I made a Nightmare Moon costume! I made a helmet with the curves like in the show and her breast plate. Then I made some arm and leg guards (sorry I don't know the correct armor terminology). Then I put on a cape with her cutie mark on both sides on and called it good. I had much more that I could have done but considering how long it took to make just the parts I had, it was near impossible for me to put everything that eventually came to mind in it. I spent four nearly sleepless days and nights making it to have it ready for Sunday. You can see it in this video made by another fan of the show.
You can get a decent look at me at 1:37 though I dont think any good shots of the cutie marks I put on my cape are in there.
I wish I had some high quality pictures to show you but unfortunately tragedy befell my costume that day. I shall tell you of it later but I thought you might want to know the basics of how I made my costume.
To start off with I got most of the basic instructions from here.http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html
In total it cost me about 30 dollars. I used
8 sheets of craft foam
1 bottle Elmers Glue
1 bottle Sobo Glue
1 bottle each black and white acrylic paint
2 bottles carolina blue acrylic paint
1 bottle of slighly fancier violet acrylic paint (it is shinier and I used on the cape so wanted to make sure it would stay)
A black cape (about half my expenses)
2 yards fabric
Paint brushes (larger the better)
Hot glue gun with about 5 sticks
Scissors
Box cutter
6 newspapers
Coffee mugs for holding paint
For the initial design I looked at a lot of pictures and tried my best to imagine what they'd be comparable to on a human. I then took the newspapers and made trial pieces to wear and see how they fit. With the basic fit I drew out and redrew designs until it looked good on the newpaper I was drawing it on. Then I used the fold in half method to make sure each side came out even. For the helmet it was the most aggravating and worrisome part because it did not look good until I finally got all the pieces together with the craft foam. I took a design from an armor cosplay design site for the basic top part then added wrap around pieces and side guards to make it look like the menacing helm that nightmare moon requires.
I then cut out the pieces with a box cutter I had and then did the burner trick mentioned in the tutorial. After that the fabric backing. Then layers and layers of watered down sobo and elmers glue. I slept for one to two hours at a time waking up to put more layers on as the previous layers would be dry enough to put another layer down.
The helmet part of it didnt go quite as smoothly as the rest so I will explain it best I can. The top part consisted of two lopsided football looking pieces that needed to go together to curve and make the head shape. To accomplish this I used my hot glue gun and started at one end putting the hot glue on the edges and then holding them together til they were solid enough to hold on there own then moving up half and inch and repeating. Going slow and methodical was the only way to make it come together right and since I was unable to get the paper prototypes to work I had great fear I would have to scratch the entire costume but it worked out with only a few missing pieces of burnt flesh. It ended up being a little too large which I was not expecting considering I wear the xl hats. So I cut small pie shaped slivers in the sides and glued them up to have it curve down more. It looked like a way too tiny beanie then I warped the craft foam for the side guards and put them in followed by the back and then the curved bottom parts. It was hideous coming together but just wait til you finish and you will see that it can come together perfectly.
After about two coats of glue I found out that you want almost the biggest brush possible. It comes out smoother and goes on faster taking the glue coat time from 1 & 3/4 hour to about half an hour for me. Then after four or five coats for each piece I applied the acrylic paint. I was using the cheap 60 cent tubes from Joannes and was horrified to see how cracked and ugly it went on. Though after three more coats it came out looking pretty decent. Then I took some of the blue and black and combined them then watered it down just a bit. With a wet paper towel ready, I did a quick sponge onto the armor with the paint followed by me frantically trying to wipe it all off before it dried. It was horrible for my overwhelming desire to have things looking clean but it created a good worn not plasticy armor look. I finished my last coat of paint at midnight the day I was to wear it. I wanted to go and put some finishing on in the morning but no place was open at five including the walmart I drove ten miles to get to.
I went to a meet up and not having time to look in a mirror I hoped my costume was not as hideous as I suspected it to be. A lot of people recognized the character I was and were impressed that I had made it myself starting only a few days before. Though while walking about the area going to different stores in the hunt for ponies it started raining. I quickly took off my costume and hid it beneath my cape but the cape was about as helpful at blocking the rain as a colander is. The paint soon started to smear and cake off in little chunks. It was heartbreaking considering I had gone with hardly a wink of sleep while making it and as of yet had no pictures of me in it. The meet up was fun and minus one or two overly enthusiastic people was a good bunch. I recommended going to one or creating one as the people are a lot cooler and more fun then you may think before attending.
Anyway this post is in need of more pictures so have a pony chain!
I think I know what I will be using as garland on the Christmas tree this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment