Professor Umbridge and Centaur Firenze

Another set of Harry Potter costumes--especially knowing this would be the last ‘book party’? I decided this was my chance to take on the challenge of doing a centaur--especially since I had no idea how I was going to do it!

After a trip to Home Depot I spent about $20 on a metal gutter, wire mesh, casters, and spray insulation foam. I cut the gutter in half and shaped the wire around it the best I could. I then filled the spray foam around styrofoam or anything I could to minimize the number of cans I needed (I used two), and sprayed it around the wire and casters. Watch out--this stuff is hard to work with and is verrry sticky!

My original idea was to carve the foam on the outside and paint it, but I found it was not workable enough to carve, and the paint didn’t stick! With too much invested in what I had created thus far, I altered my plan by spraying peat moss to the outside, using black and brown spray paint instead, and covering the ‘back’ and ‘butt’ in fabric. I found a play hair extension at Dollar tree that I turned into the tail.
The rest was easy. I found women’s brown pants on clearance at Ross for $7, and added some expensive but well worth it furry fabric to the bottom and around the waist. The ‘hooves’ were simply strips of plastic planter pots spray painted with hammered-metal spray paint and nailed to the sides of snow boots (and to the back ‘legs’). Oh, and Doug grew an “Abraham Lincoln” beard for the month up until the party.

This may not have been a ‘budget’ costume by comparison, but considering how you can’t exactly buy a centaur costume, and the amount of positive attention he got at this party (he even won a prize!), I think it was well worth the $40 I spent on supplies to make it.

Umbridge, on the other hand, was quick and easy...and dirt cheap. A pink bathrobe for $2 at the local thrift store looked enough like a pink cardigan when I cut off the bottom. A black graduation robe (also $2) looked enough like wizard robes. I accessorized her with a clipboard, home-made ‘High Inquisitor’ and ‘Head mistress’ buttons, and a pink painted short stubby wand. Creative make-up was all it took to make her look like she had already had her ‘encounter’ with the centaurs.

Saturday, July 21, 2007