Hectic life

We realized fairly late we were running out of time very quickly.  The last week and some before the Con was a mad dash to get props and costumes done.  The collar is EVA foam and card stock.

We attached it to the cloth harness with velcro.

This did not last the day at the Con.  If I redo it, I will have to make a ridged harness.










 The chest armor I cut out of a template first and then cut it out of EVA foam.  The cones were made from craft foam.







I added the accents with craft foam, gap fill foam, pool noodles and craft gems.  I get delight out of using what I have at hand to "make it work" as Tim Gunn would say.








This was then coated with Plasti-dip.




The final product was painted with acrylic gold paint and we again attached it with velcro.  This had limited success during the rigors of con.  While my brazier never fell off, it came close.  I'll have to think of a better plan.

I bleed on this project to be sure but was once again pleased to play with found objects.  Shower curtain rings, dollar store ball, jewelry bail, pool noodles and paper.  My husband is a wiz with Pepekura.  I once again started with a base coat of Plasti-dip and then used a combo of acrylic paint, washi tape and paint pen.  

 It looked great and held up fairly well at the con but I got my head piece caught in the chain at least three times and the plastic ball expanded and contracted in the heat which caused the paint to crack on the drive home.

We got a lot of attention at the con.  We couldn't go more than a few steps without being stopped for pictures.  It was a unique experience to be sure.  In fact, Jason David Frank took our picture while we were getting our picture with him and posted it to his fan page.  It was a humbling experience.  My hubby's Lord Zedd had more problems at the con than we would have liked but we also had the least amount of time to figure things out.  Early failures and new materials/skill set made for a challenging deadline.  It still looked good in the pictures but if we do it again we're going to have to rethink quite a few things.  Almost all of our props and costume pieces need to be repaired or reworked.  My Gracie Law headdress didn't survive a second year either.  I'm going to have to redo all the feathers because of the fall out from this year.  We learned a lot this year and we stepped up our game.  We'll keep getting better.

Costume Update 2016 - mostly Rita Repulsa

This last week is going to be a mad whirl of finishing up costume pieces.  On that note I wanted to share the progress on some of our pieces.

I got the black fabric attached to the foam head piece and added the wrap around.





I then glued on the red gems and used gold fabric paint to add the accents along the band.

I then added the hanging straps and sewed them in.  I added some hook and eyes and wrapped some spare fabric from the dress around the hair.  My next big hurtle is the collar and chest piece.  The collar changed over the years so I have to pick a style and figure out how to accomplish it.





 Zedd's helmet is painted and other than some experiments we're conducting with plastidip, it's finished

Rita's staff has a base coat and needs some accents.  The plan is to experiment with gold washi tape and a paint pen.

The experiments we've been attempting with Zedd's exoskeleton have been less than successful.  We were working with what we had and using techniques we've never tried before so it was probably not the best plan to wait so long to start in earnest.

My basement is a wreck of thread, fabric and foam right now but this happens every year.  All in all, Rita's in pretty good shape.  Zedd really just needs figuring out what will work and then it should proceed quickly.

Let's talk progress

My hubby has finished modeling Lord Zedd's helmet and 

Rita Repulsa's Staff.  They are being fiber glassed and resin'd as I type. There was some trial and error involved in both pieces.  We also have to figure out some of the next steps for the Lord Zedd helmet.  Like getting the red visor and brain and ...well details.

Rita's Wig/headpiece thing has been hair'ed to my satisfaction.  I tried several things to adhere the hair to the mesh without much success.  Hot glue only worked on small portions and not enough to make me confident that the hair would stay.  I tried flocking glue next which did absolutely nothing and went to look for my last idea, spray adhesive.  I didn't have any...so I grabbed some silver spray paint.....  It totally worked.  At least enough of it worked.  I did go in and sew in more hair over the crown of the head  to give it more volume and to give it a natural part.  This also makes sure that the spray painted down hair is more secure.

I still need to make some decisions on how the rest of the headpiece will come into being.




The dress is nearly complete.  Buttons and zippers and hems (oh my) but I couldn't be more pleased with how it's come out so far.  I still want to do some more work on the bustle to add fullness and I have yet to start of the chest piece and collar.

2016 Costume plan

This years costume is another group plan with my brother.

If you've followed my costume blogs then you know we three attempt at least one group cosplay for ComicCon.  This year my brother will be a Ranger and my hubby and I will attempt Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd.

It is always my custom to start out with a plan and since our schedule this year is making us start later than I like, the plan is going to be more outline and starting attempts right away.  People put hard work into these costumes but I haven't found a lot of good resources for step by step details on various parts of the costume. Maybe it's giving away information but since I am not a professional I don't mind sharing the steps I take.  Hopefully my trial and error will be helpful to people.

So...

My hubby is our 3D guy so he's taking on the modeling of the staffs and Lord Zedds ectoskeleton.  He will most likely Pepikura them again since it seems to be his go to.

My plan is to use the football pads I used for Apocalypse as the chest base for Rita.  This should have the added benefit of being a good base for the large collar.  The dress base is being made but the headpiece is going to be the challange.  I have three theories for how best to construct the piece.

1. start with a grey wig base that I can pin on my head for stability and then attach the hair points like anime ponytales.  This will allow me to keep it light and breathable while only needing structure for the points.  
2. make a wire frame covered with mached cheese cloth.  Make it more like a hat.
3. paper mache or Pepikura the base shape and just glue on the hair.  Again, more like a hat.

The bustle will be easy but take time.  My goal is always to make the best costume I can without spending $100's of dollars.  We'll see how we do this year!

For the first time I feel we have some great costumes to put back into rotation so this will probably be the only new costumes we make this year which leaves me less panicked about not starting earlier.