She-Ra Princess of Power

Before you get to your regularly scheduled (mostly) post, I want to explain how I think I'm going to organize my posts and builds from now on. I will try to keep costume builds in one post. If it's something that has taken me a few weeks to build, I'll update the post with an "**Update!!**" at the part that has been newly added. If it's a tutorial that I did from working on a costume I will do a separate post for it but try to create a hyperlink so both posts link to one another. This will keep down clutter and make things easier to find for all you fine folks. :D 

Gotta love the 80's!
This has been such a fun commission to work on! I'm really glad I have been able to do this because it's something I would have never made for myself and I have done a few things I have had the ideas for but haven't tried out until now (like her B.A. head piece!!).

I based the head piece on this picture by one of my go-to and favorite artists Stjepan Sejic.

How awesome is that?! I thought it was fantastic. The rest of the costume is based of of her original design to keep it simple.

I know, I know. This is HORRIFYING! It's my dirty work mannequin head. Just think, it stares at me while I work all day, jealous yet?!

Now that's a head piece!

These are just the paper templates I made to make sure everything fit together and looked good before I cut it out of foamies.

I tried to go with the curve that already existed in the foamies so it would fit with the contours of the head better. This also helps to counter-act the curling that can sometimes happen when you seal it with the glue mixture I use. I am still in the process of sealing them before I paint them, they will be gold when they're done. That will probably be next week's post ;)

I am doing the belt, gauntlets, and boots details with foamies but not exactly the same way. For those pieces, since they will be getting a lot more action as far as movement goes, will be wrapped in my favorite stretch vinyl and then painted with Montana Gold spray paint. I SWEAR by this stuff. It's acrylic, pretty flexible, and goes on so even. Another future update.
Here are the "wings" unpainted. The shinier one has been sealed with the glue mixture, the other will be sealed tonight.

Let's take a step back and talk about the design for this dress. I have a decent amount of commissions (for someone who is working a seperate 40hr/wk job, planning a charity event, working on my own Halloween costumes, and trying to re-landscape my yard(s)) already due to wonderful clients before Halloween so I didn't have much room to take on something epic when I got this commission. I decided to go the modification route which is kind of like a fashion/costuming treasure hunt for me.
I found the dress, boots, and sword on ebay and decided to modify them. The dress I hemmed to the clients preferred length. The boots I cut a design out of the tops of them and added some embellishments to make them look more detailed. The sword is my most prized find! It's a Thor foam sword that is nearly the same design as the She-Ra one that just needed to have the "Thor" logo painted over and add a few red gems to the hilt, done!

Boot and Sword and Fabric mess....

I did sew the cape and make all of the gold details (black parts in pictures). I modified the cape design to attach to the gold "feather" parts on the top of her dress to make it more functional. I initially had this elaborate idea to make this kind of harness with those clear bra straps, but I have to confess, I HATE those. I know sometimes they are necessary, but come on, I can SEE them, they are not invisible. I try to avoid them at all costs.

I have been having fun with matching songs to characters but this time my awesome friends
burnt me cds of Davey Havock's new group Blaqk Audio. Remember A.F.I?! OMG it brought me right back to high school! I luuuuuurrrrvvvved them! First time I realized I like goth music and dudes with long hair (sorry Garrick, but you know this!). It was also the first time I got kicked in the head in a pit at a concert...FUN TIMES.
 It's ALL  I've been listening to. Synth-Goth is not really She-Ra music so I'll just guess on this one. I think She-Ra would kick ass to either Kelly Clarkson -Stronger (especially if she's mad at He-Man that day) or anything by Dragon Force. I'd love to hear your ideas on this stuff! Am I the only crazy one that does this?!

**UPDATE**

Here are the finished pictures!!
After much struggling with this darn gold paint, I finanally found that design Masters would  keep it's finish on that vinyl. Design Master's is a great spray paint that is usually used in floral applications and has some stretch to it. You may be wondering why I didn't just use gold vinyl. Well, it looks cheap to me, like REALLY cheap. If I were to make this again I would like to make everything armored so then I would have to worry about paint issues. Might do that and throw it up on ebay before next Halloween!

I am so happy with how this came out, especially that head piece!

 

I am SO sad I didn't run around with this headpiece on before I shipped it! Dumb.

Look how cute she looks in it!! I am floored! :)

Finished boots, sword, and gauntlets.

There's the finished build! From conception to the client, I am incredibly happy with how everything came out. I had a lot of fun with this one, especially since it's not something I would have ever made on my own. I liked it so much I think I might go back and make it again but with the armor like I mentioned earlier. If anyone would be interested in it, let me know!