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Okay!

I can call the costume complete, if I have to…

I finished the loincloth, which I think can even be worn on the belt over top of my utilikilt or leather pants for a nice finishing touch. (Parties in the middle of the month will likely not allow such nudity…)

I also finished the touches for the add-ons to my harness. I even studded the shoulder pieces and loincloth. The loincloth got some left-over fur trimming…

I like this kind of costume. I did something similar when camping for Guise and Ghouls back in Phoenix. Similar in that the costume has over a dozen pieces to it and yet – except for the cloak – I was still mostly nekkid. Heheheh…

Me likey.

So, the parts list for the horned-god:

horns/circlet – check
harness with studded shoulder caps – check
belt with studded loincloth – check
Wescos – double check
fur & feather trims for boot shafts – check

fur and feather edged faux snake-skin cloak – check
(with fox head clasp…)

beaded 7′ shaman’s juju stick – check

I think I am good to go…

If I feel masochistic enough throughout the remainder of the month, I can always bead some detailing onto the cloak. I have debated that for some time. The biggest hindrance is that the cloak is already lined, meaning I would have to top stitch the outer fabric without picking up the lining. Oh, bother! And with a full circular cloak hem to trim, I would be at it much longer than the hem of one of Laura Bennet’s cocktail dresses…

And one more piece. It has been done for a while now, but I have been trying to photograph it. Not so easy to photograph something that is about 2″ inches wide and 7 feet tall.

For reference, I stand mostly eye-to-eye with the “skull” bone. The middle pheasant feather stand about seven foot tall from the floor…

The beaded strands hanging from the “skull” (which I believe is a cow’s vertebrae) are chock full of bells, spirit bells, gold stone, citrine, carnelian, hematite, bone, three colors of horn, shell, wood, rosewood and glass beads. and are mostly capped off with bells or feathers…

Yay! for the madness that takes me each year.

The Holiday Madness.

It can strike me down almost any season of the year. The most maniacal of them all is December. But the gay high holiday is approaching…

I am quite fortunate. No decorations… The Halloween Madness stirs in me only for the costumes of the occasion. I mean, really, WTF? You can be anything for a day. Holy Fuck! And with the drive to extend every holiday to a month or more, one is given at least a half dozen changes to by dress-up. Holy Crap!

Sign. Me. Up!

It has returned. Only this time, it is rather strategic. I planned it, although I should not expect to be able to control it – ever! But instigated it should prove to be okay…

I have everything I need already, no spending money I do not have to spend… (I was a floral for eight years, remember. One gathers a lot of crap in eight years…) Feathers, beads (millions of fuckin’ beads from a failed endeavor with my sister years back.) and I mean the good shit, too! Bones and horns and all sorts of borderline creepy shit from my studio mate and his ex-partner… And most importantly, prior costumes that most of the folks I currently know have yet to see! Yay!

Now, to my personal Weirdness Effect of the Madness… (I have been fully aware of my Weird Effect since about three years old. I am weird. I enjoy it. I embrace it. I live it!) I don’t copy characters. I have never been Luke Skywalker or Hans Solo. No movie characters, no heroes from the printed page. No celebrity. It comes from my head. From my worlds. Sometimes mythical creatures from the past, but nothing close to historical. Very often, it is linked to celtic mythos some how, in some way.

And so I return to my default Halloween experience. The horned god. Not that it much matters, but I have yet to try to impersonate the horn-god. I take it on from the view of a holiday reveler from the past, masquerading with mask and tied-on horns… playing on the ancient origin-myth of the holiday as well, hiding among the spirits and demi-humans.

This year will be fantastic. A few years back, I made the most excellent of cloaks. From the year I was the Gryphon Lord (Told you I make them up…) It is coming out of retirement. It is very wide collared, dropping off one shoulder, made of a moss-green faux snake skin print, lined with black satin. The neck opening is lined with wolf fur and pheasant feathers. The clasp is made of two black fox heads set nose-to-nose with a bejeweled chain draped between… It was my best tailor work, but the details more than make up for it.

Adding into it… I picked up a basic, knobby walking stick a few years back at the local Renaissance Festival. It has been transformed over the past two days… it is not quite done yet, but it is shaping up beautifully! I can hardly wait. There is this pile of bones here from Michael’s ex-partner. I am guessing cow… I found a vertebrae that resembles the skull of some odd, little creature when turned on end. It is affixed to the top end of the staff. Fur and leather and leather lacing make hand grip[s and added detail. The ‘skull’ had two holes drilled into what has become the beak… now adorned with beads and metal feather charms… Over a dozen threads of bells and beads – gemstone, silver, brass, copper, bone, horn and wood – drape from the back of the ‘head’… very festive!

The costume will take on a few different incarnations through the month of October. The most modest form will include my leather pants, Wescos and peasant shirt. The middle road version with my harness instead of the shirt. The risque version will be a harness and loincloth. And – if I manage to attend Hal-O-bear at cactus canyon (which it looks like I just might…) than the rest of the costume will be harness and boots… only…

Such fun!

I have addition accents, of course! For boot trim, I have from the Gryphon Lord, these neat things made from disassembled feather dusters and rabbit fur. The feathers hang down in a swoop and the fur lines the top of the boots. It makes a nice tribal effect. Helps to take my boots out of the modern. I was hoping to do the same to my harness. I have various scraps of leather, I was planning to hand lace them onto the harness to make it less modern. Less now. The loincloth still needs to be made, but I have a good sized chunk of dark green leather that will do the job nicely, keeping the rough edges of the hide. I think I have enough rabbit and wolf fur to line it if I decide to add to my own enjoyment of the costume. Heheheh. If I plan it right, the loincloth can just go over the leather pants for the more modest version.

Time permitting, I will keep making and adding while I still have materials to do so. That gives some juggle room for different versions… so I don’t feel too much the same from party to party. I think two parties and the Hal-O-Bear event.

So much fun!

Welcome to my madness.