Thoughts about Visors and Reimagining Tali/Quarian Cosplay


Visor Thoughts

Since making my Quarian/Tali helmet two years ago (Gawd...it's been two years), I've learned quite a bit but this video...made me happy mad. Happy because it's a great resource for making a visor and mad because back in the day I had this mask and used it as a buck model for petg plastic. :( All along I could have used this chrome mirror mask, used some model lacquer tinted paint and krylon crystal clear finish. Life's not fair. But on the plus side, I share this with you should you have a visor delemna on your costume project. The video is unclear on how to tint it but in the comments I found mention of airbrush painting or laquer. So still have the same issues for coloring. 

As you may have surmised from my lack of cosplay posts that I've taken a break from cosplay for a couple of reasons.

  1. Depression the creativity killer. Just losing interest in going to cons which seems to be the only place to cosplay. 
  2. Want to lose weight. Also a problem of depression is the weight gain and my flux in body shape. Namely in my arms and chest. (I look swole and i don't even work out. LOL). It's also just a health thing. I want my arms to fit in the sleeves it used to. (My arms are really weirdly shaped right now. The sholder area is pretty small, but the tricep-bicep area is swole up and then it gets really thin on the forearm. Sleeves are a nightmare.) 
  3. Less free time with my current job promotion 
  4. Finances in recovery mode: I'm prepping for some big expenses, namely a new car. 
  5. The 400 other projects I have on the backburner. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE making costumes but it's not my only hobby. I'm also sewing plain clothes for myself, sewing plushies, learning to crochet, making games, and occasionally drawing.
I have the supplies for about 3 or 4 of my planned cosplays: a turian, King Alistair, and the Dalish Inquisitor. Some of a new Tali.

New Tali Plans

So just because I'm not actively sewing a costume doesn't mean I don't constantly plan and scheme. 
Case and point is that Tali's cosplay is a challenge I like to work with and solve for. It's fun and great for downtime at work. 

First I look at my old design and what issues it had:

  • Difficult to put on (ZENTAI SUIT!!!)
  • Too many "moving parts"
  • Took the costume too literally instead of thinking of alternatives that could provide the same look
  • Used the wrong material for many things. Cotton is not good for the veil because it doesn't drape right. I'm better at this now. 
  • Things did not stay on
Velcro and elastic have their limits. So I've gone ahead and tried to reimagine how I would approach this project differently. This is still ME1 Tali. Later versions are easier to cosplay oddly enough. :P 

  • Instead of a zentai suit, leggings and a snug long sleeve shirt work better. The Belt of the bottom part works to "hide the seam" of the shirt meeting the pants. Also yes, tucking that shirt or potentially leotard into the pants. Probably just shirt, I don't want going to the bathroom to be a hassle.
  • For the bandeau, instead of being a completely separate part, sew it directly onto the shirt. 
  • For the purple shorts, again sewing them right onto the pants. Same with the belt make the pouches a permanent fixture as well.
  • Attach belts directly to the shirt as well. 
  • For the brown sleeve thingy, replace the sleeve of the shirt instead of making it a glove. Make the bullet pack on the shoulder a permanent fixture. 
  • Make a cloth neck corset/dickey instead of using craft foam. Use shiney spandex.
  • Paint mesh pattern instead of using netting. 
  • Use more duct tape to build up the feet. 
  • Make the shin covers one piece intead of 2, similar to a forearm gaurd. Perhaps make with thick foam instead of worbla.
  • Use a properly draping fabric for the veil like Lycra or knit fabrics.
  • Paint the pattern for the swirls instead of purchasing. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sims4 Tutorial: Making Custom Food Vampire Friendly

Image
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
Read more

August Begins

A new month. And ever closer creeps my personal deadlines for these costumes. October was the goal for the Warden and Tali. However, since I've taken on another project for Halloween, I'm scooting Warden and Tali out to November. And Alistair...the poor chap...hasn't had any construction done what so ever. :( I have all supplies too. Anyway, I've made a bit of progress on each costume here and there. Tali: I took the shoes out of the feet and got inserts to put in there instead. Warden: Put more studs into the Jacket. Wolf Queen: Made the Circlet, got the beads for the necklace, made some ears and started on the tail. Got some knee high nylons to make the feet. I've also had quite a few interviews the past couple weeks. I hope to start a new job soon. *pleeeease, better pay, better environment* Anyway, I've also been going to D&D sessions on the weekends. ...I'm learning how bad I am at improv. LOL. I hope to finish the Wolf Tail this week
Read more

Game Whining: Kingdom Hearts

So I'm not great at "gaming" although I spend many hours in the activity. I'm not trying to be awesome or really think too much about the game play or strategy until I get stuck. I've started playing Kingdom Hearts which I got for Christmas a couple years back. I started it and had to put it down for school and other games. I have been meaning to play it and now I am. But there is so much I HATE about this game that I must complain about here. We're going into rant mode. Controls This is a classic example of a game where there are too many control options for battles. I've played the game for several hours and usually after the first couple of hours things become second nature. I fear it may take more like 10 hours or more before I get used to these blasted controls. First off they don't make much sense. It's as if they were trying to combine action based combat with menu-based JRPG battle. Which CAN work, in certain cases but usually there'
Read more