Here are a few pictures of Kiran's completed Ratchet costume and his favorite stuffed animal's (a puppy) Clank costume.
One of these days I'll get around to making a slide show of the making of the costume including details that you can't see in the full body, or even half body, shots.
Ratchet's weapon is being made. There's a lot of painting and gluing involved, so it's taking a while.
The costume took 3 months to make if you include me taking about a month's worth of breaks and delays off. After the first month of intense pattern making and sewing, I got really burned out. This month has been a mad dash hell run to the finish.
The costume was a lot more complicated than I'd originally thought. Or rather, I wanted to add the details that most wouldn't and so it was more complicated. The main body of the jumpsuit has all the layers as the character does. The side detailing is a combination of ribbon and layers of fabric that were attached to the jumpsuit. One is opened just enough to contain the battery pack of the suit's el wires. The leg detail was another separate piece made from layers of fabric and ribbon.
The head. OMGosh, the head! That took a TON of work. My intent was to do a full head mask rather than the "I can see your face" mask of past years. I wanted people to see Ratchet, not "look, it's a kid in a Ratchet mask." Of course, not everything turned out well despite 2 different noses. Despite my best efforts, the mouth did not align well, but once the boning that holds the 4 sets of cut & glued fake teeth in place, it was too late to change it. Plus, the quilting done in order to create the full cheekbones couldn't be cut into in order to center the mouth properly. The head Velcro's closed in the back with additional strips of Velcro around the neck in order to attach it to the jumpsuit, to keep it from coming out and achieving a smoother, more natural neck appearance.
The helmet was another multi-day construction with hours of hand sewing involved in order to attach the silver details and el wires. The battery pack is tucked away in the back and accessed by a silver, with Velcro attached, piece of fabric which resembles the detailing on the character's helmet. The front sides of the helmet are attached to the face with snaps.
Clank's costume. Yes, I know the hands and main body are too big, the joints and back detailing too small. However, I tried to make my best "essence of Clank" given that the stuffed animal's dimensions aren't those of an animated robot. I wasn't making a stuffed Clank. I was making a Clank costume for a stuffed dog with big paws and normal thickness limbs. There is Velcro attached to his back in order to attach him to the back of the Ratchet costume. However, spray painting Velcro silver makes it not want to stick so much. So for now, he'll have to be pinned on or simply held. I did try my best though!
That's it for tonight. I'll post pictures of Ratchet's weapon once it's done. And then it's off to entertain you with tales of Thanksgiving Feast 2010 cooking. There's a reason we school during the summer - we need the months of October and November (and often Sept.) for holiday cooking and sewing.
Till next time, I remain the exhausted,
~CoffeeHeidi
The costume was a lot more complicated than I'd originally thought. Or rather, I wanted to add the details that most wouldn't and so it was more complicated. The main body of the jumpsuit has all the layers as the character does. The side detailing is a combination of ribbon and layers of fabric that were attached to the jumpsuit. One is opened just enough to contain the battery pack of the suit's el wires. The leg detail was another separate piece made from layers of fabric and ribbon.
The head. OMGosh, the head! That took a TON of work. My intent was to do a full head mask rather than the "I can see your face" mask of past years. I wanted people to see Ratchet, not "look, it's a kid in a Ratchet mask." Of course, not everything turned out well despite 2 different noses. Despite my best efforts, the mouth did not align well, but once the boning that holds the 4 sets of cut & glued fake teeth in place, it was too late to change it. Plus, the quilting done in order to create the full cheekbones couldn't be cut into in order to center the mouth properly. The head Velcro's closed in the back with additional strips of Velcro around the neck in order to attach it to the jumpsuit, to keep it from coming out and achieving a smoother, more natural neck appearance.
The helmet was another multi-day construction with hours of hand sewing involved in order to attach the silver details and el wires. The battery pack is tucked away in the back and accessed by a silver, with Velcro attached, piece of fabric which resembles the detailing on the character's helmet. The front sides of the helmet are attached to the face with snaps.
Clank's costume. Yes, I know the hands and main body are too big, the joints and back detailing too small. However, I tried to make my best "essence of Clank" given that the stuffed animal's dimensions aren't those of an animated robot. I wasn't making a stuffed Clank. I was making a Clank costume for a stuffed dog with big paws and normal thickness limbs. There is Velcro attached to his back in order to attach him to the back of the Ratchet costume. However, spray painting Velcro silver makes it not want to stick so much. So for now, he'll have to be pinned on or simply held. I did try my best though!
That's it for tonight. I'll post pictures of Ratchet's weapon once it's done. And then it's off to entertain you with tales of Thanksgiving Feast 2010 cooking. There's a reason we school during the summer - we need the months of October and November (and often Sept.) for holiday cooking and sewing.
Till next time, I remain the exhausted,
~CoffeeHeidi
I was lucky enough to see this in person and all I can say is WOW! You worked so hard on this costume and it really shows. Kiran is a lucky kid.
ReplyDeleteDonna