Modesty Studios

 Creating the horse itself is a design element that will determine for me the best way to create the horse itself and the framework of support. I have 3 methods of crafting the horse available: paper Mache cement sculpting, plushie, or a mix of sculpting and plushie making (art doll).  I've made large plush ponies before! Here's a list of all the horse ideas I had: Circus Knabstrupper Gothic Friesian  Floral Unicorn Fire Unicorn Dark Unicorn Yuuto Kirin Gypsy Vanner/Irish Cob Classic Clydesdale  Gray Donkey My Quarter Horse Hans So, 10's a pretty long list so to whittle it down I picked some qualifications.  How large is the horse's frame?  How complicated is the coat pattern? Which craft would suit it best? Would it be a good carousel horse or natural horse? (Basically would it look cool in the wild style of a carousel horse, bedecked in jewels and stuff or would I prefer to make it look realistic-ish.) What is my connection to it?  Do I have strong f...

 I've had this idea for a project settled in the back of my mind that I hope to work on one day after I move to a new place. I want to make a horse statue or figure that I can sit on and display. I see beautiful carousel horses for sale and vintage rocking horses only to balk at the price tag. Basically, about as expensive as a real horse.  So I looked into 4 of the common horse ridable object types to see what I could learn to make something that my grown ass can sit on with out breaking it or looking ridiculous. The 4 types I considered are Hobby Horses, Roller Horses, Rocking Horses and Carousel Horses.  Hobby Horses A severed horse's head on a stick...gruesome. And very much an abstraction of a horse. But there are other "hobby horses" like barrel horses or saw horses that you can mount saddles on with an optional horse head. Obviously, very much an abstraction but it did offer a variety of ways to create that horse head and add it to existing structures like benc...

So I've settled on my D&D character Lotara for my next costume venture. She's a drow warlock. This will not be her final clothing design, but this was the source. Since I'm taking classes in leather-working, I'm going to put my new skills to use in this project. Also my cat will be roped into things with his own armor. Also, since I'm taking this course not only to learn a new skill but to possibly offer commission work in leather. I will only offer simple things at first. Might open an Etsy store finally. We'll see though.

Heh...so I've spent awhile in the ol' planning phase for this. And in that time some of the folks I enjoy watching on YouTube have made builds. EvilTed also provided a (currently) free pattern for the helmet. >_> Which I've downloaded along the with the other one I purchased. -_- Just my luck right? Anywho...as promised back in March I made lots of doodles and plans. Other than Evil Ted and Punished Props I've tried to avoid YouTube tutorials. While I like guidance on some things, I always want to figure it out myself first.  Helmets I've never had luck with...at least no luck finishing. I've had my Inquistor helmet patterned for years but no motivation to finish it. :( Poor Dalish Inquisitor and DA:I Alistair. You shall be avenged...I mean completed. Just Not today.  BING BING...so one of my "pre-reqs" for starting this costume was to lose weight. The good news is I made my first goal of getting down to 150 lbs. Goal 2 is getting dow...

Artist Turian - in love with exploration of art in other cultures. Dance is her favorite art form. She also paints. Name: Perpeta Ignalus Originally from the Oma Ker Colony, now lives in the Citadel where she can mingle with many different species. Skills: Hand to hand fighting Age: 27 Service Years: finished boot camp, spent time assisting ambassadors at the Citadel. Veritus Luccedus (Turian Boyfriend) Maeli'Jaedal nar Yaama (Quarian Dancer) Crafty Historian - an adventurous archaeologist and collector of rare artifacts. Good at recreating historical garb and some objects. Enjoys teaching cultural history. Name: Caelia Hilaraka Homeworld: Palaven Travels Often Other skills: Pistols, Tech (new and old), piloting Age: 32 Sister to Perpeta.

Been doing a bit of an experiment craftwise. It may become a cosplay but we'll see. So here's what's I've done. Supplies: 5mm foam, googly eyes, plaster bandages, wire, cutting tools, and markers. Also a plastic mask. I cut the mouth and traced the plates.  Cut the eye holes to be a bit bigger. The googly eyes to size to the eyes.  Cut the back of the googly eyes and colored the white part of the tape. The thick foam for the eye shape. Used the molding mesh to shape the nose Foam for one plate. I wrapped the mesh with masking tape. More plate work. Mesh with tape wrapped around it. Added the eyebrow plates with more mesh with tape. Shaped the top of the mouth with mesh and tape. The lower jaw was shaped with foam and tape.  Mandibles 5mm foam. I wrapped all the pieces with the plaster bandages.  Here she is all put together....ish. Another view.  I still have plenty to do on the mask but ...

http://www.worbla.com/?page_id=4013 OmigoshOmigoshOmigoshOmigosh!!! This is the answer for so many of my prop issues for Tali! It's also a fantastic way to make casting molds. Seriously...if I could make a visor with this!! This would be way easier than thermoplastics. Downside is that it is pricey. I want to make an Omnitool out of it. Also redo the visor. :D

So it's only a couple of days before Halloween. I found a party to go to. But at the last minute, I had a change of heart about my werewolf queen. It is awesome and I am proud of it, but for this particular party it wouldn't work out. We'll be playing lots of board games with tiny pieces. Not very easy to manipulate with my claw gloves. (I'll use them somewhere.) Instead of a werewolf, I'm re-purposing the costume as a Calavera or Sugar Skull from Dia de Meurtos. I just got some extra white makeup, false eye lashes and Skeleton leggings. I've been having way too much fun on Pintrest and Youtube looking up designs for the makeup. Lol...dead daisy head. I love wigs. This adds the right contrast. Decent look at the design.

Howdy Again,  I managed to get the legs to a place that will work for me. I've lined the styrene with foam rings and it velcros at the seam. It'll need painting and weathering. Everything needs more weathering. :D I've also got the fabric for the veil. It looks nice on the helmet. I first have to sew the trim before attaching it to the helmet. (Otherwise I know it'll just be falling off all the time.) The glove finger tips have been redone. Now they are tipped with duct tape. Duct Tape, the handy-man's best friend. :) Currently I'm considering re-doing the visor one more time. I got some violet iPoly Dye this time and this time I won't put ANY Tamiya paint on it. Just for a slightly better visibility. Still to do: Arm Belts (bicep and forearm), Hip belt, Bust Belts, Boot Knife, Mesh on shirt, Attaching armor to shirt, Shoulder bands, Neck Collar, Veil Trim, Painting boots. Hemming the pants. Possibly also attaching these pants to my capri pants. H...

Last night I finished the Gloves for the Wolf Queen. (Pics to come soon). Once those were finished I began thinking about how I wanted to do the feet. In my drawings you can see they are kind of looking like high heels which is what the concept art for the character had. I tried on my high heels last night and began to think very seriously. As my feet started to ache after 30 seconds of wear it became clear that much like my Tali cosplay, the Wolf would not be able to long stand the high heel...unless I went with boots. While doing research on how Fursuits got around this issue, I stumbled upon sock paws. With a little re-engineering I think I can make my sleek, delicate Wolf Queen feet. Because she is regal after all. Some of my plots: 2 pairs of socks (ballet/anklet socks + nylons/thigh highs) Inserts Craft foam Tape: Duct, Masking and more Glue of the hot variety Similar to the route I went with Tali's feet I will use craft foam stuffed with scraps and wrapped...

Blending Vampire queen seductress with werewolf. It was inspired by the design of the Wolf Queen from the casual game Dark Parables: Red Riding Hood Sisters . Quite pretty really. Even with those dead glowing eyes and claws. Here are some designs I've been playing with. In this design I have a couple of simplicity patterns I'll be working with. Corsets , Bustle Skirts , and an off the shoulder shirt . (And then while searching the site I stumble upon THIS pattern and think...dang that short skirt is what I was looking for...oh wells. All of the patterns I bought were on clearance for like $2 each.) Here's another rough sketch of what I plan to do using one of the shorter bustle skirts. Things always look so nice when drawn. LOL...I'll have to use my photoshop template when I get home. I also plan on possibly making some jewelry too. It's been fun looking at different beads and such. ^^ I'm so excited! (As I usually am when a costume in the plan...

My bank account is now in double digits, bills are high and I'm barely making enough at work, but I wanted to move forward with my costumes and I could not due to the finances. I got a little help from my parents to cover some bills and so I treated myself.  I recently purchased the face mask, the heat gun, styrene, lycra fabric, netting, and black vinyl.  I can actually progress on parts of the costumes that have been put on hold: namely helmets, certain pieces of the Warden Armor, Tali's arm armor. Yesterday I did a practice run with one of my ideas for the Tali costume: make up. It turned out pretty good. Still needs some tweaking though. I have to get better at contouring my face. :B Going for a mix of this: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m88157BFoo1rd0133o1_1280.png and this: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Mass-Effect-3-Tali-photo-290517239 And a bit of my own flair.

I don't know why I cosplay series many years after they have their hay-day but that just so happens to be WHEN my interest in a series really gets sparked. Soooo...one of the projects I've put on my radar (as it is so far back on the back burner I need radar to find it) is a Turian from Mass Effect...probably female. I've been having fun looking at Mask options. Here's what I've found so far if you are curious. Red Nebula Studios ) - Resin Mask @$250 Foam Mask Paper Mask Foam is most likely going to be MY option and depending on how well the Styrospray works on my armor.

So it begins. I have finally gathered enough supplies to get things started. I will post a vlog about things once I get my camera (which should be any day now). But the armor piece patterns have (mostly) been made. The helmet is giving me some difficulty. Here is an image of most of my pattern pieces. (I forgot the collar and breast plate. But I shall post them soon! Here's how I went about making the patterns. 1. Measurements. For me I used a rather estimated method of measuring for the various pieces. First, I opened up my reference images and found the piece I wanted to measure, for example the breastplate. Using masking tape, I taped over my clothes the width and height of the armor piece based on the image and relative to my body. Alternatively, I could have used measuring tape and wrote these things down, but there's a reason I wanted to try the tape. 2. I peel off the tape in one piece and lay it down on my pattern paper. Alternatively I could have used ...

King Alistair Along with the Grey Warden Warrior armor, I wanted to recreate King Alistair's armor as featured in the comics. As a character in the game, Alistair really did not have what I would call an iconic suit of armor like the characters in Dragon Age 2. This is kind of the downside of any Origins cosplay, save for Morrigan who does have a distinct costume at least in portions of the game. Thus I chose the comic armor because it was distinct, but the downside of course is that not everyone reads the comics. I could have chosen concept art too but it looked overly complicated and ugly to me. That's it for my philosophy on the matter, now into the pre-production phase! REFERENCE HUNT So all my references had to come from the comics which unfortunately does not have any concept art or character turn-arounds like the game does. I have to recreate it myself using shots from comic at different angles. Since I own all the comics in both digital and physical format, I ...