Costume Update

Current Music: Beyond the Sea by Celtic Woman

This costume had officially taken over my life. It is slowly, bit by bit infringing upon my space, creeping out from under my bed and overflowing my craft table. I cannot say how glad I am that I bought that bed from my roommate instead of staying on that air mattress. If I had not I don't know where I would keep all the supplies, craft bits, and miscellaneous odds and ends that I seem to attract like a magnet while I am working on this. It is really quite terrible.

...and I love it.

As things usually go, I am still digging through the smaller, detail bits before I start on the bigger, less detailed parts like gluing all those scales on! Yikes. I finally got the balaclava today that I will be using as the foundation for my mask, so I can finally start on the meat of that. Hooray!

I have all the detail parts of the mask more or less finished now: the eyes, ears, teeth and horns.

I am really happy with the eyes, even though they came our more gold then green. These also have the tracking effect like the blue one I showed you before. The green is iridescent also, though you can't really tell from the picture.

Those black things at the bottom are the foundation for the ears. The picture does not show their detail very well. Eventually the ears will be covered with scales and have a fur fringe along the bottom edge. The ears will be attached to the mask with springs so that when I shake my head the ears will move. HA! I saw the idea online and loved it. Both the horns and the ears are made from sheets of craft foam. It makes them very lightweight but also surprisingly durable. I painted the horns about three times. Primer and two coats of glossy grey. The foam sheets are very absorbent and it took a surprising amount of paint to both cover them and make the glossiness come out.

The teeth were a fun project by themselves. I ordered a wolf jaw-set from a taxidermy website, sculpted the teeth the way I wanted, made a mold with OOMOO 30 silicone, and then cast them out of white plastic. It was very satisfying to make for some reason. perhaps because they look scary. Heh. (That blob of yellow on the right is the clay-stuffed original teeth model with the top and bottom pieces stuck back to back.)

I have made some progress on the feet. Originally I was thinking of making digitgrade stilts to go with it, but after I went through all the time and trouble to buy the stuff to build them I decided that stilts would be uncomfortable and a little overkill. I mean I am making articulated wings! If that is not already overkill I do not know what is.

So the feet look kinda like clown shoes (at least they are long enough to feel like I am wearing fins.) Since this picture was taken I have added green vinyl to the bottom with "gecko pads" to give the bottoms a reptilian look. I have also since added a black vinyl "sock" that covers the ankles of the feet and gives me a skin where I can glue on scales.

This is the progress so far. I really need to just sit down and glue the scales to it and get it over with. Having an artsy-fartsy brain is both a boon and curse. You get all these amazing ideas on how to make the project look cool, but the hard part is deciding which idea to keep and sometimes even how to do it. That is where I am now with the feet. I have the vision, just not so much the ability to get it there. Oh well.

I finished the claws by making a mold of my original Sculpey model and then casting a whole bunch in black plastic. The foot in the picture above is sporting some of them. My goal is to get the claws glued to the gloves tonight. It shouldn't take too long.

Casting the claws was an adventure. I discovered that my bathroom makes an ideal impromptu ventilation chamber for such odoriferous projects as mixing and casting resins. Just pop a fan on the counter, keep the vent running and you are good to go.

Because my mold was only for a single claw I had to mix the plastic for each one. All those cups along the back are individual mixes. The plastic sets up really quickly so practically as soon as I was done pouring the leftovers in the cup were beginning to solidify. After five minutes the sticks were glued to the cups. I finally cast the resin parts of some of the jewelry, if you can call it that. The blue piece is called Shi'thara'ben and the green is the accent stone. Once they finally cure completely I will wrap them together using silver jeweler's wire.

That purplish blob in the bottom of the picture is the silicone mold for the green accent stone that is sitting on top of it. The funny thing about casting resin, the smaller the piece is, the longer it takes to cure. I cast these pieces almost a week ago and the green one is still sticky.

So that is what is taking up my free time. I have started on the wings, and hope to get the skeleton together this weekend.

Current Music: Un Giorno Per Noi by Josh Groban

My Current Distraction

Current Music: Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson

I realize that I have not been very consistent in my posts and I blame that partly on my current project. I know that it is more than two months away, but I thought that it would be a good idea to get started on my...taadaa! Halloween Costume!

For the past two years I have put a lot of effort in creating elaborate Halloween Costumes. Don't ask me why, cause I don't know. The artsy bug has some really strong poison if you ask me. And it tends to lurk.

The first cut (2008) was a wolf where I constructed the mask of cardboard and plaster in about two weeks--faux fur is kinda hard to work with I found. On the side as part of the costume I made a velvet cape which was easier that I had thought when I began--go figure.

The next year (2009) I went a little farther and more elaborate in my "Shadow Tiger" outfit that had a mask (with teeth), a half body fur suit, and an articulated tail. This costume took me a solid three weeks of late nights and long weekends to get together and even then it came to the wire. A good friend of mine helped me with the jewelry on the mask which was nice.

This year though I will not be pulling something together in the final few weeks prior to the night of happy haunts. THIS year, I am going all out with a full suit, mask, tail and...wings! I am pulling a bit of personal cosplay and will be going as my character Summerbreeze Firefall, who is a dragon and the main character for my novel (currently still in progress).

I started this costume about three weeks ago and I think I am making some solid progress. The real time consumer in preparation for this endeavor is the scales. If I use just the scales that I have cut out at this point the costume will have more than 1200 individual scales, in five separate sizes. and yes, they were all cut out by hand.

This picture is my improvised worktable in my room with the six bags of scales, organized by size. That small patch of scales on the table are size 4, where the size 3 are the main body scale size and are the full bag on the right of the picture. Yeah, that is two weeks of late nights right there.

Before I even made the scales I had Jason help me make a tape dummy of my legs. Tape dummies are simple: you wrap your body with plastic wrap, then wrap layers of tape over it. The only way out of it is to cut your way out. After repairing the cuts I stuffed it with newspaper and put the pants on it that will be the foundation of the scales I will glue on eventually.

To be entirely frank, I find the legs to be more than a little disturbing. It is almost like I have half a body lying around my room. At the moment they are collecting dust under my craft table as I have not yet started gluing on the scales. I avoid looking at them when I can.

Next I started on some of the detail pieces. The costume will be as accurate to the Summerbreeze character as possible without actually walking around on all fours as she does. In the process of creating these detail pieces I have learned a great deal about modes of artistic creation that I was not aware of before. Such as plastic resin casting.
This is my first try (the colors done quickly with some sharpies) at a resin cast eye. In virtue of how these pieces are made, the eye has a tracking effect where it appears that the eye follows you. The mask's eyes will be green and I will paint them with enamel so they stand out better.

I do not take credit for the discovery of this really nifty trick, that credit goes to another avid costume-maker who is kind enough to post "how to" costume-craft videos on Youtube: Monoyasha. (Thank you Monoyasha!) This eye is just a test I threw together to see if I could pull it off. The resin pieces that will eventually be the final eyes are sitting in a jar above my table waiting for paint.

These pieces are some of the other detail bits. They are the Shi'thara'ben model, the unbaked Sculpey model for a set of resin cast claws, and the glazed model for the green accent stone that will be a part of the Shi'thara'ben pendant. For scale the claw model is about as long as my index finger (three inches or so). Eventually I will get around to ordering the OOMOO Silicone model making mixture so I can cast these bad boys in transparent dyed resin. So those are still waiting in the wings for me to get my butt in gear.

My most recent step completed is the tail. Or at least the foundation that will be the tail. I have changed my tactics a bit from last year in the materials I am using. Last year I used thick wooden dowels as the tail vertebrae with eye screws and elastic for the joints. While that worked for a thin feline tail doing the same thing for a thick dragon tail would be both too heavy and cumbersome to deal with for an extended period of time. So this year I am using rings of craft foam to give the tail structure. This configuration is both very light and relatively stiff. (The red you see on the inside of the rings is where I glued a second layer of foam sheets for support.)

Eventually the rings will be secured to one another, probably by strips of elastic so the tail can move and bend somewhat. Depending on some tests I'll do later to ascertain its strength and durability while under stress I may add discs of furniture foam into the larger rings for additional support.

The next on my list of little details is to start working on the mask. The one part that both frightens and excites me the most. Frightens because I will be using entirely new techniques this time around. and excites because of that very same thing. With these new techniques I think I will get the best results of all of my costumes so far.

I'll keep you posted.

Current music: Yo Vivo Perle by Andrea Bochelli

Florida 2010

Current music: "Close Every Door" from Joseph and the Technicolor Dream coat

So Wednesday (August 4th) I got back from spending more than a week and a half with my family in Florida. It was one of those trips that almost require a vacation afterwards in order to recover from the first one. I had a really great time and wish I was still there. I managed to acquire both some color to my usually pasty pale skin and also a sinus infection. Yeah, I am trying to figure out that one too since I spent most of my time outside.

Among the things I like the best about Florida (besides my family being there of course) are the sunrises.

And also the moonrises...yes, that is the moon.

And while the whole family was together there was a whole lot of this:

And this:

And other like shenanigans

All with the enevitable conclusion at the end of the day: crash and burn.

All in all it was a great trip.

Current Music: "Optimus vs Megatron" from the score of Transformers

Internet Searches

You would think that I would learn not to listen to it, but occasionally morbid curiosity gets the better of me. Or really, it sneaks up and grabs me from beneath my bed.

Take third degree burns for example. They are horrific in the best sense and downright nightmare inducing in the worst. Yet here I find myself typing "third degree burns" into the Google Images search field. What was I thinking? Needless to say after a page or two of the kinds of pictures that turned up I was feeling equal measures of pity and horror, but also a kind of sick fascination.

And I know I am not alone in that sentiment. It was what made hangings the number one spectator sport over centuries of human history. Executions have since been granted a bit more dignity in these modern days, but the progression of history has not put a damper on humanity's obsession with death and horrific scenes.

It is this curiosity that leads people to compile clips and videos of terrible sports accidents and injuries. Complete with slow motion play back that allows the viewer to witness the sudden savage dislocation of a knee, the catastrophic impact of a raging bull on a human body, and football players getting their faces smashed in, legs broken, and eyes gouged. And it is called entertainment!

For proof I will research...gasp!
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...A word to the wise...don't get lost in Youtube. It is entirely too easy.

Current music: the thunderstorm brewing outside.

Plants vs Zombies

Over the weekend I was introduced to a rather charming and altogether hilarious iPod game app called Plants vs Zombies. After hearing my brother-in-law rave about it and seeing my four year old nephew playing it I thought it worth a try. As sad as it is to admit, I actually stayed up late last night playing it.

The premise of the game is this: you are an average (or not-so-average, as you discover later in the game) member of suburbia that is unusually plagued by marauding zombies. Your primary line of defense against the shambling dead are a collection of rather unique plants that can do everything from freeze the zombies to squish them flat. You have to protect your home from wave after wave until there are no more. If a zombie gets past your defenses then they eat your brains. Eeww...

As simplistic as it appears it is actually quite entertaining. After each successful level you earn a new type of plant that has a specific ability. The higher you go the more zombies come with differentiating abilities as well. There are fast ones (at least what can be considered fast in undead terms) and armored ones, and even zombies that scuba dive. Ha!

Current music: Evacuate the Dance Floor by Cascada

Another iPod game app I have been introduced to is called Angry Birds. And this one is completely hilarious.

Some round green pigs, tired of a diet of tasteless grass, steal the eggs from a colony of birds. When the birds discover this theft all hell breaks loose in a barrage of avian kamikazes seeking retribution. In order to protect themselves the pigs construct forts and walls using glass, wood, or stone. With the use of a slingshot and the birds' determination all these fortifications end up proving ineffective against the birds' fiery ire.

This game is also addictive in its incredibly pleasing scenes of destructive mayhem. You start out the game with a generalized solid hitter Red. He has no special powers other than suicidal vigilantic revenge. As you progress in the game the pigs' forts get more complex and you earn birds with new powers such as multiplication, explosion, or speed. I have not finished the game yet to know if the birds do indeed get their pilfered eggs back before they are eaten by the pigs, but that is the fun of the game. :)

Current music: Womanizer by Britney Spears

On the oil spill (and Teddy Grahams)

Current Music Playing: "Carry on My Wayward Son" by Kansas

Well it looks like they may have done it. After a solid month of failures it looks like BP may be on the road to fixing this disaster. Finally! I was beginning to worry that the spill was going to gush forever and poison everything...well not that it hasn't done more than enough damage already. I am crossing my fingers AND toes in the hope that the oil will stay out of the gulf current and New Smyrna Beach stays clean. If not, my family reunion this summer is going to be depressing.

On another note, I do not think that all the flack BP is getting over this is entirely fair. The responsibility for the failure to monitor the safety warnings on the Deepwater rig rides solely on the engineers who were on the rig and ignored the warnings. Perhaps it was poor policy that led to the explosion, and that would be BP's fault, but I think they should be cut at least a little slack here. What they are trying to fix is unprecedented, and there is no established plan to solve this kind of issue. I think they should be applauded in their efforts to fix this wholly unexpected event.

On the completely other side of the universe...I love teddy grahams. They are so fun to eat. I think I now understand why cat's play with their food. It is just so much fun. Especially when you bite off their heads.

Current music: "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King

To avoid confusion...

Just to avoid the assumption given by my first post that this blog is going to be just another soggy sappy "i love nature" pile of over-sweetened drivel, I would like to clarify things.

Yes, occasionally I will be sugary-sweet and all that that implies, and yes other times I will rant and rave. But in my defense when facing the prospect of a clean slate, head first jump into the world of blogging all I could think of was the birds. So yes, I will ramble on occasion. I will change topics mid-post. Let the title of this blog be a warning to any who may complain. This is a compilation of my thoughts as they come. Upsidedown, insideout, and everything in between.