~This will be the day we've waited for, This will be the day we open up the door~ RWBY progress: mock-ups

The mock ups for the male version of Ruby Rose from RWBY are done and as long as there isn't some sort of GIANT snow storm on Sunday (which is entirely possible right now), I'll be fitting them then!

(And no, I do not know why the first part there is highlighted in a different colour for some reason. Blogger is being weird today. It also wont let me type in any format except centered.)

The Princess Seam mock up is just waiting to be fitted and have a Corset drawn onto it.

And the black bell sleeved sloaper cannot wait  to be fitted  for a turtleneck/cowl neck and  shaped so it is less of a...sack. (which is what it kinda looks like right now).

More to come, this time with a spear!

Kain Highwind, Palom (FF4: The after years version),  Edward Geraldine (FF4: The after years version) and Cecil Harvey.

Dat codpeice!

So Kain, has this....wonderful? Questionable? Weird? purple banana hammock thing going on. I think it is meant to be a codpeice, but one can never quite tell with Amano inspired artwork.  So, with all the armor over to our painter to be primed and painted, it was time for me to start the fabric parts of my costume (HOORAY FINALLY!!)

So, I am a lady, and a many banana hammock would have just looked.... bad, so I had to think of what to do to make one work for my shape.  And then I recalled I had won this "lingerie rose" at my friend batchlorette party earlier this winter and therefore had a nice cheap thong to hack apart and take a pattern from.

Remember kids, when cosplaying, recycle, reduce and reuse!  Everything has a purpose!



After what was a very short time, I had that lovely red thing taken apart.

Very soon after that I had a pattern for it.

I made this lovely thing out of a purple leather look fabric and some black stretch cotton.  Once on it is much smoother, it is the lingerie stitch making it look all rippled.

 I'm here, lets talk about ALL the fabric stuff! WOO

Next up: The corset!

So to begin with, I cut out the shape of the yellow dragon stomach thing Kain has on his under armor. I personally think it looks like a turtle tummy and not a dragon tummy, but eh!

I cut out a piece that looked like a fat peanut and then I made a small paper template of the diamond/ Zelda Rupee shape that it is quilted with.  I started in the center and worked my way out, tracing out the shape till if filled the entire price with a pencil.  Then I sewed it to make it look like it was quilted or embossed.

 After I had it all quilted, I went over my vinyl with a yellow wash of acrylic paint, the above picture is actually the (now painted) piece leaning up against the original fabric.

Close up: the acrylic wash made it come out mottled looking like actual lizard skin, and highlighted my stitching even more. The effect is pretty awesome.

The next step was to attach it to the corset I made, well fake corset, it has no boning and zips up on the side.  I took my judy off her stand and laid everything out on her and then pinned my tummy piece in place.  I then sewed it down by hand with invisible thread.

 The next step after the tummy part was attached, was to attach the silver leather cord piping for the piped details.  I  drew out the pattern on one side first, then attached the piping and then (again) used the tracing paper/etching technique to get the pattern and transferred it over to the other side so they are mirror images.

After the front was done, I did the same with the back. You can see my red chalk lines from where I traced the pattern onto the second side.  The piping is also attached with the invisible thread by hand.

The final product (back).  Now that I have worn this, I plan on adding some straps. While it fit well in the front, I think the edge of my back armor caught it and caused it to wrinkle in the back and I want it to look smooth everywhere when I wear it.  So I am hoping straps will fix that issue.

For some reason (probably I was running short on time) I have no pictures (yet) of my finished butt-cape.  But here is the pattern pieces. I'll try to get some better pictures later.

I think this is where I left off?

Apologies if this is a duplicate post! I looked though, and I don't think it is. I think the photos just look familiar because I took them. :)  The deadline came up and well, the poor blog feel to the wayside.

So Collars!  It was pretty easy, I took a piece of tracing paper and etched out the lines of the front and back necklines.  Then I made a collar shape on that and cut them out of the craft foam.  

The raised edge in the center is a thin strip of craft foam I glued to the bigger piece (like I did for the belt) and then once everything was attached I added a tiny bit of worbla piping to finish the top edge.

I then repeated the process for the back.

Here it is all together, along with some extensions I made for the Velcro overlap at the shoulders.  For some reason, while it overlapped fine when we first made it, by the end it the front did not overlap the back. I blame the constant heating of the worbla.

  Next up! The shoulders!!

I used this tutorial to make my mold.  Cosplay Supplies, btw (the website that link goes to) is where I buy all my Worbla and Wonderflex.  All you need to make the mold is a balloon, newspaper and some paper mashe mix, then go to town like it is grade 4 all over again!

The result is a rounded mold. I did mine in 4 layers of paper mashe, and then once that was done, I sanded the heck out of it to rid myself of any lumps or bumps.  I still found it a bit lumpy in the end so I taped over the whole mold with masking tape, building up any areas next to lumps till it was all pretty much smooth.

Then I found my centers which I would need to know for placement of the spikes on the armor.

I was running up to my deadline for it to be done and didn't want to make 2 balloon molds. Plus I wasn't sure I could get them to be the same size and shape so before I started covering it in worbla, I covered it in saran wrap so the worbla would not stick to the mold.   I then drew on the (basic) shape of my shoulder armor.

Then once that was done, following the above mentioned tutorial, I cut out rounded pieces of the worbla and started coating my mold. Eventually I got these weird looking things below.  The 1 layer however was pretty flimsy, kinda like the way an empty pop bottle feels, so I ended up doing a second layer inside as well.

After I got the shape I wanted, it was time for the edge of the armor to be attached and to make the spikes.
I made the basic spike shapes from worbla and craft foam. I'd like to take this moment to thank first season Digimon Adventure, without it, I would have gone mad by this point. (aka, hint: to make the VERY long process of armor making less tedious, find a show to marathon while you work).

This is the basic shape I drew out for the base of the spikes, to help me male  the other parts later.

Again with the tracing paper, etch out the shape of your worbla.

Then fix up that rough shape with a sharpie.

Then repeat the process for the other two shapes of the spikes.

 I used wonderflex for the spikes. It has a weave in it like duct tape, which makes it easier to work with and it stretches, which worbla does not.

 After a lot of shaping, pinching, cutting, shaping and more pinching I got a shape I liked.

Not pictured is how I attached these suckers to my  armor.  Inside is a O-ring hanging from the top, from that is an loop of elastic which goes around my upper arms.  On the rounded edges towards the back are 2 more O-rings which attach with velcro to O-rings on the actual body armor.  I require a friend to help me to get them on.  If you do this cosplay, have friends.  O-rings are like D-rings but more rectangle shaped.

Previously on Kain's costume progress...

Previously on Kain's costume progress: I made a belt and the patterns for some shoes out of paper and fitted them. Then once that was done I cut them out of the craft foam and Worbla.  Well those shoes are done!  Here you go:

I started by shaping the ankle or back part first, and then worked my way down the shoe to the toe.  This way I made sure each piece fit over the previous one.  I had my shoe on my foot, and shaped over both the shoe and foot.  For the ankle and first spike, I had on my leg armor and moved my ankle from side to side and then front to back to make sure it would glide smoothly when I walked and would fit over/around my leg armor.

 At this point all the pieces are separate. I managed to get them to not stick as I shaped by putting  parchment paper between each layer.  In the picture below they are all cool again and are hanging on by fit alone.

Side view!  Just like in the picture but kinda boring right now aren't they? They needs something more I think...

How about Wonderflex piping?  That would make them look more interesting!  Kains shoes don't have this, but I feel it looks more finished now.  I just cut strips of wonderflex that were 1/2cm wide and added them on.  Then I noticed that he had a crest on the toe of his shoe, so I made one out of wonderflex.  After that, the heel looked boring, so I added a crest to that too.

The next step was attaching them all together.  I did this with Velcro.  The heal is separate and attaches on to the very first plate on the front so I can get my shoe on and off.  The next thing I did was add Velcro to each plate and then strips of Velcro attached each plate to the next.  I wanted my foot to remain flexible when I walked/posed.  Originally, I used a bunch of little strips, but the middle piece always felt really loose when I tried walking in them, so I replaced all those individual strips with 2 longs strips and the entire shoe is much more stable feeling now.

I got the idea from a friends Dragon age spine that he did for his costume, so it would bend and sway when he walked.  It works really well!

I did however find that the toe of my shoe always felt loose and like I could loose it when walking around an not realize it, so I heated it up and actually fused it to the second plate there so they are one solid piece.  The movement is still really good.

 The last thing I did was make a cross from Velcro to hold the toe/front part of the shoe to my shoe better.  It attaches at the toe and on the middle plate. (You can see the pieces on the above picture).

Once the shoes were done, I started to work on my knees.  I made a basic crest shape for the back, and then worked the point on Kain's Knee armor out with paper and tape. I ended up with 6 pieces for the point, 4 triangle like ones for the front and 2 long curved pieces to raise them up and out from the back shape.

The end looks like this, however it was not pointy enough in the middle for my tastes so I built it up with paper clay and then covered it in Wonderfelx.  But for some reason I have no pictures of that. O_o  The armor attaches with a worbla band around the back of my knee, and taking a page from Rashad on Face Off, it will attach with a rivet or washer so it can bend and move as I walk.

When I shaped it to my knee, I wore my thigh and shin armor to make sure it would fit over both nicely.  I also shaped the flat back crest part first and then attached the raised point you see above after it was shaped.  The first time I did this, I made the mistake of trying with the entire knee, point and all together and could not heat it all up properly to get it to shape, so I scrapped it and started over. Lesson learned. On to the next!

BONUS PHOTO!!!  

Some of Sean (our Cecil) pieces that have been covered in many layers of Gesso.  You can see my arm and shin armor in the background.  Billy our painter has been hard at work!

I can almost see the end? Aka the Devil is in the details.

One arm is completely done and just needs strapping to hold it on and then paint.  I would have gotten farther, but a paper cut from the plastic back on the Velcro caused a small delay and then it turns out the boys heat gun runs hotter then mine and I managed to give myself 2 burns, and  2 blisters on my fingers trying to roll out my raised edges. Boy, I looked very silly the next day at work covered in band-aids.

I am pleased over all, but will have to make sure I do not poke myself or anyone else with my spikes.

So since I was blocked from finishing my other cuff until my hands heal, I will show the progress I've made on my legs!  This would be me waiting for the worbla to cool down after I shaped the front of my shin guard to my leg.

It is very exciting I know.

I also did the back, but due to the curve in my calf I had to slit the worbla down the back right below my knee and it molded together in a horrible lumpy mess.  However! I am a tricky fish, and just decided that that mess will be covered by details made out of Wonderflex instead.  So I started mapping out the various designs on the back of my leg.  You can see that I did it in pen first, and then only did parts of it in sharpie later, that is because I wanted the designs to be cemetrical and only traced over the shape I liked better.  Later I drew them on to tracing paper and made actual patterns.

But before I could make sure the detail designs worked, I had to figure out where the front of the shin guard would overlap the back. So I traced the edges in pen again. Also some of the points at the top and bottom became too pointy and would have cut into my foot as I walked, so they got cut off after I added the Velcro.

That is a good lookin' leg.

This is the pattern I made with tracing paper for the front detail over my original tape and saran wrap pattern for the front of the shin guard.  The triangle at the top will later be a raised point to match up with the knee guard.

My tracing paper patterns of the back details, minus the spikes which will come later (I ran out of wonderflex and the other sheet is at the boys place).

  I ended up using wonderflex for the details because I had some to spare, but also because it is thicker then the worbla and I wanted the designs to have a raised effect.  Here is a side view of the front detail on my left shin guard.

And the other side:

The back detail, eventually that diamond in the middle will have a raised spike and there will be 3 other spikes on the sides of the back guard. 2 on the outer side and 1 on the inner.

Left and right:

Side by side so you can see the spike of that pointed piece pokes out.

That is all for now, as I have run out of wonderflex.  Next I  will make the pattern from the crest on his chest armor, the spikes, collar and buckles for the chest armor.

Oh and the helmet base!  Which I have to make sure fits my head and then cover in Worbla for Saturday night!  We have hopes to have all the pieces cut out by the end of the night!