Showing posts with label Sengoku Basara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sengoku Basara. Show all posts

April 15, 2014

More armors for Masamune

 Hello everyone!

Back on 13th February I started another armor making process for Masamune, this time his upper leg armor pieces.

Character reference.
I decided to roll with polystyrene once again and so I did some measuring and cut out two fitting pieces. I noticed after cutting that even though they had the right measures they weren't perfectly straight – oh well, it's not too bad...

Cut out polystyrene pieces.
Originally I had planned to make the armor out of several separate pieces layered over each other but I then remembered the amount of gluing failures I've done earlier with this plastic so I thought I'd do it another way an easier way. So, with the pieces cut out I took a measuring tape and measured where each "edge line" would be and then just divided the length of the piece with the number of lines and started marking with a pencil.

Pencil marks added and yes, I used the knife box as a ruler.
On 5th April I decided to try if my idea would work or not – basically applying a line of hot glue on the lines I had drawn and then heat-shaping the polystyrene into the right shape. I had been going back and forth thinking if this would even work and being worried that the hot glue would get sticky again because of the heating; I figured that the only way out was to try it on a scrap piece.
But before the hot glue experimenting I wanted to check if I could cut a line into the plastic for the attachment purpose basically a hole to pull the ties through. I had no proper tools for this so I tried with a kitchen knife. I had to use quite a lot of pressure and I managed to cut pretty deep into the plastic but on the other side it didn't go all the way through so yeah, in other words it didn't work out.

The side I cut on.
The backside. Didn't go through. :(
With that tried and tested I had to go ask stepdad for better tools; if nothing else I'll use the drill he has but maybe if there was something that would do a line instead of a hole it would be more convenient.
Well well, now back to the gluing I took a scrap piece, heated the glue gun and carefully applied a thin line as evenly as I could manage.

I know it's beautifully straight. Not.
When the glue had cooled down I carefully tried to bend the plastic and the glue moved with it – no cracking or loosening or anything! The hot glue didn't turn liquid-ish again; it didn't move even when I was heating the side it was applied on. Only thing was that at the very edges a super small bit of glue softened and thus glued onto my glove so eh, I guess it could turn sticky again if heated enough or too close...
Oh well, I took the heat gun and shaped it the same way I would shape the actual pieces.

Success!
With confidence and proof that it would, hopefully, work as envisioned I began to work on the actual armor pieces. Next in line was to do five glue lines. Slowly. Carefully. Caaaaaaarefullyyyyyyyyyy.

One done, four to go!
It was more of a pain than one would think I ended up with aching shoulders because I was doing it with my head almost in level with the table and the glue gun arm held up. Also constantly having to keep the same pressure on the glue gun's trigger (reason: have the glue come out as evenly as possible at all times) made my hand hurt and cramp; when I was working on the second armor piece's final lines it was hard to keep my hand steady, because of the shaking that occured when trying to keep the same pressure, aka not moving my hand from the trigger. It wasn't the best gluing experience but I still think it turned out pretty okay.
At some point I think the glue gun got too hot because the glue just flowed out without me even trying to get it out and it did this "glue bump - line - glue bump - line" pattern that was just not what I wanted so I took it off for a while to cool down. Also, when the "mouth"/tip of the hot glue gun accidentally touched the polystyrene it melted very slightly. Actually, I ended up noticing that you could use the glue gun even when it was not plugged because it took quite a while to cool down... xD

One armor piece done.
One 7th April I heat-shaped the armor pieces. It all went well except that it wasn't the easiest to get both pieces to bend an equal amount, but after some tries it worked out alright. The only mishap that happened was that while I was heating one of the armor pieces I accidentally moved my arm over a spot with a glue line and some of the glue stuck on my glove. It wasn't too bad though, I just grabbed some paper, wiped off the smeared mess on the armor and poked the remaining semi-hard glue back in place with my nail. No harm done.

One armor piece shaped.
I finished these armors today on 15th April. I had gone to mom's place because I needed to use the drill and the spray paints were there as well. I went to ask stepdad for advice about the drilling and after some brainstorming we agreed that the best approach to get holes in these things for the attachment elastic bands was to do several small holes in a row. Actually he did the measuring and drilling for me because one has to be very careful and well, he's kind and I'm derp.

Notice the pencil markings at the left and right corners.
Holes drilled.
Closer view of the holes.
Stepdad then went to fetch the utility knife so that we could clean up the drill holes and make room for the elastic ribbon to pass through. He also did the cutting part.

Cutting time ~
Trimmed hole.
Next step was for me to do the sanding. I used some 120 grit sand paper to even out the holes a bit more, you know, to make it less obvious that there were a lot of small drill holes. I also sanded all around the pieces to nicen up the raw cutting edges I made back when I cut these things out.

Sanding time ~
With that done I figured it wouldn't hurt to use some very fine grit sand paper to scratch the surface of the plastic very slightly to get it to take in the coming spray paint a bit better. Here we go!

My sand paper of choice.
Sanded surface.
Okay, so now my armor pieces had slight sanding dust on them. The thing to do now was to take some paper tissue, wet it with a slight amount of turbentine and cleanse the plastic by wiping it carefully. I avoided touching the hot glue decorations.

Turbentine.
So with the surface free from sanding dust, fingerprints and such it was time for the actual painting job. I used a semi-gloss black spray paint and sprayed away. Outside, of course, in a well ventilated area; this thing is not fun to inhale a lot of.

Spray paint coating recently added.
While I watched the spray paint dry I noticed these unsightly bubbles that had formed on one of the armors. I don't know where they came from but I certainly wasn't planning on letting them reside on my black goodness! I just took a paper tissue and wiped the surface above the bubbles. The bubbles went with it along with some paint that had not been set yet. I just repainted the wiped spots afterwards.

I don't like what I see...
... that's better.
Now I just had to play the waiting game and add new coats of paint when the earlier ones had dried. When the front was painted I turned the armors and painted the backside; when these had dried I took them inside and went to fetch the elastic ribbon that I'd use for attaching these things to my legs. Yeah, I cut four pieces of some black elastic and secured the ends with a zigzag stitch.

It's important to zigzag!
I then took one of the elastics at a time and started threading them through the holes in the armor and sewing them on. I quickly noticed that it was possible to sew the elastic on at one side with the sewing machine – saves time!

Sewing elastic in place.
What I also noticed was that to fasten the elastic on the opposite side was close to a physical impossibility if you wanted to do it with the machine, that is. So, in other words, I just sewed one end of each elastic onto the armor by machine. Like this:


At this point I had to leave and go back to my apartment, but before I left I took with me some items for handsewing and some black thread. At home I sewed on the other end of the elastic by hand. I had to keep the stretch tight with one hand and sew on the elastic with the other but it all went well.

Sometimes handsewing is convenient...
Armors done I quickly put on my Masamune cosplay pants and put on the thigh armors I'm surprised it actually works as well as it does! Sure that it doesn't look the most impressive ever but I'm satisfied with the results.

Quick armor test.
One thing's for sure though, when I finish this cosplay and wear it out to an anime convention I will have problems sitting down because of all the armors... and I will need help to dress. Outch.

Yeah, that's it yo! See you later alligator!

March 11, 2014

Dokuganryu, you have too many swords – pt.3

Hello peeps!

Way back on 1st September last year I went to mom's place and continued working on Masamune's swords. I didn't get all that much done that day but I at least started sanding and filing down the tsuka (sword's handle) with a rasp and rough sand paper. The blade I had filed and rougly sanded already earlier. I only had time to sand one of the swords because I was helping Hasakitsuki with her cosplay as well.

Tsuka untouched.
Filed and roughly sanded.
I still need to give the remaining five swords the same treatment but I did ask my stepdad if I could borrow the rasp and rough sand paper – it was green lights!

Okay, fast forward to a weekend in the middle of February 2014 when I finally got to work on the swords again; I have no idea where the time went but I know for sure that it's about time I continue this mission!
I spent 14-16th February at mom's place and took with me the swords and equipment for woodworking. I filed and roughly sanded the tsuka's end round-ish. Rinse and repeat for the remaining swords over the duration of the stay, until all six had gotten the same treatment. I must say it's rather tiring to do this process all by hand but that's how I roll.

Even more sanded and filed.
All six done.
But when I was done and checked the swords over –for any spots that I had missed– I saw this unsightly view instead:

Hey wait, what's that...?
*zooms in*
IT'S A CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK.
I have no idea when it appeared but I know it wasn't there in the very beginning – it must have appeared at a later point, possibly during the last days. Oh well, I need to fix it somehow and the safest bet is to wait until mom and stepdad returns and ask him what to do about it...

So on 2nd March, while I stayed at mom's place over the weekend for Kitacon, I took with me the swords there. I showed the crack to stepdad and after getting some possible explanations for how it could have appeared he said he'd fix it for me. After the anime convention but before I left to return to my apartment he had repaired it and I could take it with me home. This is what it looked like:

Mended crack.
He said that he filled the cavity with some glue and then used car putty/filler on top. It's repaired now which means that I can continue the finer sanding work of the swords. Yes, I need to sand all the swords once again – but this time with even finer grit sand paper. I want it to be really smooth before I put any paint on them...

On 7th March I decided to start doing the final sanding of the swords (tsuka and the whole blade length) and this time I did it outside my apartment with some borrowed sand paper... from stepdad of course, who else?

Finer grit sand paper. (this brand is nostalgy for me because
in old woodworking class in school we had the same brand)
I only managed to finish 2 swords before my arms wanted to quit though; it's more tiring than what it looks like and I pretty much only sand with my left arm because of the finer precision (I'm left-handed) and it just feels less clumsy so yeah, when my left hand gets tired it gets annoying because my right hand just won't do the work as well. Blah.
On 10th March I sanded two more swords and on 11th March, aka today, I finished the last two.

Here's some comparison shots of both sides of one of the swords:

Top photo of roughly sanded side, bottom photo of finer sanded side.
Top photo of roughly sanded side, bottom photo of finer sanded side.
And finally a close-up photo of one finished blade next to one unfinished:

Top sword finely sanded, bottom roughly sanded.
Sweet Jesus, I'm done with the sanding! Now I just need to find something to use as a base coating before I can get on with painting these things. I was thinking that gesso would be good but I have to find some first... otherwise I'll just use ordinary white primer. We'll see.

But for now, Valkoinen Samurai out!

February 8, 2014

Masamune's gloves + arm guard test!

 Hello hello!

On 7th February I decided to paint Masamune's gloves and thus get some more progress done on the costume. The gloves I got for free by the awesome Kandi & Cyber some time ago (thanks <3) and now they got a cosplay make-over!

Glove before my treatment
Okay, so what do? Well, first thing was to check how the paint would behave on the fabric. I obviously don't have any scrap piece of the same fabric so I was stuck with doing a paint test on the glove itself. Of course I did this on the inside just to be on the safe side.

Paint test
It seemed to take the paint really well (and it didn't leak to the other side even though the gloves are not the thickest) so I felt sure enough to start painting. But of course before I could start painting I dug up a bunch of Masamune Date references that I had saved on my computer.

Ta-dah! Better.
Because I'm left-handed I figured I would paint the right glove first and wear it while painting. Turned out to be a good idea because I could get a better idea of how it would end up looking and I could turn my hand when needed and so on.

Started painting..
... and painted some more...
... and wham! One glove done.
I did a few layers of paint because it faded slightly every time it dried, not bad at all though.
When I had the right glove done I realized I was up for a dilemma - I can't paint my left glove by using my right hand! D'oh!
Well, I needed to find a right-handed victim helper who would be willing to act as my hand stand while I did the painting - Hasakitsuki was up for the task. So for 1 hour she ended up with only one hand to use meanwhile I painted the glove on the other. I must admit it was a bit harder to paint the glove on someone else's hand but oh well, ultimately it still turned out okay.
With both gloves painted I had to wait 6 hours before going to iron and thus set the paint, according to the instructions on the paint that is. I decided it's better to obey the instructions every once in a while so I let 6 hours pass.
A few hours from midnight I thought it would be okay to go and set the paint. I walked to the laundry room, put the iron to heat and started turning my gloves outside in.

And this is what they looked like when turned. Sexy.
I waited a bit for the iron to heat and did a quick try on one glove and well, it was barely hot at all. I waited some more and put slightly higher heat and then tried again and... it felt like something glued itself to the iron and didn't want to let go! Luckily I had quick reflexes so I pulled the iron away out of instinct that something wasn't right and well, when I looked at the glove I saw this...

PERKELE!!  (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
The fabric literally melted away; the edges next to the holes are a bit harder. Note to self: don't iron stuff if you aren't 100% sure of what fabric it is. Thank God I didn't melt any part with the paintings on or a showing part for that matter! I'm a bit relieved because I avoided a disaster seeing how the damaged part is far down and would likely get covered by the arm guards anyway. But I'm still going to try and repair it by sewing some fabric to it.. now to just hope that mom remembers to bring me a piece of black fabric tomorrow. Yes, I cosplay emergency called her.

Okay, so 8th February dawned and mom appeared with the fabric. I ended up with the whole roll because she couldn't be bothered to cut out a piece for me. Ah, the joys of having a mom who used to have her own fabric store - you borrow whole fabric rolls for your projects. xD

le savior fabric
I must say this fabric is an okay candidate, it's not exactly the same obviously but I would say it's close enough; it's black, feels similar, about the same thickness as the glove fabric and has slight stretch. 
I just did some quick measuring and cut out what I needed...

... and this was it. So worth borrowing the whole roll.
Yeah. After that I quickly zigzaged around the piece (which proved out to be a bit hard because of the ridiculous size..) and then it was time to sew it on to the glove itself. I thought for a moment if I should sew it to the inside or outside but decided that it would maybe be better on the inside after all. I must say this was a pretty scary mission because even if I took off a part of the machine the sewing surface wasn't small enough so that I could pass the glove through and thus avoid the worry of accidentally sewing my glove shut. :'D This might have been easier to just hand-sew but I'm too lazy for that so I decided to rock the more hazard edition anyway.
So I put the glove next to the presser, adjusted it carefully so that I wouldn't have fabric underneath where I was about to sew and then I just slowly started sewing around the square with a straight stitch. It took a while and I was pretty nervous but it went well and at the end I had my glove feat. repair patch.

Sewing in progress
Inside of glove after reparation (yes, my fabric paint test is there..)
Outside of glove after reparation
Sure it's not the prettiest ever but at least there's not a gaping hole there showing my skin or anything. Also, this should prolong its life slightly. Hopefully.

So with the glove repaired I thought I would try the whole arm guard system on and see if I could even put on all the completed parts. I swear at some point I started feeling a bit unsure and thinking it might not work but BAM it sort of did after some struggling! But hands down I must say it was overly hard to put the guards on by myself.. I would need at least two or three arms lol. Valkoinen Octopus' Cosplay. But yeah, as I said I managed to put the guards on... or well, one of them.



This was a test try-on but I did realize that I will need something to hold the top ends bent over each other or its gonna explode in any random direction. If you look a bit closer on the pics you can see that my first solution for this was to use hairpins. xD It actually worked surprisingly well but I'm not sure if I would call it a discreet enough solution... unless I find black ones somewhere that are half the size of the ones I used. I'll have to think about this but I have a feeling that I might end up using hairpins anyway.

But that's it for now, smell you all later! ~