Days 321 - 328

Remember when I mentioned that school was kicking my butt? I wasn't lying. I'm still dead. But I have been sewing some! Not much, but some!

I made another Pokemon hat, a Charmander, which I've made before, but didn't get a picture of before it sold. It's on my website now, which is essentially finished! I just don't have all of my "other products" up, like my cat ears and my new product =O

I went to Japantown the other day (yes this story is relevant), and I saw these little felt hearts. They were adorable and for some reason, I really, really wanted to buy one. But they were $2.50! $2.50 for a little, tiny freakin' heart that I could make myself for like 1/100th of the cost! So I did. Probably about a year ago, my mom brought home a giant bag of felt for me for either no reason or at least a reason that I don't remember, and I used some of that. =]

Each heart takes about a half hour to make, I make two at a time (so an hour per sitting), and most of it can be done while sitting on the couch or laying in bed watching tv. I like projects like that because they're so mellow. I haven't finalized a price for them yet, we'll see how many I can make with the materials I've got first, and how much of a selling potential they really have. But currently, they're $2 each or 3 for $5. I really like doing "x-amount for $5" deals because they sounds so appealing, and many people do have exactly $5 laying around or in their pocket. The first one I made is pictured to the right.

The little heart things will be added to the site shortly, and the site will be linked here now! Everybody go "Yaaaaaay!"

READ MORE - Days 321 - 328

I Loves Mah Clyde (Days 145, 146, & 147)

Things were slow after I got the fabric, I didn't really work on anything, but I finally worked on things today!

I essentially finished Clyde. I covered all of the outside with fleece, made and glued on the eyes, covered the facial opening with mesh, and added extra fabric as padding behind where my head goes. The padding helps keep the box upright when I wear it too.

I'm already very happy with the outcome. I love working with both cardboard and fabric, the result is always brilliant, in my opinion. My mom would be so disappointed, she's a paint purist.

I wish I could work on Pac-Man, but I need more cardboard. Mom said she'd bring it, but she keeps forgetting. So the next thing will probably be the clothes. The decision has been made to wear short sleeves, so I'll be buying those whenever I get the time and money.

READ MORE - I Loves Mah Clyde (Days 145, 146, & 147)

Of Fleece & Felt (Day 144)

I got to go to JoAnn's today! Finally -.- It was not without it's bumps though.

Originally, I wanted to cover both Clyde and Pac-Man and make the other ghosts and the fruit on the shirts with fleece. The universe always has different plans for my costumes than I do, though. The smallest amount of fabric I can buy is one-quarter of a yard, and I didn't want to buy all of that to use a 4"x4" square. So instead, I bought felt. It looks and feels a little different, but it could be worse. But of course, they didn't have the right colors of felt. They had most of them, but not all. So now I'm using felt for some things and fleece for others. Great.

Also, they had the color fleece I wanted for Clyde, but not for Pac-Man. They had the perfect color anti-pill fleece for Pan-Man, but not for Clyde. So I had to get one of each. I felt like the color was more important than matching material, but it still bothers me. The material isn't too different at least. You have to either put them one on top of the other or touch them to tell the difference. I am jealous though, Pac-Man's is softer than Clyde's. =[ That's not fair.

I did, however, find the perfect lettering for the shirts. Mine will say "CLYDE" across the back of the shoulders, and my boyfriend's will say "PACMAN". I'm very excited for that lettering. It's possibly my favorite part of the costume, which is kind of sad, haha.

I wanted a sheer fabric for the fronts of the costumes, so that we could see out of the boxes covering our heads, but, again, the universe had different plans. I couldn't find a sheer fabric that was sheer enough. This one was too solid, that one was too thick, ugh. Instead, I bought some net-like fabric. It's decent, see-through, and breathable, but you can't see the color very well. It's definitely better than nothing though. It should be alright. =]

I had the intention of covering Clyde with fabric today, but it didn't happen. I dyed my hair instead, but the dye didn't take, so that was a lot of wasted time.

READ MORE - Of Fleece & Felt (Day 144)

Ammy's Mask & Arm Bands (Day Sixty-Six)

I finished Ammy's mask with surprising speed today, or at least it felt like surprising speed. It was really more like several hours. I covered the mask with the fake fur / felt, which is really more like fur than I thought it was, and should have been treated as such. I really, painfully regret how wide and long I made the muzzle. I may make another mask some time down the road, but I still have moldy paper mache in my room. I'll throw it out tomorrow when my mom's not home to yell at me about it. considering the entire mask cost me less that five dollars, it wouldn't be too much of a loss to make a second one. However, the three or so hours I spent making it... That's another story. Which is why I won't be re-doing it any time soon.

I crafted the actual nose out of Sculpt It Clay. I don't really recommend the stuff, but it's not as bad as it could be. I then sealed it with I forget what brand of sealer, painted it (because the clay I used was purple O_o), and sealed it again. I really like the effect of the clay's imperfections as well as the sealed paint. It makes it look like the nose it wet, like a dog's should be, haha.

I started on the arm bands for Ammy's tufts of fur, or "wings," but they're kind of a paint in the butt. The bands are fur with cotton lining and quarter-inch elastic inside. I wish I had maybe half-inch elastic, but whatever, I work with what I've got. They're held together with hot glue, which isn't the best either, but it gets the job done and I hate hand-sewing on fur, and I'm not sure how my machine would handle that. My guess is not well. The actual fur tufts are a foam base with fur over them, but I haven't gotten to the fur part, I actually haven't even gotten both bases carved out yet. And I'm not entirely sure how I'll be attaching the tufts to the bands, so that should be fun.

Also, from this point on, I may be posting more than once a day. I will still post at least once to report in on any cosplay details of the day, but I may make a other posts with random-ish topics, as I to when there is no, or very little, cosplay news.

READ MORE - Ammy's Mask & Arm Bands (Day Sixty-Six)