Re-do's, repairs, and redpool

Re-Do's
Back to work!
I have a few things I need to repair and re-do and a few things to start. Wasp and Greypool are my main concerns but spandex world is out of the fabric I need for Greypool's shoulders.
 I have another project I am REALLY excited about but I'm not going to say anything until I know I can get it going and have it ready to sell by October.
G and I have a lot of pep ready and in the works to be folded and molded. Haha that rhymed. I also have some baby stuff to start sewing for people. So much to do, I'm so excited!!!

Until all of those projects are more fleshed out, here is the promised work- up on how I made my Wasp wings.

I researched bug wings for an entire night before I found the ones I liked. Surprisingly, her wings are based very close to actual wasp's wings, go figure, I just thought they would find whatever was pretty and go with it.
I then drew a pattern of sorts to scale on giant grid paper.



After I had this outline, I used  two different thickness's of armature wire and hot glue to make the skeleton of the wings.





Then I used this crazy stuff I found called Fantasy Film to make them iridescent.I thought the color I had picked out would be more yellow or clear, it ended up being "pinker" than I thought. I still like it. I am going to try something different when I go to make Pixie's wings. If I like how that comes out better than these then I'll re-make these. For now they work, they as durable as wire covered in shrink-wrap can be and they're pretty.
 This stuff is like pretty shrink-wrap and I suggest testing it in small sections first. It had a pretty big learning curve when you are doing something on this scale. All the tutorials I watched were for wings people were making for bears and dolls. You have to work in small sections, one side at a time, and be very, very sparse with your glue or it looks like a literal hot mess. Glue only the armature wire, do not glue the film to itself, it will look horrible and not translucent anymore. Make sure not to get the heat too close or you get holes in it and then you have to rip it up and start over. I re-did these about 3 times before I was happy with them.



I then built a wing harness out of heavy-duty elastic (it ended up looking like a tactical sports bra) that the wings could be inserted in through the back of the catsuit.
Meredith gave me an idea on how to cover where the wings lay in the suit. (I was down to the wire on this build so covering the wire was not my top priority at the time.) She told me to build a small triangular sheath, kind of like the ones Wolverine has on his gloves for his claws. Genius!

 Repairs
I have to re-do the palms of my gloves. I used this awesome fabric paint Jacquard, but it it not good for things that go through continual stretching. The yellow cracked (but the silver stayed!) and peeled at PCC so my hands are behind my back most of the time in all the pictures. I am going to order some milli skin that I need for the Monarchs and use some for the palms. I.hate.sewing.gloves. Have I mentioned this before, because I do, with a passion.



AND....like I said before, I will be re-doing the armor pieces so they are removable..

Redpool
We sold G's Redpool and I was also commissioned to make another, yay! I might post some of the new things I have decided to do with it, we shall see. This blog is going to turn into "One Red Deadpool" soon, oh well, I have fun sewing him and everyone still loves him so good for me good for you the reader. ;)

Next week... Monarch plans? or Project Hero? Redpool? New Projects? Who Knows?! Stay tuned....!

Wasp and Deadpool progress

Oh boy....there's nothing like the 2 weeks before a con, especially if you are getting a booth for the first time. There have been days that eating, showering, and leaving the house have not happened (you think I'm joking..)
One such day was the day before Free Comic Book Day (I did shower...I promise) I spent 14-16 hours the day before trying to get Wasp wear-able and I did! I also passed out in the upright position when we got home and made some horrible faces in pictures but damnit it was mostly done!

Whitney and myself

Ryan, Todd, Deb, Garrick, Paul and myself
(Avengers assemble! now with Batman, Bane, and Deadpool...)

WHY would you give Deadpool the hammer?!

Garrick posted about the armor pieces and the awesome spray paint we found here. He did a great job on it too! Only problem was something that we coined as "handruff"...read his post, the explanation is in there and it's not a gross as it sounds.

Big thank you to Hero Comics and Samurai Comics for having us, sleep deprived and all!

I still have to do the piping on the gloves and the wings on Wasp, looking to try to finish the gloves this weekend and the wings next week. Let me tell you, piping is AWESOME but it is way time consuming! You have to pin everything especially when it is mirroring itself on both sides of a costume. Oh and welting feet have saved my life, I love gadgets. I am currently collecting interesting presser feet if anyone has any suggestions. I love things that make my life easier! Don't you?

Awkward crotch shot...but it was the only way to show the piping!

I think I would have imploded if it didn't turn out to by symmetrical.
I did a little piping on Deadpool as well and have a little more to do on the mask and the legs. So far so good! I will be finishing the shoulders, gloves, and arms this weekend. I'm excited to get the eyes finished, they are squinty eyes! I think I've talked about this before...anyway Deadpool should always have awesome facial expressions. Once PhxCC is over we might start casting those in urethane....we shall see...




Oh and I think the wig I got for Wasp is an Ouran Host Club wig, Haruhi's to be exact...whatever it's still cute and she is a girl and so am I so there.

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We did see the Avnegers and it was AMAZING! Glad to get excited about a movie again especially one with lots of props and costumes in it. I think I need to see it again so I can focus on the movie and not go nuts over all of the design elements and have a bagillion ideas about how to use them running through my head while trying to focus on the story. Lady Loki is in my future...let's just say that.
When I get paid this week I will be donating our ticket prices to this charity Hero Initiative. If you love comics and all great things that come from them donate to help take care of their creators. Most comic artists are freelance which means no benefits. This organization provides help for those artists when they need it.

Now back to work...

Avengers Wasp

Are you excited for this?! I am! I am so happy to be working with Meredith McClaren on this costume. She has such an eye for costumes and design in her work I couldn't wait to make this. It will be even better since Garrick and I are sharing a table with her at Phoenix Comic-con this year (table 433!). You should stop by...just sayin' :)
Meredith and I were talking about making certain characters costumes more "visually interesting" by trying to incorporate more tactical designs and lines and this is what she came up with



I LOVE the piping on the legs and gloves. I had never though of this  and it is going to be awesome. The only change I made to her concept is the palm of the gloves are going to be a similar yellow to that of the bug parts. I even got a wig that is pretty dead-on for this, hell yea for plans coming together!

Wig:





The bug pieces I am basing off of this girl. She does amazing work and goes by "Riddle" as her pseudonym. She sculpted the bug parts for Wasp and then had them Chromed in gold (there is another term for Chroming something in gold but I don't know it so deal). I am not that fancy right now and I want to try sculpting something smaller first like a new Black Cat mask before I take on body armor. That being said, Garrick is helping me out with this (We're trading, I'm sewing his new D.Pool and Nick Fury) and we are making it out of foam. We made boob molds out of giant Easter egg bottom so we could heat mold the foam on top of those, we're so smart. He should be posting his progress soon.
 I also love her eye for tactical and small practical details in her costumes. You can't see it in this picture but she made wing holes in the back! If you turned into a bug you would need holes for your wings to go through too! Small, but great detail. Check out her gallery, it's super impressive!
 I will have wings with mine purely because I have been dying to make to make them! I am going to use the wing hole idea so I can go with or without wings depending on the event. So there. My bug parts will not be identical to this but similar, I want to put my own spin on it as well.

 

I wanted to give you a little glimpse into my work process since I had to re-make all of the patterns for Deadpool (they were lost in the move).

First there is planning...



then nomming....



Ok I really just wanted to post those to show what I have to go through to get the cat to leave me alone anytime I have to do things on the floor. I use wrapping paper for my patterns for two reasons. 1. it's gridded on the back side! Measuring I own you now... 2. I can pin through it. Almost everyone has it laying around the house so you might as well use it!

Long post long...I got a lot of my pieces cut out and seams ripped this week and once I get my welting foot in the mail I'll post some pictures/tutorial of how that goes.

Finished Domino X-Force

That presser foot is amazing!! If you haven't been reading my rambles (that's silly of course you are....) I just bought a Teflon presser foot to finish Domino up before and Avengers vs X-Men party at Samurai Comics.  I got everything done but the elbow and knee pads (even the "tactical" parts, those were made out of drawer liner, I'm so resourceful...).
::Special thank you to Hero Comics for inviting us!! Sorry we couldn't make it dressed up but it was fun hanging out!::
Here are some pictures that the wonderful Peter Vincent took (He's the Spiderman in the photos) and let me tell you, I am making some absolutely great faces in these....



Man...do other people make faces like this or is it something you're born with...ugh



Garrick also wore red Deadpool for the last time...(it was starting to smell...even after we washed it...)

 

This one is for all my homies...or maybe personalities? Definitely personalities for Deadpool...

My make-up came out great! I was super pleased with it! You know what I didn't do...was take a close up shot of the black eye. I was finally able to blend some blue into the black and match the white eye to it so that way I wouldn't have the focusing issues I did before. (didn't help with all the dumb faces apparently...)  I'll take some pictures next time I do Domino and post a make-up tutorial for it.

Onto X-Force Deadpool! I'm using this as my main reference photo



I will also be working on this Wasp, and Nick Fury  intermittently since we need Wasp and Nick Fury done by the Avengers premiere. Since we haven't ordered any of the material...I will work on Deadpool first so I am using my time most efficiently. Look at me time manage like a pro. Wings for Wasp may not be done in time for the premiere....definitely by PHXCC.

Did you notice something different? Yes! I fixed my banner to have Wasp on their instead of Black Widow. that costume never happened and it probably never will...