red's rants

Today's project- the "girdle" piece! It's hard to see in game, but the armour has this leather girdle around the middle that appears to be secured by belts. I'm totally cheating and am velcroing at the side! Designed the pattern myself after tracing on a t-shirt. The front belts will have decorative buckles added, and I'll work some magic to make it look more worn and leathery, but it's basically complete! Next up- undershirt, then we will go under the hood #cosplay #monsterhunterworld #monsterhuntercosplay #sewing

Braaaaaaains.... Straaaaaaaaaaange

Quilty. These are #geralt's Gambeson-ish sleeves

Ruuuuuuuuunes

Last year I had it pretty easy- I was building a costume which had a complete set of blueprints. This year, no such luck, so I decided to make my own! I drew up the sword (silver sword, right hand side of top right image) and the crossbow in a free program called inkscape, based on reference images in the game, and I've designed them to be appropriately scaled to one another. His other sword will be totally dummied out, I'll make it just as a sword in a scabbard. Hope is I can also design these so I can transport them easily- the sword hilt will hopefully screw apart, and the the crossbow is specifically scaled for the bag I plan to take! #cosplay #Geralt #witcher3 #gaming #wildhunt #paxaus

1600 rings and about 60 metres of wire later, I've finished my second major chain mail piece for my next costume. Lesson for self: next time use bigger rings #owmyhands I have some smaller mail pieces to do for the pauldrons, but the next step will be the chest plate #cosplay #geralt #witcher #costume #chainmail #maille

Thought I'd try something- a time-lapse of assembling the mail! This is the second row of the front section of mail on the costume, and is an elapsed time of about 40 minutes. The final piece will be about 60 rows, so probably this another 12 times over #cosplay #costume #chainmail #maille #Geralt #witcher3 #witcher #owmyhands

1300 hand made rings later, and about 25 hours work, and I have my first piece of finished maille! This is about a third of the total mail in the costume, but I think I need to take a break, it's murder on your hands #cosplay #witcher3 #Geralt #witcher #chainmail #costume #owmyhandshurt

Each costume I do, I try to do something new. For Geralt, I've been teaching myself chain mail, which will give it that authentic armour look. This mail is made from steel wire, and I've made the rings using a jig that Dad helped me make earlier in the year. It's painstaking work- slow, fiddly and tedious, so I'm glad I've had Twin Peaks to binge on while I've been doing it. It's far from done- this is one piece, and it eventually needs to cover all the way to the hem in the RH picture- but it's progress! #cosplay #witcher3 #Geralt #costume #chainmail #gaming #wildhunt #witcher

So my next cosplay project is Geralt of Rivia, the Witcher 3 Kaer Morhen armour. Still a long way to go and a lot of planning, but I'm pretty happy with the armour template I've drafted and knocked up in calico. Couple adjustments to this and I should be ready to redo it in leather (or its synthetic equivalent) #cosplay #witcher3 #Geralt #sewing #armour

And complete! #cosplay #Discworld #sewing #costume

This morning, this was a pile of fabric pieces. Still a lot to do, but I'm really happy with the progress! My #ausdwcon costume is almost there!

Costume number 1 this year is Moist Von Lipwig! I did the hat for the last Discworld con I went to in 2012, but this year I decided to go the full ensemble. First step is making his waistcoat. Discworld fans will know he wears this suit to pretty much be centre of attention, and the fabric is certainly eyegrabbing. It's a gold brocade that's been tricky to work with (frays to nothingness easily) but I'm really pleased with the result. I learned how to make welt pockets, and they turned out pretty well. I also think I pattern matched the front pretty well. It doesn't photograph real well in my unit, hopefully once I've finished the lot I can get some shots in natural light Rather than make the pants, I decided to buy them off alixpress. They are certainly eye catching, and I don't want to imagine how they'll feel after wearing them at a con for a while, but they provide a good contrast to the waistcoat. I'm going to make a frock coat to go with it, which I'll match fabric wise to the pants as close as possible...maybe not as weirdly stretchy a material though.

Costume number 1 this year is Moist Von Lipwig! I did the hat for the last Discworld con I went to in 2012, but this year I decided to go the full ensemble. First step is making his waistcoat. Discworld fans will know he wears this suit to pretty much be centre of attention, and the fabric is certainly eyegrabbing. It's a gold brocade that's been tricky to work with (frays to nothingness easily) but I'm really pleased with the result. I learned how to make welt pockets, and they turned out pretty well. I also think I pattern matched the front pretty well. It doesn't photograph real well in my unit, hopefully once I've finished the lot I can get some shots in natural light Rather than make the pants, I decided to buy them off alixpress. They are certainly eye catching, and I don't want to imagine how they'll feel after wearing them at a con for a while, but they provide a good contrast to the waistcoat. I'm going to make a frock coat to go with it, which I'll match fabric wise to the pants as close as possible...maybe not as weirdly stretchy a material though.

Painting process! Despite the awful weather, I've managed to get enough clear evenings to spray the whole thing. I sealed the foam first with heat and thenwith watered down PVA, before looping some wire through assorted straps and using the clothesline as an impromptu spray booth The whole lot had a black undercoat, followed by selective masking, then an undercoat grey and a "metallic charcoal" final coat- really wanted that metallic look! I really like the two-tone grey look. The n7 logo is a high resolution printout that was laminated and attached, and then I applied battle damage to the whole armour. Basic silver paint and a paint pen gives nice scratches and scuffs, and dry brushed black paint gives greasy, dirty detail. Also a good way to cover up imperfections and spots where the masking tape pulled off paint. Final painstaking step was the right arm stripe, which is kinda hard to do precisely on the textured surface. Finally, I'll spray the whole thing with a clear sealant when I get a break in the weather this week, then it's just lights, a final fitting and I'm finished! I'll then finish off the last couple of Bloodborne pieces and if I get time I'll do a quick pistol to go with this