Oh em gee finally

Yesterday I seriously spent 8 hours trying to get the shape of the "horns" for Maghda's headpiece.  I didn't even bother to take pictures of my failed attempts out of paper, cardboard, foam, test fabric.  In all it took about 6 tries of different templates to get something I'm happy with.  I'm simply not good at making flat objects (fabric) into 3 dimensional shapes that not only go out, but also go back (the horns stick out, but also flay backwards).

I only have the first one sewn... and I have no idea yet how I'm going to get it to keep it's shape while being lightweight enough to stay up and on my head.. but I have ideas!

However, I'm too excited with this little victory that I can't help but sharing:

Now, onto the second one!  (And then the detailing, the interior supports, the rest of the helmet for it to attach to... etc etc... YEESH!)

p.s. this is what my foam head turned out to be, which ended up being pretty helpful:

What better way to get a headform than to make it from your own!

So, it's difficult trying to create patterns off of my own head without suffocating myself and Dan doesn't have the patience to do it for me, so I'm creating a replica of my head to pattern the head piece off of.

Cardboard frame (yes, I did put my head upside down on the floor to trace it):

And then covered it with expanding foam!

I did this a couple days ago and I just foam the bottom half my head just now.  Tomorrow when it's dry I'll carve it =P

Then, the plan is to use that to make my pattern both for the skull cap thing itself, and the large protrusion things that are part of the helmet.  The balloon/bag method wasn't working out too well for me =(

No costume progress, but I became an apprentice leatherworker

I was at camp for work this past weekend (and will be there next weekend too) and our crafts for the guys was to make card/money holders out of leather (cut, carve, stain).

Here's the one I made!

Also, I was going to make one for Dan, but my coworker (also Dan's friend wanted to make another so did it for him).  He's a protoss player in SCII  ;D

Hopefully more costume progress updates this week!

One leg armor down, one to go!

Progress pic, yay!

No, boots won't stay brown, don't worry.  Details on these pieces will come later.

I thought I was done with eyelets/rivets... =(

This last week I've been working on the other black/grey pieces (shin coverings and the part that hangs down in the front from the waist).

Here's the hanging down part; it's in front of some white tights I found... it kind of looks weird.. but oh well (it won't look wrinkly like that on me).

The leg parts were a bit more tricky.  I used the pattern I made with duct tape over my leg a couple months back, but I couldn't decide how to affix them to me.  

Some options included attaching it directly to the tights, velcro, a zipper, elastic hidden under the front section, etc... but I decided on going the rivet method again... which is a TON of work... -_-  buuuuut I think it'll work the best and asthetically tie into the bodice/corset since it's done up like that too.

So, I've begun the process... but doing these stupid little holes takes multiple hours and sore fingers.

Oh ya, and then I still need to do this for the left leg D=  Oh well, I'm pretty pleased with how they're turning out, although I won't have a complete idea how they look on me until I'm done and can tie them up.

Also, I keep checking the Blizzcon site multiple times a day so I can get my entry submission for the costume contest in like asap so I actually get in this year!  Wish me luck!

Headdress beginnings

Hey, so I've not really done much costume work for the last 3 weeks =(  I've been stupidly busy... and I'm also one of those people that has a hard time getting back into the swing of things after I've taken a break (good thing I didn't take a "year off" after high school).

But alas, I did some work today.  I wanted to work on a piece that would feel significant upon completion so my next part to tackle is the headdress.  I have some black spandex that I worked with to make a tight cap to go over my head.  Took a couple tries and the opening of the back, but I have something that works now.  I might redo it though and loosen the neck as I'm not sure if wearing it all day will start to choke me >.>

The next part was working on the patterns for the crazy parts of it.  As I don't have any sort of mannequin or styrofoam head, I improvised with this balloon.  I felt the smiley face was appropriate ^_^

I swear I wasn't trying to make it look angry.  That's just for the black part in between the pointy purple parts!  The red balloon is to give a base shape to work with for making the pattern for the pointy parts as seen below:

I still need to work a bit to get the shape exactly how I want, but I'll then make pattern pieces from that to translate to fabric.  I have a good feeling about this!  A TON easier than my priest tier 10 helm!!!!!!

Not really an update...

...but here's a picture of the paper-craft ceiling cat I just put together and taped to the ceiling of the "nerd room":

Real updates to come hopefully soon ;P