Blood Dragon FemShep! Black Widow! Krogan and a tank! (page 2).

So I finally bit the bullet and bought ME3. I had been holding off due to degradation of my wrists and not really fancying the surgery needed should I play games and ruin them further.

Anyway, I decided to risk story mode and hooray! All the feelz without the real world damage! Excellent Excellent not much challenge.. ah well.

Except now I am really really really really wanting to make my Lizzie Shep's gear. Either the custom coloured N7 or Blood Dragon- which I have been lusting over since the release in ME2 if you bought DA2 and got the code.




The colour scheme is not really purple. One the "tint 1" swatch list it is a beige colour and I used white for "tint 2" so this is a nice interference violet which I have in pigment form:

(Left to right: Violet, Blue, Green- mixed with white glue and painted over pen marks to see how opaque they could be)
It's a great effect in motion. From stills it looks very much like a pearl paint!

And then I have also started to rebuild my mannequin in to something useable:


Yes, yes I have cut off some important bits. But as they are rigid they don't really offer much help when making armour or anything. So they have come off. I used expanding foam to fill the body and also added extra to the back to smooth that.

I've scaled and folded an already existing paper model of the Blood Dragon armour.

Just ever so slightly too big.... so I rescaled and recalculated parts and made it too small... so I have now (after cleaning my printer cartridge......) got a pattern that should be the right size so I can use it as a guide to make my own pattern. I know it sounds odd- but I like to trial techniques I get to judge regularly in contests but I also like to do my own thing So yeah. Anyway for anyone curious the pattern is from here and is beautiful:
Blood Dragon Armor Papercraft by ~DaiShiHUN on deviantART


I'm thinking I'll do the Blood Dragon and be a wee bitty sneaky and paint it with my interference blue just because. And pretend it is a mod I applied as others have done. Ehem.

I'm still debating between using leather or all fibreglass for this puppy. I used leather for my Liara armour, but the effort to wet form is quite intense. And I used all fibreglass (or nearly all) for Shae Vizla

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Or N7.. maybe both!

My second trial at the armour ended in not being able to test properly because the manniquin I have in the house is also of the rigid sort... So there is a lot of paper draped over the neck and I have just found the filleting knife to hack the foam tomorrow....


Anyway, I'm looking at having some fabric printed but I don't know of any place that already has a good quality lycra in stock. Really am not keen on the idea of screen printing or stenciling either. The bodysuit needs to be really quite solid to look as if it is woven metal. I had given a (very brief) thought to weaving my own fabric from hat elastic...... Still seems the least ridiculous option to be honest! Though there is a local company with 190gms lycra in store so it would be pretty fast and easy.... hmmmmmmmm

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Or N7.. maybe both!

So Miss Foamy has been cut back, and I had to cut her back further than I thought. So I tested the paper pattern on both torsos and then fitted the pattern to the torso. I mostly ignored the pieces to add definition as I intend to build the frame from foam (having now found some cheap stuff, seriously it's very pricey here) and fiberglass over it.

As per the foam sourcing thread I found some green foam to pattern the armour in:
View attachment 209173

And then the comparison:




Clearly rough as guts and not at all even close to the final pattern. For one thing I need a means of support for the multiple collars and a way to get in to the thing. So a fair amount of work! but I loooove the shape so much. And it's helping me get my groove back Might go take Lizzie Shep out for a bit now that she has the armour and see how it goes. She also has All The Weapons. I need to decide on which one to make. I may shell out for the Black Widow in game because it's a big gun. And I like big guns.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely


Just a few nifty shots Anyway. Cunnin plan of attack is:

FG torso parts.

PVC sheeting and pipe for the rest as I do have an inordinate amount of both at the moment. Well less of the pipe but there is a huge plumbing place just down the road

I am not sure about the calf pieces, I really want to do them in leather as I had such success with Liara's greaves but these have a definite thick leading edge. So we shall see how well my mannequin holds up to hot plastic

Today though I work on Shae Vizla as she has been neglected for a year after burning out on her

I should really clean the mannequin too....

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

I'd fiberglass the suit, or most of it, and heat form some thermo-plastic/do leather for anything random. Leather is kinda nice when you would prefer something that won't knock or bang together against plastic. Thats why I decided to keep the leather upper thigh section on the N7 legs, so if my legs rub together or my butt-armor hits the top of the thigh piece... there's at least no sound effects. It may need replacing after a while... but I have been running around trying it on for a year and the paint has held up decently.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

I would looove to make as much as possible from leather (have you seen Azmal's work on deviant Art? I've been following/stalking him for years and his work is what inspired me to get in to it in the first place). Everything except the actual stretching is nice and gentle on my hands, but I had such a hard time pulling the leather over forms for Liara (fibreglass casts- I really need to get Liara's page up on my site) that i really don't want to go there for this But I have pretty much got the whole glassing thing down to a predictable route so yeah I'm thinking glass for everything.

I do use epoxy which makes it super light and durable (ask me about travelling with Shae Vizla internationally!) and I can source the materials easily here. I still don't understand why there is an idea that fibreglass is very heavy. It may well be that I have been used to epoxy and filler and all that jazz from the start Anyway. It may not flex enough over the hip crease. But that's part of making a costume real world rather than a single mesh that moves as one piece

Had a raegquit last night (Rannoch! Argh!!! Twitching, so not good for my hands!!!) and today got through and then got the decision after (and having not banked enough points had only two options) so now I am having an emotional break Also physical so that I may be able to start cutting foam and board tomorrow.

I just spent money on latex so will have to wait til next week to get the epoxy. I can hopefully get Shae and the Blood Dragon chest pieces coated at the same time. And I think I have enough allergy meds to cope. Yep. Major skin allergy to the stuff Loading doses of antihistamines do help hugely


Also, it looks like I'll definitely have to get my fabric custom printed. Sigh. Found some fab textured stretch but it was merino and poly. Wow, overheating ahoy. But I could probably mist silver over it and have a really nice looking undersuit.

Actually, I may grab that textured knit after all. I wore rubberised fabric at D*C last year so.....

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

Test drove the arms and legs... So I may have scaled the legs too big (but the feet are tiny as they are and I have tiny feet to begin with- to the point I am looking forward to making these slipper things oversized to balance them out a bit but I also made the arms slightly too small. All good because as I said these are for reference rather than to directly model from

Health is still dreadful, and I have been cry-quitting ME3 after nearly every mission (thought I lost Garrus at one stage and thought I'd need to to do a mission three times...) but I am so very keen on my Space Knight armours XD

Also, I have the Black Widow mk I and I am in looove. Slow to load but it's a real boomstick, and I have discovered I am a brawler. Kinda love running up to husks and smacking 'em. Must make as well. So fingers crossed tomorrow I will have photos of horrible green foam taped to my mannequin.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

Progress! Not green sadly, but I do have most of my pattern pieces ready to be transferred to a nice stable base to keep as a pattern and to also use for the support for my fibreglass.


Yay, the bicep and elbow, knee and calf were all patterned to me which is why they are too small for the mannequin. So I will need to properly test the thigh and bicep pieces on me before committing to them as well But I am very excited to have made any progress today at all

I am not doing the helmet at this stage. I'd like to eventually. But for now I'm happy with what I have

Sigh, I have also almost been convinced into doing this in leather after all. Just got to save for the other hide. Reason being I am very allergic to Epoxy (skin allergy- atm it's at the "I'll bleed and scab over stage" not yet at the throat closing stage- but it is a type of allergy that gets worse with increased exposure) and the stretching may not be as bad as sanding forever.....

I'll get the pieces carded up in the meantime!

Just to add I have wetformed this weight leather before for Liara, and finally managed to smack Wordpress in to submission:
http://www.arrayedindreams.com/sci-fifantasy/liara/

I've tooled the same weight for my Shaak Ti tabbard and tooled heavier weight for Talon and Shae Vizla belts. It's only the stretching that I may not physically be up to. But I have also cut and glued leather into sheild shapes as well so... hopefully a mix will work.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely



Woot! This stuff is so close to perfect for the bodysuit/under armour... It's silver, it's got a really good relief detail and it's vinyl! But.... it's on a non woven backing. Darnit! However I have a few options to make it work. I probably bought way too much but I wanted to make sure I had enough to really get good sized tests.

More card bought so I can start transferring the pattern pieces tonight or tomorrow.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

Finally some progress to show! So for the last two days I have been cutting card to make proper patterns of my armour and to adjust some fitting issues. So here are some images of what I have so far (except the knees and greaves as they are in final pattern stage and I don't want to tape them up to put on the form )



The thigh and bicep pieces overlap quite a way so I will need to be a bit careful in my glassing. I'll use foam and have to be careful about cutting apart at the step up from layer to layer.

Tonight I also cut apart the paper direct from model patterns, which do need altering anyway to make symmetric, to see if I want to use them as is or try and make my own patterns. I will use them as a reference probably simply because it makes more sense rather than try and reinvent the wheel, I need to make at least one test in card before the final pattern anyway. And I need to pattern a support for the back and collars.

Just very happy to have done what I have so far given i almost gave up a few days ago

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely





My epoxy arrived today and of course once I actually get the torso pieces roughly patterned I wind up deciding I'd make it all from leather after all... Basically I realised there are relatively few darts and less shaping than I thought I'd need. Also I can laminate the leather to plastic/fibreglass as well.

I'm using 15-18mm hide which is what I used for Liara. It's fairly soft when new but after wetforming it firms up a heck of a lot. In fact so much that the weight that this should be made from winds up way too solid. So I'm pretty sure I can make a nice stable travel-able suit of armour.


Also yeah, the base shape sans plastron really does look a lot like Foara's so I may do a comic version seeing as I have a short haired wig and have heaps of foam to play with as well

And my hair is a total mess, My Lizzie Shep has a similar tiny ponytail though so with hair products and colour I should be able to do this sans wig. Yay for TNF inhibitors.. or it may be the last dose of methotrexate.. but I think my body is just finally at the "oh for goodness sake why bother" stage

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely



Ahah!!! So I am now at the point of being able to start stage two of patterning. I mean I can keep these in my pattern folder/file drawer and use and trash the next round of card

I *am* doing this in leather. So I'll have to just start saving for hides (vegetanned leather rarely goes on sale as it is not a fashion item, unlike specially coloured and tanned letaher than can go in and out of favour on a whim) and use what I have now.

And I didn't post here but I did pick up a little something in game:

Big gun baby! Want to make. But I really want to make all the oversized weapons anyway and have them all hang from my costume as per in game. Must resist!


Since finishing ME3 I've kind of been a bit sad, and haven't really wanted to go back and look at Lizzie Shep and her assortment of weapons. But I will need to to get at least the names of the various pieces I collected along the way. I'm not great at rememebring names of weapons, just what they look like and what they do This one has a slow load and cooldown but is a one shot wonder. Boom! Love it.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

mdb said:

My epoxy arrived today and of course once I actually get the torso pieces roughly patterned I wind up deciding I'd make it all from leather after all... Basically I realised there are relatively few darts and less shaping than I thought I'd need. Also I can laminate the leather to plastic/fibreglass as well.
And my hair is a total mess, My Lizzie Shep has a similar tiny ponytail though so with hair products and colour I should be able to do this sans wig. Yay for TNF inhibitors.. or it may be the last dose of methotrexate.. but I think my body is just finally at the "oh for goodness sake why bother" stage

Click to expand...

I thought about pouring some epoxy (flexible kind for this purpose, i forget what it is called) over my upper thigh leather pieces, but decided against it because if it came out uneven I didn't feel like sanding the surface smooth again. That would help keep them from wrinkling/creasing over time though, so maybe one day I will.

I hate having allergies to all of my art supplies. I get contact dermatitis from any sort of resin, fully or partially cured dust, dye, and the occasional glue. It usually ends up on my face/neck; having poison-ivy complexion is super attractive. I've been careful and avoided some tasks alltogether this month because of potential job interviews.

Had to give up hair dye, or that's the route I would go for a photoshoot with my Shep.

mdb said:

Big gun baby! Want to make. But I really want to make all the oversized weapons anyway and have them all hang from my costume as per in game. Must resist!

Click to expand...

Yes, me too.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

Freya Willia said:

I thought about pouring some epoxy (flexible kind for this purpose, i forget what it is called) over my upper thigh leather pieces, but decided against it because if it came out uneven I didn't feel like sanding the surface smooth again. That would help keep them from wrinkling/creasing over time though, so maybe one day I will.

Click to expand...

You could back it with glass? I''ll probably do a light brush of the back of the back piece things and then get some glass in there. Or if I have enough thin sheets of styrene left (yay plastic left over drawer!) make a base from that and laminate the leather over the top.

Freya Willia said:

I hate having allergies to all of my art supplies. I get contact dermatitis from any sort of resin, fully or partially cured dust, dye, and the occasional glue. It usually ends up on my face/neck; having poison-ivy complexion is super attractive. I've been careful and avoided some tasks alltogether this month because of potential job interviews.

Click to expand...

Yeah, sadly contact allergies tend to get worse over time with repeated exposure :/ I've found myself getting affected by acrylic spray now which is annoying! Shoot and yep, itching from the cured powder I just kicked up. Darnit!!!! I made a head cast and to keep it mobile I cast it in epoxy. It's worked brilliantly except for all this dust.

Freya Willia said:

Had to give up hair dye, or that's the route I would go for a photoshoot with my Shep.

Click to expand...

I simply do not have enough hair for wigs any more :/ I'll have to get toupe clips to hold them in place which can rip fine hair up badly. Most of my hair is about two inches long. Also very curly and red. I am going to be lucky if I get it to take colour Aforementioned MTX should have been well out of my system so I'm not sure why it has permanently caused my hair to not recover. I'm seeing my Rheumatologist on Wednesday so I will be putting some hard questions about weather this is therapy or auto immune related. Pretty much once you get one autoimmune disease you start collecting more. I have B12 issues from the disease and the therapy which is just crazy!
Those frizzy flyaway's in the photos up there? Yeah.. that's the length all my hair is going to wind up being in about a year I think. Sigh.

I don't dye my hair I used colour rinses- for health reasons, though my country has decided they are dangerous compared to permanent dye (don't ask me about contact lenses!)- but with the hair change it will be a bit hit and miss as to whether it stays. If it fails there is a great back up: crepe paper. Get the not waterproof stuff, squeeze in a bowl with hot water and voila hair rinse that washes out in a week. Hopefully. It worked when I was (naturally) blonde but now that the new growth is red it may not be as porous.

Freya Willia said:

Yes, me too.

Click to expand...

XD

Okay, now to take All the Antihistamines because yes, I can see a rash starting to form on my chest. Awesome! Crap! Well at least I had decided on leather already!

It may not show up too much here, more impressive in real life and even on my phone. But there was no scratching involved, just exposure to the dust.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

Good news! My new resin, combined with nightly allergy meds and top up of day time allergy meds makes me able to work with the new resin! It's just different enough that this works.

Anyway. I managed get another half hide, as well as some scrap thinner hogget to laminate the back of the good stuff. And today I finally traced my templates to the leather. I've put this off for so long and I have no idea why. There is far less to have to curve than I thought and I know I can work with this weight for those kinds of curves.

Both thighs, all collars, both shoulders and the chest support traced out. I have enough room to add in the shoes and elbows. And possibly bracers.

I have so far got several almost good but not quite fabrics for the bodysuit. I also have an idea for a custom fabric for later but for now I'm working with what I can

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

Sounds like you need a magical curvy trash can

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

lol! If I get kicked out of Mitre 10 for comparing trashcans to my butt I will make sure to get it on camera.

That is now on the list with fuelite, iDye poly and canvas The costumer's check out basket is never dull.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

I thought I'd just give a shout out to everyone who has helped inspire me to make this project:
Glimpse Into Making Armor by =Azmal on deviantART
This is so incredibly helpful and inspiring. My letaher is lighter but I can still tool it
Mass Effect 2, M-98 Widow Reference by =Troodon80 on deviantART
Going to be printing out at full scale! Already clipped the file into useable sections
The final M-98 Widow Anti-Materiel Rifle 1 by ~rex3cutor on deviantART
The full length sounds about right when I look at how it looks with my Lizzie Shep up there
Replica M-98 Black Widow from the Mass Effect series
I'm not using their blueprints but this is another nice build And the blueprints would be helpful
Blood Dragon Armor Papercraft by ~DaiShiHUN on deviantART
And as mentioned, used as a guide to scale and fit and only using the jets almost unchanged.

I may not have enough styrene to make it all so I'll have to do a wee last purchase.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely

I have three options for the bodysuit. Well four including the lazy one Or the one guaranteed to work and at least is supportive.

1) The stuff up there? I finally have the ability to (hopefully) remove the backing and transfer it to another base fabric.
2) I bought some crazy swimsuit stuff on ebay (a very very painful transaction with ebay NOT the seller. Ebay made it freaking difficult, anyway it is paid now I wait.) It has a silver foil print over a red on white print but it has that # effect. With some iDye-poly it'll be perfect. I think. I may need to use fabric paint instead.
3) Use the smexy stretch PVC from MJ trend I still have in stash- and use a mesh and my very last urethane paint and spray a pattern over it- there may not be enough and my airbrush may gum up....
4) Use the smexy stretch PVC from MJ trend I still have in stash and say to myself that no one ever does all the seams (except me- Samara was the bodysuit of 114 pieces) and that a shiny bodysuit is all about +100 distraction! And uplift. No really lit's like a full body corset, brilliant.
5) It's doubtful there is enough silver stretch PVC I got before a shop burned down... but I'll see anyway.....

I have scaled the images, now I need to crop them to print size and play the game of file transfer (this computer has the power to edit images, but my printer will not work, my netbook will print the images... eventually).

So a short beak from posting and I have made three pdfs to print off (side, top, front and back) and I can see I may need to do a bit more hunting for the right sized pipe. Darnit. Ah well. Making guns is pretty fun so no biggie

Tomorrow I clean my worktop of all the gunk so it can be used for actual sewing and laying out of fabric. And time to start digging through my drawers of plastic parts to see what I have.

Re: Blood Dragon FemShep! Definitely


Sigh. So this was just a 30min walk away all the time. But it was 30% off this week so..... I need to overdye it to black and then mist it with silver but it will make for a great texture underneath. And it's not wool or cotton which is pretty much what every other fabric with this depth of texture has been locally!

In other news, I am going back to making this from leather... I'm dreadful about deciding I know but today as I walked to the local shops (to get a well deserved Reckorderlig- their winter cider mmmmm) and tried out the Shep hunch and stalk and realised just how much movement there is in the hips that a rigid plastic will not allow for. The only pieces I really need to worry about are the knees and chest centre as I can use my greave forms for the greaves. Which means all I need to do is make the knee and chest forms to stretch over. I can cope

I also spent three days getting the dust out of my workroom so I'd like to keep it possible to sew in as well. I am participating in a big frock off event and also got enough gold materials to make a Cersei gown. I draped the body of the dress today. And I have so many special fabrics already partially cut.. so it'll be nice to not have to have resin on all surfaces

So yes. I will be hunting out a plastic container to soak my leather in and start the process proper. Also it makes so much sense for so much of the costume...

I also tested a side view of the m98.. ummm.. it's a big gun. Very big. Luckily much of the body is a near perfect octagon profiles tube with bits stuck on or cut out so I will be able to make it. Funnily enough in fibreglass... but it's a much smaller project and can be kept tidy