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.

Trident Construction - Oops!

I started construction of the trident! However, in addition to "Measure twice, cut once" I should add "Design three times"!

I had my mind set on 1/2" dowel, but finding fittings that would work with that size was difficult. I had wanted screw fittings, but I'd have to do some real messing around with them adaptors and even then I couldn't find enough that were for 3/8" (inner diameter of them are 1/2")

What I ended up getting were some cheap PVC pipe fittings designed to go inside the other pipe, so their ID was somewhat smaller than 1/2". They were long though, which will help avoid the wiggle issue that the short copper fittings tend to allow. I can also drill a hole through them and the pole to allow a zip tie to add extra support.

The theory was sound! I did over sand some of the peg ends, so the error I did make will allow me to fix that as well.



Doesn't look very big does it! Buuut, all assembled it is nearly 7.5'! A good foot longer than I wanted! I think the error occurred when rounding the sizes, and adding an inch here and there as I cut the dowel. I also forgot to get enough dowel for the sides of the trident, but I've gotten more now :)

So, perhaps today I shall chop em down some, and be gentler with the sanding! Thank god for my dremel, I'd never have gotten that sanding done.

On the shoe front, I am leaning towards these.



I will be painting them with semi-transparent blue in the spot pattern, but silver should make a great base. the shape looks close and price is right ($35 including shipping). I have silver vinyl bought to make her cuffs and belt as well, which I'll be painting the same way so it should all match!

Cosplaying!

With only so much time in the day I don't really find the time to post here about what I'm at. Heck, lately I'm lucky if I manage to get pictures of my items before they sell at the Farmers Market (not that I'm complaining!) So, I've decided to use this blog to also chronicle my else-wise geeky life!

So, my main distraction these days has been prepping and researching for my AndrAIa costume from the very awesome show ReBoot!
Here she is:


So far I've got her trident sketched out:


I bought 1/2" dowel to use for most of it, but my initial plan to use a smaller dowel to connect the bits is too wobbly. I had planned to use plumbing fittings, but I was going about it wrong in the store. I now know that the measurement for copper pipping is the INNER diameter, so I actually need to use 3/8" fittings! I shall head to the store soon. Why do I need to do it piece wise? Well, I need to fly with this as I'm making it to go to Fan Expo in Toronto! The max length of any one piece is around 25", but even with that limitation it's looking at a good max of 7 feet! Given that I'm only 5'3", I'll probably scale it to a bit over 6', meaning piece "A" would be about 22" total. I hope to have threaded fittings but we'll see what I find.

For the top I have 1/4" dowels that will go between the main post and the two side posts that I'll attach by drilling a hole and using hot glue to keep it all steady. I have air-dry clay for the details, but we'll see how well that works. I'll be doing a step by step of this taking as many pics as I can!

While for her pants a stretch fabric would be ideal, I found this tissue lamé and had to go for it. I don't think I could get any closer if I tried!!


So, pants will be a challenge and will likely need a zipper. It was also half off, so I got a bunch extra just incase I mess up! I was hoping to find a pattern for like, tight leather pants or something but nadda.

For her jewelry I'll mostly be using craft foam which you can apparently shape slightly with heat. I found an amazing tutorial for making it look like metal, so fingers crossed that it works! I think I will use scuplty for the gems? I will be asking my friend who uses it a lot!

I also have my wig! Need to trim the bangs but I will save that for when I've gotten better at putting it on.


I am also making Bob for my boyfriend to wear (I keep tell people we're going as a bad fanfiction), but I will save those details for their own post!