Sophitia's Armor, sword and shield
(I apologize for not having any progress photos, I made all of this in a hurry and completely forgot to take them… I'll add in some detail shots later so you can see what I'm talking about. As aways, feel free to ask me any questions you have, either here, my email, or my Tumblr!)
Sophitia was the first costume that I have made which had any armor or weapons, so I did a lot of research first. I decided that the way I wanted to make my armor was using craft foam and thin styrene plastic. I decided for the weapons I'd use the similar materials, but in a slightly different way, adding Bondo on top of it all to harden it.
For the shoes, I took some cheap brown flip flops and cut the straps off. I made straps for each of the pieces, and sewed them together. I used the combination of some Loctite glue, and straight pins to attach the straps to the soles of the shoes.
It was a lot of trial and error, but I got them to work.
For the silver bits on the shoes, i used one layer of 3mm craft foam and a really think piece of styrene, and cut out the shape. Simple.
For the belts, I made the flat one out of pleather, and painted it with Jacquard Lumiere Paint. For the belt made out of circles, I made the large circle out of Lightweight Sculpey, which I sanded and painted with the same Jacquard Lumiere Paint as the flat belt. For the repeated circles, I made a form out of sculpey, which I took a mold of using liquid latex, and I cast using Epoxy Resin (EasyCAst Brand). It was the first time I ever made a mold or cast anything with resin, but it was super simple. I may make a tutorial on it based on the way I made my belt.
I also cast jewels for the upper arm armor, the shoes, and earrings.
In order to start making the armor, I made paper patterns for each piece, as well as patterns for each raised design.
For each piece of armor, I used two pieces 3mm thick craft foam for the base of each piece, which I cut out using the paper patterns. I then cut out a piece of thin styrene about 1 inch larger than my pattern piece. Using hot glue, I glued the styrene to the foam, bending it to fit my arms as I glued it. when I made the outline pieces, I only cut out the interior, so when I glued it to the styrene, I stretched it to make it fit the base of the armor perfectly. I glued in the small interior pieces after trimming the extra foam from the outline.
After I finished gluing all the pieces of armor together, I then painted on Elmer's glue on all the foam pieces to seal it before painting.
I first sprayed all the armor with Rustoleum Hammered Silver paint, then I painted in the blue with the same Jacquard Lumiere Paint as the belt.
Sword and Shield:
The sword and shield were made out of blue insulation foam.
The shield was made out of two layers of 1" insulation foam, backed in styrene, using 6mm thick craft foam for the edge and center design. I used a palm sander to sand down the shape of the shield, before gluing the craft foam onto the shield.
After painting it with Elmers Craft Glue to seal it, I applied Bondo all over it. I sanded the Bondo smooth, filling any low spots with Spackling Paste.
After I was happy with the finish, I primed and painted it with Rustoleum Hammered Finish Gold, then I painted the blue with the same Jacquard Lumiere Paint as the belt and armor.
For the sword, I cut out the outline of the sword on2 layers of 1" blue insulation foam, with a piece of thick styrene in the center, which goes all the way through the sword. The thick styrene makes this a really strong, but really light prop.
I cut smaller pieces for the raised up sections, and glue them in place, sanding the shape to how I wanted it, I covered it in Bondo and Spackling paste, just like the sword.
I primed and painted it just like the shield, but using Silver instead of gold, and painting in the black areas by hand.
Weathering:
To weather everything, I watered down some cheap craft acrylic paint in black and brown.
I put a lot of it in all the cracks of raised edges of all the details on one piece at a time, then I would wipe it so it would leave the black in the cracks and only leave a little all over the piece. I used both black and brown for both oxidation and grime.
And that's all.
Showing posts with label sophitia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sophitia. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Sophitia's Dress
I realized that I never really wrote much on how I made my Sophitia costume.
Sorry about that, and here it is about a year late, haha
Well, The dress was probably the simplest part of this costume.
I started by measuring where I wanted the dress to fall on my thighs, as well as how wide across my breasts it needed to cover.
I have a dress form, so it was easy to figure out approximately how big and where the "bodice" of the dress should go. I cut out tapered rectangle shapes for the bodice, and used 3 layers of sheep and one layer of white, so it was the same thickness as the skirt.
After I made the initial measurements, I looked at the reference photos, and figure out where the pleats on the skirt should be. They were box pleats, so each pleat is 4 times as large as the overlap on the pleat, if that makes sense. Here's a drawing if that will help.
I took my waist measurement and added the size of each of the pleats to that measurement. I then marked out a rectangle on a large sheet of paper, the length of my waist + pleats, and the height was how long I decided the skirt needed to be.
I figure out where each pleat was going to go, and marked that on the rectangle I had drawn. I then made a template for the bottom scallop shape to fit evenly into the rectangle and drew it onto the rectangle, completing the pattern.
I'll take some detail photos and add them in a bit later. Sorry about that.
I then cut out 3 layers of sheer fabric, and one layer of white fabric to make up the skirt. I sewed the scalloped edges together on 2 layers of sheer fabric, then again on the layer of white and the last sheer layer, ending up with 2 layers to my skirt. I topstitched each layer before screen printing the design on the skirt. I used a french seam to finish the skirt up nicely, and I serged it together.
For the sheer layers that tie on the shoulder, go under the shoes, and drape on my upper arms, I used my serger to create a rolled hem edge along all the sides of each piece.
After turning and pressing the bodice, I sewed it to the skirt, with the sheer triangular layers in-between the bodice and skirt, and serged it all together. I added in an elastic casing and added some 3/4 inch elastic to the waist of the dress to help hold it up.
To make the shoulders of the dress, I used some pleather lined with cotton to create the shape, and the straps are made out of the same pleather. I used some thick wire to sew under the "shoulder pads" to make them kind of clamp onto my shoulders.
The shoulder pieces are the main thing that holds this dress up, along with fashion tape, haha.
Looking at the dress, I didn't have a problem figuring out how to make it, but how to wear a bro with it… I don't know if this is too much information, but I thought I could share, incase other people are having problems figuring out how to get support in a similar situation of a backless, center cleavage to my waist, side boob included dress.
I used one of these sticky bras:
and instead of putting it on the way listed in the instructions, I didn't clasp it in the center. I turned the sticky cups 90 degrees, to where the part that would clasp together was on the top… uh well, I applied it to myself like it's shown in this video:
_____
Sorry about that, and here it is about a year late, haha
Well, The dress was probably the simplest part of this costume.
I started by measuring where I wanted the dress to fall on my thighs, as well as how wide across my breasts it needed to cover.
I have a dress form, so it was easy to figure out approximately how big and where the "bodice" of the dress should go. I cut out tapered rectangle shapes for the bodice, and used 3 layers of sheep and one layer of white, so it was the same thickness as the skirt.
After I made the initial measurements, I looked at the reference photos, and figure out where the pleats on the skirt should be. They were box pleats, so each pleat is 4 times as large as the overlap on the pleat, if that makes sense. Here's a drawing if that will help.
I took my waist measurement and added the size of each of the pleats to that measurement. I then marked out a rectangle on a large sheet of paper, the length of my waist + pleats, and the height was how long I decided the skirt needed to be.
I figure out where each pleat was going to go, and marked that on the rectangle I had drawn. I then made a template for the bottom scallop shape to fit evenly into the rectangle and drew it onto the rectangle, completing the pattern.
I'll take some detail photos and add them in a bit later. Sorry about that.
I then cut out 3 layers of sheer fabric, and one layer of white fabric to make up the skirt. I sewed the scalloped edges together on 2 layers of sheer fabric, then again on the layer of white and the last sheer layer, ending up with 2 layers to my skirt. I topstitched each layer before screen printing the design on the skirt. I used a french seam to finish the skirt up nicely, and I serged it together.
For the sheer layers that tie on the shoulder, go under the shoes, and drape on my upper arms, I used my serger to create a rolled hem edge along all the sides of each piece.
After turning and pressing the bodice, I sewed it to the skirt, with the sheer triangular layers in-between the bodice and skirt, and serged it all together. I added in an elastic casing and added some 3/4 inch elastic to the waist of the dress to help hold it up.
To make the shoulders of the dress, I used some pleather lined with cotton to create the shape, and the straps are made out of the same pleather. I used some thick wire to sew under the "shoulder pads" to make them kind of clamp onto my shoulders.
The shoulder pieces are the main thing that holds this dress up, along with fashion tape, haha.
Looking at the dress, I didn't have a problem figuring out how to make it, but how to wear a bro with it… I don't know if this is too much information, but I thought I could share, incase other people are having problems figuring out how to get support in a similar situation of a backless, center cleavage to my waist, side boob included dress.
I used one of these sticky bras:
and instead of putting it on the way listed in the instructions, I didn't clasp it in the center. I turned the sticky cups 90 degrees, to where the part that would clasp together was on the top… uh well, I applied it to myself like it's shown in this video:
_____
Sophitia's Wig
I aplogize for the lack of photos. I'll take some of the completed wig, and add them a bit later :)
To create the wig, I used a 2 color blended blonde Dory wig from Amphigory, and I bought 1 pack of kinky hair, and 2 packs of each blonde color silky hair from Doctored Locks.
I couldn't find any tutorials on anything like I wanted to do here, so I kind of made it up.
I used some batting and fabric dyed to match and made three tapered tubes to make up the bulk of the braid.
I made weft of the kinky braid, and blended my silky braids to make wefts using this tutorial:
After I made the wefts, I cut them into 3 pieces, and attached them to each of the tubes.
I sewed the tubes into the back of the wig, a little but up from the bottom of the back of the wig.
AFter all that, I simply sprayed a lot of hairspray to help glue the hair the fabric tubes as I braided it.
I recently restyled the wig to include hair nets wrapped around each piece of the braid to help it stay neat and not get tangled. I learned that trick from working at Disney :) You can't see the nets unless you're looking for them and know the nets are there.
After braiding it, I sewed it using clear thread and a curved needle to keep the braid together.
Simple :)
To create the wig, I used a 2 color blended blonde Dory wig from Amphigory, and I bought 1 pack of kinky hair, and 2 packs of each blonde color silky hair from Doctored Locks.
I couldn't find any tutorials on anything like I wanted to do here, so I kind of made it up.
I used some batting and fabric dyed to match and made three tapered tubes to make up the bulk of the braid.
I made weft of the kinky braid, and blended my silky braids to make wefts using this tutorial:
After I made the wefts, I cut them into 3 pieces, and attached them to each of the tubes.
I sewed the tubes into the back of the wig, a little but up from the bottom of the back of the wig.
AFter all that, I simply sprayed a lot of hairspray to help glue the hair the fabric tubes as I braided it.
I recently restyled the wig to include hair nets wrapped around each piece of the braid to help it stay neat and not get tangled. I learned that trick from working at Disney :) You can't see the nets unless you're looking for them and know the nets are there.
After braiding it, I sewed it using clear thread and a curved needle to keep the braid together.
Simple :)
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Sophita and Katsucon 2011
Well, I was really bad and didn't take any progress shots of the things I did when making Sophitia, and therefore didn't make any blog posts.
What I wore at Katsucon 2011!
Lots more photos of both the Weeping Angels and my Soul Calibur group under the cut! :)
What I wore at Katsucon 2011!
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| Sophitia - Soul Calibur |
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| Weeping Angel! |
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