Thanks for the update, greenmachines!
Adam Ant, Then and now
MAKE BELIEVE
Master Member
Your costume is a work of art. So much time (and money) spent. Not a single detail left behind.
A true labor of love.
Outstanding work!
A true labor of love.
Outstanding work!
It is one of the few items I have ever really stressed out about and only because of timeframe. Do it wrong and there isn't much time to scramble for an alternative. But slow and careful with practicing on the top inch before moving down to the real line and I should be golden.Looking good and the pants will certainly make the upper part complete...eager to see your transformed boots
I trimmed the height. Next step is heat adhesive to bond the inner to the outer. I am going to dremel sand the tops and then buff them to a rounded bonding edge before the final leather paint on the fresh edge. The remainder of the boot's exterior will get a full shoe shine treatment, smoothing damaged areas, staining waxing and buffing. These will be more rigid than Adam's but are worthy for pics and poses. I will darken all areas to black, including the stitching areas and lower sole plates. Here is cut down but without all the finishing:
And, I just found my dog's long lost pig squeaky chew toy...
And, I just found my dog's long lost pig squeaky chew toy...
Definitely the biggest difference I see is the stiff, rounded toe. Adam's is definitely not a supported round toe but loose and low. I don't usually use these words but this will likely be my "final selection" boots unless they categorically look terrible with the pants.
(Update 4-21-24 DO NOT USE HEAT BONDING ADHESIVE. Two layers of leather Do Not react well to heating from one side as that side shrinks due to moisture loss. ONLY use brush on adhesives).
Stirrups sewn in:
Hoping to get completion on boots today. I have bonded the inner and outer leather of the boot shaft with flexible brush on clothing adhesive. After it dried, I applied a top coat of black acrylic leather paints to the top cut edge. Today's work is knocking down the scratches, and abrasions as this was a used boot purchase and they were well used. I will need to immerse myself in the field of boot care so, today, we go full LAWNMOWER MAN and bulk input videos until we reach pro status 99th level. I will post after stain, wax and polish.
Sorry, forgot all about this but for leather trimming, I use a carpet layer's duck billed scissors. Short stroke cutting stops large stroke mistakes. This takes some serious force which leaves too much room for runaway cuts when it finally gives in. Short blades with long handles brings it back under control. Mine also have comfort rubber grips.
Sorry, forgot all about this but for leather trimming, I use a carpet layer's duck billed scissors. Short stroke cutting stops large stroke mistakes. This takes some serious force which leaves too much room for runaway cuts when it finally gives in. Short blades with long handles brings it back under control. Mine also have comfort rubber grips.
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Here is my cropped, glued, painted and polished boots. Not perfect, but shiny. Second picture is my "action" pose to show the appropriate wrinkles comp to Adam's.
And my lighting near the mirror sucks because we have been moving furniture around.
And my lighting near the mirror sucks because we have been moving furniture around.
Having a blast. Didn't make it to the entranxe before my family got stripped away. I had to announce it was only a costume.
definitely considering the Now Adam costume a success. I was about 20 yards from the theatre doors when I heard lots of footsteps. I turned and my family was lost behind a wall of people. After about the sixth group picture the yelling started. "We love you Adam." The lady next to me whispers "We have 15 people who drove a long way to see you, they will all want a picture." Then as I start loudly announcing that it is just a costume, the chanting started "Adam....Adam..." I said "I want to let everyone know, it is just a costume." The lady next to me is full stun. She started laughing and then thanked me for letting her know so she didn't go brag to her friends.
I will be working on getting the pictures and video from my wife and daughter but it is 330 in the AM and they are going to sleep.
The concert was amazing, as expected, English Beat opened and Adam, of course, lit the place on fire. He held us to about 5-7 minutes for begging for the encore but we got Goody Two Shoes so I don't care if I am full mute now from yelling. They gave us almost 3 and a half hours of concert. 3 if I minus the intermission. Now to force myself to sleep. 2.5 hour drive and I am still buzzing.
I will be working on getting the pictures and video from my wife and daughter but it is 330 in the AM and they are going to sleep.
The concert was amazing, as expected, English Beat opened and Adam, of course, lit the place on fire. He held us to about 5-7 minutes for begging for the encore but we got Goody Two Shoes so I don't care if I am full mute now from yelling. They gave us almost 3 and a half hours of concert. 3 if I minus the intermission. Now to force myself to sleep. 2.5 hour drive and I am still buzzing.
We are finally, slowly, getting up and around today. Happy Star Wars Day!!
I was telling my son about the crowd pictures and I said that I hadn't thought anything was off, just people who liked my costume because the very first lady who asked for a picture clearly said she loved my costume. My wife heard me telling my son, just now and she said no, the first lady saw our family walking and pulled my wife aside and asked if I was him, heading in to the concert, so she was already told it was a costume. Which is hilarious, because that put me immediately at ease with just taking pictures with this rapidly growing crowd. I just thought it was a great way to get pictures of us with the other Adam fans but the little voice in my head said "Dude. Your family is nowhere to be seen. How can they be getting pictures of this?"
I was telling my son about the crowd pictures and I said that I hadn't thought anything was off, just people who liked my costume because the very first lady who asked for a picture clearly said she loved my costume. My wife heard me telling my son, just now and she said no, the first lady saw our family walking and pulled my wife aside and asked if I was him, heading in to the concert, so she was already told it was a costume. Which is hilarious, because that put me immediately at ease with just taking pictures with this rapidly growing crowd. I just thought it was a great way to get pictures of us with the other Adam fans but the little voice in my head said "Dude. Your family is nowhere to be seen. How can they be getting pictures of this?"
So this is the look when you think you are standing with Adam (daughter got this perfectly timed picture of them waving their friends over to join the picture)......Well deserved man
if you zoom in to the lady in the left of the photo, check the eyes... that is the look you were hoping for joberg
So out there in the world are all the videos and pictures from the sea of phones that popped up just then. The theatre entrance is to the left of the picture. We had come in at the very tail end of the ticket line. Right as this picture was taken that group on the left came all the way around. My daughter has a video of slowly being pushed out onto the street. We are having troubles swapping photo/vid as it keeps degrading to text level and email keeps giving the limit issues. Hoping to get together with the dot today and transfer files.
They didn't have any meet and greet listed in the ticket sales and none seemed to happen after so we didn't get the opportunity for pictures with the band. Luckily, I had researched that in advance so was not a dissapointment.
I think one of the most overlooked skills of Adam Ant is his speaking voice, at just conversational level. I would love to hear him do audio books. Likely has, so now I am searching. He has a truly delightful speaking tone and he sounds like he is 20, it's crazy that it is still this beautiful mellow tone.
And, words do not suffice to describe how he OWNS the stage. He doesn't beg you for your praise but instead, begs you to join him in having a great time....together. That is a crazy skill to be able to gather the entire crowd into a huddle and say thank you all for coming, now, this is going to get a bit sketchy, ya?, are we all ready for this because HERE WE GOOOOO!!! without actually saying it.
And he still dances the "drunken punk teen" dance steps. My wife says "He sounds amazing but is he drunk?" I said "He has always danced like that, even at 25. It's just him enjoying dancing."
They didn't have any meet and greet listed in the ticket sales and none seemed to happen after so we didn't get the opportunity for pictures with the band. Luckily, I had researched that in advance so was not a dissapointment.
I think one of the most overlooked skills of Adam Ant is his speaking voice, at just conversational level. I would love to hear him do audio books. Likely has, so now I am searching. He has a truly delightful speaking tone and he sounds like he is 20, it's crazy that it is still this beautiful mellow tone.
And, words do not suffice to describe how he OWNS the stage. He doesn't beg you for your praise but instead, begs you to join him in having a great time....together. That is a crazy skill to be able to gather the entire crowd into a huddle and say thank you all for coming, now, this is going to get a bit sketchy, ya?, are we all ready for this because HERE WE GOOOOO!!! without actually saying it.
And he still dances the "drunken punk teen" dance steps. My wife says "He sounds amazing but is he drunk?" I said "He has always danced like that, even at 25. It's just him enjoying dancing."
MAKE BELIEVE
Master Member
Well deserved! After all the time and passion invested.
Going to attempt to load up some video....
The lady on my right just finishes saying they came to see me. I realize we are no longer "taking pics with the costume guy", so I immediately respond, telling everyone it is a costume. Then I turned to her and said, in my best fake Russian tech support accent, "My name is Darrell" (remember the old Discovery card commercials "my name is peggy"?). That line is what brought the explosive laughter in this next video but was too quiet to get recorded.
The lady on my right just finishes saying they came to see me. I realize we are no longer "taking pics with the costume guy", so I immediately respond, telling everyone it is a costume. Then I turned to her and said, in my best fake Russian tech support accent, "My name is Darrell" (remember the old Discovery card commercials "my name is peggy"?). That line is what brought the explosive laughter in this next video but was too quiet to get recorded.
This last one is my daughter taking a shot of me waiting for my wife who was wandering the building after the concert because she liked the architecture. But it is one of my favorite for showing the head-to-toe of the outfit.
The below is me and the dot. She looks enough like Adam's daughter to do the album cover cosplay with some serious accuracy but she gets embarrassed easily so I only hint and she says no.
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