Modesty Studios

Today I did my bold experiment. I attempted my vacuum forming set up. Here are the results. As you can see it is indeed vaguely visor shaped. The buck held up very well. Here are the mistakes I made. 1) I left the plastic in the oven too long. It got a bit stuck on things. In an effort to dislodge those things from the sagging plastic, things got screwy.  2) The vacuum still doesn't have enough pull so it did not suction around the buck.  3) In my vain attempt to reheat and try again, things got very thin and papery.  On the plus side, it takes color very well and I can still see through it.  Also everything is the right size for working. So it's a good thing I already have another sheet of plastic on the way. I've learned from these mistakes. And we were CLOSE. 

So I did do some smaller bits for my costumes although they're not done yet.  Tali: Gloves: Pattern cut and pinned Sleeve: Pattern cut and pinned Pants: Pattern cut and sorta pinned Bandeau: Pattern cut I attempted to do a test of my vacuum forming set up. Sadly, Somethings didn't quite work right. The vacuum works fine, but I didn't secure my plastic right. So my practice plastic curled up instead of sag down. So today I'm out to get another window frame. I also ordered another sheet of PETG plastic just in case I screw up. Today may be the big day I try to finally vacuum form the visor. Warden: Tabard: Pattern cut :) Yes. I finally, FINALLY did something with this project. The next step would be to finally finish off the foam bases for the armor pieces. Just need to cut out the shoulder bits.

How I feel that my costumes are going to turn out sometimes... Well...because I've had some...major fails. Usually in an effort to remain on budget I cut out a lot of quality.  But we learn from mistakes so here's my little walk of shame of costumes and cosplay that really didn't come out as planned.  Princess Kraehe  My first "real" honest attempt at a cosplay was this character: Kraehe from Princess Tutu . At the time I was planning on going to AnimeFest in Dallas almost last minute with some friends. My game company was called Corvidology or "Study of Crows"...so I thought Kraehe would be super appropriate. Plus I knew I could pull it off. Well...here are the results. Well...I DID try. And for a budget costume it wasn't super bad...but most pictures of me were ummm unflattering. Some things I learned:  Black Ballet shoes do NOT exist. I had to dye them. I used Rit Dye and they're still black. (yeah I still have them.) Bu...

So, my molds are ready for sanding and then...the great experiment can begin. To see if I can even get the vacuum forming to work. My vacuum may not have enough power to suck things down. So...but I did see a cheap 1 gallon shop vac at walmart for like $20. First I have to use what I have. I'll be testing things this weekend if everything goes as planned. Here are my two molds so far. Plaster Face And Clay dish. Clay dish I could use to make a new solid plaster buck. Plaster face I could actually use as my buck. I'll have to remember to pickup sandpaper today...and cat food. Poor Lucius is low. Update: Dish Face has died. Long live plaster face. :P The clay dish fell apart, but the plaster mold held together very well and took some sanding work. Also did a quick strength test with my vacuum, and indeed, I need to secure a small shop vac.

Some quick tips I'm learning for self-reference mostly. 1) Don't cast like into like. Meaning that I shouldn't make a plaster cast in a plaster mold (like I was thinking of doing! 2) For my purpose, it'd be easier to have some kind of brush on mold instead of a fill a box with liquid mold. SO here's the new plan. Let's see if it works. Mold with Air Dry Clay: Simplest and cheapest solution really. Cover the head + mask in air dry clay. Once clay is dry, coat with modge podge or craft glue + water mixture to strengthen. Then cast with plaster. Alternative things to try that sound cool: http://cockeyed.com/lessons/silicone/silicone.php ERMAGERD! Silicone Caulk + plaster banadges or paper mache...might be way cheaper could totally work for mold making. Then cast with plaster...or resin maybe. Probably plaster. I wonder...hmmm. So in the future it may have been more economical to work with air dry clay or paper clay to begin with. Using the foam head + ...

 For the visor I will be following a very budgeted version of this: You will note that they use a pretty fair sized piece of plastic over the form and an airbrush to paint with. The video uses .05 PETG plastic, Pebeo Paint thinned with turpentine. So I did some shopping...a shame how experimenting can become so expensive. My Alternatives to the PETG Plastic Sheet  None...I actually hopped onto Amazon and got some .04 PETG plastic. I got a 12" x 48" sheet. Proabably enough for 1. My other alternative which is a big experiment is the PETG plastic bottle I have from my 2 liter pop. (Or soda...it was Pepsi if you're curious.) Pepsi products still have unshaped 2 liter bottles while Coke products have a waistline. In my Visor Hate Post I had one experiment with the plastic bottle that was a mighty promising option. Alternative to the Vacuum Form Table  I really have my doubts that this will work, but I'm going to do my best to jerry-rig a vacuum forming ...