Welcome to the final chapter of cupcake creation– you should be well on your way to completing some culinary costumery.  Now that you’ve cooked your cupcake and frosted, it’s time to get personal.

Cupcake faces are not only involved, they are sensitive creation experiences.  You cannot just draw on some google eyes and a happy mouth.  Leave the emoticons for Twitter.  Really concentrate and focus on the spirit[ that has gone into your creatuon thus far. What were you thinking and experiencing?  What part of your personality decided to make a cupcake costume?  Who do you want to be when you step inside?

Masks, costumes, and ritualistic possessions are not to be taken lightly. Sure, it’s a fucking cupcake costume.  But it will watch you at night. And what do you want it to send to your dreams?

You need:

Sculpey, clay, papier mache, or whatever you like to create your specialized facial features.

For Miss RF, I used:

Eyes:

One Styrofoam sphere, cut in half.  I attached the eyes with zip ties and covered up the plastic telltale knob with her pupils, made of…

Black and Blue suede scraps.  The suede gives her a doe-eyed look.  Romantic, ethereal, yet they can be so cold and witheringly icy at times.

White Gesso.  Gesso nicely covers in the pockmarks of Styrofoam.

Sewing fringe.  White, colored black with a massive marker.  It gives a bit of depth to her lashline.

Pantyhose scraps for eyelids.  I told you to save your panties.  Wrap them around the top of your eyelids for all-over fabric harmony.

Hot glue.  To glue everything together.

Soul searching.  The eyes are the window to the soul.  Her personality came through while cutting and measuring and placing the eyes.

Lips:

Wood pieces & oil-based paint markers for teeth.  They were from the dollar store– supposed to be little milk bottles for dolls.  They make great teeth.  Just paint and glue inside the lips.

Sculpey bakeable clay and acrylic paint, covered with hi-gloss medium for the lips.  I mixed red, white, and a pearlescent white to get the shiny, Wet’N’Wild tone.  Hi-gloss medium gives it that sexy JUST SMACKED look.

To attach the lips to the cake, I glued scraps of pantyhose to the back and sewed them on.  It works well.  If you can’t attach your facial features by sewing, glue something to the back that IS sewable.  Duh.

Character.  Yes, she has a gold tooth.  What do you expect of a glamorous sweet?

Conscience:

Pom-pom with face on it.  I knew exactly what this pom-pom was destined for the moment I saw it.

Hot glue gun.  Heat and glue.  Done.

Before you glue the face on, take the cupcake out back and give it a good spray-painting.  Two coats are best.  Get it even.  Remember, it’s supposed to look like a baked good.  Don’t cover the spongy consistency of the foam too heavily.  A word of wise to the fume-averse:  This baby will suck up the paint, so build in a lot of drying time before you wear it.  Locked in a tiny sponge of spray-paint fumes, tottering around on heels with your arms across your chest like you’ve been buried alive, your only source of vision obscured by quilt batting… it’s a job for us professionals, to be sure.

What else do you want your cupcake to have?  If you’re going for a different flavor of topping, give the quilt batting a LIGHT dusting of color.  Get the whirls.  Make it look like the airbrushed cupcakes you buy from the store.Crazy sprinkles?  Miss Rotten Frosting used cut up fun noodles.  (See how we reuse our dollar store ingredients?)  Paint them different colors.  Or make a little flag that looks like a toothpick flag.  Make a big cherry out of a bounce ball and secure it with a secret stick of wood.

Did you want to see while wearing the cupcake?  Grab a pair of scissors and put it on, using the suspender-belt attachment system.  Cut out a 3-inch gash from the top of the cupcake.  Put on the frosting top and fluff the batting out over the eye hole.  You can see out!  But they can’t see you.  Costume fail averted!

You have all your pieces, now.  The colored cake base, complete with arms.  The delicious looking frosting top.  The face and personality.  Put on your tights and boots.  Have a friend top you off and open the door.  Hit the world, cupcake.  Go nuts!