My stick man costume attempt using XL Wire

Darcy Events Leave a Comment

So for those who don’t like reading – the above is a video I made of me showcasing my dancing skills tomfoolery with a stick man costume I made using XL wire.

What is that and why you ask? Well, a stick man costume using XL wire is the idea I came up with during one of my daily bike rides. I figured it would be the perfect costume for both Halloween and the annual night bike ride known as “Tour la Nuit“. I thought a stick man costume would be easy to do for my first attempt. So when I got home, I started researching online and as most things out there, I realized that I was not the first one to do this. It turned out it was a somewhat popular costume for events like Burning Man.  This was good news for me because I finally did not have to be the guinea pig.  A nice path had been blazed for me to make my journey easier.   I actually didn’t know what XL wire was before I started doing the research but I knew I wanted some kind of LED lighting and based on what I found out there, it was the best product to use for what I wanted to achieve.  A quick search around the web led me to a website called glowculture.ca. It was a Canadian site, seemed to have a good reputation and prided itself on selling higher quality wire than some of the shadier sites out there.  I was sold.  I put in an order for what I needed and I received my order within a week.

Once the order came in, I sat on it for a bit as I was daunted by my next task. How to adhere the wire to my clothing in a non-permanent way (a glue gun would have done the job but would have ruined the clothes and made the wire a permanent fixture on those clothes).  Sewing is not my forté and it seems that it was the best way to attach the wire to clothing.  With the help of my wife, we found a perfect solution.

Stick man XL wire costume - long exposure

I used three different pieces of wire (all the same colour) to form the legs, arms and torso/head pieces. Using a cheap pair of black track pants and a black hoodie, the wires were attached at all the critical locations using safety pins. The safety pins were then taped up so there would be no accidental open and pokes going on. This would enable me to move my arms, legs and torso without worrying about pulling the wire since it was not tightly bound. The result was that it gave me a more squiggly look but that wasn’t a bad thing for a stick man outfit. I kept the battery pack in the hoodie’s front pouch and I cut a hole to the inside of my top so I could run all my wires on the inside of my clothes (Wizard of Oz stuff here). The longest part to figure out was how to achieve a perfectly round head. My research always led me to the recommendation to line the outside of your hood but I knew that would not give me the effect I was looking for. I got an idea and after hitting a few hardware and art stores, I found what I was looking for. A thin metal ring that was the perfect size.

I wrapped the XL wire around the ring and then attached it to my bike helmet with some low gauge wire. My costume was now ready. At least version 1.0 was. I took it out for a test run at a public event (if it was going to fail, I was going to look dumb but who cares) and I felt a little self-conscious during the daylight hours as I had this metal ring around my head and wires all over my clothes. I got a few strange looks initially but those changed to amazement when the sun went down. I got props from many a person but that’s another story. When I got home from the night ride, I deemed the XL wire stick man experiment a success and I decided to shoot and edit a a short video that you saw above. So that is version 1 my costume. I plan on making a few adjustments and a few additions in time for Halloween and I’ll have to rely on my 20 year old welding/soldering skills to pull it off. How awesome would that be? So awesome.

Feel free to ask any questions – I’ll answer as best as I can.

Worthy Quotes

Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
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Plato
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Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
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I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
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He that lieth down with Dogs, shall rise up with Fleas.
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Gandhi
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.
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Cale Yarborough
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.
Groucho Marx
Do, or do not. There is no 'try'.
Yoda
Jedi Master
A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
Winston Churchill
Once in a while you will stumble upon the truth but most of us manage to pick ourselves up and hurry along as if nothing had happened.
Winston Churchill
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.
Benjamin Franklin
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
Harry Truman
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
Albert Einstein
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers
History is written by the victors.
Winston Churchill
If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems. And that’s a big mistake.
Frank Wilczek
We learn something every day, and lots of times it’s that what we learned the day before was wrong.
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The measure of a life is not what that life accomplishes,but rather the impact that life has on others.
Jackie Robinson
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.
Erica Jong
Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
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Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.
Kurt Vonnegut
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
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We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.
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Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage. He didn't have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn't have to hear about the way his mother cooked.
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Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else’s can shorten it.
Cullen Hightower
People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.
Zig Ziglar
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Mark Twain
Well done is better than well said.
Benjamin Franklin
Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away
Benjamin Franklin
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.
Kristian Wilson
Nintendo, Inc, 1989
There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
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Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.
Ovid
Poet (43 BCE - CE 17)
Well begun is half done.
Aristotle
If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect.
Ted Turner
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
Winston Churchill
We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!
Benjamin Franklin
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
Albert Einstein
A Man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
Benjamin Franklin
The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.
Mark Twain
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Benjamin Franklin
If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.
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You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.
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Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
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You can do anything, but not everything.
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In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
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Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.
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I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.
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If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
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When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.
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It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
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Aristotle
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Mark Twain
Tis a great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults; greater to tell him his.
Benjamin Franklin
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.
Robert Frost
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.
Plato
If the lessons of history teach us anything it is that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.
Anonymous
Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame.
Benjamin Franklin
When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.
Benjamin Franklin
There are lies, damned lies and statistics.
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Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
Benjamin Franklin
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
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Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time, to figure out whether you like it or not.
Virgil Garnett Thomson
The manager administers, The leader innovates. The manager maintains, the leader develops. The manager relies on systems, the leader relies on people. The manager counts on controls, the leader counts on trust. The manager does things right, the leader does the right thing.
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Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.
Alfred A. Montapert
To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
Jack Handey
Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today.
Benjamin Franklin

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