King Coal
October 26, 2010 7:48 AM Subscribe
I'm thinking of a specific costume for halloween and I would like some help with execution.
The costume is this: Big Coal. Basically, the idea (as it stands at present) is the following:
* I'll be a king with a vampire-like cape (more French than British)
* I'll have a sooty face: I'm using artist's charcoal and brown and grey eye shadow
*I'll have a black Lady Gaga-style crown
*I'm going to make a banner with my coat of arms; my plan, for now, is to take a number of images and turn them into black silhouettes, then superimpose them on a white or burgundy background. The images are: the pelican covered in oil from the BP spill, a mountain with its peak blown off, a smoke stack, an electric line (alternately, I was thinking the fourth could just be CO2 in large black lettering)
*I'll have black lips (lipstick) and black teeth and a black mouth (tooth blackener and charcoal)
* I'll have tatters strung off my body; I'm thinking I'll cut up some black garbage backs
*I bought a plastic pimp's cane with a diamond head. I'm going to either paint the diamond head black or pull it off and replace it with a charcoal.
*Long black press-on nails
*I bought a bunch of rings and necklaces that I will die black
*I'm going to make a couple of pro-coal pins: I'm thinking one that says COAL IS KING in the style of an election sticker, possibly using the Bush/Cheney logo for lettering; one that just has an image of a piece of coal on a white background; and one that says "Ask Me About Clean Coal".
*A gift bag filled with charcoals, to hand out at the party
I'd like some help filling this costume out, making it a bit creepier, a bit more off-putting, etc. One thought was shoulder pads to make it a bit more menacing. I wanted to do black-out contacts, but they're too expensive. Also, I was hoping to have electric lights strung about me (preferably the kind of orangish-glow that you see when you drive by industrial zones at night), so any help with the execution of that would be appreciated - how to safely have electric lights strung over me. I welcome all ideas (although I may or may not use them)
The costume is this: Big Coal. Basically, the idea (as it stands at present) is the following:
* I'll be a king with a vampire-like cape (more French than British)
* I'll have a sooty face: I'm using artist's charcoal and brown and grey eye shadow
*I'll have a black Lady Gaga-style crown
*I'm going to make a banner with my coat of arms; my plan, for now, is to take a number of images and turn them into black silhouettes, then superimpose them on a white or burgundy background. The images are: the pelican covered in oil from the BP spill, a mountain with its peak blown off, a smoke stack, an electric line (alternately, I was thinking the fourth could just be CO2 in large black lettering)
*I'll have black lips (lipstick) and black teeth and a black mouth (tooth blackener and charcoal)
* I'll have tatters strung off my body; I'm thinking I'll cut up some black garbage backs
*I bought a plastic pimp's cane with a diamond head. I'm going to either paint the diamond head black or pull it off and replace it with a charcoal.
*Long black press-on nails
*I bought a bunch of rings and necklaces that I will die black
*I'm going to make a couple of pro-coal pins: I'm thinking one that says COAL IS KING in the style of an election sticker, possibly using the Bush/Cheney logo for lettering; one that just has an image of a piece of coal on a white background; and one that says "Ask Me About Clean Coal".
*A gift bag filled with charcoals, to hand out at the party
I'd like some help filling this costume out, making it a bit creepier, a bit more off-putting, etc. One thought was shoulder pads to make it a bit more menacing. I wanted to do black-out contacts, but they're too expensive. Also, I was hoping to have electric lights strung about me (preferably the kind of orangish-glow that you see when you drive by industrial zones at night), so any help with the execution of that would be appreciated - how to safely have electric lights strung over me. I welcome all ideas (although I may or may not use them)
Target, (last season at least), sells small strands of LED christmas/party lights. It runs off a few AAAs and has 10 bulbs. You'll get several hours out of it.
posted by fontophilic at 8:30 AM on October 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by fontophilic at 8:30 AM on October 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Instead of writing CO2, use a representation of the molecule.
posted by stevis23 at 8:42 AM on October 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by stevis23 at 8:42 AM on October 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
This sounds awesome. But political buttons read funny to me, not creepy. Perhaps get all of your accessories sooty as well -- you started off nice and shiny, but didn't stay that way.
posted by freshwater at 9:09 AM on October 26, 2010
posted by freshwater at 9:09 AM on October 26, 2010
Lungs: hanging on the front of your chest, like you've coughed them up. Gooey, stringy, black, bloody. Maybe kinda subtle though, so people come close to look at it and say "ewww, what's that?" "What's left of my lungs." Practice a hoarse voice and coughing fits. And pull a blood-stained handkerchief out of your pocket to cough into. Also, you should smell bad; smear a little motor oil somewhere on your costume.
Depending where you'll be, maybe you could arrange to leave black dirt wherever you go. Like have pockets full of ground charcoal, and drop clumps of it around. Have it spread all over the costume so everything you touch turns black. But don't use this idea if you're going to be someplace where it would be really rude or inconvenient to leave a big mess. That would be too much like the real Big Coal.
posted by Corvid at 10:50 AM on October 26, 2010
Depending where you'll be, maybe you could arrange to leave black dirt wherever you go. Like have pockets full of ground charcoal, and drop clumps of it around. Have it spread all over the costume so everything you touch turns black. But don't use this idea if you're going to be someplace where it would be really rude or inconvenient to leave a big mess. That would be too much like the real Big Coal.
posted by Corvid at 10:50 AM on October 26, 2010
If you can find a tiny miner's helmet, top the cane off with that. Even better: a tiny miner's helmet mounted on a toy doll's head, and mount that on the top of the cane.
posted by not_on_display at 11:00 AM on October 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by not_on_display at 11:00 AM on October 26, 2010 [2 favorites]
Handing out candy coal might go over better than chunks of charcoal.
posted by bethnull at 11:19 AM on October 26, 2010
posted by bethnull at 11:19 AM on October 26, 2010
Notes:
You can make convincing lumps of coal by spray-painting paper bags.
The pelican's a victim of Big Oil, not Big Coal.
You can also score (historical) points by referencing the massacre of striking miners (again and again — pick a time) and by riffing on the child laborers.
posted by klangklangston at 2:27 PM on October 26, 2010
You can make convincing lumps of coal by spray-painting paper bags.
The pelican's a victim of Big Oil, not Big Coal.
You can also score (historical) points by referencing the massacre of striking miners (again and again — pick a time) and by riffing on the child laborers.
posted by klangklangston at 2:27 PM on October 26, 2010
Black lipstick/teeth saves it from blackface connections, IMO.
posted by RedEmma at 4:53 PM on October 26, 2010
posted by RedEmma at 4:53 PM on October 26, 2010
Response by poster: Execution: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2562382&id=14830476
posted by outlandishmarxist at 2:20 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by outlandishmarxist at 2:20 PM on October 31, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:05 AM on October 26, 2010 [1 favorite]