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 Holy hell, that costume is fantastic. Love the big swirls in the hair and the oversized belt, it's about as close as you'll get to FF9 stylization in real life. Excellent work.Mecha Neko, your dragon is really cool! Thanks for the step-by-step post, I might have to try that scale technique sometime.
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Nov 15, 2012 07:52
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 12:41 |
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Reformed Tomboy posted:How do people weather fabric to make it look dirty and used without using dirt and messing up the piece? Watered-down acrylic paint is great for this. Here's a shirt I recently made to look old and nasty, it started out as plain white canvas. I just laid it down in the bathtub and dribbled watery black/brown paint over it, let that dry, then added more layers. I stained it with some tea, too, though I think that may have mostly come out when I washed the shirt after wearing it. 
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Apr 8, 2013 21:49
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Kazy posted:So I'm last-seconding going to Wizard World in Philly, and have decided to dive head-first into cosplay. Hit up your local dollar store and look in the toy and kitchen sections for weird-shaped objects to use in the armature and/or a translucent bowl.
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May 7, 2013 22:56
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Are they smooth leather? Just rub them with some sandpaper.
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Jun 11, 2013 04:53
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McKilligan posted:Just scissors, albeit very carefully! It's not particularly thick, so I don't need anything special to cut it. Liquid electrical tape is a thing! Check out your local hardware store, near the rolls of normal electrical tape. It comes in a little can with a built-in applicator brush. It's kind of pricey (like $8-9 for a 4oz. can) but it dries in like 5-10 minutes and has a nice shiny flexible finish. it looks VERY tarry when dry. e: ok, here we go, samples on canvas and craft foam:  It loses some of its shine if you spread it too thin on fabric.  Works great on foam! Sticks well, stays shiny whether thin or thick!  Just get some airflow, it's like nail polish from hell when it's wet. Squarely Circle fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Mar 19, 2014 03:45
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Well, crap. I don't suppose it's a giant can? 
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Mar 19, 2014 10:10
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john mayer posted:I'm driving about two hours to a comic con in a couple weeks, and I decided to do a last minute Walking Dead costume. Any advice for dirt/blood makeup that won't stain my car upholstery? Should I just accept that I'll be dirty and sit on a towel both ways? I posted in here a while back about dirtying/bloodying up a shirt with tea bags and craft paint... lemme dig it up real quick. Squarely Circle posted:Watered-down acrylic paint is great for this. Here's a shirt I recently made to look old and nasty, it started out as plain white canvas. I just laid it down in the bathtub and dribbled watery black/brown paint over it, let that dry, then added more layers. I stained it with some tea, too, though I think that may have mostly come out when I washed the shirt after wearing it. For the bloody bits I didn't use straight red, I used a dark red mixed with brown and a bit of black. You can hit up Michaels/Joanns/whatever craft store and get all kinds of colors for like $1 each. It works on skin too and you can just scrub it off later, it's kinda itchy though. Squarely Circle fucked around with this message at 03:16 on May 17, 2014 |
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May 17, 2014 03:14
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You could do all that, or you could build a basic mask shape out of cardboard and fast-mache over it and skip all the template and expanding foam and newspaper poo poo. I've built about eight animal masks out of cardboard and Celluclay and never bothered to do like half the steps you're describing. I'd start with a basic mask shape to fit directly on my face. Some of mine are made completely from scratch with cardboard; a few have premade plastic masks from the craft store as a foundation. Build on that with carved white Styrofoam cones (NOT the green floral foam, which is brittle and toxic and awful) until it looks roughly like a snout/horns. Fill nooks and crannies with foam scraps, tinfoil, tape, whatever, it's gonna be covered shortly anyway. Go over the whole thing with mache paste, try to get it as smooth as possible while it's still wet. Sand the poo poo out of it. Add paint and weathering effects. Seal for moisture protection. Fasten to face. Papier mache is durable as gently caress as long as you don't get it soaking wet, it really is great stuff. Cheap, too. Unfortunately I don't have any in-progress photos of my stuff to help with the explanation, but this guide is pretty close as far as the underlying structure goes. Same materials for the most part. http://creepypasta.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/plague-doctor/
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May 23, 2014 05:55
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If you hadn't posted the WIP shots I'd never believe that all started as plain craft foam.  How much stronger/stiffer does it get with the resin coating? Does it flex at all? That shape is looking really nice so far!
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May 26, 2014 17:44
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Celluclay's never going to be 100% smooth but if it feels really hard and bumpy when it's dry, mix up a small batch with the consistency of, like, applesauce (runny but not soup) and fill in the rougher areas. It makes a much nicer finish for sanding.
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May 27, 2014 05:01
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Ratspeaker posted:Any tips for layering thin vinyl sheets to give the impression of a thicker piece of leather? I was thinking of maybe putting felt in between them. For reference, I'm trying to make these pleats. I've seen dark brown microsuede at JoAnn's that's like an exact match for that ref, right down to the slightly scaley texture. For extra support, I would suggest craft foam sheets if you want it to resemble really thick leather and not just a slightly heavier fabric.
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Jul 22, 2014 05:45
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Water down some craft paint, lay the clothes down flat (in a tub or something) and just splat on a layer or two until it looks grody enough! Acrylic paint is pretty much permanent on cloth once it dries, I aged this shirt over a year ago and it still looks as good (gross?) as the day I made it:Squarely Circle posted:Watered-down acrylic paint is great for this. Here's a shirt I recently made to look old and nasty, it started out as plain white canvas. I just laid it down in the bathtub and dribbled watery black/brown paint over it, let that dry, then added more layers. I stained it with some tea, too, though I think that may have mostly come out when I washed the shirt after wearing it.
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Jul 31, 2014 04:27
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hhhat posted:Bearing in mind that I've never sewn anything ever and that a real machine costs like $200 or something which is way more than I'd want to drop on this and I don't have access to one anywhere, and I wouldn't know what top-stitching is in order to worry about it... so I shouldn't be doing that? Should I attempt to do it by hand instead? I imagine it would take hours. Top stitching= visible stitches on the surface of the fabric. I've never used a handheld sewing gadget so I can't speak for them personally, but I have never heard anything good about them. Hand sewing does take a while, but some stitches are quicker than others and the results can be just as good as a machine if you do it right. I like this tutorial for photos, explanations, and comparisons of some different hand stitches.
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Aug 3, 2014 23:23
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What you want is a wire slicker brush (one of those pet grooming brushes with the rectangular pad of little metal bristles).
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Oct 11, 2014 01:21
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I used a base coat of Krylon Fusion (covered with acrylic craft paint) sealed with Mod Podge clear gloss spray on some plastic Christmas ornaments last year, and other than some mild crazing on a few of them where I laid the gloss on a little thick, they were fine. No issues with durability or changing the color or anything like that. I'd recommend testing on a scrap piece of plastic first, though. (I was going to say it might depend on your climate, too, but turns out you're practically my neighbor, 'sup Chandler buddy.)
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Dec 29, 2014 06:56
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Pagan posted:awesome stuff That is looking great so far (and the second picture is lovely, I'm jealous of wherever you are). How heavy is that shield? It looks like it would get annoying to carry around after a bit, but I guess that would add to the realism I'm working on something in a similar fantasy-medieval vein for the AZ ren faire going on right now, my stuff's mostly scavenged/altered clothes from Goodwill though. I just finished this and it's cobbled together from like five different brown belts, plus some hardware and faux fur I had lying around. Pretty pleased with how it turned out even if it's a little rough on the inside. Hooray for glue. 
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Mar 6, 2015 00:09
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Halloween stuff is in stores now, you might be able to find a toy sword with a similar hilt and then just add foam wherever needed and paint the whole thing.
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Sep 19, 2015 05:36
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I used a bottle of $1 craft paint to simulate dirt/blood on my face before, and it looked pretty convincing, though it was a little itchy and kind of annoying to scrub off at the end of the day.
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Oct 28, 2015 16:38
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Pop the lenses out of some sunglasses, maybe?
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Mar 5, 2016 20:41
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Your hat is going to be badass, McKilligan, but my hat is going to be majestic. I don't go to conventions or anything, I don't even have a PS4 to actually play the dang game, but I had a mighty need to make something ridiculous. started by hitting up JoAnn's and the dollar store  made a fabulous mockup  and after about seven hours of beastly idiocy (ask me about the difference between a hexagon and an octagon!) here is where I'm at:  I am going to be scoring foam board in my dreams for a week but I'm very pleased so far, the proportions are just how I imagined. Good thing I'm short because if this thing sat a few inches higher I'd be banging into doorways. It's over two feet tall! Very light so far and not that annoying to wear all things considered but I will have to figure something out to keep it from rocking back and forth on my shoulders.
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Apr 6, 2016 07:45
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my cat is norris posted:Micolash! I would like to do the rest of the outfit later, but only if I can get our sewing machine set up, because I am Very Much Done with handsewing right now. It's good to focus on just fabrication again for a while! Finished blocking out the top and bottom yesterday, and now I'm using celluclay to patch any gaps where the foamboard seams didn't quite match. Tonight after dinner I'll work on adding all those little cage bars. awoooo
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Apr 8, 2016 00:19
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Practice your weird moany sounds, Circle!
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I decided that I wanted to add a ton of rivets to the Mensis Cage to make it look more convincingly like metal, and also to hide/reinforce the foamboard seams. There are only a few on the in-game model from what I can see but artistic license, etc. etc. Anyway, there are only so many options for fake rivets that are lightweight, cheap, and come in a variety of small sizes. The result is what I like to call bloodborne.jpg  the beer is for uh... size comparison. yes. Primer coat goes on tomorrow! 
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Apr 10, 2016 05:14
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Progress on the cage has slowed down since my idea for a finish didn't pan out. I was going to just use a mixture of Mod Podge and fine sand to give the whole thing a subtle texture and cover the bumps on the EVA, and it looked good in a test patch I did on some scrap foamboard- but in actual practice it didn't look so hot, made a horrible mess, and ate up a ton of my glue. So, a thin skin of papier-mache over the whole thing it is! At this point I'm about 3/4 of the way done applying but it's been kind of a slog, adding Celluclay section by section and waiting at least half a day for it to dry before flipping it around and covering the next section... In the meantime, I've been trying to source the rest of Micolash's outfit from thrift stores so I can sew as little as humanly possible. And it's been going surprisingly well! Yesterday I found the brown coat thing that goes under his robe (though I will have to trim it a lot), and today I found a vest and shirt. You can barely even see any of this stuff in-game but dammit, if I'm gonna do it, I want it to be right. Weathering and roughing up the fabric should be fun- one nitpick I have about the couple of Micolash cosplays I've glanced at is that they're too neat and clean, the robes look more Hogwarts than anything. I think I'm off to a good start with this color palette.  I'm hoping that in a month or so I can grab a couple of black graduation gowns for the robe and just cut one up to make the hood and sleeve expansions. Assuming Goodwill doesn't just hoard all those to sell before Halloween 
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Apr 15, 2016 01:52
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My fancy hat is coming along. Just deliberating what else I should add to the finish; I don't want it all to be one solid color but I also don't want to go too crazy with rust effects and stuff. After that all I need to do is line the collar area, and I can officially call it done! A detail shot of the top:  I haven't kept count of how many googly eyes I ended up using. But you know it might be overkill when you buy a couple hundred in variety packs and it is still somehow not enough.  Best comment I have received so far from family/visitors: "are you making a lighthouse" edit- Official Googly Eye Count: 334 Squarely Circle fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Apr 28, 2016 |
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Apr 28, 2016 05:54
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neogeo0823 posted:Does anyone have any good resources for an ankle length coat like you'd see on a plague doctor or the like? I'm not looking for anything with a collar or lapels, just something basic and utilitarian. Maybe an old graduation gown that you can modify? Goodwill tends to hoard those until Halloween but you might be able to find one this time of year.
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Jun 22, 2017 00:16
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Fake fur and heat do not mix! You're gonna damage the fibers and end up with a matted mess. Don't do anything that requires high heat. You can use watered-down acrylic paint to color the fur, by saturating the poo poo out of it and brushing it out constantly as it dries flat, but it might alter the texture and never truly soaks into the fibers. Honestly there is no good way to dye fake fur and sometimes you just have to settle for a color that isn't 100% accurate. Would any of these be close to what you're going for? (If you only need a small piece for your project, protip: fabric.com's swatches are very generous, like almost as big as a piece of paper.)
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Oct 26, 2017 03:32
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That looks like a solid choice for a first project to me, it's a pretty simple and iconic outfit but there are plenty of little details to go crazy with if you choose. Okay, so, tabard: if you check my post history in this thread you can see an example of a shirt I made out of white canvas and some watered down paint for weathering. It was weighty enough to hold its shape and easy to decorate with embroidery thread on the seams, and the dirt looked realistic but never faded in the wash. Maybe give something like that a try? I don't think I'd use a sheet unless I absolutely couldn't find anything else. Mantle: It might be worth investing in some decent quality faux fur for this, you'll probably only need a yard at most, but the majority of green fur on the market seems to skew towards lime rather than forest green. I did find this in Moss which might be an option, there's also a kelly green out there that could possibly work. Ordering samples is always a good idea! If you do happen to find some shirt or rug that's a better color match, go for it- you can't really dye fake fur and painting it is a total pain, so take the closest match that you can get. Armor- EVA foam should be fine for this! You can put scratches and dents in it with a knife or woodburning tool, I think. Boots- I'm assuming they're supposed to be leather because the back legs of the model seem to be covered in the same material as the tunic under his tabard, so if you find some vinyl or microsuede type fabric for that, you could make a pair of knee high boot covers to match. There are boot cover tutorials out there... but you're right, you're not going to be seeing much of those in any case, you can probably get away with whatever underneath the mail and call it a day. Helmet- should be pretty straightforward to do in EVA foam, yes! One thing you might try is to replace part of the front with some kind of mesh (like screen door mesh or plastic cross-stitch canvas) painted to match the surface, rather than a solid piece of foam, to give you plenty of ventilation. Wearing any kind of costume head or mask is hot and claustrophobic so you want to get as much airflow as you possibly can! Shield- if you do want to include this, make sure you've got a way to strap it on your back or otherwise get it out of your hands because you won't want to carry it all day long. Belts- medieval belts are somewhat different from modern belts, but you could probably get away with some thrift store belts and EVA foam detailing for the metal bits. Sword- there are so many different ways you could approach a sword build, the simplest would probably be to find a generic toy sword and use some EVA foam or something like Apoxie Sculpt to put details on the hilt. On the other end of the scale you could go completely nuts and pull a McKilligan. Mail- you probably don't want to wear real chainmail, it's expensive as poo poo. I've seen a lot of loosely knitted grey sweaters that look pretty similar to mail at a distance- the only problem would be covering the entire body that way. But I'd maybe look around the local thrift store and get a sweater or two to experiment with, to start.
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Mar 18, 2018 19:14
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I would go with Plasti-Dip/spray on rubber over foam. You'll want to glue a layer of fleece or other cheap stretchy fabric over the bare foam to give the rubber something to adhere to (otherwise the holes in the foam will just soak it up and you'll waste a lot of rubber on multiple coats) but you should end up with something that's smooth, paintable, sturdy enough to keep its shape but ultimately soft and flexible and lightweight.
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May 6, 2018 22:08
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Congrats! I'm only just now catching up on this thread from months ago or I would have been flipping out over your WIP posts, I love FFIX and I love every costume you post in here. I wish I knew my way around a sewing machine half as well as you do. My favorite little detail is probably the edging on those leather shoulder straps and the iridescent Mage Masher!
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Aug 13, 2018 07:05
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That sounds like a really cool and fun idea as long as the cart isn't too awkward to lug around! I'm interested to know how you plan to construct that more than anything else, because I've also thought about making a similar thing to sell merch at cons. A few ideas: pokeball, mushroom powerup, triforce, the one ring... you could just get a black pompom and some googly eyes and make one of the sootballs from Spirited Away 
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Sep 7, 2018 23:58
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 12:41 |
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Yeah, if you've ever seen that show How It's Made, they do a similar thing when bending brass pipes to make musical instruments, only they use molten pitch which solidifies in the tube and then melt it again to pour out when it's done. Clever! That staff also turned out really good, Come and See, much better than what I would have suggested. While I'm here, a general question for the thread: if you're trying to make an outfit that's just more or less real clothes, do you prefer to make your own from scratch or just match and modify preexisting clothes as close as possible? I've got a cosplay project on the back burner that's basically just a jacket+shorts set when you get down to it... I was able to find a couple of suitable pieces but the colors don't match each other 100%, and I'm wondering if it would be more or less of a pain in the rear end to dye the shorts or just create my own outfit from a single type of fabric. But mostly I'm just curious how other people approach this!
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May 17, 2019 04:37
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