Kiddo Kiss Costume

This is our 9 year old daughter, Andie. We watch Gene Simmons Family Jewels reruns with our 9 year old daughter. In the past she has been princesses and Draculaura for Halloween. When we asked her this year she said she wanted to be "The Demon" from Kiss. Ummm, ok. So I went online to see how we might go about making this costume. I cannot sew or use power tools so I had to modify the ideas I found that incorporated glue, glue and more glue.

I found a child's size ankle platform boots online. I then sculpted the dragon head out of clay using jewels for the eyes. Then I covered the sculpt with plaster gauze. Then it dried I cleaned out the clay and painted the shell. Then I hot glued the shells onto the boots. The top of the boots were strips of felt lined with hot glue on the edges. I spray painted them and hot glued them onto a cut up pair of jeans. She is wearing a leotard that I glued square "studs" onto for the "cod" piece. I cut out pieces of foam and covered them with black fabric for the belt. The chest plate is a used boys hockey shoulder pads piece of equipment. I took out the plastic shells and glued them on the outside of the shoulders and arms. Then I cut out foam pieces to cover the chest. The rivets are tacks with the pin removed. The arm guards are foam sheets and the spikes are foam pyramids that I built. Everything! was sprayed with a metallic silver and touched up with some shading. Her cape is black fabric with tacks glued on for the rivet/stud effect. Finally she is wearing child silk gloves with the fingers cut off and studs on the back of the hands. The makeup is from the local Halloween store and I used a tutorial online to match the design.

Unfortunately our Halloween was shortened by bad weather. We had planned on going to a kid's costume party but ran out of time by the time we completed her look. Trick or treating was limited to about 5 or 6 houses because of raining and sleeting that eventually turned to snow before the night was over. The people we DID see that it was amazing! The said it was the best costume they had seen all night. One couple looked her over intensely and wanted to know how each part was created. Another lady took a picture and sent it to her brother who is in the industry. He immediately wrote back and said those are the exact boots that he wears.

This was a great project for me, her mother. I am a teacher and in the process of writing a grant to train with a Anthony Kosart (season 4 Face Off winner) and Jordu Schell (special effects) to fulfill my desire to learn the art of special effects makeup. This was my first attempt at sculpting and mold making. I loved it!