On the Friday evening before the contest, I had my final opportunity to do touch-up paint.

I gave Simon eyebrows and lips, and I pained the inside of his mouth.

Simon's mouth is an exceptionally bright red, as he sustains his lifeforce by feasting on the dreams and enthusiasm of America's musical youth.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I would like to emphasize having access to a work table or tall cardboard box, so you can work at a comfortable height. 

The costume was coming together nicely, and just in time. The basic elements were finished, and I now had time to shop for a dress, improve the design and get the tweaks out.

Controlling the thumbs-up rod with wires didn't work. When I pulled on them, they tended to just pull the rod toward me, instead of causing it to rotate. Instead, I bent the end and attached a handle.

Randy got eyebrows painted and a strip of packing tape finished his wire frame eyeglasses.

This is also a pretty good picture of his new, sleeker hair. I was very satisfied with the finished appearance of Randy.

To securely attach the red cups, I used a screw, and little square of corrugated plastic for a washer. I had a bad feeling that these cups were going to have to take a lot of abuse.

The next morning, it was time to get a dress for Paula Abdul, and to administer the final touches. Stacy and I visited Claire's, where I picked up two pairs of earrings: One dangly pair for Paula, and one pair of diamond studs for Randy.

Stacy helped me get Randy's ears pierced. He didn't even flinch.

The final engineering problem was to make the jaw-moving easy to control from beneath the table. Everything was securely connected to the table, so I could just tilt it forward for easy access.

part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14