Presea - Boots, Gloves & Armour - Tales of Symphonia

Salutations! After years on the shelf, I would like to continue to take a look at how I made my Presea costume! Look here for a blast from the past: how I made the Dress and Wig! Seriously, I was posting about this in 2013 what-the-heckaroonie.

Getting this costume photoshoot worthy and documented is one of my 2016 goals and I'm pleased to say that with the costume and photoshoot done I can now finish documenting how I made it. From the depths of my computer hard-drive I have salvaged ye ancient progress photos.

Possibly the most challenging part of this costume and the main reason I put this costume on hiatus for a whole year (the other reason being my dog ate the tip off my battleaxe). This was my first time making boots, gloves and armour, and to be honest I had no idea what I was doing! I didn't get very far before I gave up. When I came back to this project a year later it was after I had done the armour for my Asuna costume and had much more sewing/patterning experience.

I started by buying and deconstructing a pair of well fitting costume gloves, from this I was able to make my own glove pattern. I made it go extra wide further up the arm so that it would be loose at the cuff.

My main problem was that the character's gloves are above the elbow, but loose fitting, meaning they essentially float there defying the laws of physics. My trouble was making them stay up without any seriously visible rigging...

It took hours of hand stitching to assemble those gloves. Above is the separate thumb piece which was slotted into the glove.

Left is my first attempt at making the boot covers, as you can see the cuff looks kind of wonky... Partially due to my inexperience working with stretch fabrics. This is where I stopped working on them for a year.

I patterned my boots to cover a cheap pair of canvas shoes I picked up at Ardenes. Above is the toe cover, left is the 2nd attempt at the boot cover. (from the inside)

I opted this time to do a fold-over cuff, which looked much cleaner, even though it isn't as accurate to the original design.

I replicated the cuffs on the gloves.

I marked where the shoe cover would be sewn to the shoes, then I hand stitched the two together. It took a while, but the result was a nice clean finished edge.

Then I sewed elastics to the inside so that the loose gloves and boots would stay up. These had to be far enough away from the edge so that they would be hidden inside. How I made the cuffs stay up was I sewed some short pieces of wire into the boot cover where it attached to the cuff.

At one point I had attempted to wire the whole boot, but I found it a) really uncomfortable, b) hard to keep it secure and c) it would be harder to pack into a suitcase, because the boots would have to remain upright. That and every time the wire got dented they were even more uncomfortable to wear... With the short wires only at the cuffs with fabric casings they were easy to fold up, and didn't cause any discomfort.

Next I got to work on the small bits of armour, following the same method as I did for Asuna. I used the leftover styrene from that costume to construct the toe and hand guards.

First I made paper patterns of the shapes I wanted, then traced them and cut them out. There were 8 pieces total. Compared to Asuna's this armour was total cakewalk.

I then made the raised bits out of craft foam, and hot glued them on.

I used the same spray paint treatment as Asuna's: primer, matte black, then silver.

I weathered with sandpaper, glued all the pieces together, then aged them with black dry-brushing.

Lastly, the shoe armour was hot glued to the boots (while I was wearing them, so the armour placement would be correct). Then I rigged the hand guards with some elastic so they would be easy to take on and off. I painted the elastic grey so it would match the gloves.

Overall this project really benefitted from me not rushing to finish it the first year and instead applying another years' worth of experience to finish the job.

April Update

Helloooooooo! Being on hiatus makes me sad, but rest assured I have been generating lots of content just for you! Hats, shoes, armor and more! The new posting schedule is now every other Thursday, starting this week.

I just handed in my independent study for marking today. Which means I am super close to finishing my degree! And I am super excited to be finishing my degree, because I am really done with school at this point. School is for chumps.

The Phoenix (as I have been calling it) is getting there. The armor is built (though still needs a paint job), and the rest of the costume pieces (wig, tunic, pants, shoes, etc.) can be started. I desperately need to take a break from working on this, though. There are some pieces I want to re-work/redo.  I am hoping to debut the costume as some point this summer, though I don't know what con that will be...

I am excited to resume working on Toph and Vaporeon. Hoping to get both of them finished for Anime North.

In other news, Mike aka EleventhPhotograph moved to Japan to teach English, leaving me woefully photographer-less. :'( I'm gonna miss that guy! If anyone has a good photographer to refer me to for this con season (probably someone local, because Mike was also my roadtrip buddy) who would be interested in shooting with me, or if you yourself would like to offer up your photography services, let me know! (Paid opportunity, of course!)

I can't believe is almost con season again? (Though for some con season has already begun!)

In other other news I have a few shows/exhibits coming up?!

Firstly, I will be having one of my pieces on display in an exhibit at the Textile Museum of Canada. The exhibit is Making History, and includes the best projects from my Costume History class, where we had to recreate a historic garment/technique/photograph.  I built a 1800s style kilt, with my partner Katie (who built a 1600s style Great Kilt). Both will be on display at the museum starting this weekend!

Secondly, my Grad Show, Create is happening on the 23rd! My armor project will be on display, as well as my fellow classmates' cool projects. Feel free to come and support our graduating class--there will be food and drinks, admission is $10!

Finally, images of my set design for My Fair Lady are being included in the Ryerson University exhibit/installation for Prague Quadrennial in June (in Czech Republic!). The exhibition looks like it is going to be pretty fantastic! I have decided to go and I am very much looking forward to it. :D I am turning it into a bit of a Eurotrip/graduation trip, so I will probably be hitting up a couple different places on my adventure--Munich, probably Nördlingen, Innsbruck and Milan! If there are any costumers/cosplayers in those cities that want to meet up, let me know!

Lots of good stuff to look forward to! Cheerio!

Asuna Kagurazaka (Knight) - Armour (Cast) - Negima

The last post from my Asuna set, then I am officially done Anime North 2013 stuff! Hahaha

Go here for my Heat Molded Armour, Wig, Bodice, Skirt, and Sword. And you can find the rest of my photoshoot with EleventhPhotograph here! The armour looks particularly stunning in these photos, the paint job on the shoulder piece really reflected light well.

So here we go with the second part of my armour tutorials, except this time we get to talk about casting. Probably one of the more finicky aspects of the whole project, and in spite of all its faults it turned out really well (particularly since this is my first time casting anything myself!) Before I get into the technical talk of this post, I would like to thank my friend Ian (aka Elephutan) for taking the time to walk me through the whole process! It would not have been possible without him!

The shoulder piece I am the most proud of, of the entire costume, while the elbow piece I am the least proud of (in terms of shape, size, rigging, etc. it just didn't fulfill my expectations.)

First I would like to say that it was an executive decision to change the design of the elbow armour to be something more physically possible. On real armour there are no metal bits on the inside of your joints so that you can actually bend your limbs. On the original design however the elbow piece encircles the entire elbow (see picture on the left). This would have made it a) more difficult to cast, b) more expensive to cast, and c) physically impossible to bend my arm. That being said I was so mobility impaired anyway that I doubt it would have mattered, but I didn't want to hamper myself from the get go. So I modified it to go only halfway around the arm.

While the heat molded armour is quite economical, the cast pieces are quite pricey. However, with the styrene plastic it would not have been physically possible to achieve the shapes I wanted. I could have carved it out of foam also, but I would have had my constant dilemma of foam being easily dinged, and carving the inside cleanly would have been nigh impossible. The hollow cast shell was what I was looking for in this project.

...And now for something completely different: The first thing I cast for this project was actually my legs to use as a base for heat molding. This was done with a plaster bandage mold.

First we covered the front half of my leg in plaster bandage, then after that set we covered the area of overlap in a generous layer of vaseline. Then Ian covered the back half in the plaster bandage. Obviously I could not do this by myself as it had to be done while I was standing, and I had to stand still so it didn't set in the wrong position.

These were then peeled away. We coated the inside in vaseline and then sealed the side seams and bottom. Using elastic bands to hold everything in place.

Following the instructions on the package we mixed the correct proportions of plaster and water. This was then poured into the molds. It wasn't a perfect replica, as the side seams were rough, and one leg didn't turn out as well as the other, but it made an excellent base to heat mold my calf and knee pieces around. 

Now on to the real reason we are here! I actually started this process by taking detailed measurements analysing my proportions and those of the reference pictures, mocking up my plans in autocad. This ensured I was on the right track before I started carving.

Using contact cement I glued 5 semicircle layers of foam together to create my starting shape. I drew on the semi circle cut outs on the top and bottom as reference points. The radius of the semicircles here were the same as the widest point of the piece. 

I carved down to the rough shape before switching to sandpaper.

I drew up my imagined elbow piece to scale. Unfortunately I was working under the assumption that the cast would be thicker than it was and as a result the piece wound up being very loose fitting.

I traced out pieces of my top view and cut out the layers.

I glued these together and began carving.

I then fine tuned these pieces. I filled in any divots or dents and sanded it smooth. This was repeated multiple times, keeping in mind that any mistakes on the master would be duplicated in all the replicas.

Then it was time to begin the casting process. I went out to Sculpture Supply Canada and they set me up with everything I needed! I brought both pieces with me so that they could ensure I had the right materials for the job in the right quantities.

We started by making the silicone mold. This is a brush on mold, that would be open on one side. The open side was tacked down to a scrap piece of foam so that it wouldn't make a mess and was easily moveable. In several layers we made a silicone shell that was about 1/8" thick. (Tip: always have like a million disposable paint brushes on hand for this, every time you use one it becomes garbage.)

We took extra care to ensure there was a thick layer of silicone on the tip and the ridge so it wouldn't tear.

Then we made a plaster bandage mother shell. Again this was done in a few layers. Like the leg molds I did earlier we first did one half, then put a coating of vaseline on the area of overlap, then did the other half. This ensured that we could take it apart and line it up easily when putting it back together.

Then we de-molded the pieces, meaning we took the foam originals out of the silicone casings.
The mold and mother shell were then put back together, ready for casting.

Following the instructions on the package we mixed the proportions of part A and B accordingly.

The cast was brushed in so it would be a hollow shell. This means I needed a resin with a short work time so it would stay on the vertical walls and not slosh back down before it was done curing. (Lots more disposable brushes were used.) I should have done more thin layers on this part, instead of fewer thicker layers as this resulted in a buildup of resin in the bottom of the mold, making the tip a lot heavier than I had anticipated.

Using my dremel I cleaned up the edges and cut out the two semicircles on the shoulder piece.

Then I heat molded two strips of styrene to nest into the curved sections. These were hot glued in place.

The last thing I did before paints was to drill some screw into the thick buildup of solid resin in the bottom. These were used as anchoring points for my rigging, which was much more secure than trying to adhere anything as the pieces are quite heavy. Unfortunately on the last screw we managed to crack the elbow piece. With no time to recast it, I filled the fracture with duradex.

All the pieces were then sanded to be even smoother than the foam originals. Then I painted them the same as the heat molded pieces.

The rigging for these was very complicated and resulted in me needing a squire to dress me for battle. I made the straps out of leather so they wouldn't chafe my skin (like pleather/vinyl would have) and they hooked around my anchor points on the inside. I used buckles to cinch everything in place. Unfortunately the straps stretched over the course of the day, meaning that things started to shift, hanging in the wrong place and slowly strangling me. This was remedied by boring more holes in the straps, although they continued to stretch and be a problem.

Final notes for casting: Unless you have someone to help you along every step of the way like I did, start small! Don't cast anything crazy large or complicated as your first project! Also, always read the instructions like 8 times before starting and ensure you have everything you need laid out before you start.

Overall I was super happy with the costume as a whole, and it was very well received at the convention. I hope to pull it out again next year, perhaps I can fix some of the rigging issues in the mean time!

Hope you enjoyed the Asuna tutorials, I had a lot of fun making it! We will be taking a short break from cosplay things before looking at Otakon costumes!

Asuna Kagurazaka (Knight) - Armour (Heat Molded) - Negima

Hey all! Welcome to part 5 of my Asuna posts. This time we are going to look at the armour, specifically the heat molded pieces!

I had a ton of help on this armour, as a lot of the heat molding was just not possible with only 2 hands. So my friend Alli deserves a huge thank you on making this happen!

Go here for the Sword, Wig, Bodice, and Skirt. Go here for my fabulous photoshoot with EleventhPhotograph!

This part of the costume was referred to as the sexy battle armour, the leg pieces specifically were called my sexy battle shorts. Haha

All of the pieces are made out of styrene plastic which I bought at Plastic World in North York. A great place to find plastic sheet materials (like plexi/acryllic).

I started by cutting out various shapes from my material. These were all measured beforehand so they would be the right size. (Above is the toe & heel pieces, left is the calf.) I cut pieces for the back of my calves, but didn't end up using them, because the material was not working exactly how I wanted.

The raised details would be added on later. (Above is the knee & thigh pieces, left is the arm pieces)

For the neck piece I carefully mocked it up using paper, before going to the good copy. It took a lot of tweaks to get it right.

I found paper made a good representation of the plastic, because although the plastic would bend and curve, it didn't stretch or pull very well... Meaning there were some shapes that it wouldn't do for me. As it was my first time using the material I was unsure of its limitations.

The actual molding process itself was quite easy, but it was time consuming and required a second set of hands for some pieces. I bought a heat gun for about 27$ at Sculpture Supply Canada, which is pretty reasonable, particularly if you plan on making armour using this method a lot.

Using bbq tongs I would bend the pieces against a concrete floor while heating them up, then allow them to cool in that position. For the more complex curves and fine tuning I would heat up the piece and then shape it using my hands, wearing some decent heat resistant gloves. I found this method much easier, but I highly recommend wearing a pair of gloves regardless while doing this.

To check the pieces I would wait for the plastic to cool, then try them on.

The neck piece was made from 4 pieces. The front and back were designed to nest and separate for easy removal.

The raised detailing was added with strips of craft foam, which I hot glued on. Be warned: once glued you cannot undo! These materials bond ridiculously well, which is great, unless you make an error...

After doing several gesso layers to protect the craft foam from the spray paint I was ready to start painting! (I did a test with the styrene plastic and it did not melt from the spray paint, meaning I did not have to coat those surfaces.)

The paint was applied in several stages and many layers over a few days. First I did a primer grey, then a few coats of black as my under tone, then a few coats of a metallic silver.

All the armour ( both cast and heat molded pieces) was given the same paint treatment so it would all look the same. 

The next step was weathering. In case you haven't noticed, a flat coat of metallic spray paint can look kind of cheap, by weathering the armour, it looks more realistic.

First I started by carefully sandpapering the surfaces. My goal here was to slightly expose hints of the black layer underneath. This was done mostly on the bare surfaces, not in the corners. Then using black acryllic paint I dry brushed the crevices to make it look dirty and older. (I simply used a very small amount of paint and pushed it into the corners, using papertowel to wipe at it.)

Then I had to rig the pieces. For this I was struck by a brainwave. I used those small gold paper fasteners that I used to use in crafts as a kid. (Gold dome top with the two metal prongs sticking out the bottom that you bend to fasten in place.) I bought a pack of 100 at Staples. Using my dremel with the drill bit I drilled the correct size holes in the armour pieces. The prongs were used to secure the elastics in place so that they would easily slip on and off. Unfortunately, the metal on these things is kind of cheap, and so they would need replacing a lot.

For the hip pieces I used two gold buttons, some cord and a few hooks to hold them in place to the shirt.

After many hours of work, my armour was ready to wear!