Cute Costumes: Morton Salt Girl

For our first Month of Masquerades costume this year, I thought I’d go with something simple: The Morton Salt Girl.

I first saw this costume idea on a little girl, and it was absolutely adorable. So I thought, “Why not try a more modern, and slightly more mature take?”

To make my modernized version, I chose a sleeveless dress, a pair of MaryJane style stilettos, and a unique umbrella that I bought at a Renaissance Faire. I even picked up a some Morton Salt to complete the look!

When it rains it pours

I struggled with two parts during this, the first being how warm the costume turned out to be. One would assume shooting a sleeveless dress with fleece leggings in October wouldn’t be bad at all. But I did not take into account the streak of 80 degree temperatures we would have when I was shooting. It also didn’t help that I shot this costume in my makeshift studio, with lights blazing at close proximity. Let’s just say I’m lucky I didn’t have to edit out any sweat stains!

The second thing I struggled with was actually shooting the costume. As I mentioned, I set up my home studio, but what I didn’t know when I started was that I was missing some key items for my lights, as well as forgetting about the lack of space. Normally when I use my backdrops, I’m doing closer portraits, but I wanted full length shots with my umbrella. Maybe this is what they mean by it being bad luck to open an umbrella inside…

While thankfully nothing was broken or ripped, my umbrella continually got caught on the backdrop. But when I moved further away, I ended up too close to the camera. I finally found a happy medium, but it was a bit frustrating to figure out in an 83 degree dining room with poor air flow and rising temps.

Silver linings

All in all, the costume itself was a success, and I recommend this costume for anyone trying to err on the side of easy. I already had the shoes and tights. So in total, I spent $10 on the dress, $3 on the salt, and $25 on the hand painted umbrella. If you check amazon for a cheaper umbrella this costume could be made for $25 or less! Not too shabby!

Just remember, “When life throws you a rainy day, play in the puddles!”