To complete Duct Taped Avenger costume, we decided to make the helmet/mask.  I started with a grocery bag over my sons head, but I warned all of the other children that we DON’T put bags on our heads!  I put some tape around the eyes and nose to work to define the shape of the mask.  I drew the eye holes on it (added some pupils for fun), then cut out the eyes.

I added some vertical strips of tape to the nose to define the bridge and the brow line for the mask.  I used smaller pieces of tape and around the eyes and then wrapped the extra tape through the eye hole to make a clean edge.  Then I cut the tape and angled it on to block out the shape of the ear holes and the back of the helmet.

With the head covered with the blue tape, I cut out some strips of white to make the details for the “A”.

Then we added the “Wings” on the sides, a chin strap, and then outside for some photos in the full costume

Last a little video overview and seeing the shield in action.  In the video I talked about the costume being tacked together with “glue” and I meant to say tape.  ;P

Alright, it’s Halloween, and the Duct Taped Captain America costume is done.  I’ll put two more posts up about the process starting with the belt and the ammo pouch.  I wasn’t really going to do anything more than the armor, but I realized that it’s the details that help to sell a costume.  As I was working on these, my daughter pointed out that it was a type of Duct Tape Origami.

I thought it would work best to use the dimensions of the duct tape as the dimensions of the ammo pouch.  One strip wide for the sides, and 2 strips wide for the front and back.  I started by laying out the tape and making a sheet of duct tape material.

I did a bit of folding and experimenting so that I could make a template for the boxes.  You can see the outline on the poster board in the photo.   This double strip of tape would act as the front, back and the flap of the bag.  I laid out a piece of tape for the sides on my template, and put the double piece on top of it.  I then added another piece of tape to seal it all up.

I added a strip of tape along both horizontal strips of tape and then cut along the side to prepare to fold and secure the pouch.

It takes a bit of patience, but next is the folding and stuffing portions.  I used two grocery bags to fill the ammo pouch and help it keep it’s shape.  I then cut the detail on the flap and added a strip of tape to keep the flap down.

I took another strip of tape and doubled it over and made a loop on the back to secure it to an existing belt and added a couple of smaller strips to tie my Indiana Jones holster to the belt.

Next up we’ll show off the helmet.

I’m not a big fan of Halloween, but I do love costumes.  One of my key costuming resources is cardboard and Duct Tape.  So when my 13 year old son said that he wanted to be Captain America for Halloween, I started doing a little research.  I was very pleased to find instructions on making a FLYING Captain America shield out of… (wait for it)…. CARDBOARD AND DUCT TAPE!  While our first attempt at the shield wasn’t perfect, it looks pretty good AND it flies.  Here’s a LINK to the instructions and a video from the instructions showing the flying shield in action.

So with a Halloween party on Saturday, and the actual date on Monday, I really needed to get cracking on this costume.  I started by putting a garbage bag on the boy.  I folded it in half and cut a scoop for his head and arms.  Then I cut a second bag in half and made the sleeves for the armor.  Captain America’s costume IS red white and blue, so I figured I would use the white bag increase his mobility by not having to tape around his mid-section.

Then I just wrapped him up in tape.  Well, I had some good reference photos so I wasn’t wrapping randomly, but it wasn’t completely thought out either.

 Next, I took some craft foam and wrapped it in tape to make the shoulder armor and added the Red and Grey tape details.

Can I just say how much I love that there is colored Duct tape?  Simply fantastic!  Next, I took some red tape and cut a circle, and then used that as a guide to make a star out of the white tape and added some shoulder details.

 The last bit was taking two strips of the blue tape and sticking them together and cutting them to fit as the collar.  We carefully cut him out of the armor with a single cut down the back and will be able to tape him in when he gets dressed.  We added a few belts for details and are now on the hunt for some Brown duct tape to make belt pouches.  All and all, I would say that was a good 3 or 4 hours of fun.

The other thing that’s great about Duct Tape is that it helps to keep the other kids occupied while you work.  

The butterfly effect is a metaphor that simply states that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events like a domino effect. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. (Thank you Wikipedia).

I have children.  SIX of them.  Then there are cousins that come over and friends etc.  So there are few things that startle me these days.  HOWEVER, I was walking to the office to start my day when I stepped on a small plastic thingy.  When I first picked it up I thought it was a button, but the back had two little posts on it and then written across the front it said, “DO NOT REMOVE”.  ummm, well, uh oh.  I have NO idea what this came from, but it’s got to be bad. *flap, flap, flap*

In the first of what could be a video series, I share with all of you the treasure of a book that I found over the weekend.  I’m afraid that I didn’t actually read the book, I, well, I just looked at the pictures. I did a quick web search and found 19 copies on Amazon starting at $0.01, and this summary, “When a curious little fish leaves the safety of the family circle to find out what else is in the ocean, he learns an important lesson.” Published in 1995 by Little Simon Merchandise and authored by Carla Dijs.  Enjoy the video review below.

So guess what I learned today?  In our new house (well, newer than our last house) all these fancy fire alarms are linked together.  Without any warning at all, the battery failed in one of the alarms.  Do you know what happens when all of the alarms are linked and one of them goes off?  THEY ALL GO OFF!  I searched the house for smoke, I sniffed for gas, I climbed in the attack.  I started to make a list of all the things I needed to get out of the house if there really was a fire.  The family photo albums go first, then my computer, what about my art work?  OR MY STAR WARS TOYS!?!?!?!  I came to the conclusion that I would be kicking the window out of the office and then just chucking stuff out to save it.

So, I couldn’t figure out why the alarms were going off and we ended up evacuating the house and calling the non-emergency line for the fire dept.  I am thankful and grateful that the firemen respond to all calls at the same speed (even though it was the non-emergency line).  They searched through the house, found the smoke detector with the red light, and replaced the battery.  WHEW!  (I hope I don’t get a bill for that!  wait, I already paid with my taxes right?)  The kids had fun, and my nephew slept through the whole thing.  I’m going to suggest that we trade him in for a watch dog.

Ok, so you get the Star Wars reference, and no, I don’t really think that Obama is my only hope, I just wanted to let you all know that I DO need some help. I don’t know how the blog stats work, but last month I had over 25,000 unique visits to this site. So I want to hear from some of you on the work that you’re doing and whether or not you have openings for me at your job. If that doesn’t work, I’d like you all to send me my $2.00!

So here I am now looking for a job again that will support me and my family while allowing me to continue to grow as an artist. I sometimes have a hard time describing what I do because I really do a wide variety of things. I illustrate, animate, shoot and edit video, market, advertise, problem solve, sculpt, and in short, I create. I’ve got 10 years of experience building online training courses in Flash. I can effectively communicate my ideas even if I need to do so in Japanese. I’m a quick wit and a pleasure to have around the office.

Even with all this going for me, I’m having a hard time finding employment. Without a steady job, I’m not making what I used to, but my expenses are all the same. I’d like to save some money with President Obama’s Mortgage refinance plan, but I need to prove that I have steady income to do it. We’ve never been late on our mortgage, we have super credit, but that doesn’t seem to matter. So help me Obama-Wan Kenobi! Bail me out long enough to restructure my business and get back on the path to profitability. Just Kidding, I know that I can’t sit around and wait for a stimulus package to save me. I’ve got to do something about it myself. So, I’m asking you all to let me know of job openings that you’ve heard of that you think I would be perfect for. Tell your friends and family. thank you for reading, and thank you for your help.

“give me my two dollars.”

Sometimes when I look back at baby pictures of my kids, it’s hard to tell which baby I’m looking at.  They all look so similar!  It’s equally entertaining to compare photos of me as a child with photos of my kids.  So it comes as no surprise when they start ACTING like me.  Falling asleep with Star Wars toys and grabbing a straw to get every last drop of syrup seems perfectly natural to me.  :D

For those of you who may not know it, I have the best wife ever!  She has kept me organized and on the straight and narrow for 13 years now.  She further proved how wonderful she is by opening up our home to help her sisters out making a grand total of 17 people living together.  So one day, we were walking through Michael’s Craft Store a few weeks back and she saw the photograph taken by Charles C. Ebbets on the 69th floor during construction of the GE Building at Rockefeller Center in 1932.

With her sisters and their children in the house, this dangerous scene titled “Lunch Atop a Girder” reminded my wife of meals at our house.  :D   So I did a little research and I found this Volkswagon ad promoting the Crafter in Europe.  They manipulated the famous photo and removed all of the people to add the line at the bottom, “Volkswagen Crafter only € 15.200.  Unfortunately the word has already spread.”

With this Blank girder to work with, I took the kids out in the scorching heat and had them line up for a photo.  I took about 9 pictures so that I could get a good pose from each one of them.

I put them all together and ordered a 30×20 print from CostCo for around $15.00!  Unfortunately the print has to be shipped to us, so I made some 8×10s to have on hand for Mother’s Day.  Now to head back to Michael’s and get a frame to hang it in the dinning room.  Here’s the finished photo.

The alarm went off at 6AM.  I stumbled into the bathroom to put on my work clothes and head out to clean the pool.  I could hear my 2 year old open and close my bedroom door.  Then I heard him trip and fall and cry.  With my wife and baby still sleeping I rushed out and scooped him up to snuggle him back to sleep in my bed (besides, he was up too early).  Then I felt the blood.  I hollered to my wife, “HEAD WOUND!”  and rushed back to the bathroom.I grabbed a clean washcloth (heh a WHITE one) and started to apply direct pressure.  We got a little ice on it but it looked pretty bad.  We went downstairs to comfort him by watching the Spectacular Spider-Man while we found a butterfly bandaid to pull the wound back together.
Everything seemed to be going fine, but when I dropped off some of the kids for school I noticed the bandaid was slipping.We stopped off at a friend’s house (THANKS WENDY) and put on some sterile strip tape to seal things up.  We decided that it might be to large of a wound to just tape.  It turns out that our pediatrician doesn’t do stitches so we went to the ER.We got there and there was NO ONE WAITING!  I was thrilled.  So here we are getting ready to go see the doctor.  Note the Spider-Man Bandaid right in the middle of his head is just a comfort bandaid.  :D

We had our vitals checked and then watched Curious George.

We had to take off the sterile strips and then start to numb the area for the stitches.

I laid down and held him with the help of one of the attendees.

and now we’re all better!  Right now he’s sitting with me in my office watching the Clone Wars Cartoons on my iPod while I type.  I’ve got a feeling this boy is going to be spoiled a little bit for the next few days.