My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe

Kenobius · 05-30-2011, 03:06 PM

Hello, everyone! I decided I should probably get over my RPF intimidation and post a thread to track the progress of a couple of HP costumes and propy things me and the girlfriend are working on before DH Part 2 hits theaters.

I'll admit something to you all now; as of writing this, I have only seen the first Harry Potter movie. So I'm flying a little blind on a lot of the stuff. Thankfully the HP community here on the RPF is very kind and awesome and loves to take lots of pictures!

I'll admit something else; I'm not a master craftsman. I really wish I was, but at the end of the day I have to accept that I cannot simply do some of the crazy wicked things I see on here. Jack of all trades; master of none. I'm also somewhat limited by cash flow. Sure I could go out and buy the super accurate version of this or that, but I still want to be able to eat. Being thrifty is just another challenge I like to give myself, I suppose.

So with that out of the way, let's get on with it. This post will serve as a hub of sorts for links to all the pictures I post, just in case someone finds this when the thread is long dead.

Please, don't be afraid to tell me anything. (I will give you bonus points if you tell me I'm a stud

Kenobius · 05-30-2011, 03:25 PM

The first thing I finished for my death eater costume was the wand. Since I'm going as an evil person, I wanted the wand to be simple (yet elegant) and rough around the edges.

I used a 7/16" dowel rod as a base, roughly 10.5". First I sanded a bit with the dremmel then took a knife to it country style and whittled the rest of it to give it that natural cut look. My thumb got a blister.

For paint I first coated everything in one shade of brown. I then washed black over the rough parts. After that dried, I took various shades of lighter brown and dry brushed them onto the wand just enough so it'd catch the highest ridges of the wand. I layered this on until I was happy with the look.

Once I was done painting, I hit the rough parts with a glossy clear coat to make the browns pop a little. At first I thought I made a huge mistake going with a high gloss, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked the finish.

To finish the wand, I added a leather cord grip. Just a basic wrap using some scrap I had laying around. I painted over the grip with black, but just enough so as some of the natural brown would show through. After it was glued, I hit the grip with a flat clear coat to hopefully protect the black from rubbing off.

For the butt of the wand, I used a knurled screw thingy I had in my lightsaber part box. I love those things, and I thought it fitting I work one into my wand. I dry brushed black on it to tone down the brass and make it look more used and abused.

All said and done, I really like wand making. Like making lightsabers, it's a totally unique experience each time. Hopefully I get to make more someday.

Kenobius · 05-30-2011, 03:37 PM

Now onto the Luna Lovegood costume my girlfriend and I are making.

We found a black skirt at Goodwill, and she's started to paint the designs herself. I can't take any credit for this part, it's all her.

She's using this textile medium to make acrylic paints more fabric happy for the first time, so it's kinda done wonky things to some spots. She'll have to go over those parts again. But she's happy with how it's shaping up.

While she was doing that, I was making her the beaded cork necklace. I was lucky enough to find some beads at Joanne's that I think look pretty darn close to the real thing. If anything, they might be a little bigger, but I'm not sure. I found them AFTER I had bought these super tiny ones

Truth be told, I didn't research this much, just sorta went for it based on a few screenshots.

I used a button for the top of the cork, also found at Joanne's. I still think it's a little too thick for it, but c'est la vie. If I find something better, I'll change it.

After it was all said and done, I'm quite content with the necklace and the girlfriend wears it all the time, so she must like it too.

juno · 05-30-2011, 11:59 PM

Love the wand and the necklace! I agree with your choice on gloss. It doesn't photograph as well in macro, but I think for your costuming it will really pop on camera. Deatheaters are so much fun because there's such potential to do what you want. We couldn't have seen EVERY Deatheater on screen.

Kenobius · 06-06-2011, 09:57 PM

Thanks for the kind words, Juno!

I don't have much to report these days. I have a ton of belts that I'm going to cobble together into a holster, and I'm still looking for that perfect design for my mask. I've been thinking of a pattern I want to transpose on the mask, but I'm a little lost to the how. Howlrunner used stickers on one of his customs, so I was thinking I'd look there... but I'm having trouble finding geometric shapes that are frame-like and not solid. My plan was to create a chain-mail like weave using stickers so as to create depth on the mask.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can get my hands on a ton of small, uniformed frame-like shapes? I could cut them all out, but no way it'd stay even enough to create a good clean pattern.

In other news, we found a top at Goodwill to use as a close-enough (Unless something better comes along) for the Luna jacket. And blue leggings were found at a clothing store for $5.

I just don't know much about the original movie jacket. Was it off the shelf? Custom made? Stupidly hard to find?

Shylaah · 06-08-2011, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenobius

>>>clip<<<.. but I'm having trouble finding geometric shapes that are frame-like and not solid. My plan was to create a chain-mail like weave using stickers so as to create depth on the mask.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can get my hands on a ton of small, uniformed frame-like shapes? >>>clip<<<

Not exactly sure what you're looking for a "frame-like" thing.....
Do you mean like a paper cut out "picture frame".....
And is the "using stickers" the same as the "frame-like" thing?...

If a paper picture frame is what you seek or a sticker picture frame you might try looking in scrapbooking supplies at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Joanns Fabrics for some pre-cut shapes. Also, might find a hand punch of such a frame you could cut as many as you need from the paper of your choice. Don't know if it would cut sticker paper very well though......

Shylaah

Kenobius · 06-08-2011, 11:19 AM

Sorry if I was confusing, I probably should have just shown what I was thinking. Here's a rough thing I made in Paint, it's not really all that even and stuff.

I was thinking that if I found stickers (or something else that could be glued easily) and made a similar pattern on the mask, then painted it, the mask would have some nice depth to it with a lot of interesting movement.

But finding shapes that small might be tricky. Was on my way to HobLob today, but there's a massive power outage all over town, d'oh.

Shylaah · 06-08-2011, 07:11 PM

Wow, yeah, frames that small and thin might be hard to come by.

A thought: How about quilling papers? They are uniformly cut strips of paper about 18 inches long, comes in 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, some up to 1/2 inch wide. Traditionally used to make filigree art.

So, I was thinking if you didn't need the corners to be square, that you should be able to fold these strips into squares with a pretty good degree of accyrate regularity especially if you cut templates to shape it around.....and you could hide the cuts under the over weaves...........???

Shylaah

blf · 06-08-2011, 07:16 PM

Cool costume

Kenobius · 06-09-2011, 12:09 AM

Thanks blf!

And Shylaah you may be onto something! I'll be looking into this some more for sure. Thanks for the tip, not in a million years would I have thought of that.

blf · 06-13-2011, 08:15 PM

My daughter has been inspired by your build - guess I'll look around for some Luna wear!!!

Kenobius · 06-14-2011, 11:03 PM

Yay! Have fun!

I've started work on the death eater holster. One thing to note; I have no sewing machine. This should be fun.

Kenobius · 06-25-2011, 02:37 PM

Okay, so I have learned a very important lesson: I am a major procrastinator. This took way longer than it should have, but at last, the belt/holster is done!

It was made quite cheaply using 3 belts found at a thrift store. The main belt was painted black and adjusted to fit my skinny waist. The main holster piece was a different, more sturdy belt. I used the belt's metal hardware as the guides to hold the wand. I was never a huge fan of the closed tube style holster seen in the movies, so I went with an open design. Hopefully the wand stays in place during extreme movement. And as for the brace piece, yep, that's belt #3. I sort of combined the Y-shape holsters and W-shape holsters seen in movies. I have such a tiny waist that the W-style would have been super smushed to keep it practical, but I wanted to retain the more horizontal wand position, so I just made a basic triangle like shape. It works. Everything is held together with rivets and Velcro for the brace piece.

All in all, I'm pretty proud of it for as little as it ended up costing. I may shorten the main holster piece at the end, but other than that, she's done.

For a general costume update, here's what I got to do yet.

-Dye robe properly this time.

-Found a basic character shirt at my local community theater, having someone hand stitch some designs on it.

-Need to build up the mask around the mouth piece I found for it. And then paint it. The crazy pattern I was talking about for it a few posts ago has been scrapped for a more simple pattern. Hopefully it shows up once I paint it.

-Make bracers.

Gulp. It's almost July. Is there any such thing as liquid motivation?

blf · 06-25-2011, 03:30 PM

Very nice. You going to DragonCon? My daughter wants to go as Luna

Kenobius · 07-01-2011, 06:15 PM

For my cloak, I'm using an old Jedi robe I got off of Costumebase (I know, I know) years ago. It was a dark brown color that has faded to a purplely hue... so I figured it could go black.

Except I'm having a hell of time getting it to go black. I used 2 dry packs and one liquid bottle of RIT. I poured in 1 cup of salt, and dyed it in a tub outside by hand. It's darker, but it still has brown/purple tones in it. The shade is a lot lighter than the rest of my costume and this bugs me. I need help. Is there an uber-dye out there that will zap it black? Should I have used RIT color remover first? I assumed it wasn't needed since I was going from a darker shade to a dark shade.

From top to bottom: Black piece of foamcore, the original (and faded) robe sample, and the dyed results.

Gallifreyan · 07-01-2011, 06:54 PM

In my experience, the black RIT dye is actually more gray than black and doesn't really dye to a really dark black. If I were you, I'd probably try dying it a couple more times with the RIT dye and/or experiment with some other dyes. Another thing to think about, is the fabric 100% cotton? A natural fabric will dye much easier than a non-natural fabric. If you're working with something that isn't 100% cotton, you might be better off using an acid dye (I think you can find some brands at Joanns and they should be labeled as such). Hopefully that helps a bit.

Kenobius · 07-02-2011, 08:40 AM

Thanks for the tip, I'll take a sample with me and stop at a few places after work.

In other news, one of the bracers is all done. Progress!

Kenobius · 07-12-2011, 03:12 PM

Down to the wire now!

Today I will share the shirt and the bracers. The shirt I found at the local community theater I participate in. It's just a basic black character shirt, as we call 'em. For the stitching, I knew I couldn't do it, so I begged my friend to help me out. I used Pete SSS 's build as inspiration for the chain stitching method. (Check his stuff out HERE, it's super cool)

Flash on; Flash off. Also, I need a mannequin.

I'm super happy with how it turned out. My friend used a metallic thread so it shimmers oh so slightly when light hits it. Wicked.

For the bracers, I made some basic ones using craft foam and Plasti-dip. There's a great tutorial on youtube HERE. (I'm sure he's a member here) I've never done foam armor stuff before, I enjoyed it. Will do this again.

Basic, but it works.

I'm trying to re-dye the cloak again, but other than that... I think everything is finally done. I'll post mask pics tomorrow, I'm very proud of how it turned out.

Stay tuned!

blf · 07-12-2011, 04:10 PM

This is really coming together! Looks great!

Kenobius · 07-14-2011, 12:41 PM

Whoops, day late. But on the eve of Deathly Hallows part 2, I have finally taken mask pictures! It's been done done for a couple of days now, but you know me...

So the mask. Howlrunner took one of the toy voice changer masks and made a custom design. (Check it out!) This inspired me to try something similar. After searching high and low for a mask, it was Howlrunner himself who came through and hooked me up with a toy mask that he had started to mod. I wanted to make my mask somewhat raw and dirty, not a lot of grace like Malfoy's. This is the end result:

I went with a satin black coat with silver Rub-n-buff over it. I've never used RnB before and holy crap I love it. They weren't kidding when they said "a little dab will do ya." I love how dirty the finish looks, and how well it popped all the details. It may look a little too streak-y in some places, but I'm done with messing with it for now.

I actually had a crisis with the RnB. On the right cheek I accidentally put it on way too strong. I was like "I'll just paint over the RnB!" Bad idea, as it really did a number to the spray paint finish. So I had to isolate the cheek area, and re-sand it down and prime it and then paint it again. That didn't exactly go as planned, because the new paint job on the cheek was thicker than the rest of the mask, and it created that line you see running down the right side. But with a little bit of luck it just made the mask look more used and abused. Whew.

The line pattern was made using very thin tape stuff I found at HobLob. The only downside is that it's peeling a little on the edges. The other decorations were found at Walmart of all places in the scrap-booking section. I cut the stickers up to the shape I wanted and glued them on. They were originally glittler stickers, which ended up giving off a nice texture once painted.

I re-shaped the mouth to fit the mouth piece I wanted to use. I found it too at HobLob; it was originally a fancy label holder. This was my first time using filler to re-shape something, and it's a little rough. But I'm happy with how it turned out. Anything rough looking on this project the better. I used a scrap piece of screen material doubled over for the mouth hole.

I used an old belt for the strap and a buckle that I hit with RnB for good measure. Everything is held in with rivets. The mask fits very well, after a little bit of padding inside.

Overall, I'm really proud of how this baby turned out. I was a little shaky at first trying to figure out how I wanted this project to go, but once I found my footing I just ran.

tl;dr - I made a death eater mask, guys!

Howlrunner · 07-14-2011, 03:31 PM

I like what you did with the mask. Looks good.

Now we need to see the mask on with the hood up!

swift3109 · 07-14-2011, 05:23 PM

It really came out good. I cant wait to see more!

Kenobius · 07-15-2011, 02:42 PM

Ask and ye shall receive! Here's some shots from the premiere. I was one of two death eaters I saw all night, and I think I made the other dude look bad. Too bad I couldn't find him for a picture. I had a lot of people stop and ask for my photo. Oh, and the movie theater said I couldn't wear the mask, but I did anyway for photos.

It was a fun experience, even though the audience went a little too far with the out bursts every 2 seconds.

And here's the finished Luna

juno · 07-15-2011, 02:47 PM

Fantastic costumes! I love the shot of you eating popcorn. Classic!

Kenobius · 07-15-2011, 11:42 PM

Just bumpin' to share this picture another camera caught:

So cool.

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05-30-2011, 03:06 PM	#1
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Hello, everyone! I decided I should probably get over my RPF intimidation and post a thread to track the progress of a couple of HP costumes and propy things me and the girlfriend are working on before DH Part 2 hits theaters. I'll admit something to you all now; as of writing this, I have only seen the first Harry Potter movie. So I'm flying a little blind on a lot of the stuff. Thankfully the HP community here on the RPF is very kind and awesome and loves to take lots of pictures! I'll admit something else; I'm not a master craftsman. I really wish I was, but at the end of the day I have to accept that I cannot simply do some of the crazy wicked things I see on here. Jack of all trades; master of none. I'm also somewhat limited by cash flow. Sure I could go out and buy the super accurate version of this or that, but I still want to be able to eat. Being thrifty is just another challenge I like to give myself, I suppose. So with that out of the way, let's get on with it. This post will serve as a hub of sorts for links to all the pictures I post, just in case someone finds this when the thread is long dead. Please, don't be afraid to tell me anything. (I will give you bonus points if you tell me I'm a stud) P.S. - I'm a little unsure about putting my small props in this thread, but I figure any little tidbits I make won't merit their own thread over on the props board, so if that upsets the great RPF balance, then someone let me know and I'll punt. Death Eater Costume http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../debelt001.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../debelt002.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...deshirt002.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...deshirt001.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...bracers001.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../demask001.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../demask002.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../demask003.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../demask004.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../demask005.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../demask006.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../demask007.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...costume001.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...costume002.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...costume003.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...costume004.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...costume005.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...costume006.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...costume007.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...costume008.jpg Death Eater Wand http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../dewand001.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../dewand004.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../dewand005.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../dewand006.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../dewand007.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../dewand008.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12.../dewand009.jpg Luna Lovegood Costume http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ps/Luna004.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ps/Luna005.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ps/Luna006.jpg Luna Lovegood Necklace http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ps/Luna001.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ps/Luna002.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...ps/Luna003.jpg Wolfsbane Potion Bottle Label credit to Hinkypunk http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...olfsbane01.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...olfsbane02.jpg More to come! Last edited by Kenobius; 07-15-2011 at 11:44 PM.

05-30-2011, 03:25 PM	#2
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe The first thing I finished for my death eater costume was the wand. Since I'm going as an evil person, I wanted the wand to be simple (yet elegant) and rough around the edges. I used a 7/16" dowel rod as a base, roughly 10.5". First I sanded a bit with the dremmel then took a knife to it country style and whittled the rest of it to give it that natural cut look. My thumb got a blister. For paint I first coated everything in one shade of brown. I then washed black over the rough parts. After that dried, I took various shades of lighter brown and dry brushed them onto the wand just enough so it'd catch the highest ridges of the wand. I layered this on until I was happy with the look. Once I was done painting, I hit the rough parts with a glossy clear coat to make the browns pop a little. At first I thought I made a huge mistake going with a high gloss, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked the finish. To finish the wand, I added a leather cord grip. Just a basic wrap using some scrap I had laying around. I painted over the grip with black, but just enough so as some of the natural brown would show through. After it was glued, I hit the grip with a flat clear coat to hopefully protect the black from rubbing off. For the butt of the wand, I used a knurled screw thingy I had in my lightsaber part box. I love those things, and I thought it fitting I work one into my wand. I dry brushed black on it to tone down the brass and make it look more used and abused. All said and done, I really like wand making. Like making lightsabers, it's a totally unique experience each time. Hopefully I get to make more someday.

05-30-2011, 11:59 PM	#4
juno Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Posts: 2,015	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Love the wand and the necklace! I agree with your choice on gloss. It doesn't photograph as well in macro, but I think for your costuming it will really pop on camera. Deatheaters are so much fun because there's such potential to do what you want. We couldn't have seen EVERY Deatheater on screen.

06-06-2011, 09:57 PM	#5
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Thanks for the kind words, Juno! I don't have much to report these days. I have a ton of belts that I'm going to cobble together into a holster, and I'm still looking for that perfect design for my mask. I've been thinking of a pattern I want to transpose on the mask, but I'm a little lost to the how. Howlrunner used stickers on one of his customs, so I was thinking I'd look there... but I'm having trouble finding geometric shapes that are frame-like and not solid. My plan was to create a chain-mail like weave using stickers so as to create depth on the mask. Anyone have any ideas on how I can get my hands on a ton of small, uniformed frame-like shapes? I could cut them all out, but no way it'd stay even enough to create a good clean pattern. In other news, we found a top at Goodwill to use as a close-enough (Unless something better comes along) for the Luna jacket. And blue leggings were found at a clothing store for $5. I just don't know much about the original movie jacket. Was it off the shelf? Custom made? Stupidly hard to find?

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05-30-2011, 03:37 PM	#3
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Now onto the Luna Lovegood costume my girlfriend and I are making. We found a black skirt at Goodwill, and she's started to paint the designs herself. I can't take any credit for this part, it's all her. She's using this textile medium to make acrylic paints more fabric happy for the first time, so it's kinda done wonky things to some spots. She'll have to go over those parts again. But she's happy with how it's shaping up. While she was doing that, I was making her the beaded cork necklace. I was lucky enough to find some beads at Joanne's that I think look pretty darn close to the real thing. If anything, they might be a little bigger, but I'm not sure. I found them AFTER I had bought these super tiny ones Truth be told, I didn't research this much, just sorta went for it based on a few screenshots. I used a button for the top of the cork, also found at Joanne's. I still think it's a little too thick for it, but c'est la vie. If I find something better, I'll change it. After it was all said and done, I'm quite content with the necklace and the girlfriend wears it all the time, so she must like it too.

06-08-2011, 11:19 AM	#7
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Sorry if I was confusing, I probably should have just shown what I was thinking. Here's a rough thing I made in Paint, it's not really all that even and stuff. I was thinking that if I found stickers (or something else that could be glued easily) and made a similar pattern on the mask, then painted it, the mask would have some nice depth to it with a lot of interesting movement. But finding shapes that small might be tricky. Was on my way to HobLob today, but there's a massive power outage all over town, d'oh.

06-08-2011, 07:11 PM	#8
Shylaah . . . . . . . . Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 825	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Wow, yeah, frames that small and thin might be hard to come by. A thought: How about quilling papers? They are uniformly cut strips of paper about 18 inches long, comes in 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, some up to 1/2 inch wide. Traditionally used to make filigree art. So, I was thinking if you didn't need the corners to be square, that you should be able to fold these strips into squares with a pretty good degree of accyrate regularity especially if you cut templates to shape it around.....and you could hide the cuts under the over weaves...........??? Shylaah

06-08-2011, 07:16 PM	#9
blf Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 110	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Cool costume

06-09-2011, 12:09 AM	#10
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Thanks blf! And Shylaah you may be onto something! I'll be looking into this some more for sure. Thanks for the tip, not in a million years would I have thought of that.

06-13-2011, 08:15 PM	#11
blf Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 110	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe My daughter has been inspired by your build - guess I'll look around for some Luna wear!!!

06-14-2011, 11:03 PM	#12
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Yay! Have fun! I've started work on the death eater holster. One thing to note; I have no sewing machine. This should be fun.

06-25-2011, 02:37 PM	#13
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Okay, so I have learned a very important lesson: I am a major procrastinator. This took way longer than it should have, but at last, the belt/holster is done! It was made quite cheaply using 3 belts found at a thrift store. The main belt was painted black and adjusted to fit my skinny waist. The main holster piece was a different, more sturdy belt. I used the belt's metal hardware as the guides to hold the wand. I was never a huge fan of the closed tube style holster seen in the movies, so I went with an open design. Hopefully the wand stays in place during extreme movement. And as for the brace piece, yep, that's belt #3. I sort of combined the Y-shape holsters and W-shape holsters seen in movies. I have such a tiny waist that the W-style would have been super smushed to keep it practical, but I wanted to retain the more horizontal wand position, so I just made a basic triangle like shape. It works. Everything is held together with rivets and Velcro for the brace piece. All in all, I'm pretty proud of it for as little as it ended up costing. I may shorten the main holster piece at the end, but other than that, she's done. For a general costume update, here's what I got to do yet. -Dye robe properly this time. -Found a basic character shirt at my local community theater, having someone hand stitch some designs on it. -Need to build up the mask around the mouth piece I found for it. And then paint it. The crazy pattern I was talking about for it a few posts ago has been scrapped for a more simple pattern. Hopefully it shows up once I paint it. -Make bracers. Gulp. It's almost July. Is there any such thing as liquid motivation?

06-25-2011, 03:30 PM	#14
blf Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 110	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Very nice. You going to DragonCon? My daughter wants to go as Luna

07-01-2011, 06:15 PM	#15
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe For my cloak, I'm using an old Jedi robe I got off of Costumebase (I know, I know) years ago. It was a dark brown color that has faded to a purplely hue... so I figured it could go black. Except I'm having a hell of time getting it to go black. I used 2 dry packs and one liquid bottle of RIT. I poured in 1 cup of salt, and dyed it in a tub outside by hand. It's darker, but it still has brown/purple tones in it. The shade is a lot lighter than the rest of my costume and this bugs me. I need help. Is there an uber-dye out there that will zap it black? Should I have used RIT color remover first? I assumed it wasn't needed since I was going from a darker shade to a dark shade. From top to bottom: Black piece of foamcore, the original (and faded) robe sample, and the dyed results.

07-01-2011, 06:54 PM	#16
Gallifreyan Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 16	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe In my experience, the black RIT dye is actually more gray than black and doesn't really dye to a really dark black. If I were you, I'd probably try dying it a couple more times with the RIT dye and/or experiment with some other dyes. Another thing to think about, is the fabric 100% cotton? A natural fabric will dye much easier than a non-natural fabric. If you're working with something that isn't 100% cotton, you might be better off using an acid dye (I think you can find some brands at Joanns and they should be labeled as such). Hopefully that helps a bit.

07-02-2011, 08:40 AM	#17
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Thanks for the tip, I'll take a sample with me and stop at a few places after work. In other news, one of the bracers is all done. Progress!

07-12-2011, 03:12 PM	#18
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Down to the wire now! Today I will share the shirt and the bracers. The shirt I found at the local community theater I participate in. It's just a basic black character shirt, as we call 'em. For the stitching, I knew I couldn't do it, so I begged my friend to help me out. I used Pete SSS 's build as inspiration for the chain stitching method. (Check his stuff out HERE, it's super cool) Flash on; Flash off. Also, I need a mannequin. I'm super happy with how it turned out. My friend used a metallic thread so it shimmers oh so slightly when light hits it. Wicked. For the bracers, I made some basic ones using craft foam and Plasti-dip. There's a great tutorial on youtube HERE. (I'm sure he's a member here) I've never done foam armor stuff before, I enjoyed it. Will do this again. Basic, but it works. I'm trying to re-dye the cloak again, but other than that... I think everything is finally done. I'll post mask pics tomorrow, I'm very proud of how it turned out. Stay tuned!

07-12-2011, 04:10 PM	#19
blf Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 110	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe This is really coming together! Looks great!

07-14-2011, 12:41 PM	#20
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Whoops, day late. But on the eve of Deathly Hallows part 2, I have finally taken mask pictures! It's been done done for a couple of days now, but you know me... So the mask. Howlrunner took one of the toy voice changer masks and made a custom design. (Check it out!) This inspired me to try something similar. After searching high and low for a mask, it was Howlrunner himself who came through and hooked me up with a toy mask that he had started to mod. I wanted to make my mask somewhat raw and dirty, not a lot of grace like Malfoy's. This is the end result: I went with a satin black coat with silver Rub-n-buff over it. I've never used RnB before and holy crap I love it. They weren't kidding when they said "a little dab will do ya." I love how dirty the finish looks, and how well it popped all the details. It may look a little too streak-y in some places, but I'm done with messing with it for now. I actually had a crisis with the RnB. On the right cheek I accidentally put it on way too strong. I was like "I'll just paint over the RnB!" Bad idea, as it really did a number to the spray paint finish. So I had to isolate the cheek area, and re-sand it down and prime it and then paint it again. That didn't exactly go as planned, because the new paint job on the cheek was thicker than the rest of the mask, and it created that line you see running down the right side. But with a little bit of luck it just made the mask look more used and abused. Whew. The line pattern was made using very thin tape stuff I found at HobLob. The only downside is that it's peeling a little on the edges. The other decorations were found at Walmart of all places in the scrap-booking section. I cut the stickers up to the shape I wanted and glued them on. They were originally glittler stickers, which ended up giving off a nice texture once painted. I re-shaped the mouth to fit the mouth piece I wanted to use. I found it too at HobLob; it was originally a fancy label holder. This was my first time using filler to re-shape something, and it's a little rough. But I'm happy with how it turned out. Anything rough looking on this project the better. I used a scrap piece of screen material doubled over for the mouth hole. I used an old belt for the strap and a buckle that I hit with RnB for good measure. Everything is held in with rivets. The mask fits very well, after a little bit of padding inside. Overall, I'm really proud of how this baby turned out. I was a little shaky at first trying to figure out how I wanted this project to go, but once I found my footing I just ran. tl;dr - I made a death eater mask, guys!

07-14-2011, 03:31 PM	#21
Howlrunner Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Scotland Posts: 1,400	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe I like what you did with the mask. Looks good. Now we need to see the mask on with the hood up!

07-14-2011, 05:23 PM	#22
swift3109 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Tampa Posts: 20	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe It really came out good. I cant wait to see more!

07-15-2011, 02:42 PM	#23
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Ask and ye shall receive! Here's some shots from the premiere. I was one of two death eaters I saw all night, and I think I made the other dude look bad. Too bad I couldn't find him for a picture. I had a lot of people stop and ask for my photo. Oh, and the movie theater said I couldn't wear the mask, but I did anyway for photos. It was a fun experience, even though the audience went a little too far with the out bursts every 2 seconds. And here's the finished Luna

07-15-2011, 02:47 PM	#24
juno Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Posts: 2,015	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Fantastic costumes! I love the shot of you eating popcorn. Classic!

07-15-2011, 11:42 PM	#25
Kenobius Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 69	Re: My Humble Journey into the Harry Potter Universe Just bumpin' to share this picture another camera caught: So cool.

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