Then it was back to the house to put on the makeup. Keith had ordered liquid latex from an online supplier, with the idea that it would be flexible and we could paint our faces and the bald caps with it at all once. We all changed into our outfits (black long sleeved turtlenecks and black pants) and got ready to put on the makeup. When Evelien and I opened the jar, we were wondering what the layer was on top… then we realized that it was dried latex. Hoping that what was underneath was useable, we pushed aside the top layer. What was underneath was chunky and definetly not liquid, more of a cream-not good. We tried using it anyway, even tried diluting some of it with water-no go. The brand new, freshly ordered paint was no good! Here it is, almost time to leave, and no latex and no blue men/women.

Luckily, since none of us knew how the liquid latex would stay on while singing, we had a backup plan. I had bought two cakes of blue greasepaint and brought with me a can of blue spray paint that matched the greasepaint. Keith and Evelien picked up some hair dye spray in case that worked better. I had some experience with grease paint from watching clowns do their makeup and participating in talent contests, so I knew a few methods of working with it and knew we'd be able to play and sing in it.

We decided to put on the baldcaps first, which took a bit of doing. Cutting out the ear holes was a bit of an adventure in trying not to give unexpected haircuts to each other! We decided to do Evelien's costume first, so with a few dabs of spirit gum and judicious tucking in of hair, Evelien had her bald cap on. Keith went off to figure out which paint would work best, figuring we’d spray the other two caps before putting them on. Meanwhile, I painted Evelien a nice shade of blue… ears and all! The hardest part is getting the paintee to relax while fingers are smearing makeup around near their eyes.

Working with greasepaint isn’t bad, you just have to watch how much you put on. The fun part was setting the makeup..you use baby powder and pat it all over the greasepaint. Evelien wasn’t quite sure how baby powder was supposed to work and seemed a bit reluctant at having it put on. As we were running out of time, there wasn’t much room for discussion. So, I got to poof Evelien’s face with baby powder…….judiciously! It was a bit tricky keeping it off the black turtlenecks, even with a towel, but it brushes off pretty well. Just make sure that the person brushing off the baby powder isn’t the same person applying the blue greasepaint or you’ll have black and blue clothing (oops). Also make sure the powderee doesn't breathe in while being powdered, powder between breaths.

Keith came back with the paint results during the powdering process-we’d have to paint the caps after they were on or the paint would flake off. Keith asked why Evelien was blue and white- I explained that the powder sets the top layer of makeup but not the bottom so it stays flexible and doesn’t crack; although we might have to repowder as we sweat because it will get shiny. I showed Evelien how to flick off the extra powder and pretty soon she was all blue with no white.  Powder discussion over, it was time for painting Evelien’s baldcap... soon to be another lesson in trusting the people doing your makeup.

We quickly found out four hands are better than two, one person holds a sheet over the parts you don’t want to paint while the other carefully but quickly sprays the baldcap… and the paintee holds their breath so they don’t breathe fumes. We ended up using hands to covers ears but a bit of blue spray paint on our fingers just added to the costumes. We managed to keep most of the spray paint off Evelien's skin. Once Evelien was done, we surveyed the results…….not bad! Then it was mine and Keith’s turn. We had a bit trickier of a time with putting on the bald caps due to having long hair. We ended up not gluing the backs down and just ran our ponytail/braid down the backs of the turtlenecks. Long hair makes the spraypainting harder too, the flap of cap down the back has to be sprayed away from the hair. Somehow my cap was a different construction than theirs and had a lot less side flap-this worked out fine because I needed to wear my glasses and the extra material would’ve made this tricky. We quickly got our makeup on and powdered each other up. I did learn it’s easier to powder someone who is sitting down than someone who is standing up when they are taller than you!

By now it was time to go, so we grabbed the spirit gum in case anyone came loose and everyone piled into the truck.

On to the gig and pictures of the final result!

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