I went to Blicks, a local art supply store, and got some air dry clay to play around with. I suck.....big time....but it is so fun and so zen. I may eventually get to a point where I have something useable. I have never actually done pottery before. I have watched many people do it. I have read books. Once I ordered this wheel I watch a bajillion YouTube videos of people doing it. Amazingly enough that is not the same as doing it. :P That is fine. I will continue to try. Eventually I will get it.

About a week after this one showed up, a second wheel showed up. When I was ordering my wheel, the first one I ordered ended up coming from China, and listed the shipping as 2 months out. So I cancelled that one and got the other one. Then while I was playing with the other one, the first one I ordered showed up. Even though I canceled that order. THey already gave me my money back. So I guess I have 2 mini wheels now.

​Ok...so now pic dump of wheels and attempts.

Still working on Talleg. It is a very looooong work in progress. :/ This is way harder than it looks. Or seems like it should be. Or whatever.

This week I am going to talk about scales. I had decided I was going to put fish scales on her breastplate and upper arms. Fish scales seem so....boring. But they are simple enough.

I was still unsure how I was going to implement that part. Last time I did scales, the leaf scales tore the shit out of the rest of the outfit. I need to fix Aoifa's top before I can ever wear her again.

So I thought about other ways to get the scale look. The first thing I tried was cutting scales on the foam and throwing the heat gun on it. It looked....kind of cheesy. Might work for something else, but this? Nah. Besides which, it wouldn't work for the sleeves.

A friend of mine was going to 3d print a fish scale cookie cutter so I could use it as a pattern, but his printer stopped working and doesn't seem fixable. For a while there I was in a quandry. I guess I was just going to have to cut out 500 fish scales and go with that.

Then I went to a meeting. Here in Portland there is an active cosplay community. I have struggled to find anyone who wants to help me or work with me. But I found a group on Meetup.com. It is called the Portland Cosplay Crafter's Association. I went to my first meeting, and it was AWESOME! The people were nice. They are maybe more serious about cosplay than I am. I love to do it, and working with others, but I don'tknow that I would ever want to make a business out of it. But they are talking a cosplay co-op kind of situation. Which I think is a WONDERFUL idea! We can buy supplies bulk for cheaper. We can get together a communal space. We can help each other, fill in gaps in our specialities. This is good. I am all in. And one of them said they have a 3d printer, and if I get something scanable they would print out scales for me.

Eureka! That is awesome and totally waht I need. So I decided instead of going plain fish scale, I would go shark scale. Shark scales are different from fish scales. Shark skin itself feels like sandpaper. That is because shark scales are smaller than fish scales, and pointier.

That looks so badass. After looking at tns and tons of pictures on the interwebtubes, I decided to make then kind of like the one on the left in the picture on the right. So I got to sculpting.

So now I just gotta get them printed. It is going to take a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

So this week I worked on elbow and knee armor. I am still having issues getting rid of the fricken seem. One day I will be triumphant. Today is not that day. Sigh.

I started by making a mock up of what I wanted to see how it would turn out. It doesn't look bad, but the stupid obvious seem is still there.

I need to get on with the other parts of the armor, so I decided to try one more time. If the seem was still obvious I would just put a strip and spikes on it. I had black plastic spikes I got at target around Halloween that I haven't used, so I thought those would be a good idea. Um, nope. They refuse to stay put. I tried to glue them twice. Argh sigh. So now I am going to go get googly eyes and try to glue those on. I don't know if the glue will stick now that I have the gilder wax down. But as I said, I need to get moving on the other parts of this outfit.

After I finish the googly eyes, or whatever I finally decide to do with them, I will glue velcro dots inside the corners, so I can attach them to my leggings. Before I work on the leg armor I need to figure out where to place the velcro so I leave that patch open.

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.

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.

So the creative bug had been biting me pretty hard lately. I really want to do some cool stuff, though I know a lot of it I just will need to learn how to do and it will be crap. I made a list of everything I want to do, and looking at it (it is pretty long) I think I am going to need to make a plan if I am ever going to get any of it done.

Warning: LONG post! Lots of bullshit! A bunch of pics! Feel free to read or skip as appropriate.

First thing, I have been working on a new stop mo. My camera has pretty much crapped out on me, so I am going to have to figure out how to do it without the camera. I have my iPad. I have figured out how to get pics from my iPad to my computer. I have found a few camera control apps for the iPad, though nothing that lets me control the focus the way I want. Also I need to anchor that sucker down somehow so it doesn't look like my characters are in an earthquake all the time.

So I have designed a frame thing that is made of PVC piping and foam insulation tape. I had planned on cutting the PVC with my hacksaw and mitre box. The box is missing. I packed them together, because I usually do not use either one by themselves. One of these days I will either go get another one or find a friend who has power tools to help me cut them at a 45 degree angle and cut a slot in the top for the foam insulation and a place to rest the iPad. Then I will drill a 1/4inch hole in the bottom for mounting to the tripod platform. Project number one. :)

So last weekend I helped a friend move. As per usual she wanted to get rid of stuff, and as per usual I accommodated her and took it off her hands. The first thing was this awesome globe thing that lights up.

Now I have to figure out how to costume this bad boy. I can't sew, and I have other sewing projects I want to do. So I will need to find a place to find South Korean looking jackets and grey slacks. And of course the mask. I HAVE to take a shot at making a mask of that face. I have no mask making experience. I do have liquid latex. I have been looking online and if I do it in 3 pieces I may actually be able to pull it off. One piece for the face, another piece for the tentacles, and a final piece for the head. I am currently researching the cost of latex foam. I also need to get myself a few styrofoam heads to use as bases. I think I would make a thin latex mask for the face, a molded latex foam for the head, then attach the tentacles to a large mesh frame that attaches to the mask. that will make it easier to breath. It would also be awesome if I can find a cheap voice modulator.

On the latex mask front, I decided if I am going to do an Ood, I also need to make a Vastra mask.

This is Madame Vastra (picture property of BBC and Doctor Who). She is strong and beautiful and a warrior and everything I wish I could be. She is one of my favorite fictional characters ever. She is married to Jenny, the lady behind her in this picture. If you don't watch any other Doctor Who, it is worth watching the episodes she is in just to bask is this dazzling character. I have been waiting out the last few years of less than stellar storylines and Moffet's version of Psych! and a Doctor who doesn't really feel like the Doctor, but her alone has made this wait worth it. As masks go, this one looks like the most comfortable one to wear for long periods at a time. I would do her Victorian outfits, though. She has some gorgeous black dresses I really want. Though, my next project could conceivably be used for her character.

I also got a green leather coat. It is HUGE. It is very 80's. The shoulder pads are gone, but thiey have left thier mark in the shoulders of this coat. there is enough leather fabric in that coat to make a steampunky vest or two. A vest that would go with the brown leather coat I found last winter. It would also go with the Vastra mask. I also want to sew some aviator pants to use with steampunk.


 

I want this look, pants boots and all. Except I want to make them black. These pants could go with steampunk and Vastra.

I also was given several sets of vampire fangs. So....I can do regular vampire, steampunk vampire, or vampire Silurian (Vastra is a Silurian). OR Vampire Steampunk Silurian! Oh this is going to be awesome. :)

I can't sew worth a damn, so I will have to find someone to supervise.

So the list....

Not in priority order...

1. Latex Ood mask
2. Latex Madame Vastra mask
3. Build a more interactable stop mo set
4.Leather steampunk vest or two, depending
5.iPad frame with foam insulation
6.Button over aviator pants
7.Steampunk goggles
8.Crochet sweater and vests out of mounds of yarn I have laying around
9.Spin the fleece I have sitting around
10.Play with armatures and different materials to decide on puppets for stop mo.
11. Finish all writing projects (web series, 10 minute short, play, novel)
12.Finish filming current stop mo

I once told someone I am never bored. If I had a bajillion dollars, I would have plenty to do. They didn't believe me. :)

So now I have to decide what needs to be done with each of these projects, when I want to have them done by, and what I need in order to finish them. Then I will make a general plan to get them done.

So it has been a while. Again. It is surprising how fast time gets away from me when I am working at an actual job. I haven't done much more than last post. I have pulled out my stop mo stuff and gone through it. I need to figure out what I need for sets and props and start building. I need to do a run to Eugene Toy and Hobby and stock back up on balsa wood. I also need to decide how I am going to do foliage for the forrest. Am I going to try to do it with real plants, fake plats that look real, or plnt-ish representations. I think the reason I havebeen putting it off is I have an idea that may change how I am currently doing my stop mo. I think I may have posted about it before. I want to research and play around with the idea of stabilizing marionettes to use as my stop mo puppets. They would be much larger, so I would have to look for and/or make larger sets, furniture and props. it would be easier to find what I need, though.

Last night a friend and I went thrifting and I found a set of knitting hoops for $5. Not a bad buy, considering they are usually $30-$40 for a set like that. It was missing one hoop, but it did have the hooks and finishing needle. so now while I sit and watch my shows I have something new to play with. I plan on trying to make myself a sweater or something. At this point I am just palying around with them and learning how they work. they seem simple and straightforward enough. It looks like they make a very loose knit, though. I may have to see if I can get it to tighten up somehow.

I am currently sitting at a cafe waiting for a friend to come join me for sodas, beer and brownies and ice cream. I probably should post this before she gets here. I will leave you with a pic of the 1959 Jewish cook book I found at the thrift store. Rosh Hashana is coming up, and it has some excellent recipes. I am happy withthat find.