I came up with this Tornado Costume because of my daughter’s un-ending energy we call her “Hurricane Kelly” and since a hurricane would be very difficult to properly portray I gave her the tornado option.
I made the framework for this from a decreasing helix of thin wire fencing then chicken wire all trimmed and rounded (to avoid the pokeys) then wrapped the framework in Halloween spiderwebbing.
Gray helical spray paint give the “spinning” look and adjustable sports bag straps over her shoulders give the right position.
I used mini LED “rice” lights to enhance the spin look at night and miniature fence railing/cows/etc.from a hobby store to make the “debris”.
On Halloween night her mom put white streaks in her hair and made it stand up in all directions.
This is one of the best costumes I have seen so far and at little expense. Great job!!!
This is exactly what I want to do for my son! He hopes to be a tornado for Halloween. I am going to follow your design…as much as possible!
Thanks!!!
I love this! how imaginative!
Our department at work is going with a Wizard of Oz theme, and I was trying to think of how I would execute the tornado. Great ideas here – far better than the others I saw online that consisted only of items attached with string to a grey sweatsuit.
I have done this but took it a step further. I took small childrens plastic toys like cars, cows, and tied them with about a 6 inch length of fishing line, and sewed them onto the tornado in random order. Then you spin around and all of the objects would spin out away from them like they were spinning out of the tornado.
Here’s a link to the picture – http://bhaney.drivehq.com/oz/Dorothy-and-the-Tornado-A.jpg
The Dorothy costume was store purchased with custom ruby red slippers made with glitter and bows. The basket was added along with a little dog from home. The Tornado was fabricated out of a chicken wire frame covered with paper maché. It was painted and air brushed, then accessorized with photos from the movie (the flying witch, Gulch on the bicycle, the men in the boat where across the back) all scenes that Dorothy saw through the window from inside the tornado.
We also took the audio from the scene in the tornado as the items are flying by and Dorothy was yelling for Auntie Em. This played from an ipod nano and small speaker just inside the top of the funnel. We also added some farm toys and cows hanging from the bottom of the funnel. The port-hole was made to look like the one in the first scene at the Emerald City. Dorothy and company ring the bell only to find out that it is out of order (“Who rang that Bell?!?”). It had a door that would open allowing me to see out of the front.
The bottom legs of the pants had a picture of Dorothy’s gate and the house from the movie imprinted on them with more airbrushing to
who the destruction flying up around the tornado.
This is fabulous! Great job mom and dad!
My son wants to dress up as a tornado this Halloween (after the hurricane scare in NYC, he’s been OBSESSED) and I would love to replicate this costume. Could u tell me just how much spiderwebbing you had to purchase to achieve this look?
That is awesome. I’m planning on donning a similar costume this year (dressing as the Sharknado :) ) and didn’t even think about Halloween spider webs.