Fact: It is not easy to find a giraffe costume for a 230-pound, 6' 3" man.
I discovered this fact last month while searching for a giraffe costume for my husband. He ever so kindly volunteered to dress as Joe for the JOE AND SPARKY, SUPERSTARS! book launch party. But the only costume I could find was
this little number. Sadly, we quickly realized that a 230-pound, 6' 3" man wearing yellow facepaint and an incomplete giraffe costume would terrify small children.
On to Plan B: a carnival cut-out. You know, one of these things:
I tried to get my crafty on and make one on my own. Several disastrous attempts and six Exact-o blades later, I was forced to create a Plan C. But time was running out! What to do???
Luckily, the Superstar Artists of
Taravella High School in Coral Springs, Florida came to the rescue. (It helps to have friends in sunny places.) Just LOOK at what they did!
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| Our Superstar Artists carefully planning, measuring, and sketching. |
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| Adding color to Joe & Sparky's Superflash 5000. |
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| The finishing touches to Joe's fruit hat. |
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| A few of the talented artists with their teacher, Susan Anderson. |
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| Voila! The masterpiece is done. Ready to be rolled up and shipped from Florida to Rhode Island. (Then I'd have to rubber cement the art to cardboard and carefully cut out those cute heads. Yikes!) |
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THANK YOU, SUPERSTAR ARTISTS OF TARAVELLA HIGH SCHOOL!
(Rebecca, Joel, Domingo, Dylan, and Ali) |
| Party time! Click play to see the finished cut-out & funny friends at the JOE AND SPARKY, SUPERSTARS! book launch party: |
I just read your interview over on Clara Gillow Clark's site. So I just popped over for a visit. The cut out is beautiful, they did a great job. That is a good idea, too. When my youngest was in kindergarten(many years ago) I drew a lion's face on a big poster board for the kids to stick their heads in for pictures. They really liked it. If I ever get lucky enough to get one of my manuscripts published, I might give this a try at book signings!
ReplyDeleteHi Janet,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and for the nice words about the Joe and Sparky cut-out! The students did an amazing job. Even the grown-ups at the party enjoyed it. I'd definitely recommend one for your future book signings.
Best of luck with your writing!