Lady Arbitrator AVP style

[Ei luj]

I am new to the Lair but have been lurking for a while, and have been inspired by the folks here....
awesome costumes and resourceful use of materials!

My thanks to Dahdtoudi, Xphobiax, and DarkHuntress (if I left anybody off, please forgive me!) its good to see Huntresses here
So, here's my small effort at realizing a Lady Arbitrator (inspired by the comic Bad Blood, numerous fanfics on the web, and the AVP book trilogy with Machiko Noguchi).

I still have to put more accessories, like bigger wristblades, wristcomputer electronics, better shoulder cannon & mount, "knuckleduster" gloves, and the bandolier.... so I put it in the "in progress" section (should it move to "completed"?)

Starting off with armguards, more pix to follow....

The costume has two sets of armguards, one set is flat and has no housings for blades or computer i.e. "dress uniform" set.
The other has room for the display and blades.


The "flat" armguard, no color yet

Putting it together after being colored

wristblades gauntlet with freddy fingers, will get an upgrade

wristcomputer gauntlet (front opens, not top)

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Ei'luj

 

[XpHoBiaX]

I love leather craft. I am so glad you have decided to post up pics of your WIP! It doesn't look so hard now that it's all being broken down. Once I am back on my feet and in the swing of things, I will definately get cracking on leather predator armour. You rock.

 

[one and only]

That's looking amazing.
Very well done.

 

[Dark Huntress]

awesome!!! i wish i could have done something like that for my leather gauntlets... I had to buy tandy leather from hobby lobby and glue em together lol ... looks amazing

 

[DangerDavey]

Welcome to the Lair!

The great thing about leather is that it fits in just fine with hunter costumes and it is more enduring than latex or resin.

I am digging your gauntlet designs. I love the scalloped effect. More depth. If the rest of your costume parts turn out as well, you are going to end up with an awesome-looking hunter!!! Keep up the great work and be sure to post more progress pictures!!!

~DD

 

[Brandon1]

Awsome Guantlet
I've never read any of the books, so id on't really know what th arbitrators do.. i'm assuming like an honour guard?

can't wait to see what you do with the rest.

you mentioned blades? don't know if this is your style.. but have you ever played assassins creed? this might fit under that guantlet
http://www.xboxgazette.com/i/pic_assassinscreed_art_16.jpg

 

[Ei luj]

The one and only, XphobiaX, DarkHuntress,
Thanks for the feedback, its good to be with creative folks

DarkHuntress, DangerDavey,
All of its riveted, with a spot of glue under the overlaps to keep them in place, especially the blade and computer gaunts.
Those are three layers, the cone shape armguard piece, then an overlay to make the inside top of the gauntlet, then the scallop pieces over that.
The flat ones are just the cone shapes with scallop overlays, riveted at the scallop points and spot glued at the middle overlaps.
All the gaunts have velcro closures with snaps to ensure they don't come loose.

Many brown paper bags gave their all for this suit trim and fit till it looks right, then layout on the leather and cut. Then tape pieces to check fit. Then make small holes where the rivets go and pin them (seen in the flat unpainted pix) to see how it will look before taking the plunge and making those rivet holes.
THEN color it, then make a lotta noise like Rosie the Riveter.

The pics of the shin and thigh guards are up next....

Brandon,
Arbitrators are the Yautja equivalent of cops, they go after the criminals a.k.a Bad Bloods and bring them to justice...there's a comic book called Bad Blood starring an Arbitrator.
The lady part comes from the trilogy (AVP:War, AVP:Hunters Planet, and AVPrey) on which the movie AVP was loosely based... in the books a lady (Machiko Noguchi) teams up with a hunt leader, helps him fight xenos and gets her blooding mark, and then joins his pack. I took it further with a "what-if", what if Machiko rose through the ranks and became an Arbitrator?

I haven't played Assassins Creed, but I looked at your link.... way cool blades!
For now my upgrades are made out of stiff plastic from a car mudflap (cut with exactoknife) and then I will cover it with silver tape.
No more bendy Freddy Fingers :0

New blades to go in the wristblade gauntlet:

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Ei'luj

 

[Jluck]

very very cool concept.....i like wher your going w/ this.
cant wait to see more as it progresses.

 

[Brandon1]

cool, thanks for the info.

Really liken the style of those blades

 

[dark hunter]

looks great up to now , great work. Keep it up and keep us updated .

 

[Ei luj]

Jluck, DarkHunter, Brandon, thanks for the reviews

OK, everybody, here's some more pictures!

The shinguards, along with the kneeguard; the shinguard closure is the same as the wrist guards & gauntlets- velcro with snaps for insurance.

The knife that goes on the side of the shin guard; here there are snaps at knee and ankle which leave room for movement and allows for change if I get a different knife. The knife in there now was made from wood; the handle is a dowel, while the hilt and blade are thin wood. I covered the blade with silver tape, and the handle with thin leather; the pommel is copper tape.

Then the thigh guards, they are backed with rust colored suede, over this is a layer of plain leather shaped to a curve to fit the thigh, then the crescentd shaped and overlapped on top. All three layers are rivetted. A strap goes around the leg, which is also rivetted.

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Ei'luj

 

[XpHoBiaX]

wow, I like seeing it all close up. Your work is very clean and nice. You definately inspired me to get back into my leather craft! I went out job hunting and all I thought about was getting back into my hobby again.

How long have you been leather crafting? And is there a guild or something I could eventually join? ^_^ You got me all excited.

 

[Ei luj]

Glad you like it and have gotten interested again!

I've been doing leather work for around ten years; the first costume I did was a Braveheart vest, helmet, armguards, and shield. The next one was a Celtic Xena interpretation, the bustier/skirt combo, the strips over the skirt, sword back scabbard, upper armguards, lower armguards, kneeguards, belt knife scabbard, and helmet. Some pieces like part of the helmet, bustier, and shoes were purchased, then modified. The curve of the kneeguard was the genesis of the pattern for the crescents of my Predator armor....

I don't know of a guild offhand, I do wish there was a Tandy's closer to you... consulting the back of my catalog, there's one in Sacramento, 2858 Fulton avenue Mueller Corner Shopping centre. 866-817-3135 maybe you could check with them as to guilds and classes.
Is there still a Northern Renaissance Faire? Or other faires? Sometimes they know of guilds, etc.

(any problems with pix slowing things down, and I can post the links)

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Ei'luj

 

[XpHoBiaX]

Oh Goody! Yeah I have a catelog somewhere too. lol I think I have an idea where Fulton ave is. XD

YES There is a Celtic fest sometime before St. Patty's in Angels' Camp, where they hold the Frog Jumps at the fairgrounds. NOR CAL Ren Faire is still around too! I will ask around if I get there this year. OMG I have a black kilt that I have been wanting to make a bustier for and do a quiver/bow thingy for. I have the basic concept down for simple arm guards/shin guards. I am confident I can do simple belts and straps and things like that. But obviously no where near fantasy/historicaly correct armor. (Of course, in that time, women didn't wear kilts, and kilts were called lein in the 1500's. I studied up on highlanders, when I thought to join a re enactment guild. But I couldn't get a hold of the Senschal.)

 

[Ei luj]

(does happy dance) Glad to be of help!

Your armor:
Shinguards, check
Armguards, check
belt, check
thermal netting, check

Thigh guards shouldn't be a problem to do.

Now for the vest... maybe a cheat can be done using a bra and covering it with leather sections... the cups are a pain to do with only leather (did a suede bra for my Xena costume). It can be short or long depending if you're short or long waisted.

Bio is the biggie....

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Ei'luj

 

[XpHoBiaX]

awesome! Thanks for all your help too! I would so love to remake my predator armor in leather! And tool parts of it with my celtic stamping set! X] This is so exciting! I watch everyones' costuming progress...and wow. It's so exciting. Especially when you are alongside everyone else doing the same thing. (well similar on a BROAD spectrum)

 

[Ei luj]

XphobiaX,
You're welcome......(don't forget, the spectrum includes infrared )

OK, more pix; here's the vest front and back, you can see the spaulder and pauldron:

the pieces are attached to a suede vest; it is sewn at the shoulders and left side, with a velcro closure at the right side.

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Ei'luj

 

[one and only]

Looking good.

 

[Ei luj]

TheOneAndOnly
Thanks for the review
I need some help with the shoulder cannon part....

More pictures.... Weapons!!!!

The combistick is made out of three sizes of bamboo that fit inside one another.
Largest piece is a limbo stick, the next largest is a broom stick, and the smallest is the straight part of a cane, cut so the metal tip is used.
The largest pieces' segments were drilled out then the smaller pieces cut so they stuck out some; inner washers and outer washers glued to the sections keep them from sliding out.
Each piece has silver tape on it, and the largest section is covered with leather for a grip.

The shuriken is a three bladed knife I got at Frank & Sons Collectibles; no scabbard so I added the blade covers and made the holder with belt loop (apologies for the blurring; too close ):

The belt knife I also got at Frank and Sons, it also didn't have a scabbard so I made that... the handle looks like a xeno face, head, and tail, so I said I GOTTA HAVE IT

The shoulder cannon and power pack needs some work; presently the cannon is just a cone with a back ducttaped to the power pack I have room in the powerpack to put electronics and batteries; the overlap parts are velcro'ed to the back and come off in one piece:

One can never have too many weapons when you're among the best hunters in the galaxy

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Ei'luj

 

[TUSKY]

Fantastic work!!!
I am amazed at this different approach to Predator armour construction materials.
Like the rest i can't wait to see the final "hunter"
Again well done