GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP -- Update: Finished photos in latest post!

[dashy]

Started this project mid last year, currently re-making some parts to improve on proportions, fabrics, detail and other aspects.


JERKIN:

• Created the pattern in Adobe Illustrator
• Strip material is jute webbing, original width 50mm, edges machine sewn, airbrushed with a custom mix of Createx paint
• 2mm and 3.5mm leather cord (the front closure cord in pictures is 4mm but I've since replaced it with 3.5mm)
• Edging is pleather that has been painted with Angelus leather paints (sponged on and rubbed with paper towel)
• Distressing done with sandpaper
• Hand-sewn eyelets
• Mud detailing is acrylic paint sponged on

BLOUSE:

• Altered vintage pattern Butterick 5285
• Fabric type is unknown (no label), possibly some kind of wool blend
• Lower drawstring casing for the gathered neck is a french seam that joins the neckline to that separate piece/strip, the upper casing is just hemmed
• Distressing done with sandpaper
• Airbrushed the dirty areas with a custom mix of Createx paint
• Brown neck band fabric is cotton gauze

BOOTS:

• Altered (cut) shoe base
• Cardboard patterning
• Eva foam, heat formed around toe area, scored in creases/texture, sealed with Peel Coat then painted with Angelus leather paints
• 1mm waxed thread detailing
• Eyelets
• The lacing that ties it up will be upgraded to leather lace soon

NEEDLE:

• Hilt base is PVC pipe with tapered dowel inside
• Pommel base is a sanded decorative pine piece, drilled to correspond with tapered dowel end
• Pommel detailing and cross-guard sculpted with Worbla
• Blade is 3 tapered pieces of Worbla, merged together to form a triangular, scooped shape, filled in with a small amount of Apoxie Sculpt
• Sealed and primed with automotive sandable multi-surface primer
• Metallic paint used was Dupli-Color Auto Spray - "Chardonnay" (gold) for pommel and cross-guard and "Iron Grey" for the blade
• Sponged on acrylic dark brown dirty wash - sinks into the recessed areas then is wiped off the raised areas
• Grip material is a section cut from a 2nd hand purse that has been painted with Angelus leather paint

Needle ended up being a week-before-event-rush-build. Worbla was a poor choice of material for the blade, difficult to keep it straight and smooth whilst forming. I intend to re-make the blade with a stronger material that goes through the entire length of the hilt, possibly also with some kind of core. Needs to be con-safe.

Already finished sewing and weathering 100% linen pants but I haven't decided yet if the fabric weight is right so I might be re-making it. I'll post that in a future update.

I've already made the belt from eva foam, attempted to make it look like leather, it was close but I am still not completely satisfied with it, currently in the process of making another with actual leather which will provide greater durability too.

 

[brandomack]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Fantastic work, I really like the leather texturing on the boots. Everything looks top notch!

 

[SmilingOtter]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Great work!

I suspect that the "hero" prop version of Needle used a cut-down epee blade. If you have any fencing clubs nearby, ask them nicely, and the next time a blade breaks (which happens on occasion) they'll probably give it to you for the asking. Of course, its suitability depends on where it broke. Alternately, you could just order a cheap epee blade online.

 

[Iggy]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Love Arya's character. Great work on this so far, especially the shoes and jerkin!

 

[dog of ulthar]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

nnnngh your weathering is amazing​. I'm very jealous.

 

[globul]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Nice Work!

 

[dashy]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Great work!

I suspect that the "hero" prop version of Needle used a cut-down epee blade. If you have any fencing clubs nearby, ask them nicely, and the next time a blade breaks (which happens on occasion) they'll probably give it to you for the asking. Of course, its suitability depends on where it broke. Alternately, you could just order a cheap epee blade online.

Hmm, that could work well for a photoshoot but unfortunately wouldn't be con-safe. I'll keep it in mind though, thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone.

BOOTS update:

Decided to overhaul the boots because I wasn't happy with the scored texture. Covered the eva foam with pleather - stretched over and glued with contact adhesive.
Other improvements include:

• Cut out wedges from the back then re-joined, this makes the boots fit much closer to my ankle
• The decorative lacing around the edge is now double the thickness
• The main lacing is now actual leather

Ended up being too difficult to properly re-lace the toe area at this stage due to it being assembled/enclosed (I originally laced it prior to gluing on the eva foam covers), so I took a different approach: cut tiny pieces of thread, hot glued them on, then tried to taper the ends and push them in a bit to create the illusion of them being threaded through. Might need to work on that a bit more.


BELT:
Steps involved:

• Bought brown belt length blank
• Cut to what I think is the right length (bit longer than V1)
• Tapered one end to a point
• Holes punched in
• Buckle slot cut
• End buckle area skived/shaved down to fit 9mm rivets
• Belt keeper/loop scored and stapled
• Edges bevelled, dyed, burnished and sealed
• Sponged on Angelus leather paint for weathered look
• Distressed it (bending, folding, etc); might do some more later

This was my first leather project. I think I hammered the rivets in too much but at least they're secure. 2 of them will be hidden when the belt is worn anyway.

 

[PaxAddict]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

That jerkin is great work, and everything complements it well.
And epee blades are not inherently dangerous, grind the edges to an extreme blunt, and grind the point (or the break) down far enough that it couldn't stab, and it's as con safe as anything else can be. It's too blunted to break skin, and too light to be used to bludgeon anyone, which is something I cannot say about my Blackfish sword, which is coming to con with me (blunted to oblivion, but still a heavy bit of steel, the thing could crack a rib if you're not careful)

If you ever make it out to Minnesota, let me know. Im doing blackfish and my buddy has an outstanding Eddard. We could do a photoshoot!

We don't have many people cosplaying GoT out here.

 

[PotionMistress]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Oh my, this is terrific! You've done a wonderful job on all of this! Can't wait to see you in the complete gear.
:thumbsup

 

[dashy]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Thank you PaxAddict and PotionMistress. PaxAddict, metal weapons/props are prohibited at some cons here - still tempted by that idea for future photoshoots though. The epee blades do indeed look very similar.

Long over-due update on Needle:

Wanted to experiment with another idea for the blade of Needle to see how sturdy it could be - resin casting. This involved:

1. Mold made with one piece of 3mm foamed PVC board (aka sintra), scored into 3 sections for each side of the triangular profile
2. Sealed/prepped the inside surfaces with J-Wax mold release
3. Temporarily joined the edges together with hot glue followed by tape
4. Mounted the tip to a stand/base
5. Cast with Supercast rigid polyurethane resin (bought from Barnes), fibreglass fishing rod embedded inside for a reinforcing core

After pouring in the resin I thought this was going to be a complete failure, it wasn't perfect but I think I made it work.
The fishing rod was too close to the surface so I couldn't sand in much for the grooves. There were a few thin areas so I opened them up and filled in the holes with more resin. Did some repair work on the tip with Apoxie Sculpt. The blade is flexible and very light. It was an interesting experiment.

Pictured below is the raw cast followed by the finished version. Huge improvement over the previous worbla version anyway. I'm not too worried about it breaking so far as long as I'm careful with it and protect it really well when transporting it.

Also improved the finish on the cross-guard and pommel by making it smoother and replaced the grip with leather that had a great pattern in it.

I thought I was satisfied with the blade finish but now I'm thinking I might need to make it look more shiny/polished. It does have a nice shine to it when held near a light.

PANTS:

• Fabric: linen; fabric weight: approx. 290g/sqm / 10.2 oz)
• Altered pattern Butterick 5614
• Distressing done with sandpaper
• Airbrushed the dirty areas with a custom mix of Createx paint

Felt that the linen I used for the first pants I made was too light-weight. Re-made them with a heavier linen (bought from an Etsy seller). Still not sure if it's spot on but I'm happier with it now.

Here's a side-by-side comparison:
V2 on the left - - (fabric weight: approx. 290g/sqm / 10.2 oz)
V1 on the right - - (fabric weight: approx. 212g/sqm / 7.5 oz)
I love the coarser texture of the heavier-weight linen.



Going to take some photos of the whole outfit together with Needle soon which will conclude this build for the time being.

*Edit* Just realised I made the mistake of not posting Needle in a separate thread in the 'replica props' section on here, whoops. >_< I'll post a thread for it there.

 

[SmilingOtter]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Needle and the pants look fantastic. I love the weathering.

 

[Laamberry]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP (Incl. Needle)

Holy hell this is gorgeous. You have such a good eye for texture! I especially love the work you've done on Needle's hilt and the weathering you've done on the jerkin.

 

[dashy]

Re: GoT S4: Arya Stark WIP --- *update* --- Finished photos in latest post!

Thank you SmilingOtter and Laamberry! That is lovely to hear.

Even though this thread should have just been for the costume I might as well conclude the previous progress of Needle here with this final update.

Sanded off the previous silver spray paint, sprayed a new undercoat/base of Krylon Fusion Satin Black (wet sanded to 2000 grit) then applied silver Rub n Buff. (Also, European Gold on the pommel and cross-guard). Huge improvement! Looks much more like steel now, more reflective. It's not perfect but at least some of the flaws can pass as weathering - so over it at this point.

Video which shows the metallic finish better:

Project Arya is finally finished! HURRAY!!! I recently did 2 location photoshoots, so happy with this result! Here are some photos from the shoot I did by myself (DSLR mounted on a tripod, remotely controlled via a phone app):

More photos can be found in this album on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.919042221504426.1073741831.357829864292334&type=3

 

[SmilingOtter]

Nicely done! Again, the weathering and distressing are top notch.

 

[kristen jones]

Absolutely perfect! VERY well done!

A Girl has mastered her craft.

 

[Leylander]

Amazing work!

 

[Speedtospare]

Agreed, Very impressed

 

[brisingr]

little late to a currently very quiet thread, but thank you so much for sharing! i'm beginning my arya soon and i had no idea where to start, so thank you for posting!

 

[Dr Jones Sr]

It's fantastic.

And it makes me regret that I've not done any work on my Selmy costume in months.