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 =(