Sissel Wig

I hadn't done an update in a bit, not since quickly recapping Otakon, I figure I can go into detail as to how the wig was made and the process I went into it. This was the first time I ever took on a project as big as this. Most of the wig stuff I've had to do were pretty minor. Even for my costume in this group I only had to trim the wig. But I wanted a group so as long as our Sissel paid for the supplies I would make the wig for him. I'll go into as much detail as I can on the process I went through for this wig.

Supplies
Bristol Paper
Tape
Plaster
Paint
2 Blond Wigs
Wig Heads
Spray Mount
Mod Podge
Wig Combs

The first step was building the base. The base was the Bristol Paper, which is basically a thicker stock of paper. It's a few pieces tapped together. The bottom part is one piece, and then to get the strange, curled up shape that's several pieces stacked and tapped on top. It's a bit hard to explain, but you basically want to make a cone shape. When you build up as much as you can on the base so you have more for the hair to stick to. The tape is black but we don't have to worry about that, all of that stuff will be covered.

Once I got the shape that I wanted, I took strips of plaster and covered it. You want to be careful not to use too much, because you don't want to make it too heavy, it will be resting on the top of the head. I just wanted it wrapped up so it could cover the tape. You really don't need to worry about sanding it or anything, since it'll be covered.








Once it was plastered, matched a paint to the hair as close as I could and painted it. This is just in case any sort of stray hair opens up and the base is shown. It basically helps everything look nice and consistent. Once the base was dried, I could begin the progress of fitting it to the wig.



















When you're fitting the base of the wig to the head, you want to make sure you have a way of securing it. I ended up hot gluing it to the top of the wig, so it would hold there while I could work the hair along the base. This is a bit more complicated to explain, but I'll through the process I went to attach the hair to the base.

First thing I did was take a clump of hair and spray it down with hair spray to make it stiff. Then taking the spray mount, I would spray it onto the base and then press the hair to it. Taking a brush, I would paint the mod podge along the hair to help make it more stiff, as well as stick it to base better. I would repeat this process until the base was completely covered in hair. In the end it looked something like this...



Not...incredibly nice. But it will look better! This is where the second wig came into play. I harvested the second wig for wefts and attached the wefts in the same way I attached the hair from the wig.

I didn't really do much differently from the last part. The ends of the hair was painted with mod podge to make them stiff, so I could create a hairline for the wig.



Slowly but surely the wig was starting to look more even, less like a mess of hair around the base.



And the final result was this!


Worn by Hayabusa72.

This was probably the biggest wig project ever. It was tough...but I was glad for the experience.

Side Project: Helsingard

This is probably the fastest I've ever completed a project. I had basically two days to get this done. While I worked through the first day, I spent all night of the next night to get it done. But I'm really happy with the results.

I used anti pill fleece much like I did with the previous two. And this was the first time I had to make these half circle shapes. I used some techniques from Metorid Hat to help me get the half circle shape that I really needed. Not much else I can really say about this plush, other then I was tremendously happy when I finished with it.

This version of Helsingard is from the upcoming animated feature Atomic Robo: Last Stop. It was made for Baltimore Comic Con and will be raffled off.

Finished

Side Project: Metal Gear Rex

While waiting for Otakon to get here, I decided to try and make as many plushys as I could, to help get some extra income. In between MK.II's I decided to make a new Metal Gear. Because Metal Gear Solid is my favorite out of all the games in the series, I decided I had to make Rex. Rex's design was really easy to figure out when drafting a pattern for. Basic geometric shapes. But it was far more complicated then MK.II when it came to sewing and details. There were more detail to worry about and to figure out when attaching everything. Rex is also smaller then MK.II by a few inches. MK.II is also wider.

But overall I'm really pleased with the results in the end. Rex turned out really nice. I was even more surprised when I was able to get him to stand up. I didn't think I'd be able to, because of how thin his legs are. But it worked out really nicely. The only thing I think I want to fix in the second version is to figure out something better for the rail gun. What I have now is alright, but it's really, really basic. Maybe I can find a better way to translate the gun into plush shape.

Progress: Head


Progress: Body


Progress: Body + Legs


Finished

Side Project: MK.ll

So I've been trying to get into bringing some kind of prop to go with my cosplays, mostly because it's easier to pose with if you have one, and it makes things just a bit more interesting. Sadly I tend to struggle with posing, I run out of ideas or can't think of So I decided to make a plushy to go with my Sweet Snake Otacon cosplay. The plush adds a bit more to the cuteness factor of the cosplay, and I'll have something to pose with. This was my first time making a Plushy, so it was quite the adventure. But with some help and advice I was able to get it down pat and I'm very pleased with the results. It was a fun little experiment and now I have a cute prop to go with my costume.

The material is anti-pill fleece. It's really soft, the spare fabric I almost wanted to use as a blanket. The eyes are buttons and the arm has a wire inside to pose and move the arm. The feet have little buttons to represent the wheels but I'm thinking for later versions I might not include them. Those buttons specifically were a bit expensive.

Vers. 1 progress


Vers. 1



Vers. 2 completed

With this one I added a stitching detail to the body, to give it a little more definition and detail.