Xellos update.
May. 21st, 2009 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elwenMan, cosplay is hard work. I feel like I haven't done anything but costuming all week. It's not true, but that's how it feels. Every day when I wake up, the first thing I do is check on my staff on the back patio. Maybe because of that, it's the most finished part of my costume. I felt a little behind and rushed earlier today, but I got a lot of stuff done, and I think I'm in decent shape.
But oh god, the yellow and red border on the cloak is the devil. I knew this from the day the notion of Xellos cosplay crept into my head, but the reality is almost worse than I imagined. I've kind of gone back and forth on that. First came the realization that the little drapey part of the cloak (which will hereinafter be known as the "tea cozy", because that is how I made it based on a cosplay forum's recommendation) is not flat on the bottom. It looks flat when draped, which means it's actually an arc. Which killed my first two bright notions for the lining: ribbon or fabric. I think fabric is do-able, but probably quite painful. So, also on advice of said forum, I decided to paint it on.
The recurring theme of this project is "who knew a little one ounce bottle could go so far?" The thing is, I know nothing about paints. Not what goes on what material, not which ones are safe to get all over your skin, not which ones eat styrofoam, not which ones wash off with water and which ones don't. And, because I don't understand paints, I don't trust them either. (I know, I'm such a bigot.) Every time I pick up my staff, some part of my braces for all of the color to come off onto my hand. I've done this a few times now and am mostly sure that is not going to happen, but I still handle it very gingerly. I guess it's another reason not to wear gloves.
Anyways, going back to the fabric paint... I really seriously thought it was not going to last halfway around the tea cozy. It took so much paint to cover such a little bit of fabric. Today I painted enough to reassure myself that I wouldn't need more acrylics, but I decided that I would need another bottle of yellow fabric paint. That bottle is now sitting happy and unopened next to the first bottle, which still has some life in it yet. It's not like it was super-expensive or anything, but it's kind of annoying. And I don't really want to return another bottle of fabric paint. Because I'm having a different kind of issue with the red. Which is to say, I don't believe the red color I want exists. Maybe it's a chemical thing, y'know, no pigment that is compatible with the fabric paint base. But seriously, I can understand that the first bottle I bought, being called "berry red" or something, would be too much on the pink side. But this time I got "scarlet pearl". I chose it over the "crimson" one because it was a little darker. What do you want to bet the "crimson" one is perfect? But I'm not going to go and find out. The scarlet will do. But it may need a double coat of yellow underneath. So I might still need that extra bottle. Probably not, but maybe, and it saved me stressing out about running out, so I guess I should say it was worth it. But I still can't believe it lasted the second coat, too. Even though the second coat was so much easier than the first.
So now that I've answered the first two questions I posed previously (paint or sew the border? paint. gloves? no.), I guess I should keep going. [Before that, an additional note on the gloves: while not wanting them to turn brown from holding the staff is also a concern, I mainly decided not to have them because I don't want to sacrifice the dexterity in a situation where I'll be continually fumbling for my camera, money, the schedule, etc. Also, they'd be expensive, I bet. And after a minor fiasco in fabric-buying, I am feeling kind of penny-pinching.]
So the red jewel-y things. I think I had those as number two on the "this will suck" list, after the yellow border. But several forum posters were blithely assuring that any craft store would have them. Fat chance. After a long search, I did find some jewel-y things that were transparent red and shiny, except they were faceted, they were half the size I needed, and they came in a $15 variety pack of 200 other jewel-y things. So I finally gave in and bought a $2 block of polymer modeling clay instead. That worked out quite well, I must say. [I took a few in-progress photos of various things, which I will post eventually.]
This project really has been an adventure in different media. Papier mache, clay, foam sheets, fabric... I'm amazed I've been able to handle them all. Back in the day, my sister and I played with polymer clay a bit, but no matter what we did we always managed to burn part of our creations. So I was kind of worried about that this time, but both my test piece and the actual ones turned out fine. Now I just have to hope that plain white glue will hold it to the foam. Glues are another thing about which I know nothing.
I am also glad I took sewing in junior high. Though I really need to sew more. For all my boasting about experience making cloaks for Ditch Day, that was the last time I touched a sewing machine, and having to relearn how to use one every single time gets a little old. But although a lot of sewing is intuitive, there are little tricks that I never would have figured out but for sewing class. Like cutting little notches in the edges that curve outward, so when you turn them in they won't scrunch up. Or pinking edges so they don't fray. (Though I'm still a bit of a skeptic on how effective that really is.)
And then there's papier mache. I think of all the media I'm working with, it's my favorite. For all my lamenting last time, I did get the staff to look pretty good. And it just surprises me every time how strong newsprint and flour can be. How versatile the shapes you can make. And it's just such a simple and easy to understand process. The only downside being all the rubbing I have to do to get the crusted paste off my hands afterwards. Given all the chemistry I took in undergrad, I probably shouldn't be saying this, but if it started out as just powder and water, why doesn't the water wash it away?
Anyway, I should go make the yellow sashes now. I've kind of forgotten I need them, which won't do.
But oh god, the yellow and red border on the cloak is the devil. I knew this from the day the notion of Xellos cosplay crept into my head, but the reality is almost worse than I imagined. I've kind of gone back and forth on that. First came the realization that the little drapey part of the cloak (which will hereinafter be known as the "tea cozy", because that is how I made it based on a cosplay forum's recommendation) is not flat on the bottom. It looks flat when draped, which means it's actually an arc. Which killed my first two bright notions for the lining: ribbon or fabric. I think fabric is do-able, but probably quite painful. So, also on advice of said forum, I decided to paint it on.
The recurring theme of this project is "who knew a little one ounce bottle could go so far?" The thing is, I know nothing about paints. Not what goes on what material, not which ones are safe to get all over your skin, not which ones eat styrofoam, not which ones wash off with water and which ones don't. And, because I don't understand paints, I don't trust them either. (I know, I'm such a bigot.) Every time I pick up my staff, some part of my braces for all of the color to come off onto my hand. I've done this a few times now and am mostly sure that is not going to happen, but I still handle it very gingerly. I guess it's another reason not to wear gloves.
Anyways, going back to the fabric paint... I really seriously thought it was not going to last halfway around the tea cozy. It took so much paint to cover such a little bit of fabric. Today I painted enough to reassure myself that I wouldn't need more acrylics, but I decided that I would need another bottle of yellow fabric paint. That bottle is now sitting happy and unopened next to the first bottle, which still has some life in it yet. It's not like it was super-expensive or anything, but it's kind of annoying. And I don't really want to return another bottle of fabric paint. Because I'm having a different kind of issue with the red. Which is to say, I don't believe the red color I want exists. Maybe it's a chemical thing, y'know, no pigment that is compatible with the fabric paint base. But seriously, I can understand that the first bottle I bought, being called "berry red" or something, would be too much on the pink side. But this time I got "scarlet pearl". I chose it over the "crimson" one because it was a little darker. What do you want to bet the "crimson" one is perfect? But I'm not going to go and find out. The scarlet will do. But it may need a double coat of yellow underneath. So I might still need that extra bottle. Probably not, but maybe, and it saved me stressing out about running out, so I guess I should say it was worth it. But I still can't believe it lasted the second coat, too. Even though the second coat was so much easier than the first.
So now that I've answered the first two questions I posed previously (paint or sew the border? paint. gloves? no.), I guess I should keep going. [Before that, an additional note on the gloves: while not wanting them to turn brown from holding the staff is also a concern, I mainly decided not to have them because I don't want to sacrifice the dexterity in a situation where I'll be continually fumbling for my camera, money, the schedule, etc. Also, they'd be expensive, I bet. And after a minor fiasco in fabric-buying, I am feeling kind of penny-pinching.]
So the red jewel-y things. I think I had those as number two on the "this will suck" list, after the yellow border. But several forum posters were blithely assuring that any craft store would have them. Fat chance. After a long search, I did find some jewel-y things that were transparent red and shiny, except they were faceted, they were half the size I needed, and they came in a $15 variety pack of 200 other jewel-y things. So I finally gave in and bought a $2 block of polymer modeling clay instead. That worked out quite well, I must say. [I took a few in-progress photos of various things, which I will post eventually.]
This project really has been an adventure in different media. Papier mache, clay, foam sheets, fabric... I'm amazed I've been able to handle them all. Back in the day, my sister and I played with polymer clay a bit, but no matter what we did we always managed to burn part of our creations. So I was kind of worried about that this time, but both my test piece and the actual ones turned out fine. Now I just have to hope that plain white glue will hold it to the foam. Glues are another thing about which I know nothing.
I am also glad I took sewing in junior high. Though I really need to sew more. For all my boasting about experience making cloaks for Ditch Day, that was the last time I touched a sewing machine, and having to relearn how to use one every single time gets a little old. But although a lot of sewing is intuitive, there are little tricks that I never would have figured out but for sewing class. Like cutting little notches in the edges that curve outward, so when you turn them in they won't scrunch up. Or pinking edges so they don't fray. (Though I'm still a bit of a skeptic on how effective that really is.)
And then there's papier mache. I think of all the media I'm working with, it's my favorite. For all my lamenting last time, I did get the staff to look pretty good. And it just surprises me every time how strong newsprint and flour can be. How versatile the shapes you can make. And it's just such a simple and easy to understand process. The only downside being all the rubbing I have to do to get the crusted paste off my hands afterwards. Given all the chemistry I took in undergrad, I probably shouldn't be saying this, but if it started out as just powder and water, why doesn't the water wash it away?
Anyway, I should go make the yellow sashes now. I've kind of forgotten I need them, which won't do.
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Date: 2009-05-22 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-22 07:55 pm (UTC)