2015 is go!

I finished off 2014 with two vaguely Christmassy events within two weeks of each other. Now, that sounds pretty good, but my recurring illness woke up between the two events. There was a little less stock than I wanted, but things seemed to go pretty well regardless. The best thing about the mad rush at the start of December, though, was the acquisition of a new commission! I absolutely adore doing commissions because, quite frankly, I quickly get bored with making the same things over and over. Okay, this one is just a resized version of my ever popular Toothy Grin mask, but it's still something new, in a way. I decided, with permission, to wait until after Christmas to start on this, and that accidentally shifted to 'after this year'. I have pressed on with it, however, and it'll be finished before the end of the day.

Then we have commission #2. January 1st, I got a message through Facebook about something which sounds pretty damn fun to make - A variation on something I have a little bit of experience in, something I've never even attempted before and another bit that is pretty much straight forward. More on that if and when it gets going!


Also, there's this on the go:

http://jackerdemalion.tumblr.com/post/107509048929/what-should-i-make-today-i-asked-something

The plan for this year is to get back into LARP, both playing and making. This is the start of the making side. No real design for it, just seeing how it turns out! With any luck, I've got something good on my hands, here. We shall see.

Freelancer Armour

 A while ago, when I was still at college, I indulged a little in LARP. There's a branch of Fools and Heroes that runs a short walk away from where I live, so once a month I'd dress up like an elf, run around in the woods and hit people with things. It was pretty fun, but I stopped when I went into my final year. What's that got to do with 'now'? Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was helping someone out with some leatherwork for their degree, and we all got to talking about LARP. The girl made her leather thing, the guy insisted on trying on all of my armour and got rather excited. They made me want to LARP again.

That armour there, to the right, is my Freelancer Gorget. Out of all of the armour things I've made, it's my favourite. After far too long of trying to come up with a new LARP kit, I decided to make something like that, but something that would fit me.

So, the Freelancer Cuirass was set in motion. The pattern for it was draped on the stand, like how I learned at college for fabric costumes. I designed it to fit me, with the right kind of curves in the right places. With a bit of luck, it's going to be lovely to wear.

It has a bit of battle damage, like on the gorget. A scratch or two here, a couple of dents there... I think it just looks better than having perfect and pristine leather armour. It does the whole 'I have seen battle' thing a bit better, in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with shiny armour, of course, it's just personal preference.

The front and the back will be fastened with buckles at the sides, and the shoulders will be riveted together. Then there's just a couple of details, like adding O-rings for attaching a cloak.

Armour is my favourite thing to make. I just gotta get people to get me to commission things.

Any takers?

Whitby Goth Weekend II

That time of year again - Whitby Goth Weekend! Well, I say again - This was my second WGW as a trader, my first with a stall to myself.

The stock, once again, was mostly steampunk, and it went down really well. By the time Sunday evening rolled around, the table was almost empty. A good thing, you'd think, but now I have to completely restock for my next event, Steampunk Doncaster.

The cincher in that photo (on the lady mannequin to the left) was a collaboration with Amy Randall, costume designer and embroidery superstar. Check out her Facebook page for some very pretty things, including photos of me painted green as the Wicked Witch of the West.

After WGW, I reopened the Etsy shop, starting with the bottle pendants that didn't go to good homes.

Check them out, they were quite popular at Whitby.


Next Event:
STEAMPUNK DONCASTER
21-22 JUNE 2014
Doncaster Deaf Trust

Obligatory "Whoops, I have a blog!" Post

So, a few little game-changing things have happened. My sister moved back home and back into my workshop her bedroom, so all work halted for a bit. Before then, however, I managed to get myself half a stall at Whitby Goth Weekend, sharing it with The Little Blue Gem. It went particularly well and we both rebooked for the April event, each with our own stall this time. My stock was mostly Steampunk, but I'm hoping to get a bit of Post-Apocalyptic stuff in there too. It's gonna be a long slog, making enough stuff for three days worth of a full stall, but I got a bit of an idea of what people liked from last time. Those belt pouches on the photo went down brilliantly, so more of them is going to be my first trick. 

What have I been doing since then, though? It has been a long time since November, after all. Not a lot, unfortunately. Christmas time is such a motivation-drain. Since then, though, I've started a few little things...

I got some more tooling tools, hurray! That means, of course, proper tooling is now a thing I can do. One of the first things that got the treatment was a Steampunk shoulder piece. Was it fun? Yes. Was it also frustrating? Yes.

Tooling-fun progressed fairly quickly to this gorget which ended up giving me a rather sizeable blister on my thumb. Remind me not to let that happen again, alright? It wasn't too bad, however, since the finished gorget (and pauldrons) is rather spectacular.







It's not all been armour, though. I've been working on some wristbands which ended up being a little Deco.



So, more stuff when I get some nice, non-WIP photos. 

Explorer Armour

To start off, an announcement.

I finally have an etsy shop!

The current stock is a little lacking, but I'll be adding to it when I collect up my patterns and manage to take some decent photos.


So, I have delved back into the world of LARP. I've been wanting to make some 'proper armour' for a while now and, under orders of a friend who has a car, I went to the leather shop armed with a jar full of money. I left the shop with over £200 of nice, thick leather, so here we are. Armour time!


First off was a gorget. I've made simple pauldrons like this before and, thusly, used the same patterns. There are a couple of differences with these, though, in that they attach with buckles rather than being tied on, and the edges are curved up a little. The gorget itself was complete guesswork. I did look at some patterns beforehand, but then thought 'no,' and did it my way anyway.

As well as a mass of leather, I got some new tools, so now I can do edges properly, as well as things to engrave and... tool, really

The arm guard here is completely detatchable, so it can be put on the opposite pauldron, which can also be on either the left or the right. I'm going modular with all of this.

I have some vambraces to match the design on the bigger pauldron, and might make some greaves, too. A breastplate? Perhaps not, but we shall see!

Dragon Helm II

So, back to Mister Dragon!

I coloured the pieces with Antique Stain rather than dye, because I just love the colour you can get from it on the straw kip leather. As well as that,  I like the uneven browns on it. The whole thing just looks more loved. 

There weren't many rivets in there at the end, which was nice. After all of the sewing, it was a godsend for my shoulders! The headband part has some eyelets so it can be tied to fit whatever size head it comes across.

After it was all fixed together, I did a final shaping on a stand-in head (or 'Nogg', as I have taken to calling them.). The string was there to keep the little flaps at the side sitting nicely, which seemed to like to... well... flap around instead of being where they were supposed to.

And soon after finishing, Mister Dragon was off to be sold. Made me a bit sad since I only just made him, but he'll have family soon enough! There was a lot of interest in him before he left, so it seems like the wise thing to do. Next thing will be giving the thing a proper name instead of just 'dragon helm'.

Dragon Helm

I'll be trading at Nerd East at the weekend, and I'm quite determined to make something Big And Fancy to take with me. I've got a few pauldrons/spaulders on the go (anyone fancy telling me which?), and a few post-apoc bracers, and some of my usual masks... but I don't see any of those as Big And Fancy. Maybe the Scavengers are, but I'm just too used to them now.

Anyway! I decided to have a go at an actual helm. I've toyed with the idea in the past and had a look at a few patterns, but I've never actually gave it a go. This is my chance, right? And what goes nicely with LARP? Dragons, of course!

I went with my usual straw kip rather than something sturdier, because it's nice and cheap for when I end up doing it wrong, and I can stiffen it up later. So, here we are, bits of the dragon so far.

So, that's pretty much obviously the face-part up top. Not sure about any more shaping to it yet. Might add some more bits. We shall see! Next are little fin things which will go to the side like so. Can't have a dragon helm without wingy bits, right? The face-part is the first thing I've properly hand sewed with the appropriate tools and thread, so it's a little messy, but it does its job.

The other bit it supposed to be like a little tail, which will hang somewhere on the back. It has a little bit of movement in it, which is nice, as long as it doesn't get stuck or fall apart. 

More updates as I do stuff. Possibly. I am ridiculously bad at blogging.

AFWVG - Plague Rat II

This post has been saved in my drafts for far too long, considering that it has been a year since my final deadline. I figured I should just post it.

So, the Plague Rat. Just a generic plague rat here, not Basil, not Sir Edward.

It does have a hint of Captain Maggot in here, with the striped bustle. Must have done that right - people kept asking me if it was a pirate rat. Not quite, but it could have been!

The thing with this design was do give it twists of military and mechanical. The military came in the shape of the top and its high collar (which is very similar to the Knife Thrower jacket I did for my minor project).

The mechanical, however, was much more fun. 'Why mechanical?' I hear you ask.

Why? Because the rats were experimented upon and, if you're throwing a bit of steampunk into something, what says 'experimented upon' more than a mechanical limb?

AFWVG - Update

On Monday,  I got my Asylum costumes back from college, and they were only slightly damaged. With the help of my Dad (oh, who am I kidding, he did all the work!), the rivets that held the pressure gauge onto Stockill's airtank were replaced with screws, as two of them had managed to pull through.

But d'you know what that means? It means that I'll finally get to do that photoshoot! I gave up on the idea of having it on location, so it's just going to be a studio job, on the same day as I'm modelling a costume for a friend (Elphaba from Wicked, but ballet.). The other two of her models were my Stockill and Emily-with-a-Y, so we figured we should just do them on the same day. So, photos of that should appear fairly soonish. We shall see.

AFWVG - Doctor Stockill III

It's been a long while since I've mentioned any of my Final Major Project work (in fact, I still have a half-written post on the Plague Rat costume....), but I remembered these this morning.

There is a story behind it, sort of.
I heard from a friend, while working as stage manager for The Ballad of Captain Cook in August, that Stockill had been taken to Newcastle, along with Frankenstein's Monster and a wizard's tower. These were things made by other people in my year at college. Now, I have nothing against the college thinking that my work is good enough to display somewhere, but it would have been nice to know about it at some point which wasn't weeks after the event. I have seen him since, and he is back at the college and mostly undamaged.

One good thing that came out of this, though, is that someone was wonderful enough to take photos, which I then came across on flickr.

And so, here they are!

The next step is to get my damn costumes back from the college and finally manage to do a proper photoshoot.

Anachronism

On Saturday, I had my first stall. Me and Gemma (The Little Blue Gem) collected up our stock and took a trip up to Gateshead for Anachronism Steampunk and Cyberpunk convention. It was the first of these, so the turn out wasn't massive, but that was fine by me! I wouldn't want to jump in with a big event like Whitby Goth Weekend or Leeds Steampunk Market. This was nice, just being able to relax. Nothing too hectic. Some people bought some things, a lot of people made 'ooh, interesting!' noises and my Scavenger mask got a LOT of compliments. 

A few people were interested in commissions, including a klingon. Yes. A klingon. It wasn't that unusual, considering that there were a few Storm Troopers milling around, and a Darth Vader at one point (plus some other characters I couldn't identify with my limited Star Wars knowledge). I am actually rather looking forward to having another stall somewhere, but I will have to take somebody to sit with me, or take a notebook of some kind. Or both. We shall see!

Industrialist

Need some face protection while working in the factory or repairing your airship? Well, the Industrialist is for you! 

This stylish mask would also be a wonderful addition to the battle suits of any of you fine sky pirates.
(Warning: Leather will not protect you from ray guns.)

Now, this one was named by a good friend of mine. The idea behind it was to be more like a worker's mask - nothing fancy, but nice and protective.

Apparently, the idea of having sticky-out guard eyebrows is hilarious. Perhaps it was just that I described the function as 'To stop things falling onto your eyes, I guess.'

Still don't understand that myself, but hey.

It's probably pretty obvious with all the brown and brass, but this little guy is supposed to be over at the steampunk end of the spectrum.

Of course, it could look a bit nifty with some weathered nickel rivets and some black or battered brown for that lovely post-apocalyptic look which I am slowly falling into these days.

Unlike all of my other masks so far most of which I need to finish (I'm looking at you, Famine!), this one has an adjustable strap over the top of the head which makes it sit just nicely on your face and has very little chance of falling off. Also, it looks pretty cool.

Hats could be a problem, though, depending on your type of hat. I'll have to try some.

If for some reason anyone wants one (and I don't see why not - It's my favourite so far), they're for sale over here.

AFWVG - Emily-With-A-Y

I am a horribly neglectful blogger.

The design for Emily-With-A-Y's shift dress to go with the straitjacket. Tattered everything, patches, cogs and (of course) black and white stripes. One thing I forgot to put on the design drawing was the text. The plain side has writing from the book and some copies of a few or the drawings of Leeches and rats.

Not just any insane asylum!" She exclaimed indignantly, as though I had gravely offended her, “Though you certainly do not deserve it. You are a very lucky girl indeed, for you have been assigned a bed in the most progressively innovative, the most morally experimental, the most, ah, the most ingeniously directed medical institution for the mentally ill, led by my own dear son, Doctor Montmorency Stockhill. You are the worthy child, are now an inmate of the Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls.

The cogs on the dress were made in the same way as on the straitjacket, and all the patches/striped parts were sewn on with big red stitches because of that one outfit that EA made.

The sides are pulled in with four fabric straps that are tied at the back. I figured that the Asylum dresses wouldn't be fitted at all, instead being a one-size-fits-all affair. With the straps, it can be pulled in at the waist, giving the dress more shape while still keeping the look of 'it doesn't ft particularly well, really.' I have to thank my tutor for this idea. I was a bit stuck for an idea of how to pull it in, thinking of corset-esque lacing or some buckles like on the straitjacket. We discussed it, and she suggested having straps of the same fabric as the dress instead of more leather, and it was a genius idea.


Then there are the manacles. What kind of asylum inmate doesn't have restraints?

They're just a simple leather wristband with a brass ring popped on there. They're fastened with buckles which, although entirely ineffective for a real mad girl due to the ability to unfasten, they look damn cool like that.



The whole costume, popped on a mannequin, all set up for my degree show. I accidentally managed to find a mannequin that matched the pose of my drawing. It took me a long while to sort the hair out. Stupid small head...

AFWVG - Doctor Stockill II

Another costume (mostly) down and time for another post. The infamous Doctor Stockill is nearing completion, and I am very excited about it.

First up, the coat.
Simple black coat, not particularly fitted. The leather on the arms hold syringes and knives (which I still need to make most of), and straps are trigger-clipped from the D-rings on the back of the shoulders to the back of these arm bands.


I am very much hoping that it does indeed look rather doctory. Black rather than white for this doctor, because, of course, he is a plague doctor. As far as I know, they were all black with pointy faces, right?



Speaking of pointy faces...

There he is with that plague mask and the air tank for it. Luckily for Peter, my model for Doctor S., it's not too heavy.

My favourite thing about this costume is how similar it actually looks to my final design for it. That, and when Peter decided that he would walk through the canteen at college while wearing it. The comments ranged from 'Oh my god...' to 'Holy crap, that's creepy.'

Perfect.

AFWVG - Asylum Straitjacket

The first of the 'clothes' costume parts is pretty much finished - The Asylum Straitjacket.

The design got tweaked a bit during construction - it got mirrored and the 'WVG' on the back decided that it wanted to be in leather.
It felt like I was doing 'real' leatherwork, hitting a lump of shaped metal into the leather to spell out letters instead of just hitting a different lump of metal to put in holes or hammer in rivets. Fun stuff.

Since straitjackets are generally sturdy beasts, I got some denim for this, since it is particularly hardwearing. The denim then got treated to a most lovely tea-bath, but I imagine it was probably less than impressed to be left in a box of cold almost-water overnight. Such are the trials of a straitjacket...

The front and back of said straitjacket. After it was all put together, it was thoroughly distressed (poor thing...) with a bunch of sprays to give it that horrible and grimy look. The most grime is on the elbows and shoulders, since this particular straitjacket ties your hands up on your shoulders instead of around your waist. Why? Because I thought that would be more interesting. And I don't know how to escape from that kind of strait-tying (Unlike the standard way, which I can. How do I even know that? Not a clue.)

Also, having the arms up makes my lovely cog nice and visible. I'm quite proud of that section. It's a lot smaller than on the design, but I like it like this. It's less BAM! STEAMPUNK! than having a massive cog just whacked on there. Yes, I want a bit of steampunk in here, but not that much.
The buckles are rather nice too, I like to think, and they serve the purpose of making the jacket slightly tighter. Just slightly. Maybe I should have put them further apart...
Never mind, eh? It looks good, and that's all that matters. It's not like I'm going to be actually using this to restrain a mad person.
Though, if that event just happens to occur, I'll be more than sorted. It's not too unlikely, actually, with the levels of strangeness people are getting as the deadline gets closer.

And just because, here's a photo of me in my wonderful straitjacket. 

On a sidenote, I now have a real live website! 

Ooooh, exciting.

Only not really.

All my fancy stuff is now hiding at http://infected-illusions.com/, and this blog is over at http://blog.infected-illusions.com/ as well as on blogspot. Go have a look. There are some nice, pretty drawings. And some nice, pretty animations. And some nice, pretty photos.

(...am I selling it yet?)
That's gone now, unfortunately.

Pyrate

Got myself a new, quick project. I'm (hopefully) going to make this outfit for the next Emilie Autumn gig I go to on April 13th.
Planning on having lyrics from Insects vs. Robots' Fire in the Sky on the sleeve and back of the jacket.

Bring out the fire
What's in your mind?
Do you feel alive?
The sky is on fire tonight 

AFWVG - Plague Mask II

Updates on Stockill's plague mask!

On the right is the first costruction - craft foam, duct tape and those goggles. That got chopped up to make the pattern for the leather version.

The lenses for those goggles ended up being the lenses in the final version too, but the 'goggle' parts were made from wonderflex. Amazing stuff.

And the (almost) finished version. Veg. tan leather, coloured with antique stain and joined with brass rivets. I'm thinking that it's quite good considering that it's my first leather project. The finished version (which will be photographed eventually) has a few more rivets and has been waxed to give it a nice, almost shiny finish. Somehow, it looks more like 'real' leather to me. Strange, since it is real leather.

AFWVG - Plague Rat

FINAL DESIGN



AFWVG - Doctor Stockill

FINAL DESIGN

AFWVG - Plague Mask

The plague mask is an interesting one. It's mentioned just once in the book, I think, in a single paragraph at the bottom of page 206. I could have easily decided to do a generic 'doctor' outfit for Stockill, but since I'm only making the one costume for him, I thought I'd go for something a bit more iconic.

I think the 'plague doctor' is a fairly important aspect to the story since, and here comes a spoiler, Doctor Stockill is trying to create his own strain of the plague so he can create a cure for it, thus getting rich from it when he releases said plague across London. Alongside that, plague masks just look menacing. And menacing is perfect for your average evil doctor.

My first plague mask idea came to me while I was about to fall asleep one night (actually, that's a lie. My first ones came to me when I was in Germany, but those drawings aren't all coloured and pretty. And, quite frankly, they're pretty boring.). The thought was this; one step up from the usual plague mask. I can't help but think that, since he is trying to make the plague, Stockill would be quite aware that it wasn't transmitted by smell. Although, in the book, the mask is described as being stuffed with herbs and things, I thought that I'd industrial it up a bit. Industrial and a bit more high tech - air tanks. Air tanks and filters.

I've played with different shapes of mask (though they are all fairly similar), different types of eyes, different brass fittings... Since I can't cast metal, the interesting bits would have to be very lucky finds or made out of something else and painted. Ideas are sculpey (which I don't think would work too well), Wonderflex (something which I've never used before but read a lot about) and casting things in resin. 

With the eyes, I'm considering going with something styled like eye-cup welding goggles. They just scream 'industrial' and have that same shape as your generic plague mask. I have a couple of pairs with a 'cybergoth' styling to them, which cost me a fair bit of money, so I don't especially want to mess with them. I hunted down a plastic version that I can happily ruin. Probably wouldn't use them, instead using them to make a copy out of Wonderflex or whathaveyou. Going to start working on fake brass bits next week, see what works, and finalise my mask design from there.