Because I’ve been making a shit-ton of progress and am happy about it, so I’m forcing really boring photos on the nonexistent people who don’t read this journal. XD

( WHY ARE THEY ALL FUZZY? )

Going home to take a nap now, I think, unless I can stay awake and finish Dei’s scope.

So I’ve gotten a fair amount done over the last couple of weeks. The upper part of the torso is almost completely sewn, the soul canister and scroll holder (and scrolls) are finished, and I got work done on my coat and Deidara’s over this past weekend.

My initial plan for the torso has obviously gone to hell, because if the thing is solid WF, I wouldn’t be able to put it on, and all the variations I’ve tried haven’t really worked either. My plan now is for it to be mostly fabric, and I’m still going to do the chest binding thing. It’s coming along, so I’m happy.

Deidara’s scope is also trucking along, and I altered a headband for her over the weekend because there are NO Iwa headbands to be found on the entire internet. >_>

I found a solution to the wing blade problem, though I still need to get my mom’s help with the Dremmel tool to accomplish it. It should work well, though.

Brain is scattered today, obviously. I put a few pictures up in my gallery for this journal, and am too lazy right now to actually include them in the post. I’ll be putting more up later, of the finished soul canister, scroll holder with scrolls in it, and the torso so far. *crawls under a rock*

EDIT: Updated status report post (link in sidebar). On the agenda for today when I get home, assuming I can keep myself from collapsing into a coma for five hours (ie, a nap): make the sash, re-hem the pants to the appropriate length, and continue making coat number two.

I’ve been too tired/busy with homework to get much of anything done lately. I did find a solution to some of the wing-related stuff that should save me some money, and I just thought of something that might fix the other part of the wing problems, if I can figure out how to cut through styrofoam without creating potentially cancerous fumes. >_______>

The rest of it... is going okay. It looks great, but doesn’t fit so well, so I was thinking of simplifying it even more and just using WF for a framework, and -- get this -- binding my chest with an awesome technique I found at the Cosplay.com forums. I’d certainly be more comfortable in terms of overheating or not, so at the moment I’m running with that idea.

I’m also considering putting the torso on hold until Sasori shows up with no coat on in the anime (unless that ends up cutting it too close) to see what he looks like in motion. I dunno.

I just made a burning death smell trying to cut the damn styrofoam. *vents all available fans OUT of the room*

Also on the cosplay agenda besides Sasori stuff: Scope for Deidara, and possibly sandals for Deidara. :D

Self: *slaps Kate over head with old shoe*

Yes. I see the light now. >> I’m making it more difficult than it needs to be. This is my first project using Wonderflex; I’m still getting my feet wet with it, and after two attempts at the chestpiece, I’m still not using it to its full potential. I probably won’t on this. But I’m attempting too much shaping and sculpting on this. I just looked at fanart of Sasori, and in my vast collection, there’s only one where he has real muscular sort of definition on his chest. Everything else (including the manga) has very smooth curves and lines. I think tomorrow I need to do a second layer of WF over the existing second attempt, to smooth the whole surface out and strengthen it. I’ll probably keep the shaping in the back, so that I don’t end up with blisters on my shoulderblades, or with popped joints because I leaned back onto a weird spot, but the front will be smoother. My life will be easier that way. XD My other idea that I had was to secure it over my shoulders with straps made of WF that would snap on to close it -- that way I get the close fit without having to try and fit something wider to my shoulder. Same goes for the sides.

I’m also tempted to just go ahead and make all the fabric bits I can (parts of abdomen, sleeves, neck) so that I feel like I’m accomplishing something. >>

Grah. Not awake. Hope to have pictures of progress tomorrow.

Blargh. Got a fair amount of work done today, but feeling a little discouraged anyway. I got the whole chestpiece put together, and it looked fantastic, but as I realized midway through constructing it, I had no way to get into it. Cutting a side opening fixed that, but it still wasn’t fitting quite right along the neckline and armholes. Some more experimenting led to some ideas (and more lines for darting...), which I hope to test out tomorrow.

I also need to deposit my latest financial aid check so that I have enough money in my account to buy liquid latex and wing parts. >> With a couple more weekends of solid work, I might actually have the torso finished, or close to, but I need the latex and wing stuff before I can do that. I kinda need it to not be five degrees outside, too, so I can spray paint stuff.

So, after an aborted attempt at a chestpiece, which mostly involved making a poncho out of newspaper and taping it to fit properly, and then making it out of Wonderflex and attempting to find a balance between the right look and still being able to get it on over my head, I took a second crack at it.

...that was a terrible run-on sentence. Pardon me, I’m high on Sharpie fumes.... *goes to get air*

SO. I was lamenting my lack of either a duct tape dummy of me or a minion shaped like me in the chest area, and remembered that I made a crapola tape dummy off our dress-maker’s dummy that isn’t shaped like any woman ever, but it seemed useful at the time. >> I was going to use it for Karasu, I think. Anyway. I dug it out of the bottom of my closet, put it on, ran downstairs and got electrical tape, and got cracking at making it shaped like me. I think it turned out pretty well, considering. I had to have my mom tape it in the back for me to get it to fit more closely, and then cut me out of it so I could work with it. I stuffed it full of towels, propped it up on my desk, and proceeded to begin getting high with the Sharpie. XD It’s really useful; I can draw and write directly on the dummy, and mark where I need things.

I finally started taping newspaper all over it, to be trimmed into the appropriate shape:


Midway, had an epiphany, and got the scrap cardboard to make collarbones. :D


Now comes the part where I will be amazed and delighted if it actually works the way I hope it will. I was trying to divide all the newspaper into smaller parts that, by the way they’re jointed together, will create the torso shape I want. I was having an especially hard time with this on the back, so I went and got my mom to stand still while I poked her back and scribbled on notebook paper at the same time. The drawing on the right is that, with notes for my own benefit. The one on the left is the one I did of how I’d already divided the front up.


I realize this looks like a pile of garbage, but it’s actually the pattern pieces, all cut apart and marked so I know what they are:


It’s too late to get started on cutting the WF tonight, but I hope to work on it a little tomorrow after I get home, assuming I don’t just crash wherever I happen to sit down first. >> I’m really excited about this, though. The wings are on hold, although I think I found a solution to the problem I was having. It’s just as well, since I won’t be able to spray paint the blades for a while now, until it gets warmer.

Both classes were cancelled today (why can’t they call me about this or something? I got up for nothing...), so I figured I could get some work done. I got a couple of wing blades made a few nights ago, but the bases of them weren’t working. The blades themselves look fantastic, though.

The flat blade shape with the main base shape. That’s two layers of Wonderflex with the base shape attached, with a third of just the blade in between them. It’s very sturdy. :D


Fuzzy closeup of the attempted blade base.


You see my problem, I hope. >> It needs to be more circular, and I had an idea involving aquarium tubing, but after a trip to the hardware store, I don’t think that will work. I’m going to go make more blades now, or maybe a newspaper pattern for the chestpiece, since I just posted to the Cosplay.com forums about my problem (and have to wait for an answer). Hopefully I’ll post again later.

Shopping yesterday was quite productive, as in, I got everything I still needed on my immediate list. :D I updated my task list at CosplayLab for Sasori, but I figured I'd also do one here and link to it over in the sidebar or just when I update it.

---

Ring: Have.
Pants: Have.
Nail polish: Have.
Hair trim/new dye job: Have.
Sandals: Have.
Sandal cover things: Have.
Coat: Have.
Puppet torso: Have.
Sash: Have.

Current status: 100% finished
Current cost/hours of time spent: About $160/≈45 hours

---

So yeah, I came home yesterday with styrofoam, gesso, fabric, padding, rope, and white glue, plus supplies for my two art classes, Burning Crusade, Lego Star Wars, and a cool string of lights for my room. I was happy. ^^

The next task, I guess, is to make the wing mockup, probably with Wonderflex blades, because 1) I'm not sure we have enough cardboard for me to make five blades that size, and 2) I'm fairly certain it's going to work and I may as well get those done. >> Oddly enough, I think the styrofoam eggs I bought are going to work better for joints than the spheres. Go figure. I just hope the screw eyes hold in the styrofoam and gesso under stress from the tight elastic, otherwise I'll have to figure something else out.

At this point, the sockets for the wings where they need to attach on my back are worrying me more than the wings themselves. There are already going be plenty of spots where I have to wrap the fabric around a circular open space (arm holes, for one...), so that shouldn't be a problem, but I'm not sure how I'll attach the socket joint in the socket. I did have one idea originally which might still work, which would be to run a small rod through the appropriate point in the egg shape and attach both ends that stick out to the inside of the socket edges, with enough wiggle room for the whole structure to pivot up and down. That should allow for folding the wings, and also having them out, especially if... OOH. If I put a stop somewhere in that to keep it from just dropping to the lowest point because of gravity. Although if it fit tightly enough, that might not be a problem. I will have to play with that a bit.

In other news, horrific cramps woke me up at 8:30 this morning, leaving me curled in the fetal position with a heating pad for an hour until the pain relief FINALLY kicked in so I could go back to sleep before my class. Sometimes I really hate being a girl.

So: Tomorrow I'm going shopping with my mom in Kingston after my one class in the morning. On the list for me (besides Target, hopefully for a copy of Burning Crusade) is JoAnn Fabrics and either AC Moore or Michael's. I'm hoping I'll find fabric to make/cover the puppet torso with, and I need a few things so I can make a mock-up of how the wings would be constructed so I can prove to my mother that yes, they will work. >> I'll probably try and convince her that I should go ahead and get what I need in the event that they do work out, so that I can work on it whenever and not have to wait to do that part until she goes shopping again in two weeks. I also need to look for red fabric at JoAnn's, for my coat.

Shopping list
Big bottle of white glue
Styrofoam balls that are sized nicely for paper towel tubes (x4)
Hopefully red fabric
Hopefully some pale yellow/cream/white/beige/etc. fabric that has a little stretch in it
Half a yard of appropriately colored duck cloth or similar (for sandals)

When I get home (assuming I'm not immediately lost to BC, and it's not too late in the evening), I'll probably work on the mockup or, more likely, go ahead and order the liquid latex online. I have to see how much money I have, tonight, so I know how much I can spend on fabric and stuff. >> I still have to pay my parents back for part of the Wii cost...

Score. It works, and faster than LJ's site does. Anyway. I fiddled around with the heat gun the other night and did a couple of tests with the Wonderflex, mainly bonding two pieces together, and creating a joint. Both worked way better than when I tried to make my puppet scrolls before Connecticon. >_> Also, decided that spandex is not the way to go, as I do not have 70$ to spend on two shirts to whack up, and also because I found out on the forums that liquid latex feels like skin on fabric. I found a site that sells it for about 10$ a pound, and it's already a neutral skin sort of color, so I can have my mom buy some kind of pale-colored cotton blend fabric (hopefully with a little stretch in it) that I can cover the Wonderflex with and stuff, and cover with liquid latex and have people fondling me for all of AB. *dance*

Uwee! Test post with Gizmo, if it'll stop crashing on me for no reason. ^^

First post, and mostly a test one to see how the layout's looking.

So... I bought black fabric for my coat a few days ago. I already have the pants (though I need to let the hems out a little so they'll be long enough to stay tucked into sandal cover thingies) and the ring, which my Deidara was kind enough to make for me. Also the nail polish. And the hair, which will need a trim and a new dye job for the con.

My current project for a while is going to be making the puppet torso. The coat will come later, when our Itachi gets her act together and helps Deidara and me with coatmaking at the same time. I need to buy red fabric for it anyway. But those two things are going to be the hardest and most complicated, anyway. Making the sandals will be easy, as will the covers.