Steampunk Rocketeer costume, plus BF's Rorschach. More pics soon.

[Schnoogles]

This year, my first idea for a costume was to be a post-apocalyptic survivor, but I decided this would be too obscure for people to understand, plus I picked up some items on a shopping trip that make me change my mind to... a steampunk rocketeer!

First off, the jetpack. I assembled and painted most of it the day of Hallowe'en (very late for me) out of four two-litre Coke bottles, some scrap cardboard, bottle caps, a dismantled computer joystick and shower head, and some gears from vintage traveling alarm clocks. I put it all together with a little papier mache and lot of masking tape, hot glue, and spray paint. I was pretty much inhaling those fumes for about 12 hours. It worked out better than imagined, especially looking at all the unassembled parts and wondering how on earth I was going to put it all together.


The rest of my costume consisted of a vest I already had, a shirt I picked up at a clothing swap, some thirft store pants that I altered, some black tights, victorian-esque boots from Payless, a genuine leather aviator hat from an army surplus store, and some hot pink child's scuba goggles that I dismantled and spray-painted.





BTW, that is my boyfriend as Rorschach, and my friend as Little Dead Riding Hood. Rorschach got his mask online and the jacket at a thirft store. Everything else he owned already.

Anyways. After all that time and effort, people totally ignored the jetpack on my back and kept asking me if I was Amelia Erhart. *sigh* So much for a more accessible genre. I was kind of disappointed, but I remembered that you all here will appreciate it!

Thanks so much for looking and please tell me what you think!

~ Schnoogles

*EDIT* More photos

The bare bones:


The pants. I cut off the leg, made a cuff, and gathered the pants just below the knee into the cuff. Finished it off with 3 buttons.


Headgear. You can just make out some gears on the side of the goggles:


Whole shebang:


Jetpack closeup. The reflective part was painted silver, but it's not that shiny in real life:


And on my back, before adjusting the straps:

[thefett]

Very cool - love the paintjob. Smart idea to tape it first - I'll have to try that.

[MooseDeEvita]

Oh this is seriously amazing!  I love how all the time and energy you put into this really shows through! I'm sorry that people didn't make very good guesses about what you were, but some people on halloween aren't able to appreciate a creative costume.  I think it looked great and well worth your time

[spaz2phreek]

how fun! I totally understand the frustration with people not getting your costume. By the end of the night, people guess and you end up saying "sure, that's exactly what I am" because you're tired of getting blank stares when you explain it. I've also done the steampunk thing and I love it but seriously, it's hard to explain.

Anyway, I have an idea for you, if you do this costume again. Say you're a rocket delivery chick...like a bike messenger meets steampunk. And create little flyers with a fake company name and something like "faster than steamcar mail service" and such. And a picture...I can't draw even stick people so a graphic would be the hardest part for me. Anyway, if I do the steampunk thing again, I think I'll have to make a rocket pack & do this myself...