Moving locations

Hey, all!

I've decided to move this blog over to another site. Newer posts will be put both here and there, and I'll be copying this blog's past postings over. It'll be on tumblr, at http://props37.tumblr.com/ .

Have a good one!

Kilt-less

Well, as it turns out, kilts weren't a thing in Scotland until the 16th century, about 400 years after William Wallace fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence. So, no kilt!

Minor update on things to come

Hey, all!

So, I have a couple exciting things to share.

Number 1, I may have my Riddler costume's comvention debut set up! I was considering bringing it to the Denver Comic Con this summer, but it turns out that my family's trip to London happens that same time period. Then again, so does London's Comic Con. International debut, perchance? I'm still figuring out dates and times, but fingers crossed that I'll be joining our neighbors across the pond for some convention shenanigans!

Second on the list: a possible idea for my next full cosplay. I'm thinking an Assassin, a la Assassin's Creed, in Scotland during the time of William Wallace. It's a costume that I'd have to do a plethora of research for, numerous hours of planning, mostly 100% my own creation; thak goodness I'm taking my costume design class! And yes, a kilt would be required, which would have to be worn, as they did then, sans briefs.

Until next time!

A Riddler and his Cane

This past Halloween, I decided to go all out on my costume for once. I figured that I had sufficient funds to make a costume that would be memorable, one that I could wear both for halloween and for events in the future, such as Comic-Con. After much debate, I decided on The Riddler of Batman fame, taking my inspiration initially from the game Arkham Asylum but eventually basing the outfit on the character's design from Batman: Gotham Knights Online.

 



As I set about purchasing the necessary clothing and materials, I found a Riddler cane being sold rather cheaply by Amazon:

 

 

After receiving it in the mail, just days before Halloween, I realized that it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for. It looked more copper than gold, and it was a bit smaller than anticipated. Overall, though, it was a great purchase, and I happily used it alongside my costume.

 

At some point in time, I realized the potential for this costume outside of Halloween, and I am now planning on wearing it at a convention of some sort. With this realization, however, came the decision to give my flimsy cane an upgrade.

 

First things first, I tore the blasted thing apart.

 

 

The bottom tip was nice enough to detach without any resistance, but it took quite a bit of cutting, tearing, and peeling of plastic (and occasionally, flesh) to detach the question mark.

 

After filing away the bottom of the question mark, I sanded the entire surface in small circular motions, giving it a smooth finish.

 

 



 At this point, I pulled out a brand-spankin'-new can of gold spray paint and gave both the question mark and a rubber stopper (to be used as the base) two solid coats, allowing time to dry in between applications. They came out looking much more vibrant than they had originally been.

 

 

While those two dried, I started work on the body of the cane. After purchasing a 4' dowel rod and stains, i gave the rod a thorough sanding to remove any rough bumps. After applying a pre-stain conditioner to the dowel, I gave it a coat of stain and let it sit overnight to cure.

 

 

 

I had class early the next morning, so my landlord (AKA mom) applied the varnish to lock in the stain. When I got home later in the afternoon, the shiny cane body was waiting for me.

 

 

At this point, all that was left was to put it all together.

 

 

 

I'm very happy with how this turned out, and it's really solidified my desire to work on props in the future. However, the cane was only part of a much larger project: my full Ridder costume.

 

 

This beautiful photography was made possible by Miss Lindsay Savage. Some more of her work can be found on her flickr page.

 

Until next time!

Mrs. Lovett's Harmonium

For the past two months, I've been working on props for my college's production of Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (the rest of my stuff for the show can be found here). One of the largest projectsI worked on was building Mrs. Lovett's harmonium.

The first step was the basic construction. Going off of Tim's blueprints, the basic frame was built. Any holes or staples were covered with spackle, and the rough edges were sanded down.

At this point, you can see the sides have holes in them. They'll get capped later on.

Once the basics were done, I applied a base coat of paint to all but the sides.

At this point, we needed to shape the base to make legs. Step one? Removing the base entirely. The small slats in the unpainted area are used to help support the body of the harmonium.

After flipping over the base, I traced and becan to cut out part of the base.

Once finished, I nailed in some more supports to help strengthen the base.

After placing the bse back on, I put a base coat on the new areas and spackled any missed areas.

After the sides were capped, the entire piece was base-coated to perfection!

Finally, it's on to the fun painting.

Well, not yet, but soon! First, I painted a base brown coat. It's kind of hard to differentiate it from the base coat.

Now for the fun painting! Using a textured mix, I was able to give it an authentic glossy wood look.

Then came weathering. The harmonium supposedly came from the remains of a burned church, so we needed it to look as though it had lived through a fire.

This was a very fun build. I can't wait to take on another project!