F is for Frankensteining

Accidental Frankenstein: I wore this to the auto show and to the cafe, but my friend informed me that I had accidentally cosplayed as a female Malcolm Reynolds. So true.

Okay, everyone knows about Frankenstein, the super awesome fictional doctor who literally created a monster in his laboratory. Do you know about Frankenstein: the verb?

If you want to Frankenstein something, it means you’re taking parts of various items and putting them together to create one new (hopefully better) item. It’s seriously helpful if you’re low on cash or just a DIY kind of person. I’m both!

My three favorite geeky things to Frankenstein include:

LARP Props. A little bit of glitter from my scrapbooking supplies, some torn up clothing, and some old couch foam and voila! New prop. Recently I’ve made a cold-forged iron cage door and a ‘unicorn book’ out of some scavenged items.

Costuming! I’m not much for sewing, but when I buy costume items, I try to focus on things that can be re-purposed or worn in different settings. I have a lovely reversible gold bodice from Damsel in this Dress that’s been used in a steampunk setting and in a medieval fantasy game.

Computers. I’m new to it, but computers are Frankensteinable. My beleaguered HP Pavilion gaming computer is pretty messed up. It looks like I’m* going to mate that machine with my husband’s non-functioning Alienware desktop to make some sort of AlienPavilion master-machine. I don’t care what it is, so long as it doesn’t freeze up on me.

*I’m leaving this to capable experts.

Have you ever Frankensteined something? If so, what? I’m sure the possibilities are endless…food, clothes…let’s just stop at people!