Craft coroner with J.Bone.

For the past few weeks I've been elbow deep in Papier-mâché...or paper mache for those who don't read Français. I'd decided on what could be a really cool costume if I could only pull it off. I really wanted to be the FLY! Specifically the version seen in the RETURN OF THE FLY!

I wanted the giant eyes and threatening mandibles, claw hand and lab coat. So I took myself back to my grade school days and crafted up a paper mache head and hand.
This is the mess I made on the dining room floor crafting my Fly helmet. You can see all the tools of the Papier-mâché craft...the thin layer of newspaper to protect the floor, bowl of flour/water mix which is your glue, the strips of paper for covering your sculpt, foam head and kid's helmet on which I originally created the tape-and-paper sculpture, bottles of alcohol for holding up hand parts for drying and the craftsman in his pajamas getting glue in his arm hair.

That's right, I didn't even bother to bathe before starting my mâché-terpiece.

This is the first version of the head almost ready for paint. Something was...bugging...me about the eyes. They weren't BUGGY enough. I tried a few different things with wads of paper before I remembered another trick learned in grade school...balloons. We would cover balloons with Papier-mâché (and once we did it with string coated in glue). When the mush is dry you simply pop the balloon, pull it out and you've got a lovely bulbous shape to work with. I cut the "balloon" in half and taped 'em to my Fly helmet.

A little extra paper for brow shapes, another few layers of Papier-mâché and you've got yourself a relatively passable fly head. You'll note I left a face area open. On dark Halloween nights you never want to cover your face or eyes. It's for safety, sure, but also because you need your mouth free for eating and drinking and eyes free for seeing all the envious looks of other Halloweeners as they eyeball your awesome costume.

Oh, and there's the hand all mashed together with crumpled mash paper as texture.

Some black spray paint, green paint and super shiny spray on lacquer and you're done. I finished this two weeks before because I had a super fun Halloween party to go to the weekend before Halloween.

The suit is from Value Village (where I do all my Halloween shopping). Lab coat was borrowed from a Doctor friend, black face make-up (also Value Village) to sorta hide my human face and the costume is complete.

Oh, and did I also have a mini version of my head on a fly's body? Yes, as a matter of fact I did. That you will see when I take some good pictures of it :)

Happy Halloween, my friends.

best,

j.