SANE Meeting 7pm Tue 28 Sep 2010 AD PDQ ASAP

Yup, the new season of SANE meetings is upon us, and our very September meeting is less than a week away. In facet, it is:

7:00 pm, Tuesday 28 September 2010

Pam A has once again volunteered to do the hostin', for which we are infernally graceful.

This month's project is making costumey masks for the up-and-coming SANE Hallowe'en Brunch - let me digress for a li'l second. We're hoping SANEsters and Significant Otters (including younger folks) would come to Richard's abode for a pot-luck costumey brunch on Hallowe'en Week-end. Our target date/time is Sunday 31 Oct, 11-2ish, but could be moved in time or even to Saturday, should circumstances warrant. We want to check with the collected famblies to hear about conflicts, scheduling issues, etc. We want to be as inclusive as possible, and don't want to supplant other longstanding H'ween traditions, so if you or yours have something else important going on, lemme know when it is. And we all need to get home in time to open the doors for any little ghoulies and ghosties and short-legged beasties whose parents are brave enough to let them make the rounds on Sunday eve. The SANE event will require costumage, and this meeting is an attempt to help out in that regard. Back to the meetin':

Bats-E and I (courtesy of Bats' leftover H'ween donation program) have several posterboard masks (a few mounted on sticks and several upper-face masks with nose notches and eyeholes) that use an elastic or tie around the head to secure same. They are all delightfully old-school graphics, but are begging for decoration, with feathers, construction paper, lead pipes, 2x4s or cinder blocks. No, wait, I'm conflating two very different craft shows from the DIY network. Or you could craft your own mask out of plastic bottles, posterboard, foam-core, papier-mache, leather, erector sets, cloth, velcro, elastic bands, roofing tar and construction adhesive. Damn, it happened again.

I was so bold as to make a list of different ways you might affix a mask to a face, but didn't have time to appropriately illustrate same. Imagine, if you will, vague and tacky pencil-scratched illustrations to enhance this otherwise bland list:

Ways to Affix One Mask to One Face:

Attached to eyeglasses
Glommed onto a headband
Hooked to a scrunchie/hairband (must have hair)
Fastened to a pigtail/ponytail (must have pig/pony)
On a hat/cap/yarmulke
On a swim cap
Attached to a rubber/plastic bald-head appliance.
Using a catcher's facemask or goalie's helmet
Mounted on a bicycle/army/construction helmet
Using the ears as base of a suspension truss
An upside-down plastic plant pot
Supported by your Frankenstein neck- or temple-bolts
Using a medical halo collar (for broken necks, etc.)
Attached to a soft medical neck-brace
Staples/thumbtacks to the forehead
Supported by a back-pack/shoulder straps
Anchored to a brassiere
Spirit gum to the nose/cheeks/forehead/temples
Held up via nose- or ear-piercings
Wired to eyehooks screwed into the cranium

Obviously, not all of these are going to be appropriate for your particular costume idea. A brassiere-mounted mask will, in all probability, will move with the torso, not with the face (think of a strapless face-mask). Eyeglasses aren't strong enough to support, say, a giant metal piggy-bank head. And eyehooks will eventually rust or fester.

But some methods lend themselves well to particular costumes. A simple veil and headscarf are ideal for potential belly dancers, and come with their own support systems. Gigantic papier-mache heads call out for shoulder- or backpack-mounted supports, and a plant-pot makes a dapper toothpaste tube cap, for example. Some costumes may not require masks, as they are more amenable to make-up and/or hats (I'm thinking a green face & witch hat, or white skeleton face). If you're headed in this direction, bring another costume part to work on.

What to bring? Depends upon the costume/mask. I've seen nifty masks made entirely out of feathers, mounted on the Lone Ranger-style plastic eye-cover, using elastics or stick for support. You could be a dandy owl, say.

Other factors to consider:

You will want to eat, so having to remove a significant costume part in order to bring food or drink near your face can be a drag.
- You may wish to sit down, and a costume riddled with knives and axe blades may make sitting or resting uncomfortable.
- If you want to be a human brillo pad, it's probably best to make the costume out of soft material that looks like steel wool, rather than glue real steel-wool to your body.
- You may wish to use the bathroom while in costume, and a full-body suit without zippers or easy exit might be unhealthy or downright dangerous.
- Think of stairs and doorways before donning 8 inner tubes as the Michelin Man.
- You gotta be able to see -- remove restrictive masks while driving or on stairs. Just sayin'.

Okay, I'm done with the advice. Now you're on your own. Send Richard
comments about H'ween party scheduling issues. See you on Tuesday!

- The Groom of Frankenstein's Bride's Brother-in-Law's Lawyer's Cousin Twice Interred