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 The costume, modeled on Doctor-Denton style pajamas, was
created without a pattern. I used purple velveteen for the bottom side of the
arms, transparent black material for the wings, with black velvet ribbon for the
veins, and the balance made of purple tie-dyed minkee fur. The soles of the feet
were scraps of leather with quilting bunting sandwiched between. The suit was
slipped over the head and sealed by a Velcro inseam.
The remainder of the costume--the horn, hand and feet claws,
and half-mask--as created using bake-able polymer clay, with false, Halloween
glitter-edged eyelashes completing the eye. The mask, the most noteworthy aspect
of this costume, had a long, wide strip of transparent black material glued to
the back with craft glue, this served to both fix the mask to my head and
effectively hid my eyes completely from sight so that those looking at me when I
have the mask on are not distracted from the single, central eye that rested
just between where my eyebrows would be.  The fake eye is large and wide and
created without an inner and outer point (as our eyes have). Where the rest of
the mask is matte finish, the eyeball has been coated with a gloss finish so
that it gleams wetly, as if you could expect it to blink any minute.
The costume was presented to the original recording of the
song One-Eyed, One-Horned, Flying Purple People Eater. The moment I came out on
stage the audience broke out laughing, started clapping wildly, and then broke
out into the song as I danced free-form around the stage. This process was
repeated each time I was presented an award.
Afterward, friends couldn't believe it was me in the suit, especially my friend Rebecca, decked out here in a splash of purple of her own. This is actually one of my favorite photos, close tie with the one below where I am standing next to the pumpkin carved to look like Mikey from Monsters. Inc.
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