I’m dyeing over here….[Pic Heavy]

^^See what I did there…….

In case it wasn’t obvious, I did a bunch of dye batches to black out Wash’s TAC vest, darken/age is flight suit, and darken/age the petticoat materials for Femme Eight.  If anyone is interested in a more in-depth tutorial on tea-dyeing, just let me know!

Most of the necessary materials & tools.

Missing: 2 large pots, 1 large bucket, white vinegar, black dye, vest

I didn’t get any photos of dyeing the TAC vest because it was pretty quick and straight-forward. (And I may have forgotten to charge my camera battery *sic*).  It took really well, except for one pocket and a few patches that I forgot to rip seams out of before hand.  Those were easily fixed with some thinned black paint, so Wash’s vest is good to go!

First thing I did was use a color-removing bath (an anti-dye bath) to remove and lighten up the flight suit and take away some of the brilliant orange.  Again, no photos because it was a quick process and done while the vest was being dyed (and the camera was still charging).  Next up was making a tea bath for the flight suit and raw fabrics.

That is not beer, surprisingly enough, though I did enjoy a bottle of Angry Orchard-Crisp Apple during this adventure.

I’m gauging the strength of the tea bath, based on the color of the tea.  I think I ended up using 20-25 tea bags for one pot.  

 

My dye set-up.  The pot on the left contains the tea bath, the pot on the right is just a storage pot for the wet materials as they are moved between the dye bath and the sink.  It was originally used to lighten the flight suit, pre-tea bath.

And of course my trusty mug of drinkable tea.

Flight suit soaking in the bath.  I’m pretty sure the lace and linen petticoat fabric are buried under there too.  As time went on and items were taken in and out, the bath weakened.

After the fabric is taken out of the bath and rinsed in a slowly cooling rinse, it is left to soak in a cool vinegar bath for about 15 min to help set the dye.

This was after the first tea bath, which it cook in for about an hour, but was shared with the petticoat fabric, so it was weaker.  It’s still a bit too light and not dingy enough.  Back to the tea bath we go!

 

After the second tea bath, I’m much happier with the color. It’s pretty close and I don’t think I want to tempt fate to try and get it any closer and muck it up.  All that is left is adding the black trimming.

 

WIP Progress

Ianto

Good progress on Ianto.  He’s good enough for TARDIS; anything else I can find/get done is bonus.

• Source and find correct pinstripe for Season 1 waistcoat, then build.
• Source correct earpiece
• Source correct, or very similar, Season 1 tie.
• Order and get fitted for Black pinstripe suit (as similar to Seasons 2 & 3 as possible)
• Find Dress shirts for Seasons 2 & 3 (Royal Blue, Pink, & Deep Purple)
• Find Coordinating Ties to aforementioned Dress shirts.
• Find Dress Shoes – something comfortable for Cons (I had seriously considered just wearing my black Chucks, but Ianto would have scowled at me.)
• Find/Buy Black Leather Belt
• Hand Gun (Found the exact model, just need the funds.  Currently borrowing a friend’s)
• Stun Gun (Next big project!)  Parts acquired, just need to build.
• Coffee Cup  (Debating on getting a ‘Ianto’s Coffee‘ mug)
• Pocketwatch/Stopwatch (Needs more research)

Wash

Yeah, so Wash is done.  I’m wearing him for Halloween provided the weather is nice.

Just need to find a good model of the Serenity to fly around.

Jack

I may not be getting my Doctor Detector hand until after TARDIS, but that’s ok; he’s in a good place.  Jack is my back-up for a cold Halloween.

• Pick up 1-2 more shirts (light blue and either a 2nd dark blue or go for the sea foam green with red braces)
• Build silver earpiece  Parts acquired, just need to build.
• Build ‘Doctor Detector’ jar.
• Finish building leather Vortex Manipulator
• Find/Buy new boots.

Femme Eight

I have made a TON of progress on Eight, pretty much spent several days just knocking out pieces and listening to podcasts.

Completed Corset (My first one!)

Corset with Bustle (Dat Victorian Booty)

Added Petticoat.  So. Many. Ruffles.

Added Overskirt.

All that is left for the actual outfit is to build the Vested Basque (coat), figure out what to do for the collared shirt, and make the Ascot.  After that, it’s just accessories, building a fun hair piece, and styling the wig.  Speaking of accessories, I took a break from the outfit to build the parasol over the weekend.  It’s made from a paper parasol I bought cheaply online, covered with muslin and fringe trim.  The hardest, but also most fun/crafty bit, was transferring the Seal of Rassilon design from an 8″x8″ image to a 32″ x 32″ design on the muslin.  I used a gridding method, but ended up free-handing some of the curves.

Ah.  Gridding.  The fact that the image is symmetrical actually made it harder.

   

After the first coat of paint.  There are a few uneven spots, but since it is going on a parasol, I think i can be forgiven.

I’m really happy with how the parasol turned out and think it will be a fun accessory to carry around.  Here’s what’s left:

• Mock up, fit, build, and trim Vest Basque Coat
• Research, and determine undershirt choices
• Build Ascot
• Build hair piece
• Fit and style wig
• Source Sonic Screwdriver
• Source Pocket watch

So things are going really well!  I can’t believe Chicago TARDIS is about a month away! Holy crap!  Once that is done, I need to do some design exercises, build my portfolio and start applying to grad schools (eep!).  After that, I have a whole new rash of cosplays to work on!  I’ve been compiling a nice list of potentials!  I’ve also been bumming around the Doctor Who Cosplay forum, meeting some very awesome DW cosplayers, finding some great info, and hopefully going to get some of those fine people in the near future.

Whelp, I think that is it for now!  Hopefully I’ll get some more photos together as I finish things!  As always, lemme know if you want any more detailed write ups or tutorials.

Thanks kids!

-B

AALLL the Cosplays!

Hey kids, did’ja miss me?

Almost another month, I know, I’m sorry!  And this still isn’t about research/sourcing.  Doubly sorry!  This post is worth it though.  I’ve made a ton of progress on stuff and have pictures to prove it!

This is how bad my Cosplay ADD is though, I’m working on 4.5 costumes concurrently.  4.5?!, you say?  Yes, 4.5. While Jack is already active and been to 2 cons, he still needs a good bit of work for me to be happy, so I consider him a .5.    I’ve also been getting involved with some of the online Doctor Who Cosplay communities.  It’s nice to connect with other folks and try to arrange meet ups at cons and other events.  Hoping to find some other Torchwood-types at TARDIS!

ANYWHO, here’s what I’ve been up to.

Ianto Jones

Season 1 Ianto came together in a flash, mostly had to build a new waistcoat and do some research on props.  He’s as good to go as Jack (har har), so I’ll definitely be representing Torchwood at TARDIS, at least.

 Research Image

Current outfit. Pretty damn good, eh?  Wore this to work last week.

Similar earpiece.  I need to look into getting the actual make/model, but this does for now.

Ianto’s not perfect.  Yet.  The waistcoat is the completely wrong weave (it should be a faint grey pinstripe, not a solid herringbone), the tie is the wrong pattern, the aforementioned issue with the earpiece, and my current sidearm is incorrect.  I still need to look into getting the parts for the other two seasons as well. ( I think I *may* have a tie and dress shirt that work for Season 3, and only if we are going for ‘facing-the-456 Ianto’)

HOWEVER, I am excited to have Ianto in my cosplay collection.  He packs up very easily and makes for a great impromptu cosplay.  To make him perfect requires funds/time I currently don’t have, but if I can get him to 85% on at least 2 seasons, I’ll be happy.

TO DO

• Source and find correct pinstripe for Season 1 waistcoat, then build.
• Source correct earpiece
• Source correct, or very similar, Season 1 tie.
• Order and get fitted for Black pinstripe suit (as similar to Seasons 2 & 3 as possible)
• Find Dress shirts for Seasons 2 & 3 (Royal Blue, Pink, & Deep Purple)
• Find Coordinating Ties to aforementioned Dress shirts.
• Find Dress Shoes – something comfortable for Cons (I had seriously considered just wearing my black Chucks, but Ianto would have scowled at me.)
• Find/Buy Black Leather Belt
• Hand Gun (Found the exact model, just need the funds.  Currently borrowing a friend’s)
• Stun Gun (Next big project!)
• Coffee Cup  (Debating on getting a ‘Ianto’s Coffee‘ mug)
• Pocketwatch/Stopwatch (Needs more research)
• Learn Welsh.  (I kid…..or do I?)

Wash

Oh Wash, you are so fun.  It was kind of a Wash weekend this past weekend.  Pretty much all of his components arrived and I was in enough of a crafty mood to paint dinosaurs, alter flight suits, and dye TacVests.

Bits of Wash arrived!  (Too soon?)

The TacVest was very simple to dye; just used a package of RIT Black, with some vinegar, on the stove for about 30-40 min.  All of the vest ended up a solid state of black other than the one large pocket.  I think I’ll end up taking a sharpie to it to black it out as well.

The flight suit was a quick adjustment.  Had to remove a few bits of Velcro intended for name/logo badges.  Also roughly cut off the sleeves at the shoulder to give it a little fray once it was washed. (har har)  It still needs to go through some distressing and a tea bath to take the edge off the bright ‘jail-house’ orange.  Once I can get it down to a good worn color, I’m going to edge all of the zippers with black, single fold bias tape to replicate the coloring on Wash’s flight suit.  I’m debating painting the zippers to match as well, but that may be a bit TOO much.

Maybe not.

I did have a lot of fun painting dinosaurs.  I lucked out and found some super cheap dinos that happened to be pretty darn similar to Wash’s for $2. (Had to go with a T-Rex instead of a velociraptor, but $2!)  The coloring was a big off so I had fun using a combination of wet and dry brushing to achieve proper ‘sudden, but inevitable betrayal’ coloration.

“We shall call this land…..this Land.”  Pre-paint.

 

“Curse your sudden, but inevitable, betrayal!”  Post-paint and sealer.  It is a subtle coloration difference, but the right Browncoats will know.

With all the parts in my hands, I couldn’t help suiting up and snapping a few pics.

I’m a Leaf on the Wind….

You can see the one pocket that didn’t take the dye, but already I am super happy with this.  I still need to figure out shoes, and really don’t want to have to buy another specific pair.  I may just wear my black Chucks, Jack’s boots, or Ianto’s shoes.  We shall see.  Either way, I think this is going to be my cheapest cosplay to date.  (Ianto is currently still cheaper, but that will change when I get his side arms.)

TO DO

• Distress and tea dye flight suit.
• Add black edging to flight suit zippers.
• Black out vest pocket.
• Figure out shoes.
• Source model/toy of Serenity

Jack Harkness

I haven’t made a ton of progress on Jack recently because what he needs are either little details, or extra crafting supplies I currently don’t have.  I was able to build Jack a new heather-grey pinstripe waistcoat.  It’s not perfect, but it’ll do nicely as an extra Harkness piece.  I received a nice burgundy leather war belt from a friend after a re-enactment weekend last month, and when I cut it down to size, I realized the left-over end was enough leather to build a new Vortex Manipulator!

I do love when a plan randomly comes together.

I’ve gotten it cut down into the necessary pieces, dyed down to a nice, rich brown, and am working on breaking in the leather and distressing it.  I still havent decided on whether I want to just set in the plastic ‘computer’ from my old toy VM, or use its parts to build a new module.  THe new VM is only about 20-30% bigger so the old module wouldn’t be TOO out-of-place, but I kinda want to play around with foam crafting and trying out some other sculpting supplies.  We shall see.

I should be getting more shirts and new boots this weekend while I’m in Chicago.

TO DO

• Pick up 1-2 more shirts (light blue and either a 2nd dark blue or go for the sea foam green with red braces)
• Build silver earpiece
• Build ‘Doctor Detector’ jar.
• Finish building leather Vortex Manipulator
• Find/Buy new boots.
• Work on posing and mannerisms.

Bustle Femme Eight

ALLL the materials!

I may have already posted that photo, but I can’t remember.  A little bit more progress on Eight.  I’ve got everything up to the corset done, have located shoes, and am about ready to tea-day some of the fabrics.  The only thing the corset is waiting on is some of the hardware (I had to wait on this week’s paycheck to order it).  With any luck, the parts will be here by the time I get back from Chicago and can bust through the corset.  All the other items are based off the corset sizing so I’m still waiting until I can throw myself at Eight.

Initial Research: Donnie Darko

Now, if you haven’t seen Donnie Darko, you are missing out on a crazy, thought-provoking, cult film from the early naughts.  I have to admit this movie blew my mind a bit in college, and while I understand it more now that I’ve done som research into temporal physics (and watched a lot of Doctor Who), it’s still a really good film.  I wanted to build another relatively cheap and easy, NON-DW, cosplay.  Shocker, I know.  But it’s nice to be able to go to non-DW based cons and wear more than just DW stuff.  Plus this is another really easy-to-pack cosplay and will be super comfy.  And it is a little bit niche, so it’ll take those very awesome cult-movie geeks to get it.

And did I mention it will be super comfy?  Like stayed-up-too-late-drinking-and-partying-and-really-don’t-want-to-spend-all-morning-straping-myself-into-a-large,-hot-cosplay comfy?

So progress.  Lots of progress.  Means I’ll have a nice collection to choose from for the large amount of Cons I want to attempt next year before losing myself to grad school for 3 years.  That’s right, pretty much no Cons for 3 years.  It hurts my soul a little bit, will be completely worth it in the end.

Next blog *should* be the elusive research & sourcing blog, provided I don’t get caught up in more crazy stuff.

Catch ya later, kiddos!

-B

It’s the FINAL COUNTDOWN….*cue music*

*plays air guitar for a few moments*

HEEEELLLOOOOOO READERS!

Since last we spoke Spring has sprung and practically sprinted into Summer, which means a great many things have been going on!  It is gorgeous out so I’ve thrown open all of my windows, done some much needed cleaning, left Clue in the very capable hands of my successor, went to a wonderful wedding, gotten out and enjoyed the weather, and just enjoyed LIVING.  It is beautiful!!

This little slice of heavenly weather also means a number of my projects can come out of hibernation and I have gotten some work done on them in our interim.  MCCC is just over a week away and I am nowhere near ready.  But that’s ok.  I got this, right?

…….right?!?!

>.<

Well, may as well dive right into progress!

FemmeDr. Horrible (FDH):

FDH didn’t get a ton of progress since mostly what is left is painting stuff (which couldn’t happen til this week), or minor details.  Geeky-Girly night with Five was a COMPLETE success and I worked out hair & make up and the overall look I want.  (I also worked out a fun hairstyle for the wedding I went to last weekend.  Bonus!)  I didn’t really get any pictures of FDH though as Girly Night was mainly to focus on hair/make up stuff, get Five ready to go, and do a second fitting and analyze Jaq. some more.   (And get fun pictures!)

BUT!  Last night I did get to finally start painting the goggles and Death Ray.  I had primed everything several months ago, but then it snowed and never stopped, so it had all been sitting in my porch until last week when I could lay some coats of base color down.

Base coat of red on the Death Ray and one of many coats of white on the goggles.

Close-up of goggles;  these puppies needed like 4-5 coats of white primer before I felt like they had a good base that wouldn’t flake too much.

I’m using almost all dry-brushing techniques to achieve the color layering on the goggles.  I’m using a palette of primarily greys and metallic silvers, but throwing in some brown, copper, and green as needed.  I’ll probably use some dark stippling/spatter in the last few stages, but the dry-brush as been great so far.  Hopefully I’ll get there tonight and can seal the whole thing with matte clear coat so it can fully dry over the weekend before I put the vents, eyepiece, and strapping back in.

Stopping point last night; about 5 coats of various dry-brushed colors; will require probably 5-10 more coats to achieve desired coloring.

The Death Ray went through a little more stripping down (it no longer works as a Nerf gun, unfortunately), but was fully assembled and secured last night, so I can get to painting it as well tonight.

Luckily, there isn’t much left for FDH!

To Do:

• Repair and re-seal boots
• Fix corset   **optional** Just not going to happen for now.
• Determine hair style.  Pig tails are fun, but a pony tail or bun may work just as well.  Just needs to fit the goggles.
• Determine make up style.  Dr. Horrible is pretty natural, but I want to give it a little Femme Flair.
• Paint, dry brush, and finish/seal goggles.  Base layers complete.
• Trim off, or black out, maker’s logo on gloves.
• Add chest pocket with embroidered ‘Caduceus’ emblem.
• Paint, and finish “Death Ray“ ; Death Ray is assembled and based.

Jaq. Harkness:

I had several girly squealy moments last week as stuff rolled in to finish up Jaq.  My rank braid came in from the UK, and my replica WWII RAF buttons showed up from Dubai super fast! (DHL must have some crazy customs connections), so after a little bit of detail work, I can finish up Jaq’s great coat. *squeeee*

Buttons!

The RAF buttons are pretty nice, though the color is slightly off and they are, well, brand new, so they haven’t gotten the aged/darkened look Jaq’s do. Luckily that is easily remedied with a bit of paint and a bit more patience.

Replica Button (Left) vs. Harkness Button (Right):

Replica is too yellow and bright and is missing the nice aging and toning/patina the Harkness button has.

I used a couple different painting techniques to layer in enough black paint to achieve a similar aged patina.

I started with a regular dry-brushed layer of black.  Let it dry, then rubbed the paint off with a rag to get the black into the shallows of the button design.

I thinned the paint down to the consistency of 2% milk and then applied it to each button with a wet rag technique.  It was kinda like polishing dress shoes.  This added additional shadow around the design.

Finally I used a very thin black wash to generally darken the buttons and, along with a little bit of fine splatter.  Once they were dried, I used a dry rag to lightly buff them, as if they were old buttons that needed polishing.  I sealed the whole set with 2 coats of a clear gloss.

Sadly, the picture doesn’t do them the justice they deserve, my phone camera kinda sucks.  I’ll see about getting better detail pics at MCCC.  they get put on the coat this weekend, along with the rank braid, epaulettes, and figuring out the damned venting.

Geeky-Girly night did let me try on Jaq. and while the hair/make-up isn’t right, I got a few photos.  Though it is a bit Torchwood-y (that’s a word, right?), this one is currently my favorite:

Just missing a glass of whiskey and my revolver.

…and a tea boy.

Jaq’s got a bit more left to do, but luckily most of it is detail work that *could* wait until after MCCC and Cherry Capitol Con if necessary.

To Do:

• Break-in and distress belt
• Add vents to coat Currently playing with this.
• Replace coat buttons 
• Add epaulettes with “Captain’s” bars/ribbon  Playing with this
  
• Figure out hairstyle (debating between 1940′s pincurls or basic 21st century straightened)
• Figure out make-up (1940s glam or basic clean/fresh)
• Distress Vortex Manipulator
• Distress Holster
• Acquire Screen Correct Wrist Watch
• Over dye pinstripe pants to eliminate pinstripe

So yeah.  That’s where we are this week.  I wish I had thought to take more photos or a video and turn some of this into a full tutorial.  I’d be happy to create a dry-brushing tutorial (or any others of my techniques) in the future if anyone is interested.

Otherwise, have a baller week.  So many great movies are coming out!  So much potential for great costuming ideas!! I’ll leave you with a bit of Jaq. and 11!

Your Friendly, Neighborhood FemmeLords

-Ten