# My Stalkabout Costume



## zombastic (Aug 27, 2012)

This is my Stalkabout costume. I made it last year, and while I usually don't like to be the same character twice, it was such a hit in my neighborhood that I have to do it again. The tots loved it and I was in so many pictures. I may tweak it a bit. I am not happy with the color scheme for the skull and hands. I was going for a gory or corpse looking grim reaper.
I wish I had more close-up detailed pics. Maybe I'll take some and add them.


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## zombastic (Aug 27, 2012)

I started with one of those big 20 dollar skulls from Walgreens or CVS.
I was gonna light up the inside with a bulb, but that idea never did come to fruition.









I corpsed the skull using plastic drop cloth and a heat gun.


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## zombastic (Aug 27, 2012)

For the arms and hands, I attached a plastic bone from one of my old skellies to the pvc with 2 screws. I jabbed wire hangers into the bone.









Then corpsed it all with plastic.


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## zombastic (Aug 27, 2012)

I used an old military metal frame backpack that my mom picked up at a yard sale.
I made a pvc frame.
I attached it to the backpack with 4 clamps.
For the joints in the arms I just used zipties, but I will go with wire or chain this year because one of the ties broke at the end of the night. Originally I wanted movement for the head, but instead I just mounted it to the frame stationary and pointing kinda downwards.


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## zombastic (Aug 27, 2012)

My wife made the robe. I cut a square area in the chest and used glue to attach a see-thru screen to it. 
The screen that I used came from the side safety net of a trampoline.
I had no problem with vision and it was not very heavy. 









You can see it in action here in this video, along with a few more pics.
I didn't even think to video until the day after Halloween...Doh!
In the daytime video you can see the area I look through.
On Halloween night I had my face blacked out with make-up. 
I also noticed that I need to paint the 2 support pvc pipes black as well.


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## iowachap (Aug 19, 2015)

*awesome*

I never noticed that your head did not have left/right/nodding up n down movement, I noticed others when looking at theirs trying to find a how to video after seeing yours, even now watching your movement the head being stationary is no big factor at all the proportion is great, a few I saw were like oddly proportioned and did not look right, hands too small or shoulders to wide etc.. great job thanks for posting more info.


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## DeadDaddy1993 (Sep 13, 2015)

Brilliant costume, looks like a real showstopper


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## DeadDaddy1993 (Sep 13, 2015)

Brilliant costume, looks like a real showstopper!


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

For arm joints, cheap craft cord works really well. I've been using Bonnie Macrame Braided Cord in my monsters for several years. The arm joints have never had a problem and they even outlived the PVC body frames.


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## zombastic (Aug 27, 2012)

Thanks y'all. I've lost 50 pounds since last Halloween and I can't wait to see how it feels this year.

iowachap - I agree. Head movement is nice but I don't think it's really needed if your costume has a good look.
I also agree about a lot of stalkabout shoulders being too wide. I noticed that when researching and I tried my best not to do that. 

CrazedLemming - Thanks for the tip. I'm guessing I can find that cord at Michaels?


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## CrazedLemming (Oct 18, 2011)

The one I use is a 6mm (1/4in) loosely braided polypropylene. Anything similar should work.

I'm not finding Bonnie Cord on the Michaels website. I know hobbylobby carries it. Joann has it on their site. Walmart might have it in their craft section. I've seen it in a lot of places. DickBlick has a good photo of the packaging on their site: http://www.dickblick.com/products/bonnie-craft-cord/#photos


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Awesome, thanks for the inside look!


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## Mombie (Sep 27, 2015)

*Fantastic!*

Thanks for posting this! It is fantastic and just one more thing I want to do!


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