My DIY costume for Hallowe'en or Any-we'en is always one-of-a-kind...
For me, Halloween is a wondrous, wonderful holiday of self-expression and surprise. Every year, my celebratory costumes take on lives of their own.
When I put-together a costume, I always get surprises, besides lots of childlike fun, in this imagination exercising process of living it: Tidbits of long-hidden knowledge about life and myself are suddenly revealed by my new disguise.
Then, reveling in acting out my discoveries expands the fun of it to higher, deeper levels.
An ad-hoc, "found" costume can be simple -- just a mask or hat, with a shawl or cloak, and maybe a staff or cane (or wand), can suffice. Funny shoes and socks can stretch the effect.
This costume may be temporary or built to last for re-use, treasuring or display. Most of mine are rough, conglomerated haphazardly as I am nudged by one spirit of the present moment after another.
The experience is full of serendipitous synchronicity.
This hubcap-mask is as good an example as any. But I have just begun to build this year's costume.
For more by and about me, visit my Giant Lensography or Lensography 2!
Photo: Hubcap-Mask, by me, ECP, a.k.a. @ShamanicShift on Twitter and Shamanic-Shift on Flickr.com
“I'm going to the Halloween party as a wilder, weirder aspect of MYSELF!”
My "found" DIY costumes allow me to disguise myself...
With a more mysterious aspect of myself!
But this costume-construction method works for creating recognizable character disguises, too.In this example, Birch Tree bark becomes mask for the tree costume. An over-sized, long shirt with sticks glued on and a branch-staff completed the wild, woodsy effect.
DIY "found" Halloween costume tips
Adding meaning to a disguise adds fun...
Collect costume stuff all year and be ready to begin costume construction on October 1...
Creating a "found" costume can recycle and re-use household items, adding GREEN to Halloween!
"One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing
Material place."
-- Emily Dickinson
Remember...
Spotlight: Scary classics
Halloween
Amazon Price: $5.97 (as of 05/31/2012)
Oooh...The excitement of Halloween bubbles up with the energy of primal fear.
Let's face it!
Halloween stuff on eBay
might include just the right extra...
Spotlight: Halloween party decorations
Halloween Toilet Paper Holder Skeleton Grinning Skull
Amazon Price: $11.49 (as of 05/31/2012)
Don't forget to scarify the bathroom!
I would be tempted to keep this truly charming "bone" toilet paper dispenser up all year.
Express your Halloween costume plan or opinion here!
What will you be wearing for this year's Halloween revels?
Whether it's a store-bought or do-it-yourself costume ("found" or otherwise crafted) or some of each, not everyone likes wearing a costume!
"Where there is no imagination there is no horror."
-- Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.
“Or, let family photos suggest how to disguise yourself as a hallowed, known or unknown, ancestor!”
Squidboo lenses I like by others
More costume lenses I like by others
Halloween means...
All-Hallows Eve...the night before All Saint's Day in many Christian traditions.
But, folks have remembered esteemed ancestors, genetic and spiritual, for ages, as they finish reaping what they sowed and longer nights stir stories and dreams.
Then, add All Soul's Day for 3 costuming days in a row!
Remember...
Halloween & costuming links
- Halloween -- History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts
- Explore the history of Halloween, one of world's oldest holidays. Uncover when Halloween is celebrated, its origins, common traditions and much more.
- Halloween 2010 | Halloween.com
- Halloween fun on the internet, the one source for all things Halloween. Including costumes, pumpkins, monsters, vampires, witches, werewolves, ghosts, scary tales, humor, faq, haunted houses, links.
- Halloween - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- From the page: "Halloween is an annual holiday observed on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints' Day, but is today largely a secular celebration."
- The Traditions of Halloween
- It is believed that the origins of Halloween may probably be found in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival which honored the dead. The Celts divided their year into four major holidays and, according to this calendar, the year began on a day which now corresponds to November 1 on the modern calendar...
Halloween & costuming news articles & blog posts
For future reference
- Shoestring Living: Have a homemade Halloween - Taunton, MA - The Taunton Gazette
- The spooky day is nearly upon us, an event that can be most stressful for parents of young ones and adults that need their own costumes this year. With Halloween superstores taking up temporary residency in vacant buildings of strip malls everywhere, it can be tempting to spend too much on costumes for convenience sake.
- Safety tips for pets on Halloween - Boston.com
- This is one of the most exciting times of the year for kids, but it can be one of the scariest - and potentially dangerous - times if you are a dog.
"Backward, turn backward,
O Time, in your flight
make me a child again
just for to-night!"
-- Elizabeth Akers Allen
Remember...
Costume pics on Flickr
“How about costuming yourself as what ever comes back most often to haunt you?”
Stuff to consider saving for a DIY "found" costume
Old clothes too worn or damaged to pass on or give away -- hats, shirts, coats, shoes, robes, shawls and scarves -- and the worst may be best!
Product containers and packaging might , with added flair, turn into awesome masks -- pie plates, fast-food trays, molded Styrofoam...
Scraps of fabric
"There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls."
-- George Carlin
Or you could search Twitter for costume ideas, inspirations & examples...
Tweet with me!
"Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story."
-- Mason Cooley
My more recently updated lenses
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ShamanicShift
HI! I'M LETTING THESE LENSES FADE, so many no longer reflect my present views. I'm Elizabeth a.k.a. ECP, retired SquidAngel and former Giant100 member... more »
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ECP Writes
Spotlight: Buy only the most unusual Halloween stuff
2 Halloween Skeleton Yard Flamingos Lawn Decor Ornaments - Great for Halloween Haunted House or Over the Hill Party Decorations
Amazon Price: $16.85 (as of 05/31/2012)
I recommend DIY-ing most of Halloween, but sometimes Amazon offers irresistible, imagination activating accessories to add to the fun.
Visit my shamanic blog
Shamanic Shifting Dreaming Drumming & Foolish Wondering
