was making a small book as a prop, but it wasn't good for this project. I started again, using a piece of foam core as the book cover. This was much lighter and sturdier. This time, I "sculpted" the facial features out of masking tape before covering them with a very thin layer of paper mache: 

I only filled in some of the smaller details around the eyes, nose, and mouth with the cellu-clay. The teeth are just triangles cut out of cardboard and stuck into the clay. Once everything had dried (about 24 hours), I gave it all a nice coat of gesso for texture before painting it brown and filling in the eyes, nose, and mouth with black. Then, I dry-brushed the whole thing with black paint, gave it some lighter brown highlights, and painted the teeth ivory (bright white just wouldn't do). I covered everything with a thick coat of Modge Podge to really make it shine. 

I kept the paper mache clear of the book's spine so that it would really open. On the inside, I glued a piece of ivory poster board (I started with white poster board and painted it ivory, as the fancy artist's poster board was quite expensive). It took a couple of attempts, but I finally sketched a fairly convincing demon on the "front page."

The Necronomicon is inked in blood, but I sketched the demon out of brown artist pastels. I used an awl to poke two small holes in the front cover and ran a bit of elastic through. I also used used an awl to poke two holes in the back cover through which I stitched a hook. The elastic attached to the hook to keep the book closed while Pete was walking around. 

The straps are brown duct tape, which looked like leather from a distance. I ran them through holes on the front and back covers. The book stayed on Pete's shoulders through two days of Comic-Con and only needed a little bit of duct tape repair by the end of the second day. 

And, that's how I made the Comic-Con costumes. I was really excited about this project, and it's given me some great ideas for Halloween this year. Amelia's already got some costume suggestions, and I'm looking forward to working with cardboard and paper mache again. 

The Best Stuff From Comic-Con 2013

I made the unfortunate decision to walk around Comic-Con with my right hand in  a chainsaw this year, so I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked. I still got some shots of great costumes and goodies, though. Here's what I managed to photograph on the rare moments I had my right hand free.

I'm a big fan of the '66 Batman series, so it was really cool to see this Batman walking around on the convention floor: 

 Hot Toys was also debuting these lifelike action figures of Burt Ward and Adam West: 

Also from Hot Toys was this 1/6 scale '89 Batmobile. Who needs the Barbie convertible when you've got this?

This Aquaman was possibly the best costume we saw on Thursday:

This cosplayer had Tony Stark's look down perfectly: 

I loved the goggles on this Dr. Horrible costume. Next year, I might have to borrow this idea:

Amelia was very excited to have her picture taken with all of the Power Rangers: 

A typical scene from outside the convention center on Sunday:

The Walking Dead was hosting a chance to walk through the zombie-infested prison and visit the governor's man cave: 

We didn't see as many steampunk goodies this year, but this girl added a bit of steam to her awesomely gorgeous Black Cat costume:

This intricately detailed 10" Batman figure in a black metallic Batsuit was a Play Arts Comic-Con exclusive: 

More Comic-Con 2013 exclusives - Hasbro's Glitter 'n Gold Jem and Mattel's 1966 Catwoman: 

Amelia's favorite cosplay was this Vanellope from Wreck-It-Ralph. I have a feeling that I'll be making her a similar costume for Halloween this year. 

Another Amelia favorite was this Funko exclusive My Little Pony:

And, that's it for Comic-Con. Next year, I'm going to make a costume that gives me full use of my camera hand! I'm still regretting all of the pictures I didn't get.

The Best Laid Plans...

Yesterday, things did not go exactly as planned.

My first idea for our "family day" at Comic-Con was to wear our 2012 Halloween costumes. We went as Batman, Robin, and Catwoman last year and, while Amelia's costume was looking a little worse for wear after nine months of superhero dress-up, I knew that we'd have fun.

Well, two of us would have fun. Pete would be sweating like crazy in the batmask. 

Then, Amelia finally saw The Avengers (I'd deemed it inappropriate last year when she was six, but she's seven now, and a little less easy to scare). She fell in love with the Black Widow, and wanted to go to Comic-Con in a spy costume. With no time left to make another costume, I bought a Black Widow costume online. I figured that she'd go in costume to Comic-Con, and Pete and I would wear jeans and T-shirts and spend the day taking pictures of her.

Then, on Wednesday, with only 12 hours to spare, Amelia started to feel shy about wearing a costume in public and asked if we could all wear matching costumes. I had two options - throw together Hulk and Captain America costumes overnight, or figure out a way for her to take part in our Evil Dead themed cosplay. Since I was two hours away from my sewing machine and had less than half a day to work, I chose the second option.

Amelia hasn't seen the first two Evil Dead films, and she hasn't seen the reboot. She hasn't even seen Army of Darkness in its entirety. What she has seen is a brief scene in the middle of the film where Ash is tormented by several tiny, evil versions of himself. They tie him up and stab him with a fork in a scene that's reminiscent of both Gulliver's Travels and the Three Stooges. It's very funny, and Amelia loves it. So, we decided that she would go as one of the little Ashes.

You can see the tiny Ashes on the left, poking Ash with a fork.

I ran to Wal-Mart at 10:00 P.M. and grabbed a boy's dress shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. I tore the sleeve off of the shirt and, working in the bathtub of the Super 8 San Diego, splashed it with a bit of red paint. I also made her a holster out of brown duct tape. Fortunately, the tiny Ashes don't have guns or chainsaws, so I didn't have to worry about too many props, but I did cut a fork out of foam core that I painted silver. It wasn't a perfect costume, but it was what I could do with so little time.

We walked to Comic-Con together on Sunday, and fellow fans were approaching us before we even reached the convention center. Amelia was tickled to receive the attention and have a chance to talk about the "funny part of the movie." She wasn't shy about being in costume and had a great time hopping around all of the booths at the convention and catching previews of her favorite cartoons.

Amelia spent today talking about what she wanted to dress up as next year. (I'm just crossing my fingers that I can snag tickets for next year). I think I have a little Comic-Con fan on my hands, and I couldn't be happier.

Day One of Comic- Con: My Costume Experience

In 1997, I went through a terrible breakup. Out of spite and a desire to never see my ex again, I kept his VHS tapes. One of those tapes was Army of Darkness, the final film in the Evil Dead trilogy.

Trapped in Time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
Best. Tagline. Ever.

I was going through a difficult time with the breakup and trying to find a job after college, and I started watching Army of Darkness almost constantly. Oddly enough, it made me feel better. It's a hilarious, almost cartoonish send-up of a medieval horror/action flick, and it's impossible to have a bad day on a day you've watched it.


Eventually, I found a job and met my husband, but I didn't stop watching Army of Darkness at least a couple of times a month. In fact, when I got my first DVD player in 1998, I ran out immediately and bought the entire Evil Dead series.

There are not enough words to express how much I love these movies. I've memorized most of the lines. I have named my embroidery machine and my car Ash, after the films' chainsaw-armed hero played by Bruce Campbell. (One of my other sewing machines is named Bruce). I watch the entire trilogy every Christmas Eve, the way some people watch It's a Wonderful Life. I own every version of the DVD and at least five Ash/Bruce Campbell action figures are prominently displayed in my office. 

These are my go-to movies for when I'm feeling down and, this year, I've been watching them a lot. When I was diagnosed with pneumonia in January, reading Army of Darkness comics helped me deal with the pain of my illness and loneliness of hospitalization. I saw the reboot of Evil Dead right after having throat surgery in May and, for the two hour duration of the film, I was completely out of my agony.

Evil Dead: A post-surgery alternative to Vicodin.

Recently, on a day when I was wearing an Army of Darkness T-shirt, Pete suggested that I go all-out and make an Evil Dead costume for Comic-Con this year. He was half-joking, but I thought it was a wonderful idea. I normally don't dress up for conventions and I'm not very comfortable with public attention, but I really loved the idea of paying tribute to a series of movies that has meant so much. I grabbed my sewing machine - the one named Ash - and got started.

There are a lot of female characters in the Evil Dead series of films. There are so many that one of my DVDs has a special feature titled "The Women of Evil Dead," and (SPOILER ALERT) the hero of the new reboot is a woman. However I really wanted to dress up as Ash.

Obviously, I'd need to make a few modifications to the costume.

Along the way, we decided that Pete should dress up, too. Since I was going as Ash, my first idea was that he should go as Evil Ash, but he suggested that he go as the Necronomicon, the book of the dead that awakens the films' demons.

It took a couple of weeks of work and a few book-building mishaps, but I completed our costumes on Wednesday, just in time for Comic-Con yesterday.

 

I'm usually watching the Evil Dead flicks in a bit of a vacuum, as they're not that popular with too many of my friends. So, I was really surprised by the positive reaction to our costumes. We were approached for photos by other fans, some of whom were wearing Evil Dead T-shirts, and so many people shared stories about how they love these movies. I even met a few more Ashes:

 

This Ash had a passing resemblance to Bruce Campbell and his costume was spot-on accurate.

 

This fan was dressed as S-Mart Ash, one of my favorite costumes from the films.

 

Overall, the experience was wonderful. It was great to see that these movies have touched so many people the way they've touched me. As a fan, it was so affirming. It's one of the great things that happen at Comic-Con.

 

I've become a convert to wearing a costume to Comic-Con. It's something very special to share your love for a film and find other fans. I don't know what I'm going to wear next year, but I'm already thinking.

 

Of course, I'll have more pictures of Comic-Con later and details on how I made the costumes. In the meantime, we're going back on Sunday in plainclothes. It will be Amelia's turn to wear a costume, and I hope she has the same great experience I did.



Don't Bash The Casual Fan

Recently, there's been an internet trend of questioning the geek cred of women. This debate centers on women who wear sexy costumes to comic conventions, but it encompasses all women who are casual comic book./sci-fi/fantasy fans - women who enjoy Batman, but couldn't pass a trivia quiz on the subject. Author Joe Peacock called out "pretty girls pretending to be geeks for attention" on his blog and comics artist Tony Harris wrote a scathing and profane rant against "fake fangirls" on facebook. I won't publish any excerpts from Harris' piece here, because I try to keep this blog family-friendly, but it was harsh. (You can read the whole thing here, if you must.) Peacock's piece, while more eloquent, was little better. In it, he says that "I get sick of wannabes who couldn't make it as car show eye candy slapping on a Batman shirt and strutting around comic book conventions instead."

Does he stop every girl in a Batman T-shirt and quiz her on Dark Knight Trivia and Lore? I really want to know.

My first reaction upon reading these essays was gratitude. Not for the works themselves, but for the fact that I've never encountered this attitude in real life. I have a number of fanboy friends, both male and female, who accept me as a geek without making me prove myself. That's a good thing, because I'm probably the type of casual fan Harris and Peacock are talking about.

I'm dedicated enough to embroider my own Evil League of Evil shirt, though. I want points for that.

In my teens, I'd hole up in my room reading comics for hours on end. I'd go to comics shows in musty auditoriums and search for all of the back issues I needed to complete my collection. I stood in line for midnight showings in costume. But I'm a mom now, and a business owner, and I don't have time to hole up in my room. I download all of the most recent issues onto my Kindle, but weeks go by before I have a chance to read them. I learned of Johnny Storm's death from a friend at a party. It's been months since I've done anything Star-Trek-related.

I named my hamsters "Tribble" and "Trouble." That's Trek-related, right?

Unfortunately for Harris, Peacock and their ilk, I think my brand of casual fandom is where geek culture is headed. As comic book and fantasy movies become mainstream, more adults are becoming interested in what were formerly hardcore geek pastimes. Adults don't have time to be well-versed in trivia because we're working and raising kids and juggling bills and responsibilities. But, that doesn't diminish our love for Superman or the Avengers.

This mainstreaming of geek culture is exciting to me. It means that young geeks can probably wear a Captain America T-shirt without being gifted with a wedgie for their troubles. That's a luxury I didn't have in high school. And, it means I can share my love of cosplay on facebook and receive positive comments. And, yes, it stings a little that they're selling The Walking Dead trade paperbacks at Target, when I had to drive 20 minutes to a comic shop to buy the first issues back in 2003.

I also had to walk uphill in the snow both ways to buy an issue of Invincible.

But, on the other hand, I can now stand in line at Target with my groceries, drinking a Frapuccino and reading The Walking Dead. I can't find anything wrong with that.

Geek culture is the only culture I'm a part of that frowns on casual fans. Nobody has ever bashed me for being a casual hockey fan. (Which is surprising, considering that I actually live with a rabid hockey fan). Crafters don't look down on other crafters because they only sew on the weekends, or don't know what to do with half of their scrapbook supplies. Geek culture is the only culture that does this.

Some say that it's because a lot of geeks were bullied as kids for our interests. And there might be some credibility to that. It's a little disconcerting that a few of the other moms in the playgroup are really into the Avengers.

Somehow, the Avengers have become really popular with women. For whatever reason.

I know some of these women were probably popular as teenagers. Maybe a few of them would have made fun of me for toting a backpack full of comics back in '87. But that doesn't mean that I should sneer at them for coming to the party late. One of the things you should take away from being bullied is that looking down on anyone, for any reason, is wrong. At least, that's what I took away from it.

Besides, I can now wear my Superman shoes in public, without having to hide them in the back of my closet. Not everybody thinks they're cool, but I'm never going to be bullied for wearing them. I bought my daughter a pair, too. And nobody's told her that they're "boy's shoes," or that she's a nerd. I love that.

They are truly the finest shoes ever made.

I also think a lot of the hate towards women who dress up in sexy cosplay is fueled by the media. I go to Comic-Con every year, and I'm surrounded by other fans in jeans and T-shirts. You see more costumes than you would at the local mall, but convention-goers in costume are definitely in the overall minority. Of that percentage, only a few are scantily-clad women. A few are even scantily-clad men.

If you're going as Dr. Manhattan, calling it a '"costume" is a stretch. 

But, when you watch the media coverage of Comic-Con, all you see are the sexy ladies. Because that's what's going to get viewer's attention.

I think there's also a basic misunderstanding of why women want to dress up and come to a convention. Both Peacock and Harris assume it's to make themselves feel attractive, to prey on men, or to engage in a sort of exhibitionism. In his blog, Peacock says: "They decide to put on a "hot" costume, parade around a group of boys notorious for being outcasts that don't get attention from girls, and feel like a celebrity."

For the most part, he's wrong.

When I've donned a costume, it hasn't necessarily been a sexy one, but I've always tried to dress out of my comfort zone. I've been known to make a costume girlier or flirtier just because it's fun.

Jayna actually wore pants in the Super Friends cartoons. But I like skirts. Besides, the orignal Gleek was a boy, so I wasn't going for accuracy.

I'm not looking for attention. I don't want to feel like a celebrity. But I like dressing up. I don't get to dress up every day. The fanciest I usually get is a brocade pair of Chuck Taylors. So, when I've got to pick a costume, I'm going to go with Catwoman, because that's who I'm not. That's the whole point.

That and fake ears. Apparently, I've got a thing about fake ears.

Besides, if you're a woman cosplaying as a comic character, there aren't a lot of options out there. If you want to dress up as Wonder Woman, you've got to don a strapless top and panties.

Unless you're five, and your mom makes you wear a skirt instead. Sorry, kiddo.

That's one part of geek culture that I think a lot of women can relate to - playing dress-up. And we're doing it for ourselves, not for men, and certainly not out of some sort of misguided exhibitionism.

Like I said, I've never encountered this attitude. But I hope it doesn't deter women from becoming involved with geek culture at any level, or from attending conventions, either costumed or not. Because, when you do, awesome stuff like this can happen:

That's me and Pete with Invincible and Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who didn't question my geek cred at all.