Recently designed and created this costume (with a lot of help). I have just gotten over months of physical therapy for my knee - been hurting since September and was diagnosed as several things. Was homeless for a good part of the first part of the year, to be able to save up enough for insurance to get it properly looked at.
The costume took a few days to create. We started with a cast of my torso, created by wrapping my torso in cellophane, taping that cellophane with packing tape and removing the tape with scissors. We then taped back the seam we created and stuffed the cast with packing popcorn and foam-in-a-can. Brutal process in my sweltering studio.
I wore the costume at the first annual Denver Century - a 100 mile bike ride through Denver, Colorado. The ride is not a race, just a fun ride through the environs of Denver. While riding, I cracked really bad fish-related jokes,
"How ya swimmin'?"
"I feel like a fish outta water!"
"I'm floundering out here!"
As well as reciting the theme from, JAWS, while sneaking up on people.There's a million things you can do in a fish costume, whilst riding a bike.
I got a lot of looks, a whole lot of smiles and made I think, a few people a little more happy to be alive.
I also packed a bunch of business cards and gave them out to anyone who would talk to me.
I would introduce myself like this:
"So, you know who Smokey the Bear is, right, well, I'm Oily The Fish!"
The front looked like this,
And, the back of the business card:
Here's the text:
The disaster caused by the Deepwater Horizon explosion has dumper tens of millions of gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. An ecological disaster, entire fish habitats may now be destroyed. The extend of the damage is still unknown - the data to make estimates has been withheld by Beyond Petroleum. It's probably really bad news. Something as simple as riding your bike, instead of driving your car could lessen the pressure to drill for oil in such environmentally-dangerous locations. If I can ride 100 miles in a fish costume as protest to the BP disaster, what incredible difference can you make with your bike on a daily commute, to lessen your personal dependence on oil?
My hope was that my humor and my comedic look would serve as a ice breaker to talk about more serious matters - what wouldn't you talk about to a giant fish riding a bike?
It didn't really work that way and I have my theories. This ride cost money - $70 to ride! You have to be somewhat well-off to ride it, since you can ride your bike any time you want, for basically free! Cycling can also be (but doesn't have to be) a rich man's pursuit - you can very easily spend thousands on a bicycle! These well-off people may not have been so interested in hearing such bad news, since they're so established in their lives: they have a job, a family and a home. They probably felt that I was intruding on a day off of their busy schedule. I was literally, a fish out of water, without any peers and very few sympathetic ears.
The people at Denver's Pride Feast, also the same day, also enjoyed my costume, immensely.
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