Construction Details:

The dress was made without a pattern, and I'm actually thrilled with how it turned out! Tea-staining it was fun, especially because the bit of FrayCheck I'd used on the sleeves and collar burned when I put it in the oven (when it says "flammable" on the bottle, believe it, it's not lying). The blood and grime was pretty much thrown on there without any sort of method. And for a last touch, I added some veins using hot glue and Victoria's Secret talcum powder. So now the dress smells like black tea and old ladies. The mask. Oh, the mask. I used Rainman's tutorial (http://radical-rain.deviantart.com/art/SH-Nurse-mask-tutorial-105714910) as a basic guide, but mixed it up a bit for the movie nurse. Before starting on the paper mache, I attached a plain stage mask to the balloon to give me more of a guideline for the nose and eyes, as well as something sturdier to use as a base for sculpting the front of the mask. I used Model Magic for that, which was ridiculously fun! The mask closes in the back with Velcro and an extra flap of fabric coated in Model Magic to hide where the seam is. Instead of a scalpel, I went ahead and made a rusty pipe out of PVC and hammered metal spray paint, along with some red thrown in there for good measure. It's very handy to use as a walking stick, or even a makeshift leash that my friends can lead me around with (which comes in handy when we have to go through crowds). For Youmacon '09, Bonk was gracious enough to do my disgustingly grimy makeup even though she was sick and dribbling snot everywhere. This costume wouldn't have looked nearly as cool as it did without her help! (I'm so jealous of her epic makeup skills, holy moly.) She also did my makeup for ACEN '10. Fortunately she wasn't spewing mucus everywhere this time. It turned out even grosser than before and reconfirmed why I love her so much!

Personal Thoughts:

This was probably the most fun I have had making a costume! And it was a ton of fun to wear, too. Despite, you know, not being able to have a conversation with anyone on the account of not being able to hear or speak audibly. Overall, it's one of my favorite costumes. It's a little hard to breathe in because the dress is constricting and the mask only has a few inconspicuous air holes. But it's totally worth it in the end because I get to creep on people.

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