Finishing Touches!; Tentacles, Tail, Hooves, Horns

Things got a little hectic towards the end (personal life, etc.) but I totally finished things on time and I damn well better win the costume contest at work. That's what I have to say about that.

Since I had been working on my costume at a friend's house, the pieces were all at her place and inhibited my ability to do random bouts of work. I had to wait until going over to place before I could do anything; no more "I've got ten minutes to spare, I'll fix X or Y." This turned out okay because my friend is an awesome lady and she would go, "I'm bored. I'm going to add shinies and make this costume even more awesome without telling anyone." Then I'd come over and find components all complete for me and it was amazing. The only down side to this is I don't fully remember what happened, nor do I have pictures of the entire process anymore.

The aforelinked gloves I pinned and cut were sewn together for me one day. That's pretty standard, though. That meant that with my lovely white manicure (fake nails are bizarre), I could basically ignore my fingers for the purpose of Halloween. I didn't want to paint them and I didn't want gloves; too hot, too much restriction on tactile abilities. I made honest attempts at this method of skintight gloves before giving up and admitting that the night before Halloween was not a good time to try and solve this issue.

Once my horns dried, I spent a few days doing spray paint layers of flat white on them. Spray paint is fun, but a lengthy process. Lots of thin layers to keep it from drying all goopy everywhere, but in the end, it worked out dandy.

I bought some very light grey-ish blue paint to do detail work and high/lowlights on the horns ... then I realized that I'm miserable with paint. After vacillating for who knows how long on what to do, I ended up fingerpainting acrylic with water. That's an interesting experience. I used a lightly damp sponge to get the horns every so slightly wet, had a little plate with water on it, squeezed out some of my paint, and used my fingers to smear it over the entire horn. I let the water disperse unevenly and it grooved itself around on the mache. I'll say now that the horns were the most difficult part for me to figure out how to handle and will definitely be improved upon in the future.

The lighting doesn't show too well, but with the grey smudged around, the horns didn't actually look too bad.

I set them up to dry and was surprised when I came over two days later to find that my gloss overcoat was already applied; seriously love that girl. It has little bits of iridescent glitter in it, to give them a nice ethereal sort of look. They passed just fine for the day. =3

I used a very thin headband that wraps all the way around the head -- the elastic kind. But the part that stretches over the actual head is rubbery, with teeth. It stays in very well. Unfortunately, the band is very thin and the horns wobble a bit when on. I then took a regular, thicker, solid plastic headband and attached it behind the thin flexible one, and to the horns as well. This added stability and worked well. (My original plan was just to use the wider band, but on top of the wig, it wouldn't sit properly; the wraparound band helped hold it down and in place.)

I used a scrap from the children's leggings (purple!) to cover the bands and make them look pretty. I used some of the shinies I bought to decorate, and called it good. Also, guess I should mention that I did this the morning of Halloween. After my shower, before putting on makeup, I decided to add the second headband (formerly was using only the thin one and letting the horns wobble; moved real slow, elegant, and gradually to compensate) and cover and bling. I regret nothing.

For my face tentacles, I did an on-the-fly sort of thing. I folded my fabric in long halves, letting me cut about ten inches in length out of them. Pinned them together, and just trimmed a very slender strip. Times four.

I then hand stitched one together quickly, handed them to my friend to invert (I fail at turning things right-side-out), and started sewing another. Rinse, repeat, until done.

Using the gold ribbon I trimmed my pant legs with, I made little loops and glued them on the tentacles. Once dressed, the tentacles were pinned in to my natural hair. My wig covered them and held them in place, giving the illusion that they came from close behind my ears.

Another piece my friend completed for me involved painting my tail rings gold. The same ribbon was also wrapped around the outside of the rings to tie it all together with subtle detail. I enjoyed it.

She helped me glue details on my boots and belt, and it was good to go! All in time, too!

Tail - Day One

Since I need helping hands to complete the hooves, I started working on something I could solo a few days ago ... my tail!

I knew I had a handful of issues I wanted to address with making my tail. Namely, costume tail always look so limp! I didn't want that. I also didn't want a tail that was stuffed so tight it was stiff. Draenei tails have an awesome little sway to them with the wiggle-walk and I wanted to try and emulate it as best I could ... Days of brainstorming and talking through possible solutions with a buddy of mine, I created what I thought would be the perfect solution to meet my criteria. Of course, nothing is perfect but the result I've reached thus far is pretty pleasing to me anyway.

I scrounged up some fabric left over from last year's Castle Crashers costumes and was fortunate to find ONE piece JUST big enough for me to cut a tail out of. After measuring from my tailbone to my knees and rounding up, I settled on a two-foot length (the original distance was something like 20-22 inches, but I knew the tail would hang in a slightly varied manner than my tape measure, so I rounded up to the nearest foot; besides, I'd rather have to make it shorter than wish I'd given myself more length!).

Taping three pieces of printer paper together, I sketched out a rough idea of what the tail should look like. Draenei tails have a certain shape where they stretch horizontally from the butt before sloping down, and I wanted to try to get as close to this aspect as well ...

My original sketch didn't look quite like what I wanted, so after a second one (holding the cut out pattern-paper up against where I would attach the tail and checking in a mirror), I was satisfied with the shape. Taping the pattern to the fabric, I was careful to align the fold where the backside of the tail was, thus eliminating the amount of seam visible on the top/back.

After the fabric was cut, I quickly stitched together (with the machine) the seams, leaving the "top" open where the tail would be attaching to my clothing/tailbone area. Then I pulled out a pair of old nylons, cut the leg off, and trimmed it down to be a similar shape/size to the tail I'd created.

Now, using Poly Pellets bought from my local craft store, I began to stuff the pantyhose by means of a quick paper-rolled funnel stuck in the top opening. Rather than filling the entire stocking, I began to tie little "joints" every inch or so along the length of the nylon like so:

 I continued this process until the leg was stuffed entirely and tied the end off to keep the pellets from falling out.

Warning: Poly Pellets being poured in to a box sounds an awful lot like food to curious kitties!

Next, I slipped the mini-spine chain in to the tail and spent a good length of time fighting it in without tearing any of the light fabric. The seam at the top and curve of the tail was considerably smaller than some of my packed vertebrae, but the nylon was stretchy and malleable full of beads, so it eventually all slid in to place. Even though the image of the chain shows very clear divides in between each packed section, that is not how it ultimately sits in the tail. With those gaps, the fabric caves in between and looks awkward, so I was forced to push each segment to sit directly on top of the next. However, since the pellets are sitting in individual pockets instead of in one very large lump, the tail still has life and flexibility, so it works just the same! I just had to add a few more segments at the top. My hand is blocking it in that last shot, but I also used the medical tape to pinch the ends of the wire from stretching too far apart and causing a problem once inside the tail itself. I, however, forgot to take a picture of that ...

From the curve to the top end of the tail (opening), it's one long pocket, rather than the vertebrae sections. This is because I wanted that piece to be solid so the tail would have the same sort of curve the models' tails have. Even with one solid pocket, though, the tail was pulled immediately down by all its own weight and no amount of pellet packing could convince it otherwise.

So I broke out the hack saw again ...

And an old wire hanger. With the right bend, a little cutting, and a little tape later, I had a perfect arch to support my now hefty tail. 

Note: This method for stuffing the tail is very heavy, insofar as the prop itself is concerned. It will need to have a solid base to attach to, no frilly stretchy pants here!

With a little medical tape to keep the cut edges of the wires from snagging all of my fabric, I contorted the wire to an appropriate shape for my tail. 

Now it gets tricky. I carefully had to untie the knot I had placed at the end of my nylon and pinch the hanger in so it could sit in the center of the tail, as opposed to getting pushed aside by the lining inside. Once it was forced as far in to the opening as I could make it, I added extra pellets to stuff the base of the tail as full as I could possibly make it, then tied it off again to make sure I didn't end up with a(nother) mess all over my bedroom floor.

And, ta da! My very own draenei tail that won't fall instantly flat! I will have to be specific when I attach to, to ensure it doesn't fall to one side or the other (since the wire is narrowly aligned in the middle, and not an all-around solution), but I already have plans for this.

Since taking those pictures, I have stitched the working portion of the tail closed, with quite a few back and forth passes with the machine, just to be sure. I also have used a little hand stitching to pass through the top of the tail and hold the wire in the center, then again on the bottom side -- all up near the once-opened end. It will be covered later anyway, so the sloppy stitches won't be a problem visually.

Time to rest now. =3