Cleopatra
Queen of the Nile
(MardiGras 2000)
Since for Halloween I have always leaned toward specific characters,
usually with as much realism as possible, I decided I could use MardiGras
to create costume archetypes, especially with extra sparkle....plus the added creativity needed for making a matching masquerade mask!
In my closet I had a white with silver sparkles polyester 70s-style outfit
(little did I realize I would later have a chance to wear it as
originally intended!) acquired from a mysterious source that I had been
saving because I knew the full-length skirt
could easily be used for a sparkly toga or something, a la a Classic Star
Trek Greek goddess or whatever. Since I did already have a pageboy black
wig at my disposal anyway, I decided Cleopatra would be an excellent
choice for the inaugural MardiGras Masquerade.
Crown & Hair:
Of course this is a wig, exactly the same wig that has been worn as T'Leo,
the Romulan Tal Shiar officer, and Ensign Ro Laren. The crown however was
painstakingly constructed from electrical wire, Sculpey, gold leafing
paint and beads. I bought electrical wire by the foot at Home Depot, then
shaped it to my head shape while wearing the wig, since the wig does add
extra width to my head with my own hair underneath. After the wire was
shaped, the two ends were twisted together and formed into the basic cobra
S-shape for the front. Sculpey was formed around the S-shape into the
cobra until I was
satisified with the look. I then used beads to make the impressions
around the edge and for the eyes and
other tools like toothpicks to add detail, taking great care to smooth the
edges of the Sculpey into the wire texture, then I baked the Sculpey on
the wire. Since Sculpey bakes at 250F and this small amount only required
about 5-7 minutes, my wire was safe, but be careful about baking the
plastic on your wire!
Once the Sculpey was baked and cool, I gilded the entire crown with gold
leafing paint. Do NOT use spray sealant over the gilding, since I tried
that
and it turned everything pink! (My guess is that this is because the
leafing paint is not water based.) After my second coat of gilding, I
used
matte finish Modge-Podge sealer, which worked fine. If you do not seal
your
leafing paint, you run the risk of the gold coming off, since it remains
slightly tacky. Once the sealer was dry, I glued the beads into the eyes
and impressions around the edge.
Makeup:
Yes, I did have fun with the makeup, since I figured MardiGras was all
about glitter! ;-) This is all fairly cheap makeup. I used my
normal foundation and blush, with the reddest liptick I own. About three
coats of black liquid eyeliner were used for the Egyptian cat eyes, then
cheap gold glitter liquid makeup found everywhere around Halloween was
used for
the entire eyelid area. Be sure to use makeup glitter, since that has been
specially formulated to use on skin, but still be careful when removing
it around the eye area. Craft glitter is too sharp, so never use craft
glitter on any face. Be prepared for glitter hanging around for a few
days, no matter how careful you are at removing it. :)
Jewelry:
Obviously, the jewelry was the most time-intensive part of this costume!
About half of the beads are from a kit purchased at the Rosicrucian
Egyptian Museum in San Jose, with the rest of the beads purchased at craft
stores and specialty bead stores. I do like the authenticity provided by
the key lotus pear-shaped gold-tone dangles from the Egyptian kit, as well
as the colors of blue which are also authentic. Once I figured out the
basic design, it was just a matter of spending the time stringing all the
beads together. (hint: do this while watching TV)
Dress:
The Cleopatra dress is just the skirt from the white sparkly outfit with a
strand of gold ribbon through the waistband to make a halter dress.
Belt and Armbands:
I had leftover black synthetic leather from my Avengers catsuit, so I used
that for the belt and armbands. Since I wanted the belt to remain wide
while being cinched tightly around me, I reinforced the back with a couple
layers of scrap vinyl. I also reinforced the middle of the front flap,
since it needed the additional weight to hang properly. All the gold is
topstiched with gold thread, then gold beads were added around the edges
of the armbands. The bottom of the flap was decorated with the same gold
beads plus more of the lotus dangles from the Egyptian kit. The belt ties
together under the front flap using inset grommets.
Shoes:
I luckily found these little white and gold thong sandals at a
thriftstore, but I just had to add some beads to the gold swirl that was
already there.
More Images...
(from the photo shoot at the
Rosicrucian Museum Gardens in San Jose)
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