Finished Result

I'm totally famous now:
WoW Insider's Costume Gallery Article
Yahoo Games Gallery (front page!) 
youtube video link  -  i'm 7:20 in....following the proposal.  HOW THE HECK DO YOU FOLLOW A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL -_-

And here are some highlight pics:

This kid was totally awesome - she actually plays (and is horde!)

almost...done...

that is all...back to work -_-

no sleep for me!

Sick, exhausted, cut open thumb, still not done

Sorry no real update. I'm just writing this from my phone on the way to work (I'm there from 9 an to 10pm tonight). I went to bed at 4:20am. I don't think I've gotten more than 4 hrs sleep a night the last week. I may die today. Oh ya, I also picked up a cold.

But ya, anyways.. After pulling an all nighter tonight I'll be done I'm sure.

Remind me to never do this again.

My staff has fibre optics. Cool, eh?

/panic

Short explanations since I have to get back to work, but here are some update pics:

Accent Buttons for robe (need paint):

Also, in staff news.... had a panic yesterday because we realized that my staff dimensions are too big to be a carry-on and also the luggage needed to transport them count as oversized (which is like 175 bucks).  It's not that the staff takes up a lot of volume, but it's just long and wide =(

However, as of today a note is on my file at the airport saying I have permission to take my staff with me on the plane. haha!  huzzah!  I just hope there are no complications at my connection in Minneapolis.  If they tell me I can't bring it on the plane, I'll seriously break down and cry.  I hope the person gets guilted by tears.


p.s. i'm having a love affair with hot glue.  that stuff is the best!!!!!!!! i had no idea!!!!

Messy Update

I had the opportunity to play with paper mache again.  This is the frustrating part about the staff though - it's like every step I need to do takes an overnight or a day to dry before I can do anything else =(

Here's me paper mache-ing it up.  Yes, I know. I should be a hand model or something >.>

The finished product looks pretty goopy, but I did that intentionally to get it fairly hard when dried (get your mind out of the gutter, Seche). 

I sanded the roughness off when the paper mache was dried as well as added some paper clay for details I was unable to carve:

When this all was all dried, I painted the surface with gesso (canvas primer) in order to give a good surface to paint on.  I might need to do a couple layers of this, and then sand before painting.

I also worked on the fabric sashes for the shoulders tonight.  Stuff like this takes bloody long.  One sash honestly took me a couple hours to do.....I'll finish the second tomorrow.  It takes so long because each piece like this is 2 pieces of fabric attached to interfacing, and then the edging sewn on, and all the stupid detail work to hold on each gold piece.  What possessed me to do it like this is beyond me since it takes sooooooo long even with my foot all the way down on my sewing machine.  =(  Thankfully though, this is the last piece I have like this.

And here's what it looks like on the shoulder.  Note, I still have to do the bottom gem part that hangs on each -_-

Also, I pretty much need to be done by Monday night.  I leave Thursday morning and work from 9am to 10:30pm on Wednesday.  Tuesday evening I'm hoping will be packing of the costume and makeup trials.

To-do list

Here's my list of stuff I still have to do, assuming all goes according to plan (ie my ears and tusks show up and I manage to squeeze everything in).  I'll cross them off as I do them:

Robe:
- belt buckle
- finish sewing bodice pieces together
- velcro/snaps/etc for pieces that come off and on
- details - buttons, cording
- hems

Shoulders
- fabric sashes & lights
- touch up paint (black outlining, any white specks filled in)
- glaze
- finish carving inside and line it
- attachment method to robe

Helmet
- finish sewing base
- permanently attach the wires
- grey accent pieces and buttons
- lighting
- attach ears

Shoes
- make troll feet

Gloves
- troll fingers
- gloves

Staff
- paper mache
- paint priming layer
- paint
- glaze
- icicles and gems
- lighting portion (???)

Other
- practice painting my face to be a troll




Oh man...I'm gonna die.

Staff Carving

I've spent the last couple nights carving my staff (last night on the bottom, tonight on the top).

Here are some progress pics!

As you can see, a lot gets hacked off (albeit the top does have more to it than the bottom though) =P

And makes a ton of mess!

But after all that, here's the bottom half:

And the top half:

The next step will be to cover both with paper mache to make it hard, and fill in any detail work I wasn't able to carve with paperclay.  Then I'll cover the whole thing with gesso (canvas priming paint) and then sand it to make the surface paintable.

So ya....still tons of work ahead, but I think it'll look good!

As for my helmet....I'm not happy with how it's working... we'll see if I'll /showhelm or not.  Also, my tusks and ears haven't shown up so that's determining if I need to make the rest of my troll parts or not =(


In other news, I'm missing 4.0.1 stuff because of my costume =(

Staff beginnings

I spent much of today working on my staff.  I decided to go with Archus, partially because it won the poll, but also because that's the one I wanted to make, even if it does seem the most complicated >.>

I printed out some life-sized copies:

Then I made cardboard shapes to make the basic shape of the staff to go around the wooden rod I have. 

 I have to do the staff in two parts so I can detach them for travel purposes.  Sadly, I don't think they'll let me just carry it onto the plane =P

Bottom:

Top:

From there, I covered it in expanding foam so it can become three dimensional and I'll carve it from there, using the cardboard inside as a guide.

At this point, I ran out of expanding foam and it's Thanksgiving in Canada so stores closed early =(

I'll keep working on my bodice/corset for tonight.

Bodice Work

I'm continuing the trend of taking 3 technique attempts on a part of my costume before being satisfied.  I've been working on the bodice area (chest, torso, and back area) and trying to get it right.  If you notice in the female model of this robe, the chest piece kind of hugs/cups the boobs so trying to recreate that is proving tricky.

At first, I thought I'd build a corset of sorts.  Since I have no clue how to do that, I tried using one of my bras to sew the pieces onto.  That way, I'd just attach it over my robe and it was already fitted around my boobs. 

 However, the amount of layers on it was getting ridiculous.  It was fine for the maroon part, but when I starting trying to attach the purple fabric over the bra cups it was just getting messy looking.  After 2 layers of fabric, and 2 bras (the one I was wearing under the robe, and now this one), the shape just kind of got lost.

So, I've attempted to solve this problem by scrapping the top bra idea and building my own wire system to hug the robe fabric itself to my shape:

Yes, I know this is an awkward boob shot.  Oh well, I've gotten over it, please do as well =P  Also, I know it's super grainy, but my apartment has terrible lighting and my cheap point and shoot camera has an awful flash and it looks terribly overexposed if I use the flash >.<

So the idea behind this wire frame (it hooks behind each arm and then will be tied together) is that the other pieces will be sewn to it.  Around the wire will have that greyish fabric and then the maroon stomach piece will be sewn to the edge of that.

Also, trolls have a much longer torso than I do I've realized so trying to compress the corset piece is kind of sad =(

Oh, here's my belt progress (still needs the buckle):

I had a nightmare last night that I didn't get my costume done =(
I'm starting to panic.....

I'm famous!

My friend, Richard (aka Hampus in game), recently did an interview with me about my costuming process and WoW experiences.

Check it out! -> Look in the Air - Interview with Moldycheese

Also, check out his other posts!  He blogs about all kinds of fun, nerdy stuff!  =)

Awesome title for awesome picture

Order Statuses (Stati?)

My costume makeup has now arrived (light blue, teal, and a darker blue and white for accents), but I'm getting worried about my tusks and ears =(

I ordered the prosthetics before the makeup (from different sources), but my credit card hasn't even been billed for them yet....and they're coming from Germany.  I emailed them this morning and they replied saying they had been sent and I should get them within 10 days.  I'm really hoping that's actual days, and not business days.  Business days takes me to the 20th, and my plane leaves the morning of the 21st.

If they don't arrive, I'm not sure what to do =(

/fingerscrossed

Less than 3 weeks! oO

Sadly I didn't seem to get too much done this week.  It was my goal to get my robe and helmet done before October.....ya... >.>

I do think I've got my helmet technique down. It's just a matter of sewing it all together (and then the detailing...oh the details...).  First, I did it with my cheap fabric that I made my trial robe out of.  I actually cut up the robe to do it =P

I lay a large piece of fabric over my frame and just kind of tucked and pinned it in place.  From my trial, I've decided it'll be more efficient to make the collar part and the top of the head part out of separate pieces.  There was far too much fabric waste with this method.

All of that hanging fabric you see beneath the high collar will be trimmed and sewn in place.  No fear ;P



I've also been sewing all the parts of the robe together - the sleeve flames, bottom of the robe flames, hanging panels, etc. 

^ This isn't finished.  The trim is just pinned in place.  Underneath the diamond, that section will be the grey colour.

Tomorrow, my day off, will be devoted to the helmet, belt, and perhaps the chest piece if I can get that far.  Everything takes so long =(