Things With Teeth
The Baltimore Mommies Trunk-or-Treat is this Sunday from 3 to 6pm. Details can be found here. We had a blast at last year's event. This year, I decided to volunteer to decorate one of the Trick-or-Trunks. I thought long and hard about what sort of theme to apply to our little green car. And then it struck me: just how cool would it be to make an entire costume for our car? The wheels began to turn.
An open trunk looks somewhat like an open mouth, right? So what has a really big mouth? And impressive teeth? A shark, maybe. But I don't want to terrify the kids at the Trunk-or-Treat. My friend Google provided a glimpse into the solution with a search on "things with teeth". After scrolling through for a while, I came across an old friend: Dr. Teeth.
The kids might not recognize the character. But the parents certainly will. And no child can deny the timeless love of any Muppet. I had found my muse.
The cutting lady at Joann's asked me what I was making while she measured out six yards of purple fleece and a pile of other colors. She gave me an odd look when I told her it would be a three-foot purple pimp hat. I love those looks. My phone has a decent camera now. I should really start collecting them.
Several weeks of sewing culminated in an oddball collection of parts, all of which had to be made such that they could fit into our trunk.
While digging around in our crawl space, I came across an odd box from Ikea. It turned out to be the air bladder for a piece of inflatable furniture. The crazy things you find! Turns out, it makes a perfect base for the Dr.'s tongue.
The teeth are made of cardboard pieces wrapped in quilt stuffing and white felt. A piece of gold lining for his one tooth. A coat hanger was shaped along the back of the center teeth for a bit of structure, with a hook in the center that fits into the trunk latch. If I hit the trunk button, his teeth fall out. The kids think this is a great game.
The eyes and nose are more cardboard with layers of quilting and felt. There's an entire old towel stuffed into the middle of the nose to help it keep its shape. And some denim just below the fleece to help it stay somewhat smooth.
I visited a half dozen fabric stores in search of bright orange, long-hair fun fur. I swear I've seen it everywhere, and each time I passed by thinking, "Now what on earth would anyone need that fabric for?" Of course, now that I need some, it's nowhere to be found. I found some short-hair stuff in the right color, but all the long-hair stuff was the wrong color. And messing with dye and clumps of hairy fun fur was not appealing. So I tracked down a couple skeins of the fun-fur yarn and crocheted myself a beard. Once I sewed it onto the short-hair fun fur I'd found, it actually looked pretty damn good.
The hat consists of three pieces: top, brim, and a roll of fabric for the center. It sits on a three-foot frame customized to the angles of our car. It was the one piece of the puzzle that I was most worried about, but I think it came together rather nicely.
I can't wait to put this guy together at the Trunk-or-Treat! If it rains on Sunday, I'm going to be one hell of a sour human being.
An open trunk looks somewhat like an open mouth, right? So what has a really big mouth? And impressive teeth? A shark, maybe. But I don't want to terrify the kids at the Trunk-or-Treat. My friend Google provided a glimpse into the solution with a search on "things with teeth". After scrolling through for a while, I came across an old friend: Dr. Teeth.
The kids might not recognize the character. But the parents certainly will. And no child can deny the timeless love of any Muppet. I had found my muse.
The cutting lady at Joann's asked me what I was making while she measured out six yards of purple fleece and a pile of other colors. She gave me an odd look when I told her it would be a three-foot purple pimp hat. I love those looks. My phone has a decent camera now. I should really start collecting them.
Several weeks of sewing culminated in an oddball collection of parts, all of which had to be made such that they could fit into our trunk.
While digging around in our crawl space, I came across an odd box from Ikea. It turned out to be the air bladder for a piece of inflatable furniture. The crazy things you find! Turns out, it makes a perfect base for the Dr.'s tongue.
The teeth are made of cardboard pieces wrapped in quilt stuffing and white felt. A piece of gold lining for his one tooth. A coat hanger was shaped along the back of the center teeth for a bit of structure, with a hook in the center that fits into the trunk latch. If I hit the trunk button, his teeth fall out. The kids think this is a great game.
The eyes and nose are more cardboard with layers of quilting and felt. There's an entire old towel stuffed into the middle of the nose to help it keep its shape. And some denim just below the fleece to help it stay somewhat smooth.
I visited a half dozen fabric stores in search of bright orange, long-hair fun fur. I swear I've seen it everywhere, and each time I passed by thinking, "Now what on earth would anyone need that fabric for?" Of course, now that I need some, it's nowhere to be found. I found some short-hair stuff in the right color, but all the long-hair stuff was the wrong color. And messing with dye and clumps of hairy fun fur was not appealing. So I tracked down a couple skeins of the fun-fur yarn and crocheted myself a beard. Once I sewed it onto the short-hair fun fur I'd found, it actually looked pretty damn good.
The hat consists of three pieces: top, brim, and a roll of fabric for the center. It sits on a three-foot frame customized to the angles of our car. It was the one piece of the puzzle that I was most worried about, but I think it came together rather nicely.
I can't wait to put this guy together at the Trunk-or-Treat! If it rains on Sunday, I'm going to be one hell of a sour human being.