Creating a Breastplate/Chest Armour using 'Worbla's Finest Art'

Hello! So this is my first attempt at using Worbla's Finest Art, i'm making a full suit of armour with it and this is some of the progress so far!

So first of all you want to create patterns, i simply wrapped myself in clingfilm and masking tape, then got someone to draw on the shape for me. Sounds easy, but there was a lot of arguing of what looks most accurate, and i couldn't draw it on myself because looking in a mirror and drawing isn't always the most accurate. 

After my patterns were cut out i used a polystyrene ball with a diameter of 15cm, and cut it in half. Then i cut out rectangles, folded them over and moulded that over the polystyrene ball. If you use this method, make sure to cover the ball in some kind of oil-based wax or petroleum jelly as Worbla sticks to anything PVC, greasiness will ensure an easy release of the ball. 

After i removed the Worbla from the polystyrene prison ball, i cut off the edges and stuck it to my chest piece. Then, i reshaped the ball to fit my boob... i mean bosom. 

So, I've come to realise that detailing with this stuff is a hugeeeee pain in the ass. Sometimes it's too hot to touch then it cools down too quickly then you have to heat it up because you don't like it anymore. I don't think my hands have ever felt this sensitive. So I've done a ridiculous amount of moisturising. 

So Claudia has these huge breastplate extensions which i think just make up for her not having any pauldrons. The photographs I post are usually taken at the end of the day. So It takes me entire days to do tiny amounts of detailing, and trust me - by the end of it I become this useless mess blob. 

So this is the latest update on the breast plate/chest armour, and there are still a few more details to do which will take me another 12000 hours. Excuse the mould stick, (thats for another blogpost ;D) CC is appreciated, Thanks for reading :) 

Claudia Demona Cosplay Progress: Paper Templates

The title is a mouthful, i know. But! I am soon to be coming of age to enter the Euro Cosplay Competition which is pretty awesome, and thought i'd make a full on armor costume for this contest. I'm going to enter as the lovely Dame Claudia Demona.

So to approach this i first made paper templates, not the most accurate things, it just gives me some reassurance that what i'm doing it right and that it will go well... to an extent.

Anyways, here they are and if you have any questions you can email me on qymberley@ymail.com ^_^

These templates are for the arms, as you can see they're not perfect and this is because paper is quite different to Worbla, but this gives me the basic measurements i need in order to make an accurate recreation.

This dude here is the knee guard. It's pretty crazy, but it's awesome. The sizing looks weird here but i guess i have weird legs and can't be unnaturally sized like Claudia, i'm only human don't hurt me.

I originally planned to make a mold for the knee guard, and stretch the Worbla over it, but then realised this would be more difficult than building on top of the Worbla, as i still have to find a way to attach it to my leg. Anyhow, this was a maquette i made just to understand the dimensions of the face, this is made with Model Magic, which is a very soft dough which air drys. It's good for moulding but it's not like clay where you can keep applying small pellets to build it up.

I created a paper template for my breastplate as i wanted to know exactly how it would fit, and my gosh, I am so proud of it. The only obstacle now is to ensure that i make it perfectly in Worbla, and everything will be ay-okay. 

Shoe shtufffff.

When i finish with the paper template, i create a craft-foam-carbon-copy which is used in the Worbla process.

So that is it for the paper templates, pretty boring but in my opinion, it is the hardest part to do, but it's the time to make your errors and perfect everything. I'm off to play league of legends now as i'm on my way to that ranked climb... eventually. Send me an email if you have any questions at qymberley@ymail.com 

Harley Quinn Cosplay!

Hello! I was at MCM Comic Con in May, and this is a suuuuuuper late post, but I thought i should share a picture of a cosplay i did :) I didn't make it, just ordered the costume off Ebay as a back-up cosplay if you shall. It was pretty awesome, got lovely greetings from people and some dude stating "if only you weren't married to the joker" which was hilarious. But, the joker doesn't have to know, right?

Next time, i plan to do some tweaks to the costume and make my own hammer, the one you see me holding - some dude just threw it at me and asked me to pose, it was pretty cool. Anyways, have a nice day and i'm sorry there aren't more pictures! I learnt to not use white face paint ever again, as it seriously messed up my skin, therefore ruining many photos. I might try a different brand or ensure that i sanitize EVERYTHING before applying it. I threw it in the bin now it was a disgrace :(

Riven the Exile Cosplay - Shoulder Armor Progress

PLEASE, someone kill me now, the shoulder piece was the most frustrating thing to do. I'm pretty impulsive when it comes to creative arts, but doing the shoulders required patience and a LOT of planning. Enjoy reading about my failure. 

First of all, i created a mapping of the shoulder piece with measurements and such, just like i did in my planning of leg armor, put it on some black scrap paper and just guestimated - FIRST MISTAKE. So instead of 1 hour planning, it took about 6 hours to plan the whole thing. Which resulted in the project being 2 weeks long. And still ongoing because of my procrastination and work load. But anyways, here's all the good stuff: 

1. Putting it all together - So what i did was using Worbla's Finest Art (Which is the best thing ever) I just stuck all my pieces together, pinching the insides ever so slightly.

Tip: When Worbla is really hot, it is REALLY easy to meld, so hopefully the odds are in your favor when doing this, because blatantly - it wasn't in mine, so i was left with this bend in the piece  but it's okay after about 4 hours of flattening.  

So , this picture is just showing you all the pieces together, and in the background you can see my notebook, and measurements and stuff, i can't stress enough how important planning is, because it can actually save a LOT of time. Unfortunately i realized this only AFTER making all the mistakes. 

Okay, i know this looks like a mess, but trust me. I knew where i was going with this.... as so i thought. The grey things is just leftover foam from a package, wrapped in duct tape to ensure that they weren't going to fall apart on me. Duct tape really does fix everything guys. I stuck it onto the piece using hot glue, and the curves in the foam i really just guessed, there are some gaps but i can just fill that in later with worbla.

So, at this point i was really sick and tired after spending AGES doing it, so here is the

almost-final-piece. I basically got high on gesso and it was finished. I keeeed. The spikes are made out of Worbla, and there are about 10 layers on gesso... in counting. I'm thinking of doing more layers, because i might use gesso to fill in the gaps instead.. which is super unprofessional, but when you're on a budget... you've got to live with it really.

This is my failure. Or, my stupidity. I put my shoulder piece near the radiator and it fell on to the radiator, and this happened. It's actually nice knowing that Gesso doesn't burn, i could possibly use this for later, so I'm going to fix this. And i will be back with an update soon. Otherwise, i hope you liked the post, bye!

6 Cosplays to do Before I DIE

Okay, so I'm still working on Riven as a mixture of procrastination, laziness and school work got in the way of doing it (in order or significance). But during this period, i have preparing myself for other cosplays which i want to do in my lifetime before i die, i know it's a little morbid but i have to put it this way or i'd never do it. Each of these characters have a certain importance to me which i why i plan on doing them. 

 WORLD OF WARCRAFT, is the most important game of my existence so far, I love it to bits, just everything about it screams "AMAZING" just the one reason stopping me from going back to it is simply time. If i started playing, i would have to play at LEAST 3 hours a day. And within a week, i would HAVE to spend at least one day playing for 8 hours or more (for the raids). Its those stupid daily quests that i just cant deny. Anyways, this is a tier 11 Blood Elf, and the last time i played WoW, THIS was the armor everyone wanted. And the only thing i was missing was the boots i think. Plus, it's a badass looking armor so why not try make it? However, it looks pretty difficult, so this is something i'd probably do in a few years or so, if my cosplaying skills are up to scratch.

Also, look at this beauty of a weapon. HOW CAN I NOT TRY TO MAKE IT?!

LADY DEATHSTRIKE. One of the many hollywood failures. Hollywood's rendition of her made me extremely sad, they didn't even make her look like one of the biggest villains, and simply made her look like an advocate instead. BUT LOOK HOW AWESOME she looks. Some of you are probably thinking "was she even in the movie?" yes... yes she was... google it and be amazed how they could leave out such an awesome outfit.

FRIEZA. Dragon Ball Z fans anyone? Hated Frieza when i was younger.. love Frieza now. I think this would be an awesome cosplay that so many people can relate to and recognize, i mean, what anime lover has not at least HEARD of Frieza?

Okay, so this is a little random if i'm honest. I mean, i can exactly show my pecs off like psycho bandit. What's worst is that i haven't even played Borderlands before. BUT I WILL, if i like the game, i'll cosplay. If i don't, i just won't cosplay it. But i just love how the character looks so much, I couldn't deny it.

KAIOSHIN. I know, ANOTHER Dragonball Z character >.< But trust me, this. looks. awesome. Like i've said with everything else, i know. I've kind of always dreamed of having white hair, but i could never pull it off, i think it would clash with my skintone, but if i'm painted purple and at a comic convention, whose going to judge me?

SILENT HILL. NURSE. I personally don't consider this much of a "cosplay" but more of a halloween costume. I still want to do it regardless, i think everyone should at least once in their lifetime. 

Anyways, i hope you enjoyed this post, leave a comment telling me your cosplay ideas :D

P.S For  Riven, i have finished painting the weapon, and i've done some of the costume. Just need to find a place that sells leather. Pictures will be up when the lighting is good enough :D 

Bye!

Can't have a badass Warrior without and badass WEAPON

Hello Guys!

So here is the process i did for my weapon, it's pretty simple

I used expanding foam as the main material for the weapon, it's great because you can carve into it nice and easy, and it's super light so you won't feel like you're carrying too much when 'using' it.

I really enjoyed the carving, though it gets the room super messy *lololololol*

So as you can see from the picture above, there are loads of holes in the expanding foam. You can either fill in every single hole.... or cheat like i did and just cover it up with masking tape.

This creates a nice base for the next few layers, because foam isn't really "glue friendly" and won't stick to as many things as well as masking tape (or painter's tape) does. 

 During the process of carving, because i'm a super cluts, i over carved some parts or carved them at the wrong angle. Some parts weren't even foamed. So listen as i tell you not to over estimate the foam, and literally cover it ALL!

So to fix my little problem, i used model magic, nice, cheap and easy to use.

It wasn't what i had expected, it has a sort of gummy texture that i'm not too fond of. I thought it would be more like clay where it's blendable and easy to shape, but it tends to shrink a little bit when you stretch it. But it's no big deal really i just dealt with it and filled in all that i could, i just filled it to the point where it's the right shape, i didn't worry about texture or those little details just yet.

Okay, so that is the process of my weapon! I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to comment.

Thanks for reading! :D

Leg Armor Process!

Hello! Okay, so i start school soon and i'm trying to get this done before it starts, but from the looks of it, i will have to squeeze this and homework in the small time space that i have left *sad face*. But oh well, i'm having supper oodles of fun doing this and i do hope it turns out as i imagine. 

ANYWAYS, So, as you can see i traced on the pieces of my armor, using the craft foam to trace it rather than the paper is a lot easier as it's thicker. 

 Once it's traced in, i carved it out using my super awesome heavy duty cutter that my mum kindly picked up for me when i couldn't go out. Simple enough.

After tracing it out, you just have to heat up all the edges and then attach them to each other, and you'd end up with something like this-

 I'd say that having the leg piece in different parts really helped when i was trying to get the shape right. 

The only problem that i have with worbla's finest art is that it's so thin, and i wanted to layer it, but i get the feeling that laying it on top of each other would give it a bit more weight and would be wasting the product. Next time, i hope to find a way to get the Worbla's to really imitate the chunkiness of metal, whilst still maintaining it's comfortable weight.

Attaching the pieces did take a little time as as you can see from the above photo, some just didn't work out because of my terrible estimating skills, and i had to spend some time heating it up and flattening it with a ruler or a flat surface without sacrificing the whole project. 

 What i absolutely love about worbla's is that you really can do anything with it, it's just down to your imagination, so i added a nice border to give it a more three-dimensional effect and the spikes. This part took the longest, but it is the most rewarding because it makes the biggest difference to how it looked before.

 Then, using some Acrylic Gesso, i painted over the leg piece a few times, and this just creates a nice base for the paints to go on. I thought about sanding it, but i think the bumpy texture gives it a nice edge, and makes it look a little more realistic.

So i haven't gotten onto the painting yet, because i just can't find good affordable metallic paints, i don't want to spend a fortune on this project because money doesn't grow on trees and i'm still a super amateur.

Anyways, i hope you liked the pictures, you can ask any questions in the comments section.

Thanks for reading :D