So I have been busy on working on Talleg. I started out trying to figure out how to do the breastplate. Boob armor...my nemesis. Sigh.

Last time, I had several failures before I got a pair of oblong boobs that had a bunch of flaws. That did not matter, as most of them were covered up by leaf scales. This time round there will be no scales to cover my sins. I don't know why I did not get pictures, but I failed at trying to make a pattern 3 times. The last time I kept the tape boob as it was, so I had a model and basic shape to compare to if I get something else.

I then found a dome pattern set online, so I bought it and printed it out. That is what I have been playing with. I decided based on my mock up that I should do the 7inch for the boobs and the 5 inch for elbows and kneese. I started with the 5 inch patttern.

The white trim is door strip insulation. I was going to do trim with it, but I think it is too thick for that purpose. As you can see, the lines are crooked and puckery. Overall though, it is a workable shape. It is what I was looking for. If only I can get rid of the buckles and gaps.

So next I tried a 7 inch dome. this is for the boob parts. The seems turned out a little better, however there are still gaps. My biggest issue seems to be the very outer edge of each seem does not want to stay glued. It pull back just enough to make a visible seam. Argh.

It is the right size and shape, though. It looks good next to my tape mock up.

So I did a bit of research, and most people who have this problem use siliconized acrylic caulking to fill gaps in seams. So I pulled out my dollar store caulking and had a go. It was so hard. The end result....not so pretty. And just when I thought I got it looking decent, I sprayed it with Plasti-dip and rubbed it with silver gilding wax...and there I saw how terribly obvious that was. It looked like welded seams. Which would be fine if that were the look I was going for. But it isn't.


So try number 3. This time I used sandpaper to try to knock it down. After a couple of hours my hand got sore. It was not a practical solution for someone who has joint issues. Most people seem to use a Dremel. I don't have one accessible to me right now. There is one in my Pod, but I cannot get into my Pod easily, due to the nature in which they store the Pods. I hesitate to buy a whole new one. Especially when they are so expensive. I did a little looking around though and found a little 2 speeder low powered used one for $20. Even had a case.

So tonight I used the Dremel to sand down the latest test. Then I thought since I can't use the others as they are, I might as well see if I can sand them down too and rescue them. I ended up having to sand off all the Plasti-dip, and this cause divots and dents. Who knows...maybe it'll look like armor wear. As soon as we have a dry day I will go out and spray em all with Plasti-dip and rub with gilded wax to see how they look.

I did do Periscope livestreams of this process. In several different scopes. If you wanna see all the fails, feel free to go take a gander. My handle there is @TeaWeaselStopMO.

So my last one was tragic, difficult, frustrating and hella fun. I loved creating Aoifa. I still have a lot to do on her, but I wanted to try something different. I have decided to create a cosplay outfit for one of my DnD characters Talleg. Talleg is a water genasi soldier cleric. After reading up on water genasi, I have decided she looks mainly human, but her hair is dark blue. Her skin has a slight blue tint. I found a picture that sort of fits my vision of her.

I like the tabbard and the belt. This soldier looks so badass. Talleg won't be exactly like this, but I will definitely be making the tabbard and the belt.

I suck at drawing. I mean majorly, terribly suck at drawing. I did try sketching out the pieces I thought I would need, so I can tackle this a piece at a time. For better or worse, here they are.

I have no idea how to make half this stuff, but it will be fun trying. the tabbard will be made from white and red sheets. I found some cheap sheets on Amazon - spent about $10.00 for them both including shipping. I can't sew and I don't have a sewing machine. I plan on using Aleen's Fabric Fusion tape to stick the pieces together. It worked so well for Aoifa's skirt and sleeves.

I also have a cheap black fitted tunic on the way from Amazon. I plan to use that for the "gambeson". I will attach arm armor to the sleeves.

I decided because she is a water genasi, all the scales will be fish scales. I am unsure how I am going to pull that part off yet. The leaf scales on Aoifa's breastplate were fun, tedious, and tore the shit out of the sleeves every time I moved my arms forward. I don't want these to do that. I am going to experiment a bit. I found an stl file for a 1 inch fish scale cookie cutter. A friend is 3d printing it out for me. I will try either cutting into the foam with it and running a heat gun over it, or failing that put ink on it or trace around it then cut the bits and run a heat gun over it. I am unsure how that will work out. It may make em look awesome, it may make em look too 2 dimensional. We'll see. And that may not work for the sleeves of the upper arms. The scales will go on the upper arms and chest above the  breastplate, and the bottom part of the breastplate over the stomach and sides and back.

The forearms will be strip armor, as will the thighs. I have an extra pair of black leggings I intend to attach that to. Instead of greaves I am just going to make her boot covers so it looks like my ugly construction boots are actually knee length boots.

I also intend to make bowls for the elbows and knees, and I am hoping those match the boobs.

Which is a whole nother keetle of fish. I have struggled with that. I tried multiple different techniques for Aoifa's before I said good enough they will be covered by leaves anyway.

Talleg's will not. I want it to look like hammered metal that has been worn. I have been searching the intertubewebs, and most people who are doing tutorials for this part of the armor skip over the part I need....how to make the taped up bit into a pattern. They just say make a dart. A dart? Where? How? How big? How wide?

Several different interations later and I still can't get it to work. Aoifa's I finally just cut em down the middle. That created boob armor that was oblong instead of round. That was fine for Aoifa, but won't work for Talleg.

I finally got a tape pattern exactly how I want the final product to work. I just have no idea how to make it into a flat pattern that when glued together make that exact shape. I tried cutting it up twice. I hesitate to do it again. Especially as I have not picked up any new information since the last one.

I must admit I have a possibly undeserved bias against Evil Ted. If you don't know who he is, he has a heavy online presence regarding cosplay builds. He is ubiquitous, but most of his stuff will not work for me. Well, they might, if I was good enough to know how to alter his techniques for my body size and shape. But I don't. That was something I never could get in the 5 years I spent trying to learn how to sew. And no one really has added any clues as to how to make it work for me. Evil Ted generally does stuff for men and impossibly unrealistically skinny women. When I tried his techniques on smaller boobs I was successful. but I couldn't get it to translate directly to my size.

There are a couple of larger women who have tutorials out there, but they go straight from taping up thier boobs and torso to pieces of pattern. And they don't explain how they got there or why they cut where they did. I think there is some step in there that is obvious to everyone else but is the giant gap in instructions for me.

Anyway, today I was perusing Evil Ted's webpage, against my better judgement, and found he has created a dome pattern. In different diameters. Though they are not boobs pieces per se, I could make a dome that is around 7 inches and cut down from there. That is possibly doable. I bought the downloadable PDF and will try it tomorrow. Or Thursday, depending. This pattern might also work for the elbow and knee pieces. So possibly there is that problem solved.

As I am working on Talleg, I intend to livestream it on Periscope. I don't have set times and dates, but my handle there is TeaweaselStopMO. If you follow me you will get notifications when I am live. You can see all the wonderful frustrating fail I have been having lately. There are already 2 replays up.

Wow, this has ended up a very long post. I have a feeling when I talk about this build, it will be.

Welp, it has been a week so I guess it is time to post an update or something. I have a friend who DM's Dungeons & Dragons. He asked me to make a few things for his game, so Friday and Saturday I made a hanging gibbet and a town rules sign. I had no idea what I was doing, I just kind of decided to wing it. I read somewhere that someone once made one with a curler, so I found myself one of my pink velcro curlers and went to work. I peeled off the pink loops, leaving just the plastic foundation, which looks amazingly like a cage. Then I cut some of the bars out, and folded over the top to make a lid thingy I could hang it from. Then I made a post out of basswood and a base out of SuperSculpey. The plates are also SuperSculpey. I then painted the cage and plates black, then dry brushes it with silver from a silver plating pen. It turned out pretty good for my first time out.

The sign was made out of basswood as well. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but not bad. Here are some pics:

As it is February, once again it is time for FAWM. I have never successfully completed FAWM. February Album writing Month. My goal this year is to get at least a few songs written. We'll see how that goes. I also have the They Might Be Giants video I am working on, school and trying to find a job. I still plan to try though. Today I am working on finishing my writing projects to turn in, and playing Jackbox, then tomorrow I am going to make a schedule to try to make sure I get to work on everything I need to...or want to. Mainly everything I have successffully written musically have just been instrumentals. That may be what I end up with. But that is ok.