Exterminate

"Exterminate!" Here's the Dalek costume I put together for Chloe.



Some problems I had in designing it were:

When you look at it, you should think DALEK!
How can I make it so she can sit down?
It has to be comfortable for her to wear all night?
She needs to be able to go up and down STAIRS with out the command, "elevate"
It needs to be easy to take on and off?
She needs to be able to see and speak...
She needs to be able to have a lot of arm freedom for candy collection.

After A LOT of thought, the best solution was to skip all recommended dalek costume designs using cardboard, foam board, concrete tube forms etc and just bag it! Make a sack she can wear with appliques that resemble dalek design. Think 80's R2D2 costume. I wanted it to have a general dalek shape so I made a collar out of cardboard to hold the bag around her. It also gives the appearance of a more flat dalek like surface around her neck. I used cheap bulk bin black fabric for the base and more expensive silver fabric for the roundules and other dalekish shapes on her costume. Yes it's all sewed on, fabric bonding didn't bond well with the two slippery fabrics. Yes it took a long time, there are 40 circles sewed on it. But I did a little every now and then all month long so it didn't seem like so much work.

I skipped a mask or entire head piece and opted for safety and comfort with just a hat. Many homemade daleks use salad bowls or paper cones I whipped out a bike helmet. It has a strap to hold it on and padding to make it comfortable. I used aluminum foil to cover it. The eye is the guts of an old pop up sprinkler I found in the garage. The "energy difusers" on top (that's what they really are, they release small amounts of built up energy so the daleks don't explode)Well those are caps from laundry detergent bottles hot glued on. I have flashy lights for them tonight but didn't tell Chloe yet, don't want her to waste the batteries.

To finish it off she has a plunger and a kitchen wisk for her Dalek arms. It's easy for her to get on and off. It doesn't drag on the ground. It has 4 arm holes, the two up front and two on the side at a more comfortable level. I'm definately driving them around this year and showing them off to everyone, they're so cute :)