Costume contest winners!

Published 12:56 am Friday, November 21, 2014

There’s some serious skill in Central Oregon when it comes to making Halloween costumes. From the scary to the funny to the simply cute, these costumed revelers really pulled out all the stops for The Bulletin’s annual Halloween Costume Contest.

It was hard to choose a winner, we’ll be honest, but in the end, verisimilitude won out over pure cuteness. Without further ado, here are the winners:

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Grand prize: Eve Arenal Hruby

Costume: Plague maiden

Costume details: Wow! Eve, 12, an eighth-grader at Cascades Academy, made all of the costume herself, including the latex face makeup, which she made in clay molds with liquid latex. The dress was purchased at a thrift store and the rats and cobwebs in her hair came from Michaels and Spirit Halloween. Eve is fascinated by the Black Plague and has done a lot of research on the topic. She said she would like to turn her makeup special effects skills into a career one day, and has aspirations to go on the TV competition “Face Off,” which pits makeup artists against one another.

“She’s always been obsessed with gore,” said her mother, Andes Hruby.

The costume started off as a history class assignment and turned into a full-scale personal incorporating elements of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, Eve said. She said it took her a week of solid work, plus weekend, to create the look.

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Winner, age 1-4: Hadley McCorkle

Costume: This 1-year-old cutie is dressed as a snail in a costume made by her mother, Amy McCorkle.

Costume details: The snail “shell” is made from craft paper rilled into a spiral and pinned to Hadley’s clothes. McCorkle created the antennae using a headband, zip ties, Styrofoam balls and spray paint. McCorkle said Hadley’s brother, Sawyer, wanted his sister to be a snail for Halloween, so she started looking for snail costumes online and found an example like this one. Why a snail? McCorkle has no idea.

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Winner, age 5-12: Brothers Dylan and Brayden Jones

Costume: Jawas

Costume details: Dylan, 7, and Brayden, 12, dressed as Jawas, based on the desert-dwelling characters from “Star Wars.” Everything except the gloves and the LED glowing eyes is homemade, said their mother, Jessica Jones, the seamstress (and crafter) behind the costumes. She sewed the robes with rough-finished edges, made the glowing eyes from electric candle bulbs places inside plastic balls lines with tin foil, and even created the leather boxes on the sashes.

The boys are both huge “Star Wars” fans, they said.

“The could probably re-enact it,” said their mom.

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Winner, 13 and older: David and Kirsten Heron, plus family

Costume: “How to Train Your Dragon 2” family

Costume details: David and Kirsten Heron and their children, Ellie, 6, and Jake, 9 dressed as dad Stoick the Vast, mom Valka, son Hiccup and Viking lass Astrid from the movie “How to Train Your Dragon 2.”

Kirsten Heron said “How to Train Your Dragon” is the kids’ favorite movie and TV show, so it was a natural costume choice. The costumes are incredibly detailed, with trim pieces and accents true to the movie. Kirsten assembled most of the costumes herself, using pre-made clothing like T-shirts and adding embellishments made of craft foam, faux leather, fur and other materials. She even carved the skull accents on Astrid’s skirt from clay, hardened them and painting them before attaching to the skirt. All with little sewing to speak of.

“I wield a really awesome glue gun,” she said.

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