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Is there a reason you can't get some artist's paste or even just spackle and use that to smooth the areas over?
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Sep 11, 2015 20:09
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What are you trying to do? Just make the inside of your mask look appropriately 'techy'? You can buy fabric that has a circuit-pattern print, just google for 'circuit board pattern fabric' and you will get a number of results. Or so you need something with texture?
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Feb 1, 2016 21:07
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If you just start cosplaying every day, you can burn all your normal clothes and free up a ton of closet space for projects!
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Feb 2, 2016 17:25
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McPantserton posted:Been thinking about Tracer and I think I would start figuring out how exactly you want to have the undersuit and pants thinger first. Her breastplate and gauntlets go over it all so once that's figured out it would be easier to size out once the fabric parts were worked out. I think I'd probably try and buy stuff to do that skintight brown underlayer and make big chap things to go over it maybe? Yea, I think this is the way to go. You can probably find something in a store to use as the base layer. If you wanted to get as close to the look as possible it looks like you would want something like grey/pattern tights and a brownish sleeved leotard, but you could probably get away with just using a fitting pants/shirt combination instead. Then you would use blue fabric to make the chaps/belt to wear over it, and make the yellow harness/chute as a some sort of modified vest? At a glance I thought she had big poofy lower sleeves but those actually appear to be rigid wing-things, so you would make those, shoulder caps, and kneeguards out of something appropriate. For shoes I think you could either get away with wearing kneeboots, or just brown shoes and making the upper as a sort of spat/greave.
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Apr 26, 2016 15:36
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blastron posted:I'll give gesso a shot, thanks! I live like three blocks away from an art store so that'll be no problem. What's the best way to apply it perfectly evenly, like I'd get out of a spray can? You can actually get gesso-like products that work on an airbrush, if you happen to have one. If not, you can buy the brush-on versions. Gesso takes a while to dry, and it contracts/levels as it dries so as long as you brush on a reasonable amount it should dry even and smooth. I actually prefer using gesso to most sprays, because sometimes you get a sort of fuzziness or roughness with a spraycan that I have never had with gesso - the worst is that sometimes as it contracts it leaves a gap you have to cover over with a second coat.
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Apr 29, 2016 14:36
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In the dream future where I actually finish my revamped Rocketeer cosplay, I really want to have the jetpack produce smoke; the problem in the past was generating enough to make a decent effect. So definitely keep us posted on how yours goes!
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Jun 7, 2016 19:42
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At most art stores you can buy stuff called 'molding paste' that you can spread onto fill small holes and seams. It dries fairly quickly and it can be sanded and trimmed when dry. Resin would also be totally fine, but is probably a little more trouble to work with.
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Jun 23, 2016 14:39
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I'd kinda stay away from the mod podge stuff. It'll dry, but it won't be something you can sand. Well, you CAN sand it but it'll take it all off. It's basically like thick acrylic paint that seals stuff. I don't know what modpodge is, I was talking about this stuff. I don't know if it's a similar product. I have used it on a variety of projects for fililng, shaping, and finishing, and I've been able to sand and file it without any problems. Although granted, none of them were as large as covering the whole blade of that weapon. It is very easy to work with though.
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Jun 24, 2016 15:37
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You can but fleece-lined leggings and stuff; I am not sure if the fabric is just commercially available but it seems like it ought to be. People wear that in the actual winter and it's generally fine, so I imagine it would be fine for a late October evening without any other layering.
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Jul 25, 2016 18:37
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Have you considered just black cotton gloves? You can buy these pretty easily, I've seen them in a variety of grocery store/hardware places as just a way to keep your lands clean when cleaning. I have used plain cotton gloves as an underlayer before and they do the job. They are thin and breathable, but they might wear out pretty quick, especially if the armor pieces are working against them. Another option that is going to be more durable are shooting gloves; you can find them in most sporting goods stores and army surplus places. There are usually a variety that range from simple lightweight gloves to ones with lining or padding for warmth/comfort and so on. I used a pair of these when I made a Rocketeer costume and they worked pretty well and didn't wear out.
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Aug 1, 2016 15:37
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I don't know what your investment is in this costume, but you can buy those toe shoes in purple, so you could see if that matches the skin color you are using and wear those? You could spend some extra time detailing them to look more like feet, if you wanted, but they're probably good as they come.
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Aug 3, 2016 14:29
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Not that there is anything wrong with that idea - I have seen people do a ring-pull version of the wings, although often with the cords at the back rather than the front. I think the real issue is that neogeo didn't want a cord version either: neogeo0823 posted:The costume I want to use them on will have my hands and arms confined, so pulling a cord or having the frame of the wing attached to my upper arm is out. If you won't be able to manage a cord and you don't like the pressure sound, I guess you could try rigging it on a cord using some sort of motor to wind/unwind it? But then you would have the motor noise, which might be as bad/worse. You could try rigging a cord to another movement so you can operate it with, say, a leg, but that would make moving around without flapping your wings crazily difficult. Incidentally, are you planning to have a minder while you're costuming? Because 'spreading wings and confined arms' sounds like the sort of costume where you will want someone helping you out with, well, everything, and especially making sure you don't get wiped out bumping into something. If you can't operate a cord, are you going to be able to open a door or answer a phone or anything?
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Aug 31, 2016 22:05
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You could always take the direct route and just make actual metal armor and buff it up to a perfect finish!
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Sep 25, 2016 01:07
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I agree, even if you could suspend the coat somehow and prevent any splashing, you would probably get some of the dye leeching upward into the fabric instead of a hard line. It probably wouldn't be the end of the world, seeing as the line is going to be on your back, but painting would probably give you a much cleaner result.
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Oct 11, 2016 16:53
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You may want to look into dance tights - they are probably more expensive than buying whatever off amazon, but they will definitely make them sized for men.
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Oct 21, 2016 18:33
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It's actually a way to deter overly handsy con participants!
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Feb 14, 2017 02:54
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Most places that sell leather and leather tools will also sell pre-cut pieces to use as straps or belts, as a lot of people may need to replace this sort of thing and don't want to deal with slicing it themselves (or getting a hide to work from, either). There are probably better options but Tandy is one. Alternatively, you can also hit up a thrift store and see if you can bag some old belts. I don't know if that will work, it would depend on how much you need and how much they need to match - most cheap modern belts aren't going to be real leather, but if you are fine with synthetic then you might be able to grab some at a discount outlet or something.
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Mar 28, 2017 15:33
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You can remove sharpie with an alcohol wipe, which is much less likely to cause associated damage than acetone. I don't know if it would do any good at this point though.
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May 24, 2017 19:06
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Yea, I would not worry about going too large on that gun unless it's for ergonomic/logistical reasons. It's hilariously huge and the one you have looks fine - I also agree that you could scale it up a bit, because its not actually sized the same on you as the prop is on Oldman. Very possibly you are taller/lankier and so its not matching right (Oldman is 5'9") I have the reverse problem, where I have a replica of a prop that was made for Billy Campbell, who is 6'4", and I'm 5'10" so its outsized for me. Doh!
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Jul 9, 2017 00:54
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Not exactly sure what period you are aiming for; the image of a plague doctor most people know is from the 1600s, but I think I've seen a number with a more steam-punky bent that push it later than that in general. I think that if you want to use D rings it would be fine - 1600s is full of elaborate armors and most typical buckles and fasteners would be fine - barring those spring clasps, I guess. The easiest way to do it would probably be a simple leather strap with a buckle, you run the strap through the webbing, over your belt, and then buckle it back to itself. You'll see this sort of arrangement sold for LARP/SCA as a 'tankard hanger'. You can also look at this page of sword hangers for inspiration. The answer to 'how did people hang things on stuff' is mostly 'they didn't' - if you try this you'll find that strapping a bunch of stuff to your belt, or even a bandoiler, is pretty unwieldy. Especially if you are making it heavy stuff like filled bottles, it mostly pulls down your pants and sways around. You'll notice that most practical ways of doing this, like toolbelts, rely on making fixed bags you put things in, rather than just tying things to each other. Don't get me wrong, it can look cool for a costume, but its not how things were done. People mostly only wore a few light items like a purse or a knife and if you had a bunch of stuff to carry you put it in bags or trunks.
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Jul 15, 2017 15:15
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Ok, sounds like you're aiming for something more fanciful or interpretative than historical (which is cool, don't get me wrong, if you can get some working wings on there it's going to be a pretty crazy rad costume). I think that the person upthread who was talking about bullet/shell bandoliers was onto something. You might also want to look into what are called 'baldrics', and they are basically sword/equipment hangers that work the same way as a bandolier, from one shoulder to the opposite hip, but are frequently designed for fewer/heavier items. Often swords. If you do a GIS you'll find them in a ton of forms that might inspire you - here's a fancy one incorporating bottles. What I would do is use this sort of design and plan to strap the smaller items to the front of the badric where it's running across your chest, and then at the bottom where it sits at your hip, incorporate som rings or other fasteners where you can attach the potion bottles. This puts the heaviest weight at the bottom, which will help prevent it sliding around, and will also probably be the most comfortable. I actually did something similar to this for carrying a water bottle at renfaire, I modified my sword hanger to hold a big thermos in a leather cover so that it wouldn't be obviously out of place. You can look at something like this - the buckles at the bottom are designed to fasten around a sword sheathe/hanger, but you can easily use a similar design to attach a series of bottles in those webs. If you're trying to do this on the cheap, you don't want to try and get into real leather. A cheap option is to hit up a thrift store and see if you can get a bunch of old leather belts for cheap. Another option is to see if you can get some faux leather clothes to tear up and use as materials. Thrift stores are also great for this, you can probably find some sort of old coats or skirts to use for material - faux stuff is fine because you don't need both sides to hold up to attention, an I think I like the idea of a greatcoat style coat more than a robe or gown, but it's probably going to be harder to manage than a robe or a gown, which you can probably make relatively easily from simple fabrics. You might want to look at some patterns though, I know that a couple companies have started producing pretty straightforward 'cosplay' patterns of common outfits.
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Jul 17, 2017 03:30
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I think you can probably get away with black on black, as you are probably going to have a difference in texture between the coat and baldric that will make it work; especially if you are going to have interesting/differently colored stuff attached on it, having a more subdued one might be good to offset bright liquids, tools, etc. Otherwise I think that a dark brown would be good too, its neutral enough to not really cause any clashing. For jackets, what is your sewing level? The most basic stuff is made (appropriately) by Simplicity, they actually have a whole costume range you can look through. I found this pattern that includes a long, button-front coat that may work, looks like it is based around Assassin's Creed? They have patterns for other more historic style coats, robes, and gowns. They used to make a pattern for a Neo-style coat as well, its not on their website anymore. It's pattern 5386, but I'm only seeing it overpriced for resale online.  I'll see if I can find anything similar but affordable. Simplicity patterns are pretty forgiving and a decent place to start if you don't have much/any sewing experience, but they don't give as nice a piece as more complicated patterns. Coats are the kind of thing where you can use a basic pattern and get a simple garment, but if you really want it to look nice you have to use way more pieces and do a lot more work. I have made a ton of costumes in my time and I will often still use Simplicity patterns because I really don't want to kill myself over trying to properly turn shoulders on a real fitted jacket. If you are willing to knuckle down and really work at it though you can get better patterns.
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Jul 24, 2017 15:01
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Also, do you want it to be something you break out every year, or are you ok with it surviving two weeks outside and then basically falling apart? Because I can really only help with that second category of creation. 
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Jul 24, 2017 20:16
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Super 3 posted:I was thinking of making it modular so I could store it away and reassemble next year, removable legs and the like. I'm not 100% on the size, maybe head to tip of abdomen like 4 feet or so, which probably means like 8ft legs... I want it large enough to be seen from the street but I don't want to this to get out of hand. Then for the head you use something hard plastic that you can put the electronics in and seal it up pretty well against any weather. I would also do PVC with some sort of covering for the legs, you could hide mountings for them in the big body ball and just slot them in through the weave. neogeo0823 posted:Thanks, this is really helpful! My sewing experience level is basically "I know what a sewing machine is and how to make it bind two pieces of fabric together, but I know nothing about any of the settings, and basically nothing of hand sewing." My only real previous experience is sewing velcro onto nylon webbing to make straps for a different project. Still, I've had just about zero luck finding anything locally, so I'm all for trying anything now. If you can find whatever patterns you think would look decent, I'm all for giving it a try. The one you linked is neat, and ultimately, I do think going with a coat that's got a front more like this or this will look best. I think I like the fold-over-flap look of the former, but the overall shape of the latter, with some added sleeves instead of the feathers down the length of the arms. Still, obviously it'll probably be difficult to find exactly the perfect thing, so hey, whatever you can find, I'm happy to look at. If you're jumping into sewing, I'll mention that we have a sewing thread that is pretty good and has lots of people who do costume stuff who are usually happy to help. I like that last coat you linked; that sort of pattern is going to be under something like 'Greatcoat'. If you want the double set of closures like in that first image, its going to be referred to as 'double breasted'. You can find similar patterns by looking for 'frock coat' or especially 'officer frockcoat' - this sort of look was pretty common around the civil war, and fortunately that's a popular period for reenactment so there are people who make patterns for it. A lot of historical patterns are... tricky, because they are often made by hobbyists who are greatly concerned about accuracy and not so much about clear writing. So they will be less accessible than something commercially made, but often very detailed as to their appearance. There are commercial versions that you could use or modify, and also some straight historical versions. One thing to mention, that shoulder-length piece over the top can be made separately and either attached or just worn that way, so you could also go with a pattern for a double-breasted coat (if you like the front work, you might try looking for band coats or cavalry coats) and then simply add a capelet over it.
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Jul 25, 2017 15:09
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Out of curiousity, for the people that soak cloth in tea/coffee, does it end up smelling like tea? I'm just imagining someone half-way through their con day getting hot and sweaty, but surrounded by the soothing aroma of a nice cup of tea.
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Sep 18, 2017 16:49
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The best thing to put into the hat to make it hold shape is probably going to be interfacing; you would want a fairly thick/stiff variety with how big that hat is. You can also use buckram, which is much stiffer and can be shaped wet and them dry stiff, but is a bit harder to work with in general.
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Oct 3, 2017 19:58
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My wife has felted hats in the past and I'm not sure if you could bust it out in a single day, especially if you haven't done anything like that before. Felting requires a lot of working at the wool, and I think there are periods where you have to let it dry/set that would mess with blitzing the project. The reason I suggested interfacing and buckram is that you can work them pretty rapidly and you can get them at most fabric stores - I'm not sure where you would get a felt blank accept online through a millinery supplier.
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Oct 4, 2017 16:59
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Wapole Languray posted:So... that's what I got. I'm sure it's too much word-vomit but hey. If you want to fake chainmail, you don't really want to just try spraying a sweater, because most sweaters aren't knitted appropriately anyway. What you would probably want to do is get some thick grey wool and some large needles and knit a simple stitch that looks like the rings, then give it a very light drybrushing with a metallic paint when it's done. That would be closer to a proper look. One other option you have is to actually make some chainmail. It's expensive, but this mostly reflects the fact it is very labor-intensive, so if you are willing and able to do the work you can make do with surprisingly little in materials. As you are making it for a costume, you could also use aluminium wire instead of steel, which is considerably lighter and cheaper. You can also use a bigger weave than you would use for 'real' armor. The downside is that this would mean hours spent wrapping and cutting and weaving rings. You could do this with PVC piping, cutting it into tiny rings, but then you'll have to spend a bunch of time cutting the rings anyway. I don't know if you have cut pvc before but you produce a bunch of dust and every cut has little fuzzy bits left on it you'd have to clean up, and it honestly sounds worse to me than just making aluminium rings. I am not sure how it comes out on cost. Your real problem though is going to be that the character looks to be wearing not just a chain shirt but a complete outfit. Knitted material would make that much more comfortable, but if you are making it yourself you could probably do basically chainmail chaps and integrate them with your greaves/boots so you don't have to worry about the more uncomfortable/frustrating areas.
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Mar 19, 2018 14:57
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Aluminum can be anodized to different colors; I have no idea how common this is in terms of finding wire or rings in different colors though. It should be a thing that you can find though. Rust isn't really a problem with mild steel as long as you keep your piece properly - make sure that you don't just toss it in a bag damp, just check it over and ensure it's dry when you store it, maybe wrap it in some oiled cloth. If you get some rust you can basically tumble it with some sand and it will clean up. I cleaned up a ton of old and badly stored pieces like this, and the rust has to be quite bad before you really compromise the mesh. However, steel rings are much heavier and if you make a substantial amount of your costume that way it's going to wear you out. I had a mail aventail and it was a real pain.
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Apr 8, 2018 03:23
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Get someone to help you with the duct tape wrap - you can do it on your own if needed but it is way easier if you can have someone help you with awkward places and making sure the wrap goes well. Also not having to bend and twist while trapped in tape is handy.
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Jul 30, 2018 14:36
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You can just get whatever fabric works best as the liner, and then stiffen or brace it for the bowtie. There are a ton of ways to do that - you can interface it on the interior to hold the shape, you could tack a slim wire to give it structure like you see in some ribbons, possibly even just use some sort of starch for it (there's something people use for hats that I can't remember the name of right now).
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Oct 25, 2018 20:34
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You can also clear coat something in gloss (which tends to be the more durable) and then hit it with matte over that if you don't want the shine. Bonus: if you do this, you'll be able to see when the matte coat wears off because those areas will show a glossy finish, letting you recoat before any damage occurs! If you do get that clouding effect, you can sometimes clear it by applying another clean coat over the top.
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Jan 24, 2019 18:24
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I'm always happy to buy clothes if they are 90% of the way there. Matching exact colors doesn't bother me that much because I feel like you are always going to get some variation. It also depends on the clothing, because it's one thing to bang out some kind of simple tunic or pants, but I am not making a dress shirt or sewing my own jeans unless it is absolutely necessary.
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May 17, 2019 13:12
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Depending on the plastic you can also use the actual pvc bonder - it will fuse pieces together and is what is used for pvc pipes. It won't necessarily work on the other plastic though, depending on what it is.
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Jun 10, 2019 11:32
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Sockser posted:when you’re “bonding” plastics to plastics, it’s actual critical to know which plastics you’re using, since the binding agent will melt the two mating pieces together. If the “run of the mill everyday plastic” you’re using isn’t ABS, that solvent won’t do anything. Yea, unfortunately there isn't really anything like 'everyday plastic', there are a lot of chemically different compositions that we use. For example, tupperware is often made of Polypropylene; using a normal PVC bonder won't actually work on it, although I think there are some specialty compounds that might work. You can identify your plastic if it has a recycling code on it, and see if there is a bonder for it and PVC. But if its a mystery and you already have a good piece you don't want to swap for another plastic, then one of the epoxies is probably best. It looks like JB weld also makes a dedicated plastic epoxy, so that's probably a good choice. I basically held a moped together with JB weld so I trust them.
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Jun 10, 2019 17:01
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You can cut the elastic and add a section in there, but it's not really ideal; where you connect the two pieces it'll be thicker, and that becomes a point of weakness and failure in the band. Why can't you take out the current elastic and replace it? I'm guessing it isn't in a channel and is sew directly to the garment at some points? There might be a better option if you can give us more details. Edit: Oh I was going to recommend the sewing thread but you're already there with an answer to the above.
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Jul 4, 2019 13:56
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I hand-made a pair of shoes for the SCA just once, and after I was done I swore I would pay anyone any amount of money to never do it again. So you have my admiration on undertaking that, they came out really well!
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Jul 8, 2019 16:25
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The thing that killed me for making shoes was soaking and turning them, I probably hosed up in using heavier weight than needed but wrestling them through the turn was awful. I mean it would probably be easier subsequent times if you kept at it. But I didn't!
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Jul 9, 2019 04:05
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Just grow the mustache, cowards. You have three months!
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Aug 13, 2019 23:03
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It looks super good, and if you want to weather it the absolutely best way would be to just wear it all the time, especially to punch weird eldritch monster stuff in the kisser.
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Aug 20, 2019 04:01
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