Crafting misadventures with Ari

Why oh why is it so hard to choose?

I run my claws through a bowl of turquoise, wooden, and polished stone beads absentmindedly. Halloween is approaching, the biggest event of the year, and I need to be ready, but what to dress up as? I’m stumped.

A ghost? I don’t own any white fabric, too hard to bleach with the stuff I have on hand. None of the traders have any, either.

Witch? No, too risky, too stereotypical for a tribal Eoses. Lots of great material lying around my tent though. Feathers and such.

Swamp monster? Yeah, a swamp monster would be cool, but I have a feeling that my bright skin would show through the paint and ruin the effect. A pink and purple swamp monster isn’t exactly scary.

Werewolf, maybe? I’ve got lots of animal pelts around for winter insulation. I could sew a bodysuit out of that easy enough. Ooh, yes!

It’s already starting to come together in my mind - reindeer pelts for the stomach and limbs, and a buffalo hide for the darker, shaggier fur down the back. My large, squishy gecko tail will provide the perfect base for a thick fluffy werewolf tail, without wasting materials. And I think I could make a decent headpiece without damaging my ears, too.

Now, where did I leave my needle and thread? After a few minutes of frantic searching, I uncover a bone needle and a few spools of thread (of course they were underneath a pot, where else would they be?), and set to work gathering the finest pelts I can find. I have quite the collection, so this shouldn’t be too difficult.

Hours of measuring, cutting and sewing passes in a blur, and soon enough I have a halfway-decent werewolf suit. I can clean up the tent later. Tufts of chopped-off fur have ended up everywhere, even on the ceiling somehow. I guess a frantic crafting craze does that, huh?

But looking at the suit again… it looks unfinished, somehow. Not quite right. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s definitely missing something.

Fiddling with my necklace gives me the perfect idea - beads! I grab handfuls from the bead bowl, and feathers, strips of leather, and a couple coloured strings too. Of course! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!

I begin braiding a segment of the mane, stringing a turquoise bead on the end. A strip of leather ties it off nicely. I string another braid with a wooden bead and two brown feathers, and add blue thread as I braid a third.

I add little braids mostly to the mane and tail, but I add a few around the wrists, because why not? At this point I begin to get worried about using too many of my beads, so I pause and take a step back to look at the suit as a whole. The effect of all these braids and beads and feathers is absolutely stunning! It really brings the whole thing together. I don’t really think I need any more decorations, it’s got enough as is, but I add a single strip of leather wound around one wrist as a bracelet.

At last, my werewolf costume is finished. It’s got a really neat witch-doctor vibe, and will surely make me the star of the festival!