InSpirit Designs Adult Sam Trick 'r Treat Costume

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Usually we dig around at the local thrift stores for the clothing. How hard could it be to find an orange onesie? Answer: IMPOSSIBLE! So, I turned to Etsy and found someone making Sam onesies. I had a few "screen accurate" requests that we wanted the seamstress to include. We opted for burlap patches rather than yellow and a more correct "butt-flap" with buttons. I used the reference pics to get general shapes and rough out the initial design. At this point, you want some semblance of the overall character but it doesn't have to be perfect. It was time to make the molds and since I had made a mold for my daughter's mask a week or so earlier, I felt like a pro. This level of hubris is never a good thing when dealing with mold making. Having never been to the "Wild" West Hollywood Halloween Parade before I was unsure of exactly what to expect. I knew about the outrageous Halloween Costumes, and the wild parties from the news media though. I also knew there would be lots of cross dressers. Parking was challenging but I found a reasonably priced lot about a mile away and grabbed my gear and walked down to the parade route.

Next, it was time to mix the casting medium. I bought a 50lb bag of Hydrocal casting stone as it is MUCH stronger than Plaster of Paris. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Do not use plaster for casting anything important to you. TRUST ME ON THIS!!! Get the good stuff.

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Sam may leave a rule-breaker alone if they decide to follow the rules set by Sam's example. For instance, Sam leaves Mr. Kreeg alone after Kreeg unintentionally offers him some chocolate. This year both of my kids wanted mask based Halloween costumes. This was great since I already had the materials on hand - clay, hydrocal casting stone, liquid latex, paints, etc... After the success of my daughter's Annabelle mask,( Annabelle Costume ) I felt like an old pro at the process so we jumped right into the sculpture! I took a fiberglass head form (you could easily use a styrofoam head form) and started lumping on the oil based clay. Keep in mind the size of the final mask and your noggin as you start roughing in the mask size.

One tip about Hydrocal... and all plasters/stones, really. As they set, the chemical reaction makes them HOT. You will even see steam coming off of your mold as it cures. Be sure the mold is cold before attempting to open it. Additionally, oil based clays melt with heat. If you de-mold too soon, your clay surface could be VERY soft. This makes the mold difficult to clean. You are better off waiting an hour too long rather than opening it 10 minutes too soon. You will thank me later. :) Once I got the general sculpture to a place that I was satisfied, I started detailing his skin. I took a plastic baggy and cut it open and placed it on the surface of his skin. I then took my sculpting tools and began running wrinkles across his face. The plastic softens the harsh lines created by the tools. One thing to note is that I considered his anatomy and musculature to determine how his skin might fold and wrinkle. Additionally, I was able to integrate his "pumpkin-like" qualities into this anatomical consideration. While all wrinkles do not run in the same direction, there are some rules about how they run and why. Study a few pics of older people - or in my case I just look in a mirror. LOL. Using a chip brush, we filled the details in and around the mouth, nose, and eyes. We coated the other surfaces constantly working the plaster into the details and making certain there were no air bubbles. As expected, the oil-based clay repelled the water-based casting stone at first. We continued to work the curing plaster with the brush and finally overcame this reaction and the mold began to take shape as the stone started to set. At this point, we worked fast to make sure we got good coverage over all areas of the mold.

I really wanted to practice working on details on this sculpture. The Annabelle mask I sculpted for my daughter was very smooth as she is a doll made of plastic or porcelain. While Sam isn't human... Hell, I think he's mostly vegetable... pumpkins are a vegetable, no? Let's just agree that he;'s a gourd. Anyway, Sam has plenty of fine lines and wrinkles so, this face would be the perfect time to focus on the little things. One cannot overlook the subtle yet significant patchwork details adorning Sam’s costume. The patches, sewn onto the burlap mask and pajamas, signify the historical and mythical connections of Halloween. They represent the folklore and traditions associated with the holiday, further emphasizing Sam’s role as a guardian of Halloween’s rules and rituals. The Lollipop Prop: I carefully took a chip brush and worked the latex into the recesses to reduce the risk of bubbles in the deeper details of the face. Once covered, we finished filling the mold, tapping the sides as we went. Again, our goal was to reduce the possibility of bubbles in the latex. Again, we waited.

Sam" is pronounced using English phonetics, as opposed to its word of origin, Samhain, which is pronounced with Irish Gaelic phonetics (pronounced "sow-en"). I staked myself out under a streetlamp in the middle of Santa Monica Blvd, and tried to get as many of the unique and good costumes as I could. One of the inside jokes is to let the newbies keep asking "What time does the parade start?" All night long. Eventually they figure it out. Then, we took a sculpting tool and dug a trench in the wall about an inch or so all the way around the sculpt. This served two purposes. First, it created a key for aligning the two halves and second, it kept the latex from escaping the mold during dwelling.Regeneration: He was shot in the head and had visible damage, but when he came to, the damage was gone. Sam's regeneration power is strong enough to reattach severed parts, i.e. his hand.