While I am not going to be showing ALL our costumes this time around, I will be showing you how I made our awesome goggles/Burning Man costumes. They caused more bodily harm than I had experienced in a while, so I feel they deserve the most attention. I will post more pictures next week as I discuss my packing list for Burning Man (and our road trip in general).
1. Start out with an old clock.
After an entire day of shopping around second hand stores, we finally hit the jackpot at the last Goodwill closest to our house (should have checked there first, right?). We took the beauty home and I immediately started dismantling it. Growing up my parents didn’t really let me take things apart so I find great joy in doing things like this (ask Shaun about the time I took apart my 1974 Superbeetle engine and forgot to label the parts). Please note that clocks like these are spring loaded. Shaun forgot to tell me this until after the clock exploded, whirring past my head, scratching my arm and taking a chunk of my finger. Wear gloves and goggles while doing this (but goggles actually over your eyes, not as decoration in the picture).
2. Find a good, clear spot to start your project.
I decided to commandeer Shaun’s desk. While this did not make him very happy to come home to a plethora of his tools and glue sticks all over the place, I think he still appreciates the fact that I spent so much time on our costumes.
There are two things that I spent a bit of time on, a hat pin and customizing our goggles.
I’ll tackle the hat pin first. Please note that this can be customized any way you want. If you do happen to do something like this, I would LOVE to see your take on it.
HAT PIN
1. Rummage through the cogs that you received from taking apart the self-exploding vintage clock you took apart. Find one that you feel is appropriate for this task. Please note: The cogs will come with metal tubes sticking through them. Get a hammer and beat them out or do the lazy way like I did – Wire Cutters.
2.) Add a dab of hot glue to the middle of the cog.
3. Place the clock hands that came with the clock on top of the hot glue. You can also hold them together with a short screw that adds to a more “steampunk” look. The hands can be placed at any time where they are not sticking down, due to the fact they will stick into the brim of the hat you are attaching it to. I personally think it looks classier.
4.) Add another dab of glue and a pin mounting device. These can be found at any crafting stores. I also like to add some extra hot glue to the top of the mount to reinforce it.
5.) Pin it on after the glue has cooled.
6. ENJOY!
GOGGLES
Shaun and I have two very different sets of goggles. Both of them have added “flair” to them but Shaun opted out of the painting part of the process.
1. Get your beads/flair together that you are planning on attaching to the goggles:
2. Attach the goods with a glue gun.
3. Marvel for a moment to allow the glue to dry.
4. Take the goggles to a well ventilated area (instead of a closed garage like I did) and lay down a floor covering.
5. Add silver coat.
6. Allow time to dry.
7. Add bronze coat.
8. Immediate grab a paper towel and start dabbing at areas of the goggles. This allows for a more “antiqued” look when the silver is peeking through. I would suggest wearing gloves during the process (unlike me, I know, but I don’t mind getting messy).
9. Allow time to dry.
10. When dry, a small bit of foam needs to be added to the rim of the goggles to allow for maximum comfort. This can be done with either superglue or hot glue.
11. Allow time to dry/glue to cool.
SAFETY NOTE:
When dealing with hot glue, make sure to keep a small bowl of ice water near you at all times (unlike me) or your finger will look like THIS:
While I did have a blast making these things, I really do suggest some safety equipment while doing a project like this.
And now a sneak peek of one of our Burning Man costumes!
So awesome. they look amazical and the tutorials were really great. You guys should submit this to http://www.instructables.com/
I love you guys. Nerds after my heart (please don’t take that wrong – I’m a nerd at heart and nerds can call each other nerds, right?). Is Burning Man known to be a steampunk/post-apocalyptic affair? I saw some pics on Almost Fearless that made it look like Mad Max crossed with Waterworld. If that’s the case, damn, I need to get there.
@Devin: I may consider making it over there. I was looking at that site the other day lol.
@Keith: Its all good! I’m comfortable with my nerd-dom. This year’s theme for Burning Man is Metropolis – my interpretation of that is Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. I have a film degree. Nerds forever!
Fantabulous!
Can’t wait for your Burning Man photos. 😀
Wow, you guys are so creative! I would never thought of taking a clock into parts like that and making a costume from it.
@Cris: Thank you! I’m excited about them too! I just got my new lens in the mail last night and I’m SUPER stoked!
@Dina: Thank you! Sadly that was the first thing I thought of. I have a friend of mine who thinks in spreadsheets – I can’t do ANYTHING like that.
Wow, you are so creative, even with my twisted mind couldn’t come up with something like that. Looks like your going to have a blast.
I’m so excited and overwhelmed at the same time. There are some times that creativity comes to naturally to me… and other times where nothing is inspirational. I just am glad it came to me like it did. 🙂
That’s such a fun progression to see you make them! Love the costumes and you are making me really wish I had stuck with the original plan for this August and headed to Burning Man…perhaps next year! 🙂
@Shannon: I have wanted to go for so long that butterflies are already in my stomach and it doesn’t officially start until the 30th! Thank you for your kind words. I love making costumes and figured people would like to see how its done. 🙂
L.O.V.E. I.T. … Uh-mazing costumes! enough said 🙂
@Norbert: Thank you! I put alot of time into things like this. 🙂