PROJECT: Wicked Halloween Props

A few posts back I said I'd share some details on the props I created for our "Wicked" Halloween costumes and Photo-Shoot, and I know TENS of people are just dying to read all about it!
So here we go... before I forget...

Something that I have learned to love in Cosplaying with Audrey are the wonderful little details and pieces we create out of necessity. Convenience and comfort have been key to our Cosplays, especially when making something for a Con. So if we need a bag or a purse for example, finding a way to theme it to the character's personality is a lot of fun.

Audrey and I have deemed these details "Character Embellishments", i.e.; things that aren't necessarily "canon", but add to the costume's story and the world it lives in. 

Like Audrey's Shiz University varsity sweater; nothing like it exists on-stage in the show, but it could very easily exist in their reality.
 

And she's darn cute in it...

In Wicked, Boq carries a small suitcase with him as he arrives at Shiz. Knowing we were taking our photos on a college campus, I wanted to play into the school scenes as much as I could, so, I went after the one prop I was pretty sure I could track down...

I was hoping to find a worn and torn vintage leather suitcase to modify, but couldn't find many affordable options. BUT I did find a vinyl cassette storage box (which is almost as old, am I right, Millennials?) that was the perfect size.

I started off like I do on every project, with a quick coat of spray paint to even everything out. 

I had some light brown left over from my Hunny Pots project and that was all I needed to cover up some crayon scribbles and the sticky remains of what was left behind by a few Hello Kitty stickers...

I picked up a small leather belt with some hardware to make a strap to make it feel like it was part of a larger set of baggage.
I stopped just shy of designing a luggage tag, but I ran out of time...
A few more passes with some black, grey, and dark brown paints for texture to give an "aged" look to the box, and I was beyond happy! 

I could have stopped right there...

But, of course, I wasn't ready to be done, so I designed a handful of Oz-Themed labels and souvenir stickers to add some more of that Character Embellishment that I mentioned earlier.

A fun $9 project that only took a few hours to pull off, AND I still got to bed before 2am!

I also threw together a Shiz textbook prop for the shoot. I went to a few thrift stores (yes, again) looking for a vintage book to work with, but I didn't have much luck (yes, again). So I grabbed a $5 sketchbook from Wal-Mart's art department.

 I needed a new one, anyway...  

A quick decal on the cover and an "IF FOUND" label on the back, with Boq's name and contact info (again, I love details, sue me...) made for a pretty simple, and nifty, prop.
I hit it with a few different colors of spray-paint as well, and took some sandpaper to the corners and aged it up a bit, like a generations-old textbook might be.
Easy. Simple. Awesome.

I had a blast and I love how the photos came out, but I've already said that...

That's all for now, I'll probably stop talking about Halloween soon. 

Maybe.

More on the way, 

Avery