I’ve been saying for the last month that Stella’s Tamatoa costume is the biggest DIY costume venture I’ve taken, whether for myself or for her. I usually put costumes together with thrifted clothing, but this Tamatoa costume has sent me back to the craft store more than a few times.
It has been so fun seeing everything come together, especially when I’ve had to get really creative with how to make it all work without any sewing.
One of the final elements I had to figure out and create was Tamatoa’s big eyes. Originally, Stella said she didn’t care about having the eyes with her costume, but changed her mind as she tends to do. I have a purple hoodie sweatshirt for her to wear with the hood up, so it was a matter of creating something she could wear on top of her head.
I bought a bag of foam balls and a plain headband today, along with purple paint to make the eyelids. My plan is to paint the purple of the eyes, let them dry, and then paint on the irises and pupils on the other half. Then I’ll hot glue the eyes to the headband.
As I was getting ready to paint the foam balls, I wanted to be extra careful that they didn’t roll around and get purple on the white half. At first, I painted a layer of purple and then set them carefully back into these plastic bowls:
But as you can see, they did roll around a bit and caused the paint to rub off. As I tried to think of something that would keep them still as they dried, a light bulb went off.
Gladware lids! We have an average of 2,304,188 pieces of tupperware in our cabinets, so there were plenty of options for me to grab. I found two of the smaller lids, and voila! The foam balls rested snugly in the underside of the lids. When the purple dries, I’ll be able to paint the rest of the eyes and set them in the lids again without worrying about smudges or rolling around.
I’m not sure if there will ever be another moment in history where I’ll need this life hack, other than perhaps a model of the solar system that Stella will inevitably make for a science fair. But right now I’m feeling pretty geeked (or just geeky?) for cracking this code.
