Renaissance Festival: Costume Inspired by King Arthur Movie

It's Ren-fest time here in Southern California. I wanted to share my latest costume. 

Here's me with a Johnny Depp impersonator. 

Here I am at the German Soldier camp. 

Aaaaand here's me at the end of the day: drunk and satisfied. 

How I did it: 

Above is my original design, based the top off of Kiera Knightly's character in the movie King Arthur. 

Now enjoy some incredibly nerdy and hilarious pictures from a year ago:

(when I first started work on this piece)

For the top, I went to goodwill and bought a bunch of old woven leather belts and hot-glued them together, weaving in some extra leather scraps. It ties together in the back very simply. The bottom portion of the costume is a bunch of skirts chopped up and sewed back together, with touches of old scarves, burlap, and leather scraps. 

I bought my celtic torque necklace online (like what Kiera is wearing above) and put a scarf in my hair. 

And that's it! Easy, breezy, beautiful cover-girl. 

Tribal Style: Raccoon Face Paint

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

I don't know why, but I found myself ruminating on the day-of-the-dead skulls. I love how some women  paint their faces up, accented with flowers and scroll-work. 

Like this....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shellycrash/2994098954/

     But it struck me that the dark eye sockets could be used for a raccoon style make-up. And so this monstrosity was born. 

     Part Dia de los Muertos, part tribal, and part animal. 

     When I started scrounging around for colors, I came across silver acrylic paint. I don't recommend this for face-paint (my eyes watered like crazy) but the shinyness of it was really cool. So without further ado, enjoy my simple design. 

Want step by step instructions? 
Leave me a comment.