Big Barda

So I've been gone for a bit- triathlon training and all. Imagine that training takes up all my free time.

Back to the madness. I fell in love with Big Barda. I mean wow look at this amazing woman:

I know amazing, right? Well I just couldn't resist when I saw the new Anime Comi Big Barda:

Looking at the figure I can see several challenges. First off you can't see her right shoulder or what she's hold in her right hand. Crap. So creative license there. Second, you have the body. Lots of it. Like every Ame Comi these girls are pretty nakers. With my Victoria's Secret gravity defying bra I'm confident but I think I might have to add a second ab workout from now on. I really want to accent boobs and hips- something of which that Barda and I share in common. This means I will have to play with the cut of the panties- it's a fine line between skimpy bottoms and making sure there is no muffin top!

Materials:

Bra and Panties - red goat leather. I'm going to cover a VS bra and then sew the panties. I plan on using a pair of my existing underpants as a template.

Arm, neck & head: foamies dipped in tool grip. Should give the texture I want but still be flexible enough to let me move.

Should guard & knees: WONDERFLEX! (If you had to ask!)

Leggings- laser cut fish scale spandex lined with black.

Boots- Cyber punk boots, painted with nu-life.

Wig- cosplay.com (where I get all my wigs)

Stay tuned for updates!

WonderFlex question

Zombie Hadouken writes-

Hello there, i was looking for some Wonderflex advice, and was referred to your expertise.
I am making Dr Dooms Armor, and was wondering if i can use aluminum as a mold or base to wrap the wonderflex around.
will the heated wonderflex stick to the metal? I was going to use a small layer of baby powder if it does.

My plan of attack has been to make a mock up of the gauntlets and start there. i will then dissemble the gauntlets, and wrap wonderflex around the aluminum...but can i actually wrap it around? Ive never used the stuff before, and want to have a clear idea of how it will react to the aluminum before i start.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there!

Wonderflex is kind of a weird substance. You never know exactly what it's going to stick to (or how long for that matter!) The one thing I know about WF is that it sticks to itself. I would encourage you to experiment with getting it to stick to Aluminum but you may have better luck forming it around something else long and cylindrical like a pint glass, jar candle, or anything else that is long and roundish like your gauntlet. I'm not sure how the baby powder would work (or cornstarch for that matter) but I have a BAD FEELING about trying that- sounds like it could get rather messy.

Your best bet is to cut out the basic shaped from foamies and see if the shape will work. Then you can cut it out of WF and start heating it (on low) with a heat gun. You will know when its about right when it starts to get a shine on the surface. For armor and durability's sake I would probably use 2 or 3 layers. This will make it very rigid.

Thoughts from MARCON

The local convention, MARCON, was this Memorial Day weekend. I am not as impressed with the con as I have been in past years. Maybe my lack of enthusiasm is due to DragonCon being so large that my hometown con just seems...well...small.

I had a great time teaching Super Hero Costuming 101 but I think next year if the nice folks invite me back I would like to break it up in the planner- a planned hour panel on costumes and then an hour of hands on. I will need a larger supply of heat guns but I really do think that Wonderflex is a super cool substance and more people need to hear about the wonder.

Here are the links I talked about in my panel:
Helpful Links

Costuming

http://thesuperherocostumingforum.yuku.com/

http://theleagueofheroes.yuku.com

http://leagueoflanterns.yuku.com

http://cosplay.com/

Body Sculpting

http://www.c25k.com/ Learn how to go from a non-running couch potato to 5k in 9 weeks

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com Lean how to swim/bike/run

Supersuits

http://spandexworld.com Fabric supplier

http://www.spandexhouse.com Fabric supplier

http://www.stretchy.org/catsuit/ How to sew your own

http://www.spandexman.com Spandex suits

Accessories

http://www.xtremedesignfx.com/ - Masks, belt parts

http://www.cosworx.com GOOD wigs and boots for men and women

http://www.snaz75.com/ Shoes for women

http://www.atthefront.com/ WWII site, good for leather pouches, ect.

http://www.fxsupply.com/ Body paint, makeup

Supplies

http://www.theengineerguy.com Source for Wonderflex, Fossshape and other moulding supplies.

http://www.smooth-on.com/ Molding supplies

http://www.edecals.com Vinyl sheets, all colors including gold and silver mirrored.

http://proplady.livejournal.com/51225.html Wonderflex tutorial

http://wondergirl-mydivinecomedy.blogspot.com/ Kate's Costume Blog

http://www.snapdragondesign.net/ Julie's website

http://www.shoetreemarketplace.com Change your shoe color with Nu-Life

Undergarments

http://www.spanx.com

I just want to give a little shout out to the FPQ for the most fun I have ever had in recent memory at Marcon. Great conversation, great drinks and pretty nice eye candy. We closed down the Bar on 2 Sat night. Can't wait for their room party next year.

Fun with WonderFlex

I've been playing around with wonderflex for a year now and thought I would give a little tutorial/WIP of my new Boodikka costume.

But first an intro:

Wonderflex is a plastic that has a cheese cloth like fabric embedded in the materiel. It comes in sheets 43x55. I get mine from The Engineer Guy http://www.theengineerguy.com for $39.99+shipping. When you heat WF with a heat gun it emits a sticky like substance and will stick to its self. (it will also stick to nail polish and some clothing but not ALL) This is really a great quality since there is no other glues, ect that are needed. One sheet of WF is flexible, two sheets is pretty rigid and three sheets will withstand quite a bit of pressure. For example my Magdalena chest piece is one sheet of WF with re-enforcement around the neck and arm holes. The sides are flexible and will bend around my ribcage. The red in the photo is leather.
WF will bend around curves and you can gently pull the heated substance around shapes- like bewbs. Or a halo. This is wf over a Styrofoam floral wreath. This is the first heating shaping. If you keep heating WF it will smoosh into its self.

This is the 2nd heating where I smoothed it out more. I use both wood and metal clay shaping tools to smoosh and shape the wf.

After several coats of gesso and some paint you have a Dawn halo:

I first started learning about WF from Amethyst Angel's tutorial: http://www.amethyst-angel...wonderflex_tutorial.html However like all tutorials your results may vary. And mine did. Friendly Plastic pellets are NOT the way to get a smooth finish....or at least I couldn't. Maybe a professional has a better way to use it, but for now I classify Friendly Plastic as UNfriendly.

AA used a paper mache balloon to get her shape. I have made shapes two ways. The first way is to cut out a flat shape and then make notches or wedges like sewing a dart in a woman's top. The other way to get a shape is to lay the WF over the shape and heat it up. I use a combination of both. I make a pattern from paper on 1 inch square 3M flip chart paper. It sticks to the wall like a huge post it so I can hang it anywhere I have room. From there I cut out the pattern and try to shape it. If that works I then cut out the shape from Foamies. Between tape and heating the foamies I can get a better idea of how my wf piece is going to shape up. I get many of my armor patterns from SCA reenactment armor- http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/

After you have shaped your item you need to get rid of the grids. The new and improved wf has one 'smooth' side, however the surface has a reptile like texture to it. Not so smooth in my mind but better than the grids.

There are several methods out there that people use on to smooth out wf.
Friendly (NOT) Plastic - When you heat the pelletts you end up heating the wf. Only works if you are using 3 layers due to heat. One layer for my Magdalena shin armor did NOT work it was a god awful mess. It also really mucked up my chest armor. It's very very very hard to get smooth.

Gesso- the kids on cosplay.com use this. I think it's because they are emo artist types and this is the only substance anyone is familiar with, ergo it becomes cannon. It's hard, very hard but a PITA to sand, it streaks easy and it's expensive for how many layers 5+ you have to use.

Wall Spackle - been there, done that, made a mess. BUT it was quick. I put a layer of this over 2 layers of Gesso. But it's on a tiny piece of my armor on my upper arm that just sorta hangs there. I wouldn't use this on something that will get knocked about/rubbed against.

Bondo or a Bondo product- I picked this up at Auto Zone and will try it on an upcoming project. BUT I don't want to fuss with mixing.

Auto Filler Primer- I picked this up at Auto Zone on a whim. It is made to fill cracks on bumpers. Plastic bumpers. Fill cracks......DUH! I haven't really looked back since. It takes two coats, dry, one more coat, dry, sand & DONE.

I use nail sponges to sand- they are small and can get into cracks. The grit is 270. You can get a huge pack of them at Sally's Beauty Supply for around $8 bucks.

Here are several test strips to show the different smoothing methods. The left is Auto Primer and it's as smooth as a baby's bum.
The middle is gesso and the right is wall patch. It is one coat of gesso and one of wall patch. After sanding you will have to apply a 2nd coat of either. To be honest I'm a busy lady and I like the no sanding between coats thus the auto primer.