The Tree

A couple of weeks ago we started discussing what Skye wanted to be for Halloween. She didn't have any idea. I would throw out a suggestion and to each of one I got some variation of NO. "Then what do you want to be?" " A tree"
That's kind of interesting, certainly challenging. I really should of thought about what an impractical request it was but instead I started thinking of how to make it happen.

Every fourth Thursday of the month there is what's called a Super Duper Show and Tell at one of the Home school park days . This month was to be a costume parade. This would be a good chance to try out the costume almost a week before the "real" event. I figured this would be a good opportunity to teach some craft skills, work toward a Girl Scout badge as well as creating a different kind of costume.

And so it began.

The frame for the tree which prompted Cindy to ask, "How are you going to transport that think?" It started to hit me early on that a costume that starts with transportation concerns probably will have other issues. But I moved forward.



Skye helped me with paper mache for around two hours,. To do three layers of paper,(we used some heavy duty paper which was harder to work with but didn't require as many layers) took around 9 or ten hours. I attempted to add a layer of bondo(two part epoxy). The sample patch turned out perfect but when I tried to cover the entire tree I ended up with a small bucket of unspreadable hard stuff. And when I tried mixing it on the tree itself I ended up with patches that wouldn't dry and areas that would just crumble off. I ended up with some good areas as well but it was certainly not worth the toxins that I had exposed myself(Skye was not involved in this part of the project)


Then we painted it, pretty straight forward, a couple of coats, some highlighting and shading. I also had the practical matter of devising a way for her to carry it. Workman's suspender solved that. We also figured a way to have an owl puppet that she could operate from inside, directing people to put the candy in her nest which would have a bag under it and inside the tree.


The final product was finished just hours before the show and tell. I also ended up making a couple of pumpkin pies from scratch, all the way down to making it from fresh pumpkins. So I ended up with only a couple hours of sleep and getting to the park late.
As we were driving to the park, I suddenly realized how disastrous it would be it Skye fell over. Her arms were by sides, so if she fell it would be a free fall faceplant. Oh sh**, I had created a death trap.
We got to the park, rushed to join the others and set Skye in the tree. She could move, just very, very slowly. I meanwhile nervously followed behind, my hand almost in constant contact. Well everyone loved her outfit but when it came time for the parade she made it around 20 feet and then stopped. She wouldn't budge. She couldn't keep up.She would take a short cut to meet the kids at the end. She wouldn't let me take it off of her. She was too frustrated and embarrassed to do anything. Meanwhile the sun beat upon it adding heat to an already bad situation. I finally talked her through it and she joined the other kids for the picnic and play. We both agreed that the tree was fun and cool but way impractical. A new costume was needed.


Picture time