Hello hello! Been really busy again lately -- however, not busy enough to keep me from working on my Shanoa cosplay! I have around 2 months left to complete this costume, and 100% of the materials I need to craft it. Pretty excited that it is becoming a reality.
So far, I've hit around $120 for this whole thing, seeing as I opted for Wonderflex, real leather, and a few other minor touches that ran the cost up. That being said, I had many items of my own to use on this costume (Including handmade lace from the early 1800's) that have just been begging to be stuck on something. I seem to need a never-ending supply of barge contact cement (Oy, which I've used a lot of already, and will need more of absolutely) and E6000 adhesive for other bits. The boots that I purchased also contributed to the overall cost, but honestly I wouldn't want to cheap out with my choices, so I'm all right with spending a little extra.
So far, been working away on making the breastplate for Shanoa, because it seems to be the most complicated part of the costume. I decided to take some creative liberty on the "shape" of it. What I mean is that I understand that the plate has a very flat shape in the stomach area and over the chest in the official art, but the reality of this on a real body (With curves, I may add) is that it will not sit on, or flatter the female shape at all. When the artist conceptualized the armor, I'm not really sure if they understood the nature of that. (Not really their job for them to worry if a design will be made into a costume or not, hahaha!)
Thinking about it, and after researching what others have done with her breastplate, (And not to say anyone is wrong by choosing to do it that way) I decided that it wasn't what I wanted exactly. I want this to fit me. I do not want to create bulk, or a thickening of the torso by draping an uncurved plate to a body with form. Now that I have completed a fair deal of the shaping and finishing on it, I am really happy overall. Honestly, (My husband pointed this out) once the decor is added, no one will even tell the difference between it being fitted or not.
I have a few progress pictures that I will post!
All of those (blasted) markings pictured here were used to keep the plate symmetrical. I
tell you, figuring this all out took a few days, and at one point I was
thinking, "Shit, why am I doing this again!?" xD; Good thing that it
came out right the first go, or I would have probably sprouted my first
grey hair! I used a hair dryer to get the Wonderflex malleable enough
to pull it across the dressform, and voila! Wasn't too difficult to do this.
A few notes -- I used Wonderflex for the base, stretched over my personal dressform (Which is my size), covered the outer area with felt, and then covered that with a medium-weight brown leather. I did this because the felt (Which is nubby and grabs to adhesive well) bonded with contact cement to the leather hide will help keep it stuck permanently. Also, it provided a bit of thickness -- because I didn't want the breastplate to look flimsy!
After covering the Wonderflex with felt, and very carefully stretching the leather over it -- I ended up what is pictured on the right. Anyone who uses contact cement knows the process. You apply the adhesive to both surfaces, and after 10-12 minutes press the surfaces together for a permanent bond. It's tedious, and sucks up a lot of time, but it will never come UNSTUCK. For serious, this shit is really crazy strong, and if you accidentally let the surfaces touch, good luck pulling them apart. This is why you should always work with small areas as you're gluing. I should add make sure you work in a well ventilated room -- it goes without saying the fumes are a bit on the toxic side.Next step -- patterning and figuring out the decorative section of this breastplate. I hand drafted and figured the proportions on paper, and after doing some (rather badly) cut out tests from interfacing, I was able to finalize the pattern. It probably took a half hour or so. I did a paint test on a scrap of leather just to get an idea of how it would look against the surface of the low-sheen brown leather.
I had been toying with the idea of creating a beveled, raised look for the decor, but wasn't too sure what to do. I came up with the idea of cutting two identical pieces of the decor (One in vinyl, the outer paint-able surface in leather) and sandwiching the two with some piping in the middle to create raised areas.
With a few corrected flubs, I have to say that I am extremely impressed with how it looks! The antique gold paint that I used is multifaceted, so it catches the light perfectly, and with a spray resin coating, it looks very metal-like. Unfortunately though, I ran out of resin spray sealer, so I can't move on from this point (As I need to make an outer trim for the entire breastplate, which needs to be stuck down at the same time as the central piece) until my order for 2 cans comes sometime next week.
Anyways, really enjoying this costume progress, and will update more soon! I am hoping that once I have the plate done, I can start working on the greaves/knee pieces, and then the rest is all sewing.
Take care, and happy costuming!
♥ Elysium
