At Geek Girl Con 2012 Saturday

We went to Geek Girl Con today!

SmallRiniLady with another Captain America Crossplayer!

Doctor Who and the Tardis showed up, too!

We didn't get stuck in the Labyrinth...

 

SmallRiniLady snaped a photo with Rosie the Riveter

Oh Henson, how do we love your googly eyes on Red Fraggle

Family Love

Ok, not sure who she is (I have a feeling that Ava will be lecturing SmallRiniLady later), but she did an amazing job hand dying silk and inlaying mother of pearl into her accessories

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

must save her from the Nothing ....

...so we'll see you there tomorrow!
Join us for an Intro to Costuming and Cosplay in Room 204 at 12:30!

-Avalyn and SmallRiniLady

[Staff of Infinite Mysteries]

I finished my staff for my Tier 4 Priest costume from Warcraft and debuted it at PAX Prime 2011!

Here are some pics of the work in progress.

I started with a clear acryllic plastic tube. This is the bottom piece which I made out of Crayola Model Magic, then painted with acryllic paint. I formed the Model Magic around the top of a plastic cranberry juice jug, which fit around the acryllic tube. Oh, I also used purple cellophane wrapping around the tube and then painted black over parts of it.

Above the bottom piece is a piece of metal pipe I had lying around. I bought it when I was making a lightsaber a few years ago. It is rougly painted to blend in with the rest of the staff. It gives some balancing weight to the end of it.

This next piece was made of purple FIMO then painted with a combination of glow blue paint and white acryllic paint. In the game graphic it looks like it glows so I wanted to give that effect with paint since I wasn't going to build LEDs into it. It turned out when I was carrying the staff around all day at PAX I often rested this piece on my hand to supprt the weight of the staff on my shoulder. Worked as if I'd designed it that way.

The large piece here is made of Model Magic, then there is a purple FIMO ring, then a piece of metal pipe. I used thin craft foam inside the pipe in one layer to give it a snug fit against the acryllic tube.

Near the top I cut diamond out of the painted cellophane so the light would shine through brighter, like in the graphic.

The "head" of the staff is made of blue Styrofoam insulation foam. I bought one big sheet of it, had to have the guys at Lowes cut it in half for me so I could fit it in my car.

First I cut the shape out with a hot knife, the sort that has one long thin blade about 4 inches long. Then I sanded it down and shaped the edges with a hotter hot knife, the sort that just has a razor blade on it. Then I gave it one coat of primer (leftover from my furniture-painting projects!) and added on black paint and several layers of purple and white and silver to get the look I wanted.

This post is getting long, so I will talk about the electrical madness in another post!
>> CONTINUE TO PART 2: LET THERE BE LIGHT

WoW Priest Costume Completed

Whew! I managed to get this costume into a wearable state just in time for Halloween weekend.

A coworker was kind enough to send me a pic she took of me on Friday; hopefully I will get some clearer pictures (natural light, maybe?) later. And if you are wondering, that's my new hairdo, not a wig.

I already have some great ideas for tweaking this to make it better, but first I think I need to make a [Staff of Infinite Mysteries] - it would make a much better prop than a Diet Coke or a camera.

Costume Progress - WoW Priest 0.2

Project: World of Warcraft - Priest Tier 4 armor set from Karazhan

Completion Goal: Halloween 2010

The costume is coming right along nicely! To have a wearable costume ready by Halloween I just need to make the jacket (sleeves are already done!) and the pauldrons (the hard part!).

So far the pieces I have done are:

- helm (the big collar thing)
- belt & hip armor
- tunic (except for paint details)
- skirt (except for paint details)
- sleeves

Hip armor and side panels on the skirt with painted detail.

Belt with hip armor attached.

Painted detail on the belt

Sleeves for the jacket with painted details

Costume Progress - WoW Priest 0.1

Project: World of Warcraft - Priest Tier 4 armor set from Karazhan

Start Date: Sometime back in (Spring?) 2008 when Tier 4 Armor was common and Tier 5 was uber. (But Tier 5 Priest costumes have been done SO many times already!)

Original Goal: BlizzCon 2008

Realistic Goal: Halloween 2010

Why Tier 4? Because it's PURPLE ...in more ways than one! And because I played a priest and fondly recall the early days of conquering Karazhan one boss at a time with my wonderful guild <Retribution> a.k.a. <Negative Progression>.

2008 - the sorry state I left the costume in, before I got married. Notice the bridal bouquets scattered about. Wedding projects were more important at this point.

2008 - sleeves under construction

This time I am actually going to finish this project. Why? Because I have developed a Most Excellent Project Plan and Timeline!

Click for detail.

Over the last week I have already made a lot of progress! This time around I am going to finish it. Really, I am!

I aim to complete one piece each week, and that will give me three weeks before Halloween to complete finishing touches and details like footwear, hair and makeup. Wish me luck!

Seriously, by the time I finish this costume, Blizzard will be reusing the graphics for this armor set for Priest Tier 17.5 (if they haven't already!).