small hiatus

Hi, haven' posted in awhile. Haven't been working on anything, so nothing to post about. However, I might go to Awesome Con in DC in a month, and if I do that, I'm taking Kerrigan out of retirement and buying the airbrush finally to spruce her up. Then do the venture bros costumes, then do Tyrael. Lots to do, just got to get started.

Costume wishlist

I need to stop thinking up new projects before I even really start on my current one. Somehow the idea to make a Tyrael (the archangel from the Diablo games) is now running around my brain. Bad brain, stop it, start your current costumes first. So just going to add that to the wishlist of costumes I want to make. Chell from Portal is on there (mostly I just want to make the long fall boots) as well as some various and sundry other pieces I'm not really remembering at the moment, but that I know are on there.

However, a Tyrael costume would be soooo cool, it has armor, and wings, and lights in the wings, and a sword, and, and.... I am a costume nerd.

Ok, got that out of my system.

New costume first step: acquire shoes

Went out last weekend to get shoes for the costume. Decided to hit up Goodwill for cheap shoes, as they will be bastardized and covered over so they don't have to look good or be a particular color, just the shape I want.

I ended up getting two different pairs of shoes, stiletto pumps with a really high heel, probably over 4 inches, and boots with a lower heel, probably about 3 inches. Reason I got two? Well, combined they were $14, so there's that, and when I tried them on, it was with socks on and the pumps were really tight. I am a size 8.5, and apparently there were no 8.5 size shoes in Goodwill, and the pumps were an 8. I was hoping without socks, they would fit better, but they are still sort of tight. Sometimes I fit an 8 no problem, but they might just be too tall and tight.

If I go with the boots, I'm going to have to cut them down as the boot is bulky and has a zipper already. I'll rip out the zipper, cut them down to booties, and cover them over from there with boot covers. I want the boots to be tight to my leg and as cartoonish as possible. I may still try and use the pumps as they don't need any modification, but I'll have to wear them in first. They might not stretch out, time will only tell.

Next step: buying material. Also, do I want to make my own leotard, or buy one? Tough choices. 

New year, new post

So I have started the planning phase for the next set of costumes, The Monarch and Dr. Mrs the Monarch (hopefully the Dr title will be legitimate by the time I wear the costume, and yes I made the mistake decision to go to grad school way back in the stone ages and am just finally finishing).

First step is to get an airbrush. I've been wanting one for some time, and I was recently advised on what type to get and such by someone who actually knows about these things (yay to good advice!). I will hopefully buy it at the end of the month, along with some worbla for the crowns and chest plate for the monarch.

The first thing I think I will be doing is the shoes. I like to start costumes from the bottom up, since when I start, I usually have no clue what I am actually doing, and learn as I go. Shoes/bottom of the costume you don't notice as much as the top.

For the shoes, the Monarch will have either worbla or paper mache or some other stiff material for the toe curls, and then fabric backed with interfacing or something else flexible yet supportive over that for the boots since they are tall. I will have to get myself a pair of cheapish heels to snackrifice for this costume since I'm out of shoes I can use for costumes that I conveniently have for whatever reason. I will also be doing the same fabric and backing treatment for the Mrs.'s boots, as they are thigh high.

Contemplating if I can get away without a zipper in either pair or not. Time and planning can only tell. For now, I'm still in the budgeting and planning to buy things phase. Although these costumes look fairly simple, I'm probably going to end up spending a lot to make them (because I can't do anything the simple and cheap way, now can I?). Worbla, material, paint, airbrush, potentially making moving parts (maybe an arduino, someone slap that idea out of my head please), shoes, wig, ahhhhhhhh! At least I gave myself 8 months-ish to do all of this.

Coming up next....

Next costume(s) I will be working on: The Monarch and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. I am hoping to get them started early in the new year, as I will have two full costumes to make for wearing to cons/halloween/by myself like a boss, etc...

This will be my first excursion with thermoplastics and possibly epoxy and airbrush painting, new skills for the new year, wooo!

More blasts from the past

The previous pictures were all from stuff I did in graduate school. I went even farther back in the way back machine and found pictures of two of my costumes from college.


I don't have pictures from freshman or sophomore year, but those years I was trinity from The Matrix, and a Demoness, respectively. I wish I knew where a picture of the demoness was because that was a cool costume. I made a wig with horns, sewed big fabric spikes onto a top, and made a huge tail. I still have bits and pieces of that costume laying around in my dresser I think.

Junior year, 2005, I was Willy Wonka from the Tim Burton version of Willy Wonka. I made the costume before the movie came out (as I also did with the Quorra costume). The pants I had, bought go-go boots (which were later incorporated into the Quorra costume), and the hat I bought (and still have, vintage top hat). The rest I fabricated. I got my dad to cut the W pin out of aluminum, and I sewed the coat and the top. The top mimics a waistcoat and shirt, although you can't really see it in the picture. The cane is made from a dowel, that my dad shoved into a bit on a giant drill press, and then sanded while the drill press was running. That was fun, broke at least one in spectacular fashion that way. The top of the cane is a painted bouncy ball hot glued on. I wore the costume all day, and walked around with a huge bag of candy, giving it out to people in class.

Senior year, 2006, I was a "warlock" from WoW. That's World of Warcraft. I have been characters from 2 of 3 of Blizzard's cornerstone games, no Diablo costume (yet). I guess my previous statement of not having original costumes is false, because the demoness, the warlock, and the blue fairy are all original concepts.

I actually welded for this costume, the back piece is a metal frame, with chain draped in between. The dress I made, along with the arm things and the hair is my hair. Braided into yarn to make yarn dreads. I had a yarn in hair phase, because why not? I did it about 4 times within a year (including the blue fairy) for costumes and funsies.




 I had to go digging through my email for these, but I found some pictures of my Quorra costume from 2010. It was the first costume that I made that lit up, with EL wire running through the front and back. Unfortunately, no pictures of the back (that I can find right now, although I've seen them somewhere).

I do have an identity disc that velcroed to the back that can't be seen in the pictures, and the costume is one whole body suit, and the white piping is pretty much all hot-glued on to the suit. The sleeves are attached and not separate. This was fun to do, and it is easy to wear, unlike a lot of my costumes. If I'm going to wear it again, I want to get a wig to make it more authentic.

Blasts from the past

 While I'm in costume downtime mode, here's some pictures of Halloween's past. I don't have any pictures of my 2010 costume for some reason, although I still have the costume. It was a Tron Legacy costume, the suit worn by Quorra. Maybe I'll find a picture of that later.

Anyways, 2007, to the left, I was a Blue Fairy, although with the giant peacock wings, most people thought I was a peacock. This is probably one of my only true original ideas, and I made it in maybe 2-3 weeks? This was the first year of grad school, and it was the first year I made it on my own without anyone's help. Also the first year I made wings. Fairly rudimentary design, but it worked for the costume. Yes, I am wearing that in a lab.

 2008, I decided to be Dark Helmet. Space Balls is one of my favorite sci fi satire movies, and one of my all time favorite movies hands down. I still had the helmet, which is paper mache, until recently. It had started to really break down, and was getting really sad. I still have most of the rest of the costume, although the boots were cannibalized for the Commander Shepard costume, so if I were to ever be Dark Helmet again, it would require some major reconstruction.

Gloves I bought, shirt I made, along with the shorts and tie and cape. The pants are spandex I had. Again, it didn't take me as long to make this as more recent costumes, and it was mostly sewing.

 2009, I switched gears and decided to be Marie Antoinette. Mostly because I wanted to make a huge dress. This costume probably has the most money in it, due to the expensive brocade material I decided to make it out of. It turned out really well, but I only ever wore it once on Halloween of that year. It is huge and bulky and hard to move in. However, I'm hanging on to it, just in case I ever have occasion to need a huge dress.

It did sustain some damage being worn out on halloween, and I only recently pulled it out to clean it, but again, with some small fixes, totally wearable again.

2011, I did a complete 180 turn in the direction of my costuming and was the Queen of Blades. Previous costumes had mostly been fabric and sewing, and I wanted to expand my costuming skills repertoire. This was the first year I worked with foam and paint, and it came out decently.

If I wear it again, and I probably will, it needs a lot of reconstruction with the wings, and fixes to the paint and boots. The costume needs a lot of small fixes to be wearable again, but they are easy and will make it look a lot better.

2012 was Commander Shepard, which I posted about a ways back, and this year was obviously the weeping angel.

2014 and beyond: who knows. I'll probably also start to make things all year round at this point.