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I've wanted to do this costume for almost three years. In the 9 months where I worked (on and off) on this costume, I had so many mishaps that most parts of this costume were constructed at least twice. The first tail was stolen from outside my apartment after I ordered it on Ebay. The first two pairs of pants were too tight. The costume is complete now, and I love it. I wore it to Ggreg Taylor's second Forgotten Opera benefit for the San Francisco Opera.

To make the horn, I sculpted the shape in polymer clay and baked it so that it was hard. Then I cast a rubbery mold with materials from TAP Plastics. Finally, I cast a lightweight horn in pourable foam, painted it to match the mask, and stuck it to my head with spirit gum. The spirit gum was precarious at times... Each step of the process took several tries, but I learned a lot. I'm really happy that I completed this costume and I really like how it looks.

Photos by Lauren Garcia and CC Lipp.