Pictures Part 16 - Mousepad Costume

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Captions solicited, especially names for everyone in the photos. Please write to: webmaster@99.nasfic.org

See also: Pictures Part 8 - Masquerade

Friday night, in the newsroom, Colleen Crosby and her friends decided to make a costume to enter in the Masquerade. Every "goodie bag" handed out at Registration had a "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" mousepad with Harlan Ellison's face on it. We gathered up a bunch of them. Colleen Crosby, Shawn Crosby, Jan van 't Ent, Sue Dawe, Kim Bergdahl, Jennifer Rich and Maria Rodriguez got to work figuring out how to make a costume out of a bunch of plastic/rubber mousepads. (Not pictured: Chaz Boston Baden provided the refreshments for the work party and Pat Lawrence documented the affair with these photos.)

P-33, P-57.
Colleen put on her black leotard, and with the help of duct tape, a heat gun, and an X-Acto blade knife, the skirt started to take shape. You can see Shawn Crosby (in khaki shorts), Maria Rodriguez (blue dress), and a glue gun in the first shot.

P-34, P-46.
The skirt started at the waistline, so Colleen needed something around her middle. Shawn Crosby (you can see his knees in the first picture) put a belt together out of pieces of mousepads.

P-35, P-32.
Moving on up, Colleen needed some kind of breastplate... or something... Kim Bergdahl cut and formed mousepads, and arranged them in such a way that Harlan's face was looking out from each cup.

P-49. Sue Dawe had some ideas on how the costume should look. Sue and Jan van 't Ent used the heat gun to warp and bend some mousepads, and the shoulder pads were created.

P-44. Sue explained that she was going for a "Ming the Merciless" look. Jan van 't Ent had been busy curling up mousepads, and the assembled back piece was a wonder to behold. It looked positively reptilian.

We heard Sue say "And now we'll work on the head piece," and Colleen did this great double-take... Shawn and Colleen discussed whether she should have a purse, and it was decided that it should be a working purse. Jan van 't Ent created the purse. We'd have a computer mouse inside, and part of Colleen's routine would be to pull it out of the purse.

P-41, P-53.
The time came to put the whole costume together... Kim Bergdahl, Maria Rodriguez, Colleen Crosby, Jennifer Rich, and Sue Dawe have the nearly-complete costume assembled. It was decided that Colleen should have arm and leg guards (greaves?), and would wear black boots.

P-43, P-45, P-54, P-75.
Here's the completed costume. It won a popular-vote prize in the Masquerade, and also one of the judged prizes.

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