2007
★ THE YEAR of THE CAT ★
Waverly’s Costume Rank: ★★★★
Dad’s Costume Rank: ★★★★★
Fixing Waverly’s animal themes and a piece of technology that had been floating around the house for a decade, we created Waverly’s most luminous costume to date. While living in New York, Natasha bought a “kit” of E-Wire from our local lamp purveyor. The kit was a two- or three-foot strip of wire that glowed like neon when attached to a battery pack, but was extremely flexible, unlike neon. This was one of those things you own, think about and show off once in a while but have no idea how to apply, at least not until a costume idea emerges.
fabrication
After some internet sleuthing, we found the original source that had undergone a few name changes (Live Wire). The wire was available in many colors and sizes so we loaded up on multiple colors and electrical configurations. We then constructed a wire armature and attached the Live Wire.
In retrospect, my only mistake was not fully understanding the power requirements of Live Wire, which are rather minimal. For each color of Wavely’s cat head (seven or eight total) I attached a battery pack. We certainly laughed at the time about all the buttons required to turn her costume “on” and the battery packs that resided around her waist, but it turned out I only needed one! A miscalculation due to our haste.
The only other change I would have made is how the cat head attached to Waverly’s own head. Next time I would let it sit on her shoulders and not her head even though it was cool that she could turn her head and the cat head at the same time.
the big night
The Cat Head was a huge success. Seeing the glowing light emerge through the darkness was a delight for many hosts. I also enjoyed the fact that we were our own safety gear—no need for reflectors or flashlights. The best time I had was driving Waverly to another neighborhood to show off for friends who had recently moved. The vision of Waverly and her glowing cat head in my rear view mirror was well worth the effort.
miscellany
Waverly’s costume was so cool, I decided to muscle in on the action too and so we made a pumpkin head for me.