The head piece

[auntiemeesh]

A little picspam to show what I've been working on for the past two months (and a really good way to procrastinate starting the next step).

The form: face mold, styrofoam, duct tape (with Mal checking it out)

Starting to lay in some shape with the clay (sorry about the weird angle, scrapbook likes to be difficult).

All of the details sculpted in. This was undeniably the most fun part of the costume to date, playing with the clay, figuring out how to make the shapes that I wanted, and seeing it all come together.

Ready to cast with the gypsum (the shininess is clear coat to prevent the clay from sticking to the gypsum). This was when I started getting really stressed. Any mistakes while making the gypsum reverse mold and I'd be out of luck. Once you pour the gypsum, the clay is done, so if you do it wrong you have to start all over at the beginning (which stage took a full month).

Covered in gypsum and wrapped in gypsum-soaked burlap

The reverse mold, all freshly scrubbed out to get rid of the clay remnants

The mold, with the latex in

Ready to rebuild the head form (from here on out, this is what I did today)

Naked headpiece: I was super happy to see that all the meticulously sculpted detail showed up on the latex.

First layer of paint (my painting skills are pretty minimal so I just did the best I could, with several layers of color)

A bit of green brushed on

The finished product - a bit more metallic/bronze than I really wanted, so I may go back and brush a bit more of the burnt umber on, but I may not because I'm not sure I want to mess with it anymore.


The skirt is still in mostly-done limbo, the corset is done and at some point here tonight I need to pull out the pattern for the coat and get to work on that. But now that the painting is out of the way, I'm feeling more optimistic about getting the coat done in timely fashion as well.

Comments

[eve11]

Congrats! It really does look fantastic. And that's the fun thing about painting these molds; you don't need to do detailed stuff. You did all the hard part with the clay :)

Great job! Hope the coat goes smoothly!

(goes back to sewing buttons)

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (hope the buttons are going well)

[eve11]

Three rows down, seven to go. Plus, well, the rest. I'm going to try to do at least one more row tonight, grab a shower and see if I can stay up to do more.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

It seems both of these costumes have ended up being way more involved and time-consuming than originally planned.

[eve11]

Oh I knew it was going to be time consuming; I just had other commitments too and couldn't put in as much as I needed earlier.

ETA: four rows down but I miscounted earlier: eight more to go. *headdesk*

Good thing I didn't use the smaller button sizes.

[shirebound]

That's awesome! It's like seeing an episode of "Face/Off".

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I had to look up Face Off because I'm so out of touch with tv. Wow, I couldn't even imagine trying to do something like this in three days!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

It looks brilliant! Such a huge amount of work too. Great job, you! That is going to look amazing on.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm really nervous now about how it's going to look on. The back piece I made for it didn't work out, the front edges are a bit thick and might not blend well, and who knows if I can match the colors with my make-up. Aaaahhhhh, more panic!

Right, sorry. Can't wait to try it, though, even if I am panicking a little bit.

[wbkbb.livejournal.com]

It looks great, and seeing the whole process like that is amazing. Congrats on finishing this step.

[ani-no-mouse.livejournal.com]

It looks fabulous! Yay you!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Looks great. Love Mal.