Origami Jewelry!

Supplies are *slowly* coming in, finally! My origami paper came earlier the week, and my bottles finally came yesterday so I've been playing with that!

I hit some snags with the costume accessories, but I should have some progress to share soon on that front.

Onto the Origami!



Only listing my bottled origami on Etsy so far, worried about the rest getting crushed in shipping, but gotta share anyway!





I covered the earrings in mod podge to protect them from water and give them some strength, so happy with how they turned out! =D

Sewing for Dummies

Made the boyfriend try on women's leggings today to see how they wore on him. Shame has no place in cosplay! LOL! I think I have a good idea of how I'll need to adjust the pattern for him though so was worth while. And, I finally managed to find a leggings pattern locally! A good day indeed.

Pretty much all the fabric is from Fabric.com, a company which I have come to love. Their return policy really is no questions asked, which is great when you realize the teal fabric you bought is actually a flower print!

Basic orange and black:


The fabric for AndrAIa


This is a tissue lame... and while not as impossible to sew as the internet makes out it will take some figuring out. I'm thinking that there's no way to have the seams completely neat, since the act of sewing tends to leave a black line where the foil has been moved. Also flash pictures makes the whole thing reflect, but it's darker than it looks there. I may look into different needles? Not sure. I think using tissue paper on the back will help keep the teeth from biting at it too much too.

Spandex for Bob:
The darker blue I bought was almost too shiny and too dark, but I think the reverse will work ok:


Here's the two sides combined with the teal:


The spandex is much easier to sew than I expected, at least on the small scale!

The vinyl wasn't too bad either, but I won't have to sew that much anyhow, just to add some velcro or maybe elastic depending on how I decide to attach it.



I've learned that the fanexpo wrist band has to go on my wrist, but can be covered by my costume most of time.

I also realized that AndrAIa's fins go through some of her jewelry :P not sure exactly how to work some of that, I may need to make the fins around those bangles LOL!

Arm bands and Icons

Had the lightbulb go off for AndrAIa's arm jewelry to use wire in tubing. My first try I used to thick of wire and it was impossible to work with. Second try I used thinner wire and it's malleable enough to take on and off.

Trying to take a picture of your own arm... not so easy. So ignore the terrible angles!




And not on my arm:


I also went and got the icons printed on photo paper! I designed them myself and I think the shadows on the game and guardian icons turned out the best! The game icon is folded which makes it really stand out =D

Trident (almost) done!

As much as I'd like to keep tinkering with it (and completely redo parts), I've declared it done other than a spraying with sealer. That will have to wait til a nice day when I can take it to the park I think... Or at least an ally! That would seem sketchy at ALL

Here are some pics, the weather is crappy so the lighting isn't the greatest but it gives a good idea how dynamic the gold is!

Top view



Bottom tip and full view!


Looks much smaller disassembled!


On the Glitch front, still not happy with the cog... but I think I might get it printed! First off, I discovered that Google makes a free CAD program called SketchUp which is surprisingly easy to use. I did some measuring and tweaking and came up with this:



It tis a bit costly just for a small ring, and they have a minimum order of $25 so not sure. I may know someone with access to a 3D printer so I'll try the beg route first haha.

Glitch!

You know what's hard? Trying to find reference photos of Glitch from ReBoot :P

Some of the edges aren't as sharp as I'd like... I like the method I came up with though! While I was designing it the boyfriend asked if it'd be possible to have different modes., so in an effort to please I have so the cog can be pulled off the center, and the insert changed.

Here are the four inserts I've designed:


For the cog itself I used a paper craft version of Glitch as a template. The cog actually has 11 teeth, which makes designing it very difficult. I traced it out onto a sheet of foam board and cut it out of two sheets glued together with white glue.



The middle circle is cut entirely out of the top, and slightly wider out of the bottom sheet. That circle will be glued to the glitch part of box, and you can pull the cog off it to replace the inserts!



As you can see some of the edges aren't a clean as I'd like, I'm tempted to redo the cog but I don't think I'd do any better cutting the teeth with a second go. I do need to invest in a new exacto knife though, paper kills the blades! We'll see how it looks when painted.

Next on the docket... AndrAIa's jewelry!

Clay (almost) done!

Just about ready for painting! I may go over with a fine sand paper first, but it's pretty much ready I think. I don't know if I'm just getting sick of sanding tho!

Picture dump!


Here we see the remaining (semi) major issue with the trident, one of the connections is a bit loose. I think I can build it up with some tape and keep it from bending so much. But, I'm holding off on that until I'm done construction since paint may end up in the connector and doing it. I already had to file down one a bit because of glue.


Problem #2, some cracks. I've filled most of them with Poly Filla (awesome product, but not good to breath), but some are happening at slight flex points which won't stay sealed. I think filling with paint will work fine though.


Better view of the top half.


45 degree view of the tip


Close of the handle. Quite happy with its strength, I don't think it will will crack with use :)


Top down view of tip.

Very productive week! I think I might move onto jewelry next. I have a start on Bob's keytool, so that will probably be the next post :)

Trident Skeleton!

Success!

I cut off the old pegs and created new ones, which shortened the trident significantly.



I duct taped the posts to test the height before doing the final gluing and such and it is about 6'4", a bit more than 1' than my height. I'll be wearing heals, so it will be about right judging from the reference photos I have!

I still managed to make a couple of the pegs too small >_< Only one that has a noticeable wiggle tho! To ensure I don't have bits falling off during use, I added small holes to allow me to lock in the poles:



I'll use small zip ties (probably two, going around each side) to lock in the poles during the convention. Right now I'm using bits of pipe cleaner heh.



I'll set up a better shot of it before I start the next step against a dark background. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to go from here... Figuring out how to sculpt the flares is going to be the most difficult part. I'm considering getting some wire mesh just to make it easier. My biggest fear is the handle cracking where I have to hold it.