On Becoming Captain Barnacles - The Gathering

As mentioned in my last post, my new mission is to create a Captain Barnacles costume to appear at my son's birthday party. I set about gathering materials.

Safety first

• Suit. I needed a blue jumpsuit. I initially looked at the all-embarrassing jogging onesie, but decided against these because I didn't want to spent so much money on something I would never, ever, use again, and secondly they didn't come in the right colour. So I eventually decided on these disposable overalls.
  
  Tip: I ordered 2 (in case I managed to tear one), only to find that they come in packs of 4, which is not stated on their website. Would anyone like a free one?
  
  
  
  

• 

  Grrrrrr

  Head. Probably the defining feature of the Octonauts is their giant head size. Initially I considered a giant inflatable/paper mache head, but couldn't find anything that would work and didn't want to spend time doing paper mache. So in the end, I ordered this:
  
  Tip: This turned out to be a mistake (see below)

• 

  Ni Hao!

  Paws. These were the best I could find. The head bit doesn't look like Captain Barnacles so I will just tuck that down behind my back and rely on the hands and sleeve part.

• Shoes. I managed to find some cheap blue "ugg" boots (very polyestery) at Woolies.
• Belt. $5 black fake leather belt from Red Dot. This will be spray painted.
• Everything else. I figure I can make all the extra bits (compass, hat, mustache) out of painted cardboard. 

When it all finally arrived and I assembled it, it looked rather silly. I just looked like an anorexic polar bear that had just decided to enter a sludge tank. Realising that the big head would be the most important feature, I decided to make the giant head I first imagined. This was becoming a big project...

Stay tuned for the next episode.