Geek stuff

Well, the Star Trek con was fun, but I don't think we will do another one of those types of cons. It's way more fun when you can enjoy multiple titles that you love in one place (not to mention this one was crazy overpriced!) I've been in massive panic rush mode prepping for San Diego Comic Con, and we've been on about 1 trip a week for the last month.

No joke:

May 31 - Star Trek
June 15 - family birthday/fathers day stuff
June 22 - visit the lake
June 29 - Mackinac island
July 3 - Munising (upper peninsula) for 5 days for the 4th of July. That looks way crazier all written out.

In between I've been trying to get the hang of my new job and working on costumes AND the house. Also, a scary few days occurred where Goji (our first kitty) needed surgery to remove a tumor in his mouth. Luckily it was benign, but giving a cat pain killers was a new one!

We finally got our garden boxes installed and growing:

The fireworks in Munising were amazing as always. 

I made a whole new costume in one weekend. I know, I'm insane. But my new job had the annual company picnic and it was superhero themed! How could I not use it as an opportunity to become Captain America for a day? Also I won $50 to Target, so there's that. 

This is what I usually look like these days in the evening:

And I will soon be sharing the completion of the Zelda and Link costumes. I am still tweaking them, but we have already worn them once! We did a trial run at the Motor City Comic Con and I'm glad we did. It exposed some weaknesses. In the meantime, here's a sneak peak of new progress:

I've got to go get to work again, but it sure has been exciting around here!

Our trip to the Chicago Star Trek convention is coming up...

Forgive me a dork moment (it's my birthday, you don't have a choice), but how cool is this? I've always had trouble keeping track of all the different versions.

SDCC Costume: Zelda Part 4 - Belt/Tabard

Progress has been continuing on the most detail-ridden costume I've ever undertaken. I recently completed (it's a relative term right?) the belt and tabard pieces that hang in front of the skirt. It felt funny making this huge piece to cover the skirt... that I'd been painstakingly detailing for what felt like a lifetime (she says as if THAT step was totally done).

I created the belt with craft foam and chain, following the same process as the shoulder armor

 As before, this step was very messy...

...But it came together pretty easily.

I used a main center gem that I pulled off a clearance necklace from Old Navy. I got the whole necklace for 99 cents - cheaper than buying individual fake gems that size! I then sealed and painted the foam (covering the gem in painter's tape to protect it), added another crystal to the center and built the belt using chain and jewelry rings:

There are also blue cabochons in each of the teardrops, but I don't have a picture with those on yet since I had to order them special. This completes the belt portion, except for adding some paint aging to it, which I'll do a bit later.

Up next is the tabard. I was nervous about this part as it's quite detailed and front-and-center on the costume. After sketching the pattern out on tracing paper (like I did with the skirt embellishments) I was ready to get moving.

I used a mix of different colors of canvas, felt, and the same fake leathers as the skirt. The canvas kept everything nice and stiff which I liked. I had to dye the blue canvas to an ombre from blue to purple. This part went pretty well, which is good because I don't dye things that often so I was nervous. I then had to very carefully mark where to cut the canvas out so that the seam would fit perfectly behind the silver leather detailing and attach it to the green backdrop.

Then I set about cutting out the silver detailing - the most time consuming and messy part of this entire process:

Needless to say I had to keep the cats out of the room for this part. Also I apparently do most of my work directly on the floor.

The fake leather was applied with a strong adhesive, and I was pretty pleased with the result. After adding a bit more detailing in felt I lined the back with more green canvas and called it 'done':

It's difficult to photograph because of the reflection, and as I mentioned I still have to age the belt which is what will really make it look real. Overall I'm satisfied but there are a couple little oops spots that irritate me. My husband thinks I'm insane, but *I* know they are there.

Slowly but surely, it's coming together!

SDCC Costume: Zelda Part 3 - Embellishment

So, to keep up with the progress I've been making on the costume, I'll keep up with making progress documenting it.

One of the biggest concerns for me when designing how this dress would work was how to create the details on the skirt. In the game documentation and concept art, there are hints of some type of complex embroidery (or something) above the trim at the hem, but there's no clear way of telling what it really is or how it's constructed. So I looked to see what other costumers had done, and that didn't really give me any answers. So I decided this was one of those places where I could make it my own and interpret it in a way that I would find cool.

I opted for applique. First I figured out what the shape of the pattern was, and how big it should be by sketching it out.

Then I figured out how I would break up that pattern into individual pieces and what material would go where, and cut those 'patterns' out of tracing paper. For the material, I opted for a mix of metallic and white leathers (fake). I liked the texture, and the fact that they won't fray makes my life easier.

Materials and a charcoal yarn for 'trim'

Pieces cut out!

Then, after measuring where on the skirt they should go I spent 2 evenings placing all the pieces with adhesive. I wasn't sure at this point how I wanted to add in the additional detail. I started with using the charcoal yarn I bought as a trim... but I hated it. And the act of experimenting with it destroyed the pattern I'd done it on as it marred the (extremely fickle) pleather.

I tried stitching it on by machine, by hand, gluing it... no matter what I did it looked 'crafty' and distracted from the material. It also made the appliques appear harsh and stuck on instead of flowing with the skirt.

It had to go. Unfortunately the only way to fix it? Completely replacing that panel of the underdress - fun right? I did that fairly quickly but I spent most of that time cursing anyway.

Then I opted to add the criss-cross detail by actually removing slivers from the gold pieces, and added detail will be done with little silver and gold rhinestones. I'll add those at the very end after I get ALL of these appliques on. There are additional scroll-work portions that connect the individual shapes all the way around (but I of course needed to get these main pieces attached first so I could guarantee that my measurements are right and all the pieces are exactly equidistant).

That's where I am with the embellishments  so far (don't worry, there's a pic at the bottom).

~~~~~~~~~~

Along with working on the tricky stuff above I opted to finish the additional piece to go with my pauldrons. Now that I knew for sure where the neckline of the dress would be, I could measure to make sure this piece was the right size sat in the proper place.

 The crystals took forever to find. I ended up finding the perfect ones on ebay from a chandelier supplier for only a few dollars (I got 10)!

I made the 'metal' parts out of foam, fabric, glue, spray rubber and paint in the same fashion as the shoulder pieces. Everything was attached using a mix of metal rings and felt. I glued felt loops inside where they would not be seen where I could attach the metal rings. Since glued felt is so strong, I was confident this method would be tough without wearing out the foam (so far so good).

I still have more stones and crystals to add on the shoulder pieces, but I still have to find the right ones. For the time being, I was excited to try it on and see how it fit...

It fits great! I'm so happy, the addition of the new piece in the front makes the armor sit perfectly and it requires next to no adjustment while wearing to stay on and centered.

This is getting exciting, but I'm not sure what piece I should accomplish next...

SDCC Costume: Zelda Part 2 - The Dress

So I'm finally ready to start recapping the progress I've been making on the latest costume (the one with the armor I started last summer). As I mentioned I had to put it aside while I finished up school, but now I'm back at it and after a slow start while I adjusted to my non-academic schedule, progress has been happening!

I decided before continuing on the armor, I should probably make the base dress. Since that is the foundation for everything, it would be helpful to make sure that my proportions for everything else were on target.

 Here is a reference picture again of what the completed costume looks like.

Instead of reinventing the wheel I opted to start from a pattern. I usually drape everything on my dress form, but the shape of the dress is so straightforward I figured it wasn't worth the time. 

After shopping around for fabric I opted for a poly satin  in a wonderful purple tone, and a pearly-white crinkled satin for the underdress. I really liked the depth the slightly crinkled texture gave to it, especially when contrasted with the smooth purple on top.

I started with pattern M6027 from Maccall's. The pattern itself is for a knee-length dress, so all I changed was the length, I added an additional 2+ feet to the bottom of each pattern piece to create the underdress:

Sorry for the bad picture.

This part came out very easily, fit like a dream, and made me excited. It's lined with simple cotton muslin for structure (and to keep it from being see-through) with a zip-up back that will be hidden under the corset lacing of the purple overdress.

The next part was the purple overdress. I opted to use the same pattern as I used for the underdress, and this ended up being a mistake - a very annoying one, for 2 reasons.

1. The front is supposed to be in 2 pieces with darts instead of 4 full pieces.
2. There's a lot of flare in the skirt, which made it nearly impossible to get it to lay flat.

Of course, I didn't notice these things until I had it all sewn together and lined. I opted ignore the dart problem (you can't hardly tell anyway) and to cut the center-front out and then fiddle with the rippling problem the flare caused in the skirt... then I cut too much away out of the center. crap.

All pinned together with the pauldrons set on top. (I was having fun with my hair this day).

Usually I would have redone it, but that would have required more fabric (meaning more $$$) and I thought I could salvage the piece. I finally was able to tweak the seams enough to both bring in the center front, and fix the rippling in back enough to call it 'acceptable'.

I whip stitched the necklines of the under and overdresses together, then stitched binding tape around the hem by hand, and pinned it back to be stitched to the lining. The tape also offered additional structure to that edge:

 So that's where the dress stands. Still a ton to do including hemming, adding lacing holes and TONS of decorating, but the base is ready to go.

Up next: skirt embellishments! This update will be written very shortly as I had a few days of insane progress this week.

SDCC Costume Reveal: Nausicaa

Well, I've been writing a final all evening and for the time being, I've had enough. This is kind of a shame, there's a lot left to do.

Oh well. Instead I'd like to do the "reveal" of my second primary costume for San Diego Comic Con. I put "reveal" in quotes because it's not quite done. But, it's wearable. There are just some props that aren't complete yet, and I'll share those when they are.

For those who aren't familiar with Nausicaa, here's some back story. When I lived in Japan in college, one of my professors told me to read this classic Miyazaki manga. I LOVED it. It's the story of Nausicaa, the princess to a small fringe kingdom called the Valley of the Wind in a post apocalyptic world. A thousand years ago humans destroyed their world through war, and polluted the planet. Now, the giant forests of mold and insects work to cleanse the world of the human's folly. This 'sea of corruption' produces a toxic miasma that is slowly killing off the last of the human race. Nausicaa works to save her people, but also has an amazing relationship with the very forest that's killing them. Drama ensues.

Read it, seriously. This is a watercolor splash page from one of the 7 books just for reference:

She is a wind Rider. She flies on a small powered kite called mehve and she primarily wears a flight suit of sorts.

Here is my rendition so far:

The close up on the bottom is the closest approximation of color. Each piece is handmade except the leggings, shoes and belt. I still need to create her ceramic sword, and a belt buckle. In the first image I just painted on the bandage on my arm because I didn't bother to tie one on for these pictures (I'm allowed to be lazy sometimes right?).

It's made mostly of felt, as described in the books. And it has been brushed with fabric paint to perfect the color, and mottle/dirty it up a bit. This is supposed to be covered in blue blood after all!

I am a little worried about being hot at the con, but I'll live! Only 18 days to go, I'm really excited!

SDCC Costume Reveal: The Other Mother

Well, so much for a blow-by-blow of progress as I worked on this. Along with my affair with that hussy Domestic in Detroit, these last few months have been INSANE. I've been taking some extraordinarily difficult classes, work has been very busy, and we added a deck onto our house. (pics later, I'm still finishing the details).

In my spare time (HA!) I've been working on costumes for San Diego Comic Con in July. As of last night, the first costume has been completed so I thought I'd share.

 

It's the very costume I showed you the research on 3 months ago, the Other Mother from Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

The pictures aren't very good, they were taken on my phone at night and I was kind of rushing.

Front View:


Blurry Side View:


Being a Creeper View (aka hide yo' kids):


I will post some additional and detail shots when I take them. The wig is a decent synthetic number I found online at voguewigs.com. The button eyes are molded plastic, and even have molded thread so they look stitched on. I can see through the holes, not perfectly but well enough. I'll post the vendor where I got those when I dig up his info.

Any thoughts? I'm a little worried about this one because I feel like my other costume is way cooler. My husband said it just kind of looked like a suit but with weird eyes and a bustle... the other costumes I've found online are intimidating!

One of the Nerdiest Posts of All Time

Ok, so apart from decorating the den, school, work and working on our deck project - YOU DIDNT READ THAT YET! We've been preparing for something else too (like we needed something else right?)

We are going to Comic Con 2012 in San Diego! We're super excited, and lucky because we'll get to stay with Brian's cousin's family, and they're cool people. Well, since I'm a massive dork I think it's fairly obvious that I'm planning on dressing up. And so is Brian. So as soon as we actually got our tickets we started planning.

Brian is going to go as Harry Dresden from the Dresden Files books. He's a wizard for hire in Chicago, and fights all types of fantasy nasties in the modern-day setting. I think this will be awesome beyond reason, but we're not there yet.

I have started my costume (hoping to make 2 different ones, but that probably won't happen), and I will be going as the Other Mother from the book/movie Coraline. I love Neil Gaiman's work,  and I love the movie and it's style as well, so it was a natural choice. For those who don't know, The Other Mother is a creature who spies on children through the eyes of a doll. She lures Coraline to her world where everyone has button eyes like dolls. She gives her everything she always wanted, and to stay in this fabulous world, she must let the other mother sew buttons into her eyes too. BUT, she is much more sinister than it seems... she's like a spider spinning a dangerous web.

The costume I will be making I refer to as the Bug Bustle Dress. This is the first outfit where you start to feel she's not what she seems. It's very structured, and very severe. I took a few reference photos while watching the movie to get started.

As you can see, the most important parts of this costume are:
1. The striking colors
2. The structured 'carapace' bustle
3. The hair and button eyes.

You also can't tell, but she wears red heels. SO first I went to the store and got fabric. This was the first mistake (tripped up right out of the gate...). I thought this fabric was perfect, and when I got home and started working with it, I realized how wrong it truly was. The dots were FAR too small. So since I couldn't return the fabric, I tossed that very expensive mistake aside and tried again.

Yes. This is quilting cotton. You'd think black with white polka-dots would be easier to find... I'm not worried though, a little iron-on interfacing and the lining and it will work just fine! So I started the skirt for this from a pattern. I don't generally use patterns, but the skirt is a simple pencil design, so I figured that would likely be faster than draping from scratch like I usually do so I went with McCall's M3830. So after an evening I went from that pile, to this:

Up next, after I hem it and add the waistband I'll show it to you on (with shoes!). And I've begun draping and building the oh-so-complicated-crazy-ass top. 

This is fun :) It's slow going though... thank you real-life responsibilities!