Druid Tier 8 finally done!

It was a very long hard way and last weekend I finally finished my Druid Tier 8 costume. So here are some progress pictures:

I coverd my pauldron with a last finishing paper machè layer, added some lines into this with my dremel and installed a light effect.

It was a very simple circuit, but I love how it turns out at the end!

Then my boyfrieds started with his paint job and gave it an amazing look. I just love his work!

 And this was the finish result.

Later my staff got a new look. I was not really satiesfied with her old paint and her round spikes, so she get new ones.

She also got finally her buttom, which I also made of expanding foam and paper maché like her head.

So she grew a bit!

My boyfriend gave her a new paint, too. Now she looks a bit more wild an natural.

As you can see she also got some light effects and so this was the finished result!

I also had to finish my robe and this had a LOT of details! Sometimes I really thought, that the designers of Blizzard was just crazy and just wanted to annoy cosplayers!

And so after some months of work, about 700 euros and a lot of pain and desperation every part comes together... and...

... GLOWED!!!

As you can see I was not alone. This year I had two cosplay partners: My roomie and a good friend and we were a worgen druid (mostly in human form) in purple Tier8 version, a troll druid (Cataclysm!) in red Tier8 version and a night elf druid in green Tier8 version. I just loved my group and I'm also looking forward for next year! 

And now I have to finish my next costume. He he, I'm never able to make a break!

Actual projects and a lot of expanding foam!

I'm still working on my three costumes: Aion, World of Warcraft and Bayonetta. The Armor of Aion is almost done and there are only a few armor parts missing. I'm very bad in sewing, so I dodge the parts which require seewing skills. So, here are some pictures and step by step making of's:

 

This was my ankle armor. Someone asked me for some more pictures, so I hope here you see better, how I built it.

For this knee armor I used almost the same technique, but just with a bit more single parts. One armor part consist of 54 parts! Oh, this was a long, hard job!

After covering the armor with some layers of Gesso, I started to paint it. The left picture shows my job. The right one shows the result after my boyfriend helped me. I'm very happy to have him, because he sets some nice highlights for me and redoes my work a bit. In the last years the did the entire painting job, but this year it's just too much for one person. So I do the basic painting and he sets the details. It's great to have such a good assistant!

Now, we both are almost done with our university exams, so we can start to paint together.

 

This was my basic painting job. I'm happy to be able to manage the colour gradient. Then I just have to add some simple details like the patterns on the bladed and my boyfriend have to do the rest! 

   

Here I also had to stop, because the sample is full of details. I cannot wait to see the finished work and I'm sure that he will do a great job!

Yeah, and every part here needs a paint... This will be long, hard work... (And there are some parts missing...)

 

Uhm... and I still have to finish this sword. But I have only 3 months left for this project. I'm very afraid that I will fail to get it finished in time, so I have to hurry a lot! 

Here is a little making of. You see here a lot of expanding foam. I LOVE expanding foam and it's awesome, how much you can create with it. I used just a bit of greyboard for the base and covered everything with this stuff. The last steps just consisted of a lot of carving. This step makes a lot of fun, but much more dirt, he he!

 But this was the dirt of the following project:

I've got a commision to do two gigantic hands for a commercial.

 

 He he, this was a lot of fun and it was an awesome experience to carve something of such a great size!

I also carved a lot for my World of Warcraft project:

I just have to finish the paper machè layer, polish it and can paint it afterwards. You see, expanding foam gives the chance to create every form you need!

I also started with my shoulder armor and my robe for this costume:

  

In the first steps I just cut a styrofoam ball and put some grey board parts with hot glue on it. Some soft foam stripes helped my to build the right form.

 

Then I used the same technique that I formed Journey's End antlers for the twines. I covered the top with a bit of expanding foam, carved the twines and the base out. For a solid base I added a layer of crepe tape, newspaper and papermaché. Now I just have to finish the twines and add some details. 

And my robe? It's just standing in my cosplay room. I'm happy, that I managed the hardest part of this costume for me: The seewing. And now it have to wait, until I cannot run away anymoreuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuj, he he!

Intensity making of

This summer I got an awesome email from Blizzard Entertainment:
Hallo Svetlana!
Congratulation! Your costume was choosed as winner of the costume contest "Win a Trip to Blizzcon"! The first prize is a flight to the USA to Blizzcon.

Yeah.. I was a bit stunned... Just a bit, he he. I remember that I went crazy the hole day! I screamed, and jumpend and it was just amazing. I never, NEVER expect the first prize and could not believe that I would really fly to Blizzcon. Only for 4 days, but these had to be awesome!
But now I had a problem: Journey's End and all of my other staffs were too big for my case suit. So I decided to build a new one.

I searched a bit in the World of Warcraft modelviewer and chosed Itensity.



I searched for a good looking staff which was as flat as possible and matched to my Druid Tier 6. It was also not a staff, which I really really wanted or I loved it's design, but I only needed a staff which would fit in my suit case.

Cause of this it composed of 4 parts, which I could screw together. I planed the building of the model only a few days. Then my boyfriend would paint it.
In the first picture you only see my materials: Some greyboard, wooden staff parts, foam, expanding foam, modeling clay, crepe tape and newspaper. The second one shows the technique I used for the core itself. I just cut the right form out of grey board and built a sandwich of 2 grey board parts and some foam for filling it. After this I put one wooden staff inside and clayed everthing with hot glue together. Now I closed the border with crepe tape and covered the hole head with newspaper and paper maché. For those round things I used modeling clay.

For the button I used the same technique. I just put a plexiglass pipe inside for the pending ball in the middle.
For forming the middle parts I used expanding foam and carved them to the right form.Yeah, it was really simple to build this staff and I was very satisfied with the base model.
My boyfriend got the finished parts and made the paint for me. And I think, he did a great job!

 

And after 3 weeks of work for me and my boyfriend staff Nr. 4 was done!

So Blizzcon, I'm coming!

To discribe, how awesome this weekend in Anaheim was is beyond my english skills! But know that it was just amazing and some of the best days in my life. AND: I will come back! You will also find me at next Blizzcon, he he!

Journey's End making of

Next part of my Druid Tier 6 cosplay: Journey's End and Intensity

Journey's End was a hard, long project and I worked some months on it. I did not use the right technique for the building, because I just daven't had enough expirience with such props. Today I work very differently, but this is a story for another post.

I was glad, that my sister gave me the Broll Bearmantle Figure of the World of Warcraft figure series for my birthday. So I got the perfect sample for my work

My first step was to find the right form for it's head. I painted the silouette on greyboard, cutted it out and copied this to a second greyboard. With these two parts I made a sandwich of greyboard and soft foam for filling. The foam also helped me to model the elevation of the snout, the jaws and the neck. I used crepe tape to model with this foam and covered it with newspaper after this.

The base was done. Next step was to cover it with paper machè, which gave it a solid base.

There was still a lot to do and you see that I had to work on the ears, the crest and the antler. And at this time I really had no idea how I should build the last one...

Some days later it looked a bit more like a horse head. You see, the ears are just pieces of greyboard. The crest was made of foam, which I covered with crepe tape, newspaper and paper maché again. Now I tried to build the antler. And that was really hard...

Here you can see my second try to make an antler for my staff. My first attempt was too complicatetd and too crappy. Yesterday I finally got the right idea: I bought some pvc pipes, 3 cans of foam and a buzz saw blade for my dremel and tried it a second time. I cut the pipe in short parts and glued it together with hot glue to a form and covered it with a lot of foam. Then I carved a little bit and yes, I got it! Yeah, I was really happy to have managed it. And this was my very first carving expirience with expanding foam. You will see, I'm very excited about this stuff!

I covered it with a lot of newspaper to save the foam inside, because I was so afraid that it would break. This made it very solid and durable and the finishing layer of paper machè helped not only at the modeling part.

With a lot of sanding and after many hours I got a flat and smooth looking surface of the horse head. Now I used a barken look for it. So I took my dremel and made a lot of long, deep lines into the paper machè with it. The surface looked totally scratched and chaotic, but it really hit the spot. After that I asked my boyfriend to paint it. He is very talented and gave my work a beautiful artistic look.

And what should I say? He did an awesome job!

You see, the paint is almost done. I also put the antler into the head. For this I made some holes in the front of the head, filles these with some expanding foam and sticked the blank PvP pipes of the antlers into the holes. Some hot glue and paper machè helped to fix it firm enough.
So, the head part was finished and I had to work at the hoov.

This is a picture of some steps later, but I wanted to share the work of the hoov and the head.

Building the hoov was not very complicated. I formed a cone with greyboard, put my staff into it and filled it with expanding foam. I cutted the buttom to the right angle, covered it with a greyboard pard and modeled and fixed everything with paper machè. Milling of a wooden texture (for looking like bark) and runes followed. Then my boyfriend used acrylic (brown, bronze and blue) color for painting. At last I covered it with a silk gloss paint.

Now some words about the transport of my staff:

You maybe are curios how I transported it or put it into a car. The answer is, that it consists of three single parts. The head, the hoov and the middle section. I bought a wooden staff in the home office, let them cut it appart and visited a craftsman for drilling them. To put them togehter again, I spinned the botls in the picture into the wood and... finished!
Now I can split them and put them togehter whenever I want.

Yeah... my staff was done and it was a great feeling after 4 months of work!
So here are some pictures: