Wonder Woman Sword Part III

I found that a careless sponging paint job actually looked more rugged than a carefully gradient paint job.  I tried really carefully to create a gradient from the silver to the black (base) paint for the silver.  It took a lot of time and stress.  Than for the gold on black (base) paint, I was fed up and randomly jabbed my sponge in the correct areas ....  Funny how I love the gold part better.  It looks a lot like the scratchy sketch lines from a *some* comic artist styles. (A style I love)

Wonder Woman Sword Part II

I'm retrying some of Kamui Cosplay's painting techniques.  One in which you paint the base colour of your prop what you want the burnished colours to be.  I hadn't liked this technique in the last because it waste a lot of paint, and I can find I can achieve the same outcome with the opposite technique of applying the burnished colour afterwards.  I will admit, but made it much easier to ensure that the burnished colour are within the tiny crevices of all of the seams.  

I think I need to continue practicing between both painting orders to see which one I really prefer.  

This is the first time I'm doing the burnished gradient really not evenly.  Oddly I really like it, although I hated it while making it .... WHY ISN"T IS STRAIGHT ... takes a step back to look at it, Wow it's really cool :) ~Happy accident~

Worbla Armor - Embossed Technique

 Here's a sneak preview of the Diablo III Barbarian Tier 5 armor I am building. All of these pieces were made using a thermoplastic called Worbla.

One reason you might use Worbla instead of Wonderflex to create your cosplay armor is in the unique ways that you can manipulate Worbla.

Here's how I create a embossed look on Worbla armor. This technique is more cost-effective than layering extra Worbla on top. Instead, you are layering your less-expensive (and easier-to-cut) craft foam.

You need:

Sheets of craft foam (in two contrasting colors)

Worbla (available from cosplaysupplies.com or yayahan.com)

Heat Gun

A pointy wooden tool

Sharpie for drawing your design

Good scissors
Elmer’s glue
A surface to work on that the Worbla will not stick to (I use a piece of glass shelving from IKEA)

First, cut out your design in craft foam and glue it to your craft foam pattern piece. Then layer Worbla over the craft foam and use a pointed wooden tool to press the thermoplastic down around the edges of the design. Let’s see an example:

This is going to be a plate that wraps around the outside of my upper arm.

Here I layered my design in green foam over yellow. The yellow will become my pattern piece for an upper-arm plate.

First I heated a piece of Worbla, then stuck the pattern piece on it with the green design side against the shiny side of the Worbla sheet.

Then I flipped it over.

Here you can see that it helps to use contrasting craft foam colors because you can see the darker green design through the plastic.

Next, I used the pointy tool to press the heated Worbla down around the design shapes and get nice, smooth edges.

The Worbla cools and hardens pretty quickly so I heated and worked on one quadrant of the piece at a time.

After finishing the relief, I heated a second piece of Worbla and stuck it to the back of the craft foam. Then I pressed the edges together to seal in the craft foam (sandwich!) and trimmed the excess.

Save your Worbla scraps, you can heat them up and use them for decorations, like claws and scrollwork!

Lastly I heated up the whole piece and curve it into shape around my upper arm, then let it cool.

Here is the completed piece after adding the spike and painting it.

In this last image you can see the hand plate on which I used both the craft foam relief technique and also layered strips of Worbla for the edge details. Here it is easy to see the visual difference you get – with the relief technique you will have smooth, rounded edges, and with the layering technique you will have sharp edges., which looks great for border outlines.

Did you know? Worbla (or "Worbla's Finest Art") is made from renewable natural raw materials is also known as Rhenoflex RX 5050 which was originally engineered by a German company for the purpose of industrial shoe-making. You can buy it in the U.S. from cosplaysupplies.com or yayahan.com

Custom Buttons from FIMO

 

I made these custom buttons for my Riven costume. Here is an easy way to make buttons from a product called FIMO.

 

 

First, sculpt the shapes with your hands and a few tools. Then bake them in the oven, following the directions on the package. The baking process hardens the polymer.




Next, sand the edges.



 Lastly, paint! I sprayed them black first, then dry brushed on silver.

Quest Box

This trinket box wants to give you a quest!

Or maybe it holds a reward inside. OR maybe it wants to reward you and then give you another quest! You won't know until you open it up!

I hand-painted this little box using two shades of brown acrylic paint (to simulate a wood stain while giving me better control over shading), and then added details using a high-quality gold paint and black to create shadows. The gold corners gives it that campaign-style touch like tiny metal brackets. I thought about making the question mark yellow, but I liked the gold so much I decided to stick with it instead of adding another color.

Gears Coffin Trinket Box

This box mixes Steampunk with Art Nouveau.

My inspiration began with the woodwork in this Art Nouveau hutch.

I spray-painted the box flat black (after covering the hardware with blue painter's tape), penciled on the details, then added metallic purple paint and finished it off with highlights in silver.

This coffin box is the perfect size to fit a little Justice League Superman action figure.

Riven Costume Finishing Touches

First I needed to make the bracer thing that Riven wears on her arm.

I started with an empty cranberry juice bottle, cutting off the top and bottom.

Next I took some plastic which was originally a snow sled and wrapped it around the juice jug, hot-gluing it in place.

I added some "fun foam" strips for dimension.

Then I painted it to look like metal. It is hard to hold a paintbrush and take a picture of yourself at the same time!

I finished this piece off by trimming the end and painting the brown part with the green rune.

I made a quick bodice from a corset pattern. I traced the pattern onto iron-on interfacing, cut out the interfacing, then placed them on the back of the fabric. This is a cheater way to make something fast but I wouldn't recommend it for "real" clothes.

I went on a road trip for a weekend retreat and wanted to make progress while we were gone so I hand-sewed all of the bodice pieces together. Don't worry, I wasn't the driver!

I finished the bodice at home on the sewing machine, adding the trim and a zipper.

It needed some buttons. I hand-painted some oval-shaped wooden buttons silver for the front details.

Remember my sword needed a handle? I finished that too! Since I was using scraps of foam I ended up having to make the whole sword in three pieces.

The pieces are held together with glue and CHOPSTICKS!

Okay so I won't be swinging this baby around, but it works for a prop I plan to handle carefully.

Time to paint it. What a disaster area on the craft room floor!

Looking pretty good. I continue to layer on paint until I'm satisfied with it.

I detailed the handle to look like wood and the hilt to look like metal.

Reupholstered French Chairs

My first venture into upholstery and furniture refinishing continues!

When I saw these two dining chairs I thought they were adorable and would be an excellent project. I love the "bones" of these chairs, the turned-wood legs and arms and the nice design on the back of the chair.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep these white or paint them a bold color so I decided to find a fabric I liked first, then let the fabric dictate the paint choice.

The fabric I found was Waverly Modern Essentials "Solar Flare". I purchased this fabric from JoAnn's Fabrics. One yard was enough to cover both seats, and of course I waited for the 50% sale!

Waverly Modern Essentials "Solar Flare"

The "before" picture! (care of a Craigslist seller)

I found the chairs on Craigslist, $35 for the pair. They had a pale blue toile fabric that was stained and the paint job was a little sloppy and beat-up. There were only the two chairs, not a full set of six, but the chairs are so interesting that I think they make cute accent chairs, even if they aren't used for dining chairs. They could be an office chair or extra living room chair, or a new chair for my craft room.

The first thing I did was unscrew the seat, sand down the frames, dab on primer and then add a few fresh coats of white satin spray paint.

1 coat of primer, 2-4 coats of spray paint, 2 coats of Wipe-On Poly

The previous painter had clearly only sprayed the chair from the top down and missed a lot of spots on the legs so the first couple of coats I sprayed on while the chairs were upside-down.

When I removed the blue toile fabric I actually discovered the seats had been red velvet before that and even before the red velvet they had been this ugly brown cotton weave fabric.

I left the first two layers of fabric on since they had been nailed on; the blue toile had been stapled on so it was easy to remove with a flat-head screwdriver and needle-nose pliers.

I covered the red velvet with a layer of cotton quilting batting and then laid my fun fabric on top of the batting. Lacking a staple gun, I used upholstery nails to take the fabric in place.

The extra batting made the seat a little thicker so I ended up having to buy longer screws to attach the seats back in place.

The "after" picture!

Refinished French Provincial Nightstand

I purchased this nightstand from a Craigslister for $25. It was old and a little worse for wear, but I knew it would make a great project! I found a lot of pictures of similar French Provincial-style furniture which had been painted, remember this Inspiration blog post?

Can you believe I didn't take a before picture? Oh well. This thing used to painted a yellowish white with gold detailing, very similar to this desk, and the hardware was unpainted.

Here are the products I used. "High Hiding Primer" - two coats, much sanding. Olympic Satin paint "Rise and Shine" color - four coats. Topped it off with one coat of MINIWAX Wipe-On Poly. The can says you should use two coats, by one coat seemed to cover well. I would have added a second coat if I'd missed any spots. The Krylon white (gloss) spray paint was used on the hardware, in several coats.

I love how it turned out, so cheery and pretty!

I even lined the drawers with a pretty black and white floral contact paper. Adorable! Now the dresser is in my guest room, which I haven't done much with yet. But a bold pop of color is always a great start!

Now that I think of it... this nightstand could also be really cute in the livingroom/dining area to hold table linens or games.

Inspiration - Repainting Old Furniture

This transformation has given me the confidence to tackle my own furniture-repainting project!

This painter started with a lovely old French white-and-gold style desk:

The before picture (Source: http://nattybydesign.blogspot.com/2011/04/going-green.html)

Last year I bought a French-style three-drawer nightstand on Craiglist that was white with gold details just like the picture above. After completing my Dresser Facelift project I did not refinish the night stand and instead just moved it into a spare bedroom as-is, but the white paint on the night stand looks old and yellowed, which seems out-of-place in a new, modern bedroom.

But check out what Natty-By-Design did to that old desk! 

The after picture (Source: http://nattybydesign.blogspot.com/2011/04/going-green.html)

See the whole post here: http://nattybydesign.blogspot.com/2011/04/going-green.html

Check out her shop: http://nattybydesign.blogspot.com/p/my-shop.html

Wow. Hey, that carpet looks like the same carpet in my house.

Look, she even had the guts to repaint the hardware white.

This is a gorgeous jade green color that would really work well with Chinese decor.

I think any good, rich color could work! for this technique. What about purple, red, or a rich yellow?

Natty also painted a couple of matching nightstands pink with white hardware instead of continuing with the bold green color. Again, this pink would also work well with Chinese decor, but I love how it's paired here with the blue and white in this photo.

On futher search, I found more painted French-style furniture!

http://curbly.com/modhomeecteacher/posts/9412-how-to-repaint-the-painted-dresser
Check out this link for a How-To on repainting dressers! Excellent.

This adorable Tiffany-blue dresser comes with a really great How-To on repainting painted furniture. I think the black hardware looks great with the light blue; white hardware wouldn't contrast as much.

 

dresser by Poppyseed Living
Photo by buoy bird ~ http://buoybird.com/2010/09/25/born-free/

I'm sure I'll have a follow-up post in the future to share how I transform my own French-style night stand. What color will I choose? Hmmm... I'm up to suggestions!