You might be wondering what I’ve been doing with myself this week. I’ll tell you.

I have been reaping the benefits of driving past Hancock Fabric and seeing a fabric sale. I was able to pick up vinyl for $6 a yard. I was pretty happy with that price. Is there a better price? Probably, but this one makes me smile. I am now in possession of black and white material for Wonder Girl’s battle skirt. I’ve even begun to cut some of the white pieces. Today or tomorrow I will place the punches and eyelets then lace the strips together. I’m excited.

I finally got around to making the eagle W pattern for Wonder Girl’s armor. After looking at her a few more times (read over and over), I decided to add the yellow foam around the red foam. The emblem is outlined in gold so this should make it easier to paint. Don’t you think it makes a nice guide? But let’s not get ahead of things. First I need to shape it to my chest and seal it.

There’s more Kitty progress too. At the same fabric sale I found some yellow knit on sale. There’s some stretch to it. I have an idea for making her body piece that should be okay with knit. I’ve been fretting about the gloves. They need to be the same color as her costume but I’ve never made gloves. A very helpful member of Cosplay.com told me about We Love Colors. Wow. They have gloves, tights, leotards and so much more in every color you can imagine. I’m keeping that on standby just in case my glove attempt fails miserably.

So that’s where I’m at today. I’ll post tomorrow to show what happened to my skirt.

Cross your fingers!

I haven’t forgotten my other costume, oh no. The one you voted for me to create for Dragon Con. I have progress on Kitty Pryde. Yay!

The UPS man dropped off my body suit today. It’s matte black and super soft. I love it. When I tired it on I went ahead and put on my boots to see how it looks. I don’t have any other parts to the costume made yet, but I think you get the idea. I grabbed Ampersand to stand in for Lockheed in a picture for you.

The next step will be making the yellow accent, belt, and gloves. I’m thinking yellow vinyl. Any suggestions?

Yorick from Y the Last Man is assembled. I picked up the missing pieces today. The only thing left to make the costume finished is to try on the poncho.

Yorick’s poncho is styled a particular way within the comic and I’m not positive the one I picked up is the same as Yorick’s. Later today or tomorrow, ManWithPez will try on the poncho for me. We’ll compare it to the comic and see how it matches. With any luck I won’t need to modify it. However, luck is rarely a positive factor for me so I’m betting I’ll need to cut something or other.

Yorick Brown:

White performance gloves, $3
Yellow plaid short sleeve button-up, $10
Blue poncho, $5
Stuffed Capuchin, $10
Gold ring, pack of 50 for $1.25
White long sleeve tee, $5
Gas Mask, years of emotional scarring from military service

Total expense: Less than $35

If you are not military, check with your friends and family, someone might own or have access to a gas mask.

The only accessories MWP needs now are a steely secret agent to protect him and a genius scientist capable of saving the world. If any ladies out there are interested in accompanying him one day at Dragon Con let me know.

Side note: There’s talk of a Y the Last Man movie. People always toss around their favorite actors during speculation, but I’ve picked the prefect cast. Zachary Levi as Yorick would be genius. If he’s too tall to sneak around as a woman, how about Sam Oliver. He’s not as strong an actor as Zach but he has the potential. Tracie Thoms is agent 355. There are pages in the book that look like they could have been traced from her picture. She’s incredible. I’m not sure about Dr. Allison Mann, maybe Grace Park? But she’s so young. I should be a casting director.

Here’s a quick rundown of how I made my Wonder Girl costume breast plate.

Supplies:

1 Fun Foam, yellow (light color preferred) less than $1
1 pair sew-in bra cups, less than $5
White glue
Fabric Stiffener
Mustard, Rust/brick, gold, silver craft paint, $1-2 ea.
Sponge brush , pack of 5 for $1
Marker or pen
3-D fabric paint in silver

I think that’s it. I was not confident that I’d be able to form foam to match my chest shape. I started brainstorming on ways to get around that task and thought about the shoulder pads I always see in the sewing aisle. Then it dawned on me that I could just use bra cups. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that.

I sketched out the breast plate bird design on the foam. After cutting it out, I stitched it to the cups. Once it was one piece I began the sealing process. It took several coats with the sponge brush, front and back, of white glue, fabric stiffener, and water to seal the design and stiffen it. The cups are hard now (you can knock on them, heh).

That process took a week or so to make sure everything dried. Then I started the paint process. I wanted the cups and foam to start at a similar color so I painted the cups yellow. Then it was just a matter of layers. Several mustard for a good base. I used the marker to draw the lines onto the piece. I traced the lines with the 3-D paint (some people use low-temp hot glue for this). A coat of red, gold, mustard, gold, silver, and gold to finish the painting. Whew.

As I mentioned in the last post, I’m still working on finding the metallic finish. When I get that figured out, I’ll update you. I had most of the paints in my craft cabinet so there was very little expense for me on this project. It was time consuming because of all the drying time. I like the bra cup method and will use something similar for the armor.

Let me know if this is helpful. Don’t forget to include a pic!

I think I’ve got it. Mostly.
As you know I’ve been playing with armor techniques. I didn’t want to put in all that work on the full body armor so I’ve been redoing my old Wonder Girl tank top. Here’s the breast plate progress:

The colors are good. The shape is pretty good too, it’s not perfect but I’m happy with it. The paint job needs a little refining to get that metallic finish.

I’ve attached the breast plate to the shirt with super velcro. It’s too super, heh. The cord and gauntlets are from the original costume. I’ll be making new gauntlets but you get the idea. I’ve learned that the fun foam is a viable way to make armor. The sealing method of white glue and fabric stiffener works very well. I’m ready to try this on the body armor.

What do you think?