May I introduce: Vanessa VanCleef!

Wow, the last two weeks were more than just exhausting! They tried to killed me! 

Cosplayers surely know this situation: A project has to be done till a fixed date, you're costume is already almost done and only just some tiny little details are missing. The only problem is: Until the end you tried to delay these work steps because they would cost a lot of time and work. So, everything is done and you start with this part. You work and work and work and after many hours and even days there is still too less progress. My missing costume parts were my pauldrons and details at boots and bracers. I was till the end not sure how to create the pauldrons and experimented a lot, but the final look was a result of a coincidence and luck. 

My deadline came closer and closer and so I had no time for many layers of painters tape, newspaper and paper mache. I searched for a better replacement of this method and especially wanted something which is more solid and lightweight. After my experiments with my Protoss Wizard mask I noticed that acrlic texture past would be a fitting material and started to cover the expanding foam directly with this stuff. I also filled all of the holes which was the reason why everything became very solid and durable. In addition I was also able to carve and to sand it pretty easy. The only problem was, that it tooks a pretty long time until it became dry enough to work with. Thick layers of this stuff needed even more than two days and I still planned to add more layers and to sculpt with it. Well, but that was time which I didn't had. So, I had to find a solution for this problem and remebered that I still had some lightweight modeling clay left somewhere. It was pretty easy to work with and it linked nicely with the acrylic texture paste. So, some huge clay plates and even some scales followed until I noticed that this was the perfect solution for my problem and a great material combination for a real looking and detailed shape of my pauldron. 

 

Sadly this modeling clay breaked pretty easy and it was the wrong material for spikes, which were still missing. I also remembered that a friend of me, who is also distributor of Kobra Cast, sent my a sample of his new product Worbla's Finest Art some weeks ago and I was curious if this would maybe a good solution. Well, I experimented with it for some minutes and was just stunned. It was perfect and super easy to work with. I just needed to heat it a bit and got a great workable material which became pretty hard and solid after it was cold again. And with some help of Wonderflex I also got some great base for the ears.

 

 So, some hours of sculpting followed but at the end I've got a great result:

Time was running out and so I had to work as fast as possible. While the first pauldron was already done and my wonderful husband could start with the painjob I begun to finish the second version.

Benni was really an awesome help and I doubt that I would be able to finish this part in time without him. Both pauldrons turned out just amazing and I guess these were the best ones I've ever created! 
Despite of I have to admid, that I'm not complete satisfied with the finaly result. I planned to add a fluid inside, because the reference of the red part shows a globe filled of blood. I already had the material for this, but deciced against this solution since it was to risky for me. At my job I have to travel a lot with this costume and so I just was afraid of a damage of the globes. The liquid inside would ruin my whole costume and I guess, this result is fine too. In addition I think the pauldrons turned out a bit too small, which I really didn't planned. I always used a glove of 20 cm diameter, but this time it was just too less. So, my costume has not these bulky and huge look of the reference, but I'm also okay with this.

Finding the right material for the boot covers was also a problem. I tried it with jersey, which didn't work because I had to fix the leather parts on it. (Rivets and jersey fabric don't work!) Fake leather was also a try but not the right solution. At the end I used real leather and built it like a further armor part. Luckely this worked greatly!

Sadly that's all of my progress picture. Last week I reached a point when I even didn't found any time to take pictures. Since I had to leave the house at 1:30 pm at Thursday to get my flight and it was already Wednesday I became a bit... stressed. At the evening both pauldrons were done, boots, bracers and belts got their fixing and only one part were missing. I even thought I could relax again. But sadly because a mistake (used again the wrong material for a costume part) I lost a half day of time and had to start again at zero. I was super tired, my hands looked awful and the deadline came closer and closer and so no time for sleep left. While Benni tried to find some energy for the trip to Cannes at the next day I've worked the whole night and rushed as much as I could. He left the house for work at the morning and I still had to sit on my sewing machine, full of panic and stress. At 1 pm the came home to pick me up for the flight and I was... happy, releaved and done! 

Sadly I was not able to finish the daggers in time (which will do next week), but the costume was ready for the first Darkmoon Faire in Europe, my suitcase was filled and we both took the flight to Nice. (By the way: Benni was the official photographer there.) At the next day I tried my costume the very first time and was just stunned. Almost everything worked like I planned, fixing was well and the costume fitted perfectly! The event could start!

Benni and I even found some time for a little photoshoot and since the location of the event was directly on the beach of Cannes, it was just perfect to get some in-character photos.

Now I'm just sitting at the airport in Nice and waiting for my flight back to Nuremberg. The event was just awesome, I had really a lot of fun and I'm SO thankful to have such an amazing job! If you're curious what my duty there were just check this great feature. At this point I would like to thank Cryptozoic for the awesome support and sponsorship for this costume, the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game for such a great part time job and my wonderful Apothoesis Agency for all the love, kindness and help! Also thank to all my readers and followers for all these amazing comments, advices and motivation! I love all of you! 

And now it's time to fly back to home, clean the workspace and start with the preparation for the next project! Please check out my facebook page to find new progress and keep also creative and busy!

Adventures with Vanessa VanCleef

Vanessa, Vanessa VanCleef in progress and everything works fine so far! Last time I announced my next project and now some weeks later the costume is already done. It's pretty nice but after some years of cosplay I'm able to say that I already know my skills very well and so my time schudele works great. The costume have to be done next week, but so far this should be no problem. Than this despite of I have to spent some time for parties in the next few days (it's my birthday today, ha ha!). 

Well, but now some progress: 

I'm really glad that I started with my tabard pretty early and was so motivated that I was able to finish this part in only two days. Sewing it was just the HELL! The pattern looks maybe a bit weird, it was exactly was I tried to get. He he, and the funny part is, that the base of it's pattern was the same as the one of my wedding dress!

Creating the design was really the hardest and most exhausting part. I drawed the basic shapes on paper and transfered it to fabric. So, everything you see is sewed on and got a zick zack border. It was really a lot of work and sewing the whole day only zick zack zick zack and zick zack makes you really crazy! 

However as you can see, I made it. I guess, the only reason why I was so fast was just because I wanted to left this part behin me. Sewing all parts of the tabard and adding the yellow borders also took a pretty long time, but the final result was really worth it. I'm super satiesfied with it! (And if you're curious how I created it exactly or just want to see more progress steps just visit my facebook page as always!)

I also experimented with the make up, since I'm a bit desperated. Because of Chinese New Year my wig was shipped too late and it's not sure if I will get it in time. I still have an old, similar wig, but that's just my emergency plan. My make up is also still in progress and I have to edit it a bit (I'm half blind on one eye so make up is pretty hard for me). I really need a dark, cool and sexy look, but the wig is more important at the moment. Actually I'm SO desperated that I visited my hairdresser to get Vanessa's hair style. Yeah, I dyed and cut my hair for this costume and... my hairdresser failed.... So, wish me luck that my wig will arrive in time!

At least everything for my leather tooling was delivered in time. It's pretty hard to all tools and materials, especially because they are so many and I had to import almost everything from the US. (You'll find these shops on my Materials & Shops page) However working with leather is just awesome! 

It's a wonderful material, it's easy to work with, you're able to create a ton with it and after you got all your tools you just need to pay for leather, dye and finish. 

Despite of like always you have to practise a bit. Especially leather is a material which you have to discover at first. Tandy's tutorials are a great help in this point and I learned really a lot from them. My next project, Soridomi, will also start pretty soon and I already plan to use leather for this costume as well. So, look forward for more leather progress!

Well, but leather was not the only new material I used for Vanessa. In the past I was really not satiesfied with the durability and stability of my paper mache props. They often were pretty breakable and especially thin or spiky parts were damaged very fast. Because of this reason I searched for something new and tried pepakura at first. Long text, short story: I failed. Vanessa's daggers were to complicated for my very first try to work with pepakura. I tried something else and since I'm pretty good in carving foam and just have a problem with paper mache I used the same basic steps as always. Creating a shape with the WoW Modelviewer, cutting out of card board, glueing all parts together, carving the final model out of expanding foam. And now comes the change: Using acrylic texture paste instead of painters tape + newspaper + paper mache. And: SUCCUSS! With a layer of resin I made the expanding foam pretty hard before and created the perfect layer for the texture paste. After everything dried I filled all holes and covered the whole foam with it, sanded, added a further layer of paste and sanded it again. It turned out to the texture paste became very solid and hard after it dried, was easy to sand and super lightweight. In addion I added a last layer of resin over the whole prop and will sand it and cover it with gesso to give a good basic for the paint today. So I just can recommend to try this great material. You should be able to find it in your craft or hobby store and it's really an awesome replacement of paper mache!

In addion I also started with the pauldrons yesterday and fond something new out: Don't use expanding foam in cold rooms. It's just super cold in Germany and since I wanted to get rid of the gas of expanding foam I sprayed and let it harden in a cold storage room over night. The result was a very very hard expanding foam with a ton of huge holes and a very bad basic for the carving step. I was still able to work with it, but it was really, REALLY hard and annyoing. Also try to use your foam as soon as early since old cans will give you the same result. Hope this helps you to avoid some annyoing hours!

Well, so far of my progress today! Hope these little advices help you for your own project and wish you good luck and a lot of fun with all of them! I'll keep on working now and prepare my birthday party! YEAH! :)

Project Sexy Murloc: Vanessa VanCleef

New year, new costume! Since it's winter I was a bit lazy in the last time, but now my holidays started and the next project have to be done next month!

At the moment I'm working at Vanessa VanCleef, which was announced as the new challenge at all World of Warcraft Trading Card events by Cryptozoic Entertainment. Before it was named "Project Sexy Murloc" and so it was pretty funny to trap people, ha ha! Well, but I'm happy that it's not a Murloc at the end. Vanessa's design is just sexy, clean and very special. And: This costume will be comfortable! 

I started some days ago with the first progress and so there is still not so much to show. At the moment I'm working at the base of the costume. 

You see, I've started with the "body suit". I'm pretty bad in sewing, but it's even for me easy to work with stretchy fabric and so I was able to finish this in only one day. Oh, I love to work with jersey fabric! 

In eight years of cosplay I always was able to avoid succesfullly to sew gloves. Well, Vanessa changed it. If you take a deep look to my references you'll notice that the gloves I've made are a bit wrong. Sadly I was not able to make a zick zack border between the red and black part, but I also didn't wanted to paint it on. So... that's my result. Guess it's okay for the very first glove in my life. Thanks to my wonderful facebook followers and this tutorial I was able to sew them almost without any problems. Love you, guys! 

Now the next step is to create the tabard. I still have to find the right fabric for this part and hope to find it while my shopping tour today. This week I guess I will also start with the armor parts. I plan to create the boot coveres and the bracers out of leather. Never worked with this material before, but thanks to Tandy's awesome tutorials and videos it should be possible. So, take a look! They show just perfectly how to start and their shop is just awesome!

And then there a still these pauldrons... These super hard and super complicated pauldrons... I still experiment and research... So, wish me luck!

In the last weeks I've also started with my Protoss Wizard, but there is not so much progress so far:

I tried to find a better material than paper mache to cover expanding foam and so I experimented with fiber glass. Fiberglass worked pretty well, but I still need a good material with had the same effect as bondo. But names and brands a always a problem. I'm not able to find a product which is called bondo in Germany.  When I you'll try the find the same producs I used in my tutorials you'll have the same problem. So please forgive me, if I not able to tell you excactly what you have to buy for your projects.

And the last point: I made a lot of updates at my site! If you still didn't noticed, you'll find a donate button at the right site if you would like to support my work. I also added a lot of links to my Shops & Materials site and now there is a Press & Media site where you can find some interviews I've made. I also updated my links with partners who supports my work in many ways! Thanks a lot, you're awesome! 

Well, and that's all for today! Vanessa have to be done next month, so I will post a lot of progress on my facebook progress page and and here! I'm already super excited to finish this project and hope you guys are also busy and creative! See you and thanks for reading and following! :)