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Showing posts from 2020

Zelda Costume Process

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Most of my time has been spent making the costume in time for Halloween, which was successful! However, I haven't done the day to day journaling like past costumes. It's going to be one big info dump, so hold on your butts. It's go time! Underdress The underdress was cut from Simplicity Pattern 8113. I cut it out of white jersey knit and following the marks exactly. I sewed the pieces together, but I did not follow the instructions for this part. I did not install a zipper or lining. After sewing the pieces together, I fitted it on my dress form and made some cuts to the neckline and back neckline. Then I hemmed the edges of the sleeves and collar. I did not hem the skirt although after Halloween I intend to serge the skirt edge. For clean edges. (Man maybe I should have done that for the collar too. Ah wells.)  I left out the embroidery of the harp and banner and the gold trim. I didn't expect to have that part of the costume in the camera shots. So that's where I

Modesty's Low Carb Build-Your-Own Ramen "Recipe"

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 This is not a proper recipe by any means. Just some thing I enjoy making for myself that I'm writing down. After all, this is mostly a crafty, game design, project blog.  Anywho, I'm not going to make this like other recipe blogs with a whole story about how I came up with it. The only things I'll say are...it's not authentic...it's not trying to be. It's only an approximation made with ingredients found at most major grocery stores so you don't have to go to a specialized marketplace or order online. Here are the basics.  Broth - Protein - Noodles - Veggies - Toppers You will need a big pot on medium-low heat to combine ingredients in. However, some ingredients may need extra preparation in a pan, microwave or oven.  Broth Base The base of "real" ramen varies depending on the type of ramen. For our case, I find that Bone Broths are the best for the base.  I usually get a couple cups worth of bone broth. I prefer to use beef, but chicken works as

Zelda Day 2-3

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 There's not much time between now and Halloween but progress is finally being made with Princess Zelda.  Day 2 - Apron First day, I prepped my white cotton, used my template and cut out 4 copies of the apron. Took those pieces and used Color Max Spray paint to make the blue and purple gradient.  Cut the template a bit and taped it down to the cotton to spray paint the green edge. I printed out a second copy of the template for the gold and purple paint which I will do by hand with the template as guidance.  I have four copies of the apron just in case. Once I have the gold parts painted, I'm going to use some bond and fuse to put two of the apron pieces together, with a bit of interfacing or foam pieces along the top to connect to the belt.  Day 3 - Pattern cutting Last weekend I got my flu shot so I wasn't feeling so great over the weekend. Plus I got sidetracked with some crochet projects. I just get in these crafty moods sometimes. Anyway, I did cut out the pattern piec

Costume Progress: Zelda and Linkle

 With no events to really set a hard deadline on costume projects, things continue to progress at a leisurely pace. But they are progressing.  Princess Zelda So I have all the armor parts 3D printed. Did a few layers of finishing on them but there's still plenty of work to do for those I've been coating it with clear polyurethane Things are starting to feel smooth to the touch. I also 3d printed a Heart container for fun. I'm out of the gold filament so trying be careful with my armor pieces.  A couple days ago I purchased the fabric to make the dress with and received the package of wigs!  Linkle For this I recently got the wig and wefts. I have 3D printed all the metal parts of the cross-bows. I got the nozzle and wood filament for the rest of the crossbow parts. Lotara Remade my prototype for the leather armor. I looked at the fabric I got but haven't touched it since the 3D printer is taking up my sewing table at the moment. 

Project Slow Down

It's always a bummer hitting a snag in a plan. However, Summer is always a mixed bag when it comes to projects. Obviously this summer has been full of snags around budget and mental health. And I feel like every few years I tend to shift gears from one creative pursuit to another. I'm wrapping up the writing for my visual novel which means I need to start cranking out some art. Due to aforementioned budget concerns, I don't think I'll be able to afford hiring out for many artists. Still want someone else to handle backgrounds but we'll see what I can do in the mean time.  This past weekend I finally cleaned my crafting space since it's been full of delivery boxes for weeks. I still need another shelf or container unit to hold supplies neatly but I'll feel better once I get that done.  I did get my fabric for Lotara. Waiting on the wigs for Linkle and Zelda. Finished printing the armor for Zelda. Got the parts I need to print out Linkle's crossbows. Re-di

Triforce of Costumes - Day 0

Currently working on 3 costumes at once. Which may be a bit overzealous but it is also practice for eventually making costumes for others. On my plate is: Lotara the Drow Elf, Princess Zelda and Linkle.  Here's where things are at so far.  Lotara Materials Gathered:  Wig Fabric for undergarments and under-coat EVA for armor prototyping Latex Elf Ears Face Paint Stockings for "leg skin" High knee socks Ear Cuffs Makeup Dagger Prop Materials Needed: Leather  Leather Paint Long gloves (or fabric for them) Boots Finger Armor (maybe) Princess Zelda Material Gathered:  Latex Elf Ears Wig 3D printed Jewelry Pattern for Apron Pattern for Dress Vector Sample for Embroidery EVA for Hair ornament (might use leather instead) Materials Needed: Boots (probably will use the same boots for all 3 characters if possible) Ribbon for Hair Finish printing shoulder armor Fabric for dress, apron and overcoat Fabric paint for Apron Opera Gloves Fabric Paint for gloves  Create Embroidery Machine

3D Prop-agation

I'm getting better at 3D printing props. Who knew there's a learning curve to everything? So a few things I've learned so far from mistakes I've made. What I've successfully made. And what I'll be reprinting. First successes: 12-Hole Ocarina of Time 6 - hole Ocarina of Time Dagger of Venom Rupees Corona Mask of Darth Vader's mouth Prince Lotor's Sword Princess Zelda Shoulder Armor (half done) Zelda Crown Zelda Belt Mild Successes (They came out okay but due to my own error they didn't construct correctly): BOTW Master sword Shekiah Slate Dienonychus Skull Glass Dagger Zelda's Sword Linkle's compass My Common Mistakes Messing with the machine while it's printing.  Not properly leveling the bed Increasing wall count which makes pieces no longer fit together.  Travel speeds and print order knocks over tall pieces Poor object orientation Sacrificing quality and strength for speed Not thinking through lighting

A Zelda Cosplay - Debating which version to do

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So a cosplay that I've wanted to do for awhile is Princess Zelda...or someone from the series. And eventually I may do them all but for now here are the ones I've thought about. Princess Zelda from Breath of the Wild As of the writing of this blog, this is the most recent iteration of Princess Zelda. She has multiple outfits to cosplay from. A priestess dress, exploring outfit, princess dress and winter wear. Obviously, I'm not up for winter wear. I am also not confident about pulling off a Greek dress with no determinable way to keep it up over my bosom. (I don't like strapless dresses.) So, the princess dress and explorer outfits would be my options of interest.  Pros: The explorer outfit is comfortable looking, convention friendly in that I can use my shekiah slate phone case and it has a pouch, there are plenty of patterns available and examples. The dress also looks comfortable and flattering and I don't have to worry about making shoes. The wig sty

Lotara Planning - Drow Cosplay

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So I've started purchasing materials, so I can say I've officially started work on this project. So this character design started as a derivative of the Lotor bodysuit. But as I've been working through the leather work course and learning about armor design, I started focusing more on themes, shapes and armor pieces. The bottom row is the current plan without much of the details.  I've illustrated the costume breakdown here. Layer 0 - Body Mods Body paint ✔ charcoal tights and arm warmers ✔ latex elf ears ✔ white wig (reusing my Lotor wig) ✔ Other makeup ✔ Layer 1 - Underwear-ish Camisole/Sports Bra (any color) ✔ Magenta high waist bikini cut bottoms $ (fabric bought) Garter belt ✔ (using scrap fabric) Thigh high stockings - black ✔ Bustle ✔ (using scrap fabric) Layer 2 - Clothes Knee high boots with front cuff (plan on using stretch suede and boot covers) Opera length gloves (I plan on using stretch suede) Sleeveless long tail coat $ (f

Prince Lotor Props Take 2

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So like I said last time I got this sweet stl file off Etsy and have begun printing out the sword. I have printed out all parts. The past couple days I've been gluing parts together. Dyed the clear guards and pommel. Filled some of the gaps with wood fill. And used pink fairy lights for a lighting effect. Here's the hande. The blade was trickier to keep together. Some pieces I had to re-glue several times before it finally cured and stuck together. Reinforced with wood fill.  Things I still need to do. Paint and glue the decals. Reinforce and smooth down with clear epoxy resin. Then I'll paint the blade.  I'll resurrect this costume at some point for a photo shoot.  I'm making a bunch of other video game swords too. I'll post about those later. For now Peace! 

3D Prop Addiction

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I have a 3D printer now and I've become addicted to it. I purchased an STL file for Lotor's sword  and have been printing parts of it for the past couple days. To the right is my EVA foam sword. It's gotten warped. I mean...shape-wise, with a bit more TLC, the foam sword looks really good. However, I like that the machine does things for me too. (Now with all the parts printed.) With all the parts now printed, I need to sand a few parts, dye the clear stuff to purple, assemble and sealing gaps, then priming and printing. I'm waiting on some LED fairy lights for the cross guard. I've downloaded and purchased a bunch of swords and daggers. I'm just going to have an arsenal of fake weapons. :B Currently plan on making the following Swords: Master sword (with glows) I mean...everyone does this right? Zelda's sword from Twilight Princess (also got her shoulder armor and jewelry from that so, she'll definitely be a cosplay) Sword of Faith fro

Moving into 3D!

Exciting day. I finally invested in a 3D printer! It took awhile to figure out which one to go with. I was enamored with the idea of a resin 3D printer. However, because I plan to use it for both cosplay AND DnD minis, the PLA printer is the better option. :3 So my plans for now are going to be to run some test prints. Print out one of my Hero Forge minis and 3D print Lotor's sword. The foam one is good but it has pushed me to the limit of my skill and I'm more interested in leather working right now. I'm half-way through my leather working course too! So yeah, that's about it. Happy Ash Wednesday!

Sims4 Tutorial: Making Custom Food Vampire Friendly

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When living as long as you do off blood, why wouldn't you come up with more creative ways of consuming? This tutorial will demonstrate what to change in your custom food to make it fit for vampires and make humans sick. Pre-Requisites: You need to have the Add-On Vampires for Sims 4 Sims4 Studio Basic Knowledge of Object tuning How to clone and make a custom food item. (I like using the Foodchemistry one) (optional) Custom Buffs You can complete this step once you have all your servings set up. On the single serving, you will want to edit the Object Tuning of your food item. You want to find the line < u n="_components" > that comes after any utensil blocks. This looks different between recipes, fyi. Everything I'm about to tell you to paste in goes AFTER this component line. Copy and paste the code snippet after component line. Now let's break down what parts of this code mean. The first yellow highlighted line is the stat this food affe

Progress Report

Projects that I'm currently working on at the moment. Baby Blanket Crochet - I have crocheted about 13 cm of a 100 cm blanket. ;_; Leather Lessons - I'm up to module 5, but I still need to do the homework for 4. Planning on doing that this weekend. MAX - Doing the art exchange this month. I should be able to make it this weekend and do my homework. Lotara Cosplay - Collecting phase. I'm being patient, but I've gotten ears and body paint and earrings at the moment. 3D Printing - I'm very close to my savings goal for a Resin 3D printer. Looking forward to making minis and costume parts. Sculpting - haven't started my lessons on Udemy yet. Art Doll Goro - the armature stares at me all the time. :P BJD course - about 50% done but I think I need to restart. I some of the supplies for it, but it has intrigued me about porcelain casting, but no info yet. VN Project - I've written up to chapter 5 for both the final routes. (Goro and Katsuro). I