I love Halloween. It is one of my favourite times of the year. Each year bringing the opportunity to bring an idea or character to life.

On occasion I am inspired to dress up as a villain. I had been thinking about making an Ursula costume for quite some time. Looking up images from the Little Mermaid movie, I decided to make a costume from scratch without a pattern. I just love embracing my creative instincts, taking on the challenge and building a costume from whatever comes to mind.

I used a lot of different materials in this project. I built the tentacles from a few different fabrics, pool noodles, metal clothes hangers, zip ties, quilt batting and piping. Hand and machine sewing brought it together. I searched local stores for a body suit and leggings that I could adapt to my needs. I hand carved the jewelry molds along with using paper mache and tissue paper to get Ursula’s jewelry just right. After the paper mache dried, I pulled out the foam mold and inserted a motion-activated light between the two shell halves. When worn, the necklace would light up and glow yellow just like in the movie. Body paint and make-up was the final touch.

This project was a ton of fun to work on and was ever evolving as I went along. I loved the challenge! I can’t wait to wear it again! Might even make her two loyal eels just to top it off next outing!

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