Kitana Fan Tutorial

Time for another picture heavy tutorial!

This costume is seriously taking forever.  You never realise how much work you can get done on a Saturday until you don't get Saturdays anymore! But at least I can take my costume stuff to the office and work on it there. Just no fun to haul supplies back and forth.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out.   And they only took about three revisions, which has to be some sort of record! The first thing I did was find a good, high quality pic of the fans and then isolate one of the blades with photo editing software.  I enlarged it to the size I wanted my blades to be and printed it for a template.

After I had the template, it was a simple matter of cutting ten blades out of foamcore and then beveling the edge with an exacto knife.  You need a VERY SHARP blade to do this-I couldn't find my good blade and this knife was dull; I actually ended up using a wood chisel to finish them.

I sanded the edges with fine grit sandpaper and finished them with an emery board, and then sealed all the cut edges with Elmer's glue.

For the indented design on her blades, I used the heat from an empty glue gun. I poked a small hole first for each indent and then pressed the glue gun into each one to melt the foam core.  I wasn't actually sure if this would work, but it seemed like a scientifically sound reasoning.  And it worked perfectly!! *pats self on back* Then I painted them with metallic silver paint.

I had a hard time deciding how to make the hilts of the blades but ended up after several bad ideas using half a clothespin. They were just the right length and had a nice taper built in.

I wrapped each with some stretchy leather-like material I had left over from my pirate corset and then added silver wire to each.

I was planing on some sort of screw system to hold them together, both for ease of storage and added stability.  But I ended up just glueing them together.  They're not as sturdy as I'd like, but not as fragile as I was worried about either.

I decided the easiest way to get the pattern onto the fans would be to stamp them.  So I printed the pattern, traced it onto foam, and then cut it out and used spray adhesive to stick it to the bottom of a clearish plate (so I could see where I was placing the stamp.)

I laid the fan blades onto posterboard and traced in the arc for the fan.  Then I painted it metallic blue and cut it out, then cut the arc into the four sections for the fan.

Each section was then stamped (I went back and filled in the stamps with a small paintbrush so that the design was solid) and then each section was fan-folded three times.

All that was left was to glue each section to the back of the blades.

They turned out way better than I had hoped! I've made plenty of costumes but this was my first time actually making a prop and I'm pretty pleased with the results.  I also added an elastic strap both for hanging them to store and also to hook them to my wrists in case I don't want to hold them the entire time at con. Looking forward to getting Kitana finished so I can start on Gamora!

Costume Making Interim Post (or, Don't Get Discouraged!)

  I've been working on Kitana's fans today and I've run into several issues.  It made me decide to sit down and write this post that's been kicking around in my head for a while now. You're welcome. :)

  I get a lot of comments to the effect of, "Wow, I wish I had that talent!" or, "Wow, you made that??" And while it's always great to hear your work is appreciated, there's something you guys should know.

  I screw up.  Like, a LOT.

  Seriously, three years ago when I started on this adventure, I'd never sewn a thing in my life. I had no idea what I was doing.  And half the time, I still don't. I don't know all the fancy sewing words, and I don't know how to draft patterns. It's the biggest reason I turn down commissions- I'd love to, really, but the fact is, it's all trial and error.  I still don't have a clue what I'm doing half the time.

    My point is, don't get discouraged.  It'll work out if you stick with it!  Google and YouTube are your friends...not to mention the network of cosplayers out there.  Don't be afraid to ask someone how they made something! You may get one or two people who don't like to share "trade secrets", but the majority of people in costume at cons are nice, approachable people, willing to talk (at length!) about how to make/build/create something.

   It's definitely a growth process.  Every year I gain a little more knowledge, a little more confidence, and the willingness to try something that I was scared to do before.  It doesn't always work either! Lots of you have seen my Siren costume from TRON:Legacy. The reason I haven't yet done a tutorial on it is because I'm still not 100% happy with it...I'll just have to keep working till I get it right. (Mainly, I need to learn to make neater solder joints. Those things are killer.) I bring this costume in particular up because it's always something I wanted to do, but was always quite terrified to try. I had to learn a whole new set of skills to make it. But I'm glad I did, even if it didn't turn out quite right on the first try (or the second, or the third). Because I know in the end I'll get it right.

  So don't give up, and don't be scared to try something new or different. We're always around to give advice and encouragement. I never would have completed half of the things I've done without the great friends I've made in the cosplay community. 

  And since it's weird to have a post with no pics, here's Kitana's fans:

I'm still working, I promise!

Cosplay boot covers!

Yeah, it's been a while! My life sorta went nuts over the past several months. But enough about that! Today I'm going to share with you how to make those awesome match-y boots that you always see on cosplayers. You know, the ones that seem to be made out of the exact same material as the costume and you've never been able to figure out how they do it?

Apologies for the poor quality of this pic.  There's very little light in my bedroom! As you can see, there's still a LONG way to go before this costume is complete, but I'll keep you updated.

Turns out it's pretty easy! I had to learn how to do it for my Kitana costume. I've always loved Kitana and there was no way I was going to half-ass it with spray painted boots, no sir! So, I did a lot of research and put together the best parts (for me) of several very good cosplay boot tutorials. 

First, finding shoes for the boot base.  You'll want something smooth, with no holes or laces or buckles or straps. (I was a little sad about covering these, to be honest!) Since you're covering them, any color will do, and it doesn't matter if they're a little scuffed or beat up.  Only the shape matters.

Next the fun begins! (By "fun", I actually mean "sweaty gross leg".) Put that shoe on and wrap it and your leg in Saran wrap. Since Kitana has really high boots, I wrapped almost all the way up my thigh.

Next, wrap that sucker with tape.  It helps to have someone else do this unless you're freakishly flexible. Start by running a long piece down the front and back of your leg and shoe.

Here is my extremely helpful and patient boyfriend wrapping and wrapping and wrapping.

Sweaty leg tape cast complete! Next it's time to cut it off.  I started from the front.....I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING THAT! As I learned very quickly, there's no give along your shin bone, and constantly snipping your skin with scissors is no fun at all. Have your helper cut down the back of your leg instead. Draw some seam lines to guide your cutting.  This is where you'll be sewing your boot, so draw wherever you'll need a seam.  I did one down the front, one down the back, and one around the sole of the shoe.  I didn't cover the heel as I wanted it sticking out of the finished product.

Here's the three pieces of my boot pattern.  Press them as flat as possible...where there's curves and it won't lay flat (like around the toe and heel),  just cut a little snip and press it flat. When you transfer these to your fabric, just draw around the snips to make one continuous line.

Here I've transferred my tape cast pattern to newspaper.  You could just use the cast as a pattern, but I find it much cleaner and easier to work with newsprint.

And trace your pattern....

...and cut it out and pin it. All that's left at this point is to sew it up and shove the shoe in! I highly, highly recommend using FOUR-WAY STRETCH fabric to do this.  Theoretically any fabric would work, but four-way stretch is very forgiving if your measurements aren't exactly right, and doesn't require that you mess with seam allowances or add any zippers or the like.

As you can see, the sole is now covered.  I have not yet but I will definitely be putting some sort of rubber grippy shoe bottom thingy on this.  Because safety.

Ta-da!  A tall shiny blue Kitana boot!!

In addition to these type of boots looking great, matching perfectly, and being entirely customizable, they also STORE REALLY WELL. My Harley boots and Emma Frost boots take up an entire garment bag all by their onsies. These, however, fold up neatly into a regular shoebox! Which is awesome when you're trying to store fifteen or twenty costumes and all their attendant pieces.

I'll be working on Kitana more in the near future, so watch for her progress!

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! (or, I Pulled Off a Last Minute Costume)

My last post was all about how I didn't have enough time to finish all the things I wanted to get done before All-Con.  This post is about how I MADE time to start and finish a completely new costume anyway. ;)

It wouldn't be con without the Last Minute Costume, right?

Right.

So, I give you Wyldstyle!

I saw The Lego Movie with my son the weekend before last and I decided the day after that this costume was happening. It ended up being one of the easiest costumes I've put together, as well!

I wanted a hoodie, but this is March in Texas, so black hoodies are scarce.Since I was a little short on time, I decided to buy this black jacket I found on clearance.  Bonus- it already had bright pink accents.

Also on clearance for a couple dollars I found a girl's camisole in the exact shade of pink I needed to line the hood.  I bought it, cut it up, and sewed it into the hood.

I used chalk to sketch out a rough approximation of the design of Wyldstyle's hoodie...

...then painted it in. Since there wasn't fabric paint available in the right color, I used acrylic paint.  It ended up taking FIVE coats of paint to get good coverage.

After that it was time to add the blue. Grabbed my trusty chalk again and went to town!

Of course I decided I wanted a Lego brick as well.  One tissue box, six plastic cups, some spray paint, and presto!  A Lego!

Here's a not-very-flattering closeup where it's easier to see the freckles I drew on.

After I finished the jacket it was just a matter of waiting for my wig.  I ordered the prestyled ponytail wig from Epic Cosplay, and two clip on extensions in pink and blue. I think I spent more time trying to adjust the height and location of the ponytail than I did painting the jacket! It was more difficult than I expected.  On the plus side, when I removed the fall (the ponytail extension) I discovered the base ponytail was just the right length for what I wanted. So no cutting, yay!
For the pants I decided to go with comfort first (for once!) and just used black yoga pants.  The boots I already had from my Jenny (Doctor's Daughter) costume, but they looked like something this character might wear.  You know, if she weren't plastic.

I'm really looking forward to wearing this one! It was just for fun but I ended up really liking it.  See you at All-Con!

Crunch time!

So, All-Con, my personal biggest con of the year, is now officially less than two weeks away.

Am I ready?

Noooope.

It happens every year.  I'm gonna be ready this time!  And about the beginning of January I start costume repair and planning and such.  And every year, I end up in the "there's still tons of time" rut about the beginning of February. And as a result, I spend the two weeks before All-Con in a panicked frenzy! I've spent this entire week reparing my TRON Siren costume. Had to entirely reattach ALL the lighting, and I still have to check all ELEVEN electrical connections inside the suit...I know for a fact that at least two of them are broken and need to be re-soldered. I still have minor costume pieces to buy or make that I kept putting off because they were "minor" and now I have to cram it all into two weekends.  I did, however, make lists!  I love lists.

Here's my costume master list

And my packing list, complete with emergency repair section. (Yes, I really do bring my sewing machine and soldering gun to con.  You never know.)

It's totally worth all the stress, though.  I love being able to wear multiple costumes and having everything organized and together.  Now, if I can just figure out which costumes to bring and which to leave behind...

It's Easy For Girls......Right?

    I often hear guys complain that girls have it easy on the social scene.  And sure, I never turn down it down if someone offers to buy me a drink or cigar or whatever.  Free stuff is good! But easy?  I don't know about that...especially on the far side of thirty years old.

     Don't get me wrong here, I'm not complaining about being a girl. ;) But we do have to work for it.  It's just that all our work is behind the scenes, as it were. We apply 15 different products to our bodies EVERY DAY. There’s shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, and leave in conditioner. Then depending on what sorts of things we’re doing to our hair, there’s heat protectant spray, hair spray, mousse, and/or texturizers--and that’s just to get a causal look. (Myself, I get Brazilian blowouts*  twice a year, so I get to skip most of those steps now!) There’s exfoliating scrubs, body washes and body lotions, and that’s not to mention all the things we have to shave and wax and pluck and otherwise de-hair. We'll put on two different facial moisturizers, two different primers, a concealer, a foundation, powder, and then the most minimal makeup possible just to make it look like we didn’t do anything to our face that day.

    Then there’s the closet. We buy contraptions to haul our boobies up to gravity-defying, socially acceptable heights. Our clothes need to be carefully chosen for just the right amount of, “look at me, I look nice!” without saying, “Hey lookie, I dress like a slut!” After all, we’re not college girls anymore, we have to show some decorum. But at the same time we crave a *little* bit of attention.  Anyone who says differently is probably lying. And the shoe selection is difficult too.  It’s gotta be cute and maybe a little questionable, but if you walk like a newborn giraffe it sort of doesn’t work.  Like, at all.

    And guys will say, you don’t have to do that. Women are beautiful anyway! Trust me, you only think that.  I understand that you believe it with all your heart…but that’s because you don’t see the girl when she gets up in the morning! Really, just be appreciative of what we go through! (Though saying, “Wow, you must’ve gone through a LOT to look like that!” is NOT gonna get you very far.  For realz.)

*If you don’t know what a Brazilian blowout is, look it up because it’s probably NOT what you’re thinking. Brazilians do have OTHER beauty methods. ;)

Jessica Rabbit!

    So I got my Jessica Rabbit costume pretty much finished over the weekend!  This is one I've always wanted to do but I was never sure how I'd feel about wearing a wig and I do NOT want to color my hair again. But I finally decided I’d never know if I didn’t try and I ordered a wig from Epic Cosplay on recommendation from a few other costumers. Turns out wig-wearing is not horrible…not the most fun ever but not horrible.  It’s hot and heavy but it’s a good wig and it looks nice, so I think I’ll survive.

    I stumbled over the perfect red base dress for Jessica in a local thrift store for eight bucks.  EIGHT! It needed some altering but I wasn’t gonna pass it up.

    I had to remove the flare from the skirt which only required taking the side and back seams in from about mid-length.  I ended up tapering the sides in slightly so that the skirt would fall the right way when I added the slit.

    I had some great shiny stretchy material left over from my Siren costume that I used to make the gloves.

    Unfortunately, I remembered *after* I put them in the dye bath that synthetics don’t dye well at all.  So I made a second pair from a cotton blend. (Okay, so it was one of my boyfriend’s undershirts.  But it held dye just fine.)

    Now all I have left to do is style the wig and find a good pair of red heels before March, and she’ll be all ready for All-Con!

2013 Year in Review

    2013 was really a good year for me! I added five (I think) new costumes to my arsenal and met some great new people in the costuming world. Went some fun places, did some fun things, and overall just had a great time with life. 

    Last year I made a British policewoman outfit for the premier of The World’s End which I plan on adapting into an Amy Pond outfit this year. I also made a Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica that was both easy and hard - easy because really all I had to do was sew on some patches and do some slight modifications to the pants, and hard because trying to find stuff in my size at military surplus stores was a pain! I ended up having to order the jacket online and I STILL had to take it in about three inches. I got brave and made a Hellfire Club Emma Frost, but not quite brave enough to get pictures made in it.  Maybe this year. Also I did a Siren from TRON: Legacy, which was my first experience with working with electronic components for a lighted costume. It almost ended in tears more than once, but I pulled it off in the end! It needs to be reworked before All-Con but overall I was pretty pleased with my first attempt with something like that.  And for Whofest in November I made a Jenny (Doctor’s Daughter) costume.  That one was super easy - it’s nice occasionally to have a costume that’s just regular clothes!

    I finally started using the Twitter account that I made years ago in 2013. I wasn’t sure about it at first but about a week after I started using it, I was retweeted by Simon Pegg.  Made me decide to like it after all. J I’ve met some funny and interesting people there, so I guess it’s a keeper!

(BTW that's not my Twitter account anymore. You can link to my current account in the sidebar.)

    I met some great people in Scotty and Courtney too. They’ve both recently started cosplaying as well, and I can always count on them to listen when I’m frustrated or stumped on a costume!  Their work is amazing and well beyond anything I can do. Both of them are already instantly recognized around here and I assume will continue to gather recognition and fans as their work evolves. For real, check them out!

    In March I went to my second All-Con. It was much better since I knew what to expect and knew some more of the people, and also because we had MONEY. That always helps. ;) The previous year (2012) All-Con was the first convention I’d ever attended in the first ever costume I’d ever made, and I was a little overwhelmed.  Last year was much more about just having fun! I enjoyed having several costumes to wear and not having the same one all weekend.  This year it’s FOUR days, so I can squeeze in even MOAR costumes!

    In July we won the opportunity to go to the Alamo Drafthouse in Richardson for the DFW premier of The World’s End.  The theater wasn’t even finished yet but Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright were all there.  Simon told my boyfriend what a fantastic job he’d done on his Nicholas Angel costume. (I totally wasn’t jealous that he got to talk with them.) It was a very fun and amazing experience and totally worth the migraine I ended up with after being in the 100 degree heat all afternoon.

    In October I painted my garage door like a TARDIS because I’m awesome.

    And on a very personal note, every year since I’ve been with my boyfriend has been better than the last. He’s made the past three years fun and fantastic in every way imaginable and I’m looking forward to 2014 with him!

    What was the best thing about 2013 for you?