OMG NEW STUFF!!

Okay, so the props aren’t new per-say, but they’re fresh to the blog! This post will showcase all the lovely props that made it impossible for me to finish the costumes I was tackling for Montreal’s 2011 anime convention, which in turn prompted the last-minute costume change seen at the end of my last post. 

Without further ado, here are my awesome props!

Let's get started with Linebeck's costume. I can hear some of you already saying, "But Linebeck doesn't have anything worth reproducing for a costume!" Well, you’re right, save on one account: the barrel in which he hides from Jolene. Since there was no way in the nine hells I was going to try to make a barrel, I decided to take some creative liberties and make stuff up. I decided to include some things I thought Linebeck should and/or could have in his possession but never really used since Link had all of his swag at his fingertips. 

So to start off, we have a map case.

 Made of genuine leather I found hiding in a dark corner of a drawer I cut a strip of brown and this really cool looking orange stained leather and proceeded to punch holes along both sides and along the bottom edge. I then cut two circles out of the orange leather and punched holes in that, then cut another small strip of brown and punched away. Starting down one edge, I stitched the two long pieces together with leather cording I found at the fabric shop (.49 cents a M!!) after that, I stitched the bottom shut and worked my way up the other side. Upon reaching the top, I realized I would need some way to attach the cover to the tube, while still being able to open it to take out the accompanying map (seen later). So I cut a small piece of orange leather, folded it in half lengthwise and stitched it shut with my sewing machine (poor little guy had such a time with it, broke the tread at least ten times before finishing, but he did it!! So proud). I then punched two holes on either end and looped the leather thread through both ends, also enabling me to start stitching up the cap. To finish it up, I cut another small piece of orange leather, folded it lengthwise, sewed it shut, and stitched it to the cap. I then added a button and accompanying button hole to keep the cap firmly in place. To finish the whole thing off, I braided the rest of the leather string into a shoulder strap and tied it off on the case. And voila! the finished product!

Next up is the map inside the case!

 

So this map is a literal copy of the one supplied with the Phantom Hourglass players guide which I copied using a teeny light box I use for some of my drawings. I traced the whole thing out on a Bristol board I bought at the Dollar Store and then began the long and very detailed inking process. I used a set of waterproof pens for my drawing and I am very pleased with the results. I used a variety of thicknesses in the nibs, (varying from .01-.08), and after letting the ink dry for a couple of hours I went ahead and added some colors I thought would look nice. I then let the entire thing dry overnight. The next morning, I filled my bathtub with warm water, dumped about 30-40 teabags into it, and began stirring. Once the water was properly steeped I left the map there for a day. Upon coming home from work I was pleased to see that the Bristol board had actually absorbed the tea coloring. While taking out the map there were (it turns out, fortunately!) some weak spots where my fingers punctured the paper. After letting the map dry on a towel overnight, I took a lighter to the edges and finger holes to make it look aged. After that I rolled it up and stuffed it into the map case where it now stays.

 

Just a close up shot to show the tea staining and burnt edges.

Next up in the Linebeck lineup is a spyglass and accompanying case.

 

Let it be known here and now, I did NOT make the spyglass, I found it on Ebay for a ridiculously low price and snatched it up for the prop.

The case was made in the same way as the map tube, but on a smaller scale so not much to go into on this one save the fact that I added a belt loop so it could hang from a belt.

We move now to the wallet. It's Linebeck, all he thinks about is money, so he had to have a wallet.

 

I cut a square of the orange leather roughly 20" wide by 8-10" tall, punching holes along the bottom and side edges. I then cut a circle with a guestimated circumference equal to that of the tube that would be formed from the joining of the two edges of the square. I stitched it up with more of that awesomely low priced leather thread, starting on the bottom, working around and then up the side. I added a simple belt loop once I finished stitching up the side to ensure it wouldn't go anywhere. I then finished it off with a simple double knot and then decided on how I would close the wallet. I chose a simple draw closure since it seemed the most feasible thing to do. Thus so, I punched an even number of holes along the top edge of the wallet leaving about 1" of space between the holes and the actual end of the fabric. Giving an extra five inches of thread on either side of the wallet, I knotted the ends and formulated some sort of drawstring like implement to slide the wallet closed. And that my friends is that for Linebecks props.

 Next up is Medli, and again, I know the only thing she has is a harp in the game, but I wanted to take a minor character and give her awesome, useful props.  So let's begin!

First up, we have the Mail Bag! Hey, she's one of the mail carrying people of Windwaker's Hyrule, why can't she have her own mail bag?

I made this in about two hours with no pattern whatsoever, but I’d like to re-do it, taking more time and using a dedicated pattern to get all my sizes right. Regardless, this is what I did:

I cut out a big rectangle of white fabric I had left over from a past costume, and then made two near copies of that piece in the red fabric, adding an inch all around since it would be the back and front of the bag. I cut a strip of red fabric about 20" long and about 2" thick and sewed the front and back pieces onto it, (this is where having a pattern would have been helpful, since I underestimated my length and had to cut another small strip to finish off the edge. Also the bag seems to somehow sit lopsided when flat,) and then attached the white piece of fabric to the front to take its place as the flap of the bag. This went without a hitch and I was pleased. I cut the curvy detail at the bottom and hemmed the edges. Using the same technique I used for the wing emblem on my Otakuthon 2010 costumes, I blew up a picture of the mail bag and made a pattern for the swirly detail on the front of the bag. After cutting the fabric, I used the "no-sew" glue stuff to adhere it to the bag. Making the little pyramid clasp thing at the bottom was a bit difficult, so my friend and I had a brain storming session at her house one night and ended up using a product called Super Sculpey. This stuff is awesome to work with and dries rock solid in the oven after only about ten minutes of baking, depending on the size and thickness of what you’re making. We used only about a square inch of the stuff to make a rough block before cutting down the edges to make it into a pyramid, and I stuck a piece of curved wire into the bottom so I would have something to stitch to the bag. After baking, I took it home and waited until the next day to paint, just in case the residual heat (minimal as it was) would have some adverse affects on the paint. Giving it three coats of yellow acrylic I let it dry and then did the cross details in gold acrylic. After everything was dry, I stitched it to the bag and that was that.

Next we have Medli's wallet.

 

 Since Medli is a small girl, (bird-girl, if you’re being technical,) I thought that her wallet should be a little cuter than most other wallets. I decided to make it out of material instead of leather and have it hang from her shoulder like a small purse instead of from a belt. It helped my decision that Medli wears a beltless dress. I asked my friend what color material she would like and she chose the brown fabric seen above. I cut out the same size fabric that I used for Linebeck's wallet and overlocked the edges to avoid fraying. Since I couldn't just punch holes in the fabric and be done with it, I needed to put eyelets into every hole I punched. Happily for me, I had just purchased a specially made tool that allowed me to punch holes and add the eyelets in three steps, saved me so much time in the long run. I stitched the wallet shut with brown yarn and added the blue Rupee detail on the front. The strap is essentially just a really long strip of fabric that I sewed shut, flipped right side out and hemmed, knotting the strap where it felt comfortable for my friend. To finish off the closure, I used a brown ribbon and two small red glass beads to give it a cuter look. All done!

Next up are Link's accessories. I don't presently have that many made, but so far, they are turning out great!

 First we have the gloves. My fiance got them for me as a Christmas present and they’re made of real calf skin! I actually felt bad, hacking off the fingers and the liner inside, but he specifically told me that I was to use them for my costume, so I did what I had to do.

I cut out the liner and chopped off the fingertips to where they seemed to fall nicely on my hands. I then had to re-size them to fit a little more snugly, a task fit for an industrial sewing machine used to stitch car seats and the like. After that, I installed pressure snaps on the inner wrist of each glove that will be hidden underneath the bracer pads, when I build them.

Next on the list is Link's Giants wallet, I tried to find a material that had a really coarse weave that would be reminiscent of fabric used in the guesstimated timeline I think the Legend of Zelda series takes place.

Made using the same process as the two other wallets, I stitched on the rupee and made a string closure that wraps around the opening as seen in the game. I have yet to find the necessary green, yellow and red beads that attach to the end of the string, but if push comes to shove, I'll make them.

Next up are two projects that I am really proud of. First is the classic 'Fairy in a Bottle'.

I found the bottle, Styrofoam ball, wings and glitter at the dollar store, the cork I ordered off Ebay, but have since found a reliable supplier in Canada. 

 As for the process, I made the fairy by painting it with a mix of white, pink and sparkling pink acrylic paints. While the paint was drying, I sprinkled more glitter on the Styrofoam ball that was to become the fairy's body. After the paint was dry, I stuck the wings into the ball and adjusted them until I was pleased with the angle. Next came the hard part of suspending the little fairy inside the bottle. I did some research and found a product called Encapso K made by the Smooth-On company. This stuff is awesome; it's a two part mixture that you blend together by volume, so you don't need any sort of scale. It hardens into this solid gelatinous-like material. To make my prop, I measured how much Encapso K I would need by simply filling the bottle with water, pouring that out into a measuring cup, and dividing by two for each part of the product. Mixing the two parts together, I decided to add some glitter to see if it would remain suspended when the Encapso K solidified. I poured half of the mixture into the bottle and settled the fairy into it. Apparently, the wings caused it to weigh too much as it immediately began to sink to the bottom of the bottle. Using a solution I found from a candle making video off YouTube, I took a small piece of string and tied it to the top of the wings. I then tied the other end to a chopstick I had settled onto the rim of the bottle. I let this solidify overnight and poured the rest of the mix in the next morning. 

**I stored my extra Encapso K in the fridge overnight since the box said it would set up at room temperature and it came out still in liquid form, so I guess I had made the right decision**

 I let the second layer set up and you can see the final product. :)

The next bottled object I decided to tackle was a blue potion. 

Again, the bottle was found at the dollar store and the cork was bought off ebay. The 'liquid' inside is actually more Encapso K, dyed blue with a product called Silc Pig made by Smooth-On. Essentially, you add the pigment into the part B before mixing the A and B together. I poured it in one shot, not having to suspend anything in it this time, and let it set over night. The result, a blue potion that will NEVER spill in my bag! What awesome stuff. I really suggest trying your hand at it.

 And last, but so nowhere near least, on this blog post is the best stuff I've made to date.

Yes, people, that's 1765 worth of rupees! (By Twilight Princess prices anyway!) You could fill a Giant's Wallet, a Big Wallet, and still have little left over for the bank! Let me tell you how I made them.

 I had decided to make these almost right away into the conceptualization of the Zelda cast costumes, because who doesn't want a wallet full of rupees? I started out making 5 blanks out of wood by cutting rectangular blocks off a 1X2 (or 2X1, I don't really know if that makes a difference when purchasing wood) and simply sanding them into shape on a belt sander. Be careful here guys, I nearly lost a fingertip before I wizened up and put on work gloves! After I had all 5 cut out and sanded down, I coated them with about 7 coats of varnish to make them non-porous. This process took me nearly two weeks since the varnish took FOREVER to dry between coats. After everything was dry, I had to make a mold. I turned once more to Smooth-On since they have user-friendly products that don't require either extensive knowledge or six trillion other things to work with them. I found a product called Oomoo-30 that is a two part silicone rubber compound that mixes together in a 1:1 by volume ratio, thus eliminating the need of a scale. It also does something called 'auto-degassing' which essentially means that it expels the air out of the product without the need of expensive equipment called a degassing chamber. And it sets up in about 6 hours, which is cool in my books. So anyway, I found a small plastic candy container that was lying around the house and fit all five of my rupee blanks nicely inside with enough room between them for a nice sized wall thickness. I stuck the blanks to the bottom of the container with hot glue and sealed with whole thing with a product called 'Super Seal sealing agent'. The name is pretty self explanatory: it seals the pores of the container and blanks so they won't absorb any of the rubber while it's curing. After letting the sealer dry for 5 minutes, I applied what they call a mold release agent, 'Ease Release 205'. Again another product made by Smooth-On. Letting that dry another 5 minutes, I found a second candy container of the exact same shape and size to use for my measuring since I was silly and forgot to do this BEFORE sticking my blanks in the container. With it I measured out the needed two parts of the Oomoo-30 compound and mixed the two together in a big container using a paint stir-stick. The Oomoo-30 compound's two parts are pink and blue, so when you mix them together it makes this gray-purple color to show you it's thoroughly mixed, just make sure there is no color streaking. After everything was mixed very well, I poured out the compound into the lowest part of the mold and let it find it's level over and around my rupee blanks. I let this set overnight just to be sure, and when I was sure it was cured, I pulled out the finished mold with five rupee shaped holes in it. It was a very gratifying feeling to know I could do this, so I went ahead and made a second mold out of the remaining Oomoo-30 I had  to reduce the time it would take me to make all the rupees I wanted. After the second mold was done, I went ahead and started pouring my rupees. I used a compound called 'Easy-cast clear epoxy resin' made by 'Castin' Craft'. It’s a two part compound that you mix 1:1 by volume, so I went and measured how much I would need per mold by using the water trick I mentioned in “Fairy in a Bottle”. I measured out the two compounds and added the colored dye I had bought to accompany the resin (red, blue, green and yellow) called 'transparent resin dyes' made by Castin' Craft. I think I added maybe about ten drops at the max for each different color, then mixed the resin dye, compound and hardener together into one mixing cup. I prepped the molds with the release agent just to be safe and, after letting it dry, poured in the resin compound. I let this set over night, and by morning I had myself ten very impressive green rupees.

 

I continued making them in different colors until I ran out of resin to make a full set of five per pull. The ones you see in the picture at the beginning of the rupee entry are my full collection to date, but I am currently thinking about making some silver ones just to add some shiny to the wallet.

 Those are alll the props I've made so far. My next posts will have much more detailed pictures on the steps I take during the construction phase. Stay tuned!

Stay tuned!!