I’ve had Essex’s finest telepathic ninja, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock AKA Psylocke, on my costume to do list for a while, but it was on the back burner...
But last November I took a course on making Latex clothing (I have an interest in the subject OK) with Latex Workshops http://www.latexworkshops.com/ in London, it was a full days course and quite intense, I think I learned a lot, but I mostly learned I really need a lot of practice. If you take the full course like I did you end up creating a full garment, I made a black sleeveless bodysuit with a yellow thunder bolt applique across the front- this was to be a latex version of my Ms Marvel costume. But I was never happy with that garment, it wasn’t very high quality (all my fault cause I made it) and it didn’t fit like I wanted it to (mostly around the chest and armpits).
On the course I bought one of their Complete Latex beginners kit bag with all the tools and enough glue/thinner/shinner/talc etc to make several garments, now all I needed was some sheet latex. Luckily enough I found a supplier in London who sells it to the trade and the general public - Radical Rubber http://www.radicalrubber.co.uk/ and I bought a 5m roll (there's a surcharge if you buy less than 5m) of black .4mm latex suitable for clothing, so I was all set.I took a few goes (OK another 3), redrawing the pattern each time (now up to version 4.5) to get something I felt fitted (I’ve a very odd size BTW, am rather erm Amazonian and nothing 1 piece of the shelf fits me) and looked right. But since I would of had to buy extra yellow latex for a thunderbolt applique on the front and applying it to the resultant very 3 dimensional garment was very tricky (maybe another day), I decided to leave it plain and Ms Marvel became Psylocke – specifically in her black X-Force uniform. I think the particular sheen and fit of latex suits this particular costume very well and IMHO it sort of fits the “X-Force” theme as well.
Sheet latex is an odd material to work with, very different from even stretch fabrics like Lycra, well you have to glue it together (Does that make it more of a build?) instead of sewing for a start and getting neat seams, especially curved ones, (this bodysuit has the princess seam from hell) is an art form (one I haven’t mastered, but the course helped a lot). Also the patterns are more complex than you would think, as it doesn’t stretch as much as you would think it does (no where near what Lycra/spandex can) so to get a really good close fit needs a very 3 dimensional garment tailored exactly to the wearers body. This fit problem and the learning curve is why I needed 4 garments and 2 toiles to even get this far. But since it only takes about 1.1 meters of latex, plus a zip to make a suit like this its actually turns out to be not that expensive.
So I’ve now got the bodysuit, for the rest well I think I’m going to adapt some latex opera gloves and thigh high stockings intoPsylocke’s (basically just cut 2 bands of the top of each) instead of making them (you can’t really make latex gloves anyway they have to be moulded), the belt buckle I’ll make from PVC foam board and the belt, hrm I don’t think latex drapes right for it, so I might just make that out of cotton or spandex.
The shoes, no high heels (relief), she wears split toe Ninja shoe/sock things, it seems you can get these from martial arts suppliers, I’ll have to see what I can find, if I can’t I’ll just wear black flats. For the sword, well I do actually have a steel (blunt though) samurai sword I can use for photo’s, but its not con safe, so I will have to try and make one out of PVC foam board.
For the hair, problem is it varies, looking though an Uncanny X-Force graphic novel some artists have her with black hair, some with purple and some very dark almost black but not quite purple. I don’t want to do black, the costume is to black, think hint of purple is the way to go, so I got a dark purple one off ebay, but I don’t think its dark enough, will have to ponder on this.
Still lots to do then.
But last November I took a course on making Latex clothing (I have an interest in the subject OK) with Latex Workshops http://www.latexworkshops.com/ in London, it was a full days course and quite intense, I think I learned a lot, but I mostly learned I really need a lot of practice. If you take the full course like I did you end up creating a full garment, I made a black sleeveless bodysuit with a yellow thunder bolt applique across the front- this was to be a latex version of my Ms Marvel costume. But I was never happy with that garment, it wasn’t very high quality (all my fault cause I made it) and it didn’t fit like I wanted it to (mostly around the chest and armpits).
On the course I bought one of their Complete Latex beginners kit bag with all the tools and enough glue/thinner/shinner/talc etc to make several garments, now all I needed was some sheet latex. Luckily enough I found a supplier in London who sells it to the trade and the general public - Radical Rubber http://www.radicalrubber.co.uk/ and I bought a 5m roll (there's a surcharge if you buy less than 5m) of black .4mm latex suitable for clothing, so I was all set.I took a few goes (OK another 3), redrawing the pattern each time (now up to version 4.5) to get something I felt fitted (I’ve a very odd size BTW, am rather erm Amazonian and nothing 1 piece of the shelf fits me) and looked right. But since I would of had to buy extra yellow latex for a thunderbolt applique on the front and applying it to the resultant very 3 dimensional garment was very tricky (maybe another day), I decided to leave it plain and Ms Marvel became Psylocke – specifically in her black X-Force uniform. I think the particular sheen and fit of latex suits this particular costume very well and IMHO it sort of fits the “X-Force” theme as well.
Sheet latex is an odd material to work with, very different from even stretch fabrics like Lycra, well you have to glue it together (Does that make it more of a build?) instead of sewing for a start and getting neat seams, especially curved ones, (this bodysuit has the princess seam from hell) is an art form (one I haven’t mastered, but the course helped a lot). Also the patterns are more complex than you would think, as it doesn’t stretch as much as you would think it does (no where near what Lycra/spandex can) so to get a really good close fit needs a very 3 dimensional garment tailored exactly to the wearers body. This fit problem and the learning curve is why I needed 4 garments and 2 toiles to even get this far. But since it only takes about 1.1 meters of latex, plus a zip to make a suit like this its actually turns out to be not that expensive.
So I’ve now got the bodysuit, for the rest well I think I’m going to adapt some latex opera gloves and thigh high stockings intoPsylocke’s (basically just cut 2 bands of the top of each) instead of making them (you can’t really make latex gloves anyway they have to be moulded), the belt buckle I’ll make from PVC foam board and the belt, hrm I don’t think latex drapes right for it, so I might just make that out of cotton or spandex.
The shoes, no high heels (relief), she wears split toe Ninja shoe/sock things, it seems you can get these from martial arts suppliers, I’ll have to see what I can find, if I can’t I’ll just wear black flats. For the sword, well I do actually have a steel (blunt though) samurai sword I can use for photo’s, but its not con safe, so I will have to try and make one out of PVC foam board.
For the hair, problem is it varies, looking though an Uncanny X-Force graphic novel some artists have her with black hair, some with purple and some very dark almost black but not quite purple. I don’t want to do black, the costume is to black, think hint of purple is the way to go, so I got a dark purple one off ebay, but I don’t think its dark enough, will have to ponder on this.
Still lots to do then.
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