Mother-of-Pearl Costume
October 27 2020
A pearl of wisdom from our good friend, @aww.sam: use Rit to add color to your upholstery foam for the perfect mama-to-be Halloween costume. You can go pink like Sam or mix it up with an ombre or rainbow color scheme—the world is your oyster.
Supplies
- Rit All-Purpose Liquid Dye: Petal Pink, Tan
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Plastic Container
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Two 1” Upholstery Foam Rolls
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Two 40″ x 60″ Foam Boards
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1″ Elastic
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White Cotton Dress
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Pearlized Cardstock
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Scissors
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Hot Glue Gun
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Spray Adhesive
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Rubber Gloves
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Utility Knife
Time
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Difficulty
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Instructions
- Draw a shell shape onto a sheet of foam board that is approximately 36″ in diameter. Repeat this step so that you have two identical foam board shells.
- Score the exterior 6 segment lines of your shell using a utility knife. This will create the shape of the shell so that it isn’t flat. Bend scored segment lines and fill with hot glue, allow each line to fully dry and set aside.
- Trace the individual 6 segments of your shell onto upholstery foam to create top of the shell. Repeat to create bottom of the shell. Cut out the segments with a utility knife or an electric knife.
- Cover work area with plastic table cover and have paper towels handy to protect against possible spills.
- Fill plastic container with 3 gallons of the hottest tap water. The water should be ideally 140F. If tap water is not hot enough, heat water on stove and add it to the dyebath.
- To enhance the the color, add one cup of salt. Add 1 teaspoon of liquid dish detergent to help promote level dyeing. Stir well.
- Wearing rubber gloves, add 1/2 cup of well-shaken Petal Pink dye to dyebath.
- Add cut upholstery foam to dyebath and continue to submerge for 30 minutes.
- Once foam is saturated, rinse and let air dry.
- Once dry, spray each of the segments with spray adhesive and adhere them to the foam board shells from Step 2 to create two identical shells.
- Measure your waist and cut a hole where you want the shell to sit on your body.
- Cut a small 4″ x 6″ rectangle from leftover foam board and score the center with 1-3 lines. This will be a support for the costume.
- Hot glue the bottom shell onto the bottom flap of the support and allow to dry, then place the top shell in place.
- Hot glue around the base of the top shell onto the bottom, forming an open clam shell.
- Tot glue the top flap onto the back of the top shell and allow to dry.
- Attach elastic straps going from the front of the bottom shell to the part of the shell that sits on your back.
- Repeat Steps 4-8 to dye white dress with Tan All-Purpose Liquid Dye. Rinse and let dry.
- Cut sparkles shapes out of pearlized yardstick and hot glue onto tan dress as shown.
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