Craftzine.com blog: Halloween Archives

Archive: Halloween

February 1, 2010

Giant Prop Octopus

Sean @ MAKE writes:

YouTuber bluworm took on the task of making a great big octopus puppet for stop-motion animation in a film by his friend Daniel Lennéer. Along the way he produced this informative and entertaining video describing the casting, sculpting, and armature-work that went into it, as well as showing off some of the finished animation (starting around 5:00). Besides the cool propcasting info, I gotta give it up to bluworm for his video editing chops. This is definitely one of the most watchable how-to videos I've ever seen, and I've seen a bunch of them.

November 13, 2009

Dia de los Muertos Set to Girls

This video of Dia de los Muertos happening in the streets of San Francisco's Mission district, posted by YouTube user documentdocument, is an otherworldly creation. To me, it embodies so many wonderful things about the art and craft of life and death. The participants of the event are an almost overwhelming subject. The face paint transforms the living into the dead, masks identity, and unifies the crowd. The costumes range from quite simple to overly elaborate, and the candles, props, and dance all complete the atmosphere.

The film itself is a spectacular piece of storytelling. Splicing in bridges and tunnels seems like the perfect metaphor for crossing over after death. The impact of this piece is made even more poignant by the way that the musicians and dancers in the parade are visually rendered silent with the musical overlay. We can see the drummer playing, see the horns pass through, watch the accordian bellows open and close, but we can't ever hear a single one of their notes. This helps the film replicate how the memories of the dead can flash in our minds, but never really be heard again.

[via Mission Mission]

November 9, 2009

Angler Fish Jack-o-Lantern

I know Halloween is over, but I still want to share with you this awesome angler fish jack-o-lantern. Rawr!

November 5, 2009

Mad Hatters Galore

Threadbanger's Mad Hatter Halloween costume tutorial video made a huge splash this year, just check out all the viewers' versions of the outfit! What a great costume, tutorial, and response!

3-Armed Baby Costume

CRAFT friends and Instructables folks Eric and Christy dressed their baby girl, Corvidae, as a 3-armed baby for Halloween. They posted up a tutorial for the costume, made from two identical baby outfits and a doll arm.

While we wanted to be subtle, this was almost too subtle - she wore the costume all day, and hardly anyone noticed! But when they finally detected a problem, the responses were excellent.

November 4, 2009

How-To: Ludo from Labyrinth Costume

Halloween's over for this year, but you can start thinking about next year! Check out ModMischief's Ludo costume from the David Bowie-tastic movie Labyrinth.

Big Papercraft Head

Gareth @ MAKE writes:

Eric Testroete, a 3D character artist from Vancouver, sent us this awesome self-portrait costume, an homage to Big Head Mode in videogames.

More photos at Eric's Flickr.

November 3, 2009

Costume: Low Resolution

Clever and simple costume via PT @ MAKE: "Low Resolution."

Amazing Wild Things Costumes

This project came in as en entry for MAKE's microcontroller-themed Halloween contest, and is sadly ineligible for lack of use of a microcontroller, but they're the most impressive Where the Wild Things Are costumes I've ever seen. Kadijah Moss Guidry writes in:

Well we loved the characters so much and my twin daughters really wanted to be them. I went to work on it with cardboard, old fur coats, fur remnants , an old leopard costume from years ago, animal house slippers and my imagination. I have no experience or education in design or sewing but it came out great. It took about 1 week to do the first costume headpiece and about 3-4 days for the second headpiece. My daughters were very pleased and so was I. Everywhere we went we were stopped and crowds of people wanted to take pictures. No one could believe that these were made at home. Some people were so amazed they started to get emotional. It was kind of weird but I was flattered. My daughters were so proud of their costumes.

November 2, 2009

Howtoons Halloween Costume Contest

Howtoons is having a Halloween costume contest! The winning homemade costume will be immortalized in a Howtoon explaining how to make it for future generations. So dig up those photos of your fantastic costume and send them in by November 4th! (And, since it's always cool to dress in costume, check out their special Homemade Hero and Jet Pack costume Toons.)

How-To: Newspaper Dress

Instructables user prixprix went as The Old Gray Lady (a nickname for the New York Times) for Halloween this year. In her tutorial, she shows us how to pleat and sew newspaper by machine to make this newspaper dress.

November 1, 2009

Celebrate the Day of the Dead!

It's finally Dia de los Muertos, or, Day of the Dead. I've lit the candles on my shrine, and reflected and celebrated the lives of my loved ones who have passed on. This year the holiday has been particularly rewarding due to the crafty energy that I put into my altar. I have loved looking at the images and stories submitted to the Crafty Chica Challenge, there are truly moving pieces of art posted. The special emotions and memories that have been shared in the flickr pool are just amazing. Enjoy life, everyone!

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