I was so excited to find my inbox flooded with gorgeous pictures of Ms. Emm Kay in the new Big Barda costume. She was responsible for the motherbox, the boomtube thingie (sorry my lingo is rusty) and the entire helmet. The rest was made or modded by me.
THE BIG BARDA COSTUME FOR M.K. IS FINISHED!!! Time to go read some comics! Here are some Work In Progress pictures.
Here's a quick look at what the major elements were made from (I threw in some of the expenses just because they were in my hand scribbled notes):
Cape - modified a Butterick pattern #4377, added some length, made more narrow; cutting & construction about 5 hours, shortening after making it too long 1 hr; pleated & finishing 2 hrs; made from red crepe and red stretch lining (Denver Fabrics online) Belt - gold belt pleather from the ribbon section of Joann's Fabrics ($12); Wonderflex pieces heat molded ($20), craft foam sheets ($5), bra closure for adjustability ($2), velcro used in other things also ($15); spray painted gold caribiner clip Body suit cutting & construction - 3 hours (just the blue shirt & pants); another 2 hrs for zipper, hems, elastic.; modified Kwik Sew pattern #3029 for the pants and the torso - had to add long sleeves which are pointed and have an elastic loop to go around the middle fingers. Briefs - custom briefs made from metallic foil spandex Gloves - purchased by M.K. off ebay; I modified by cutting off a few inches of the gold, adding black spandex and snapping on gold spray painted buttons. Strap accessories - the shirt straps around the biceps are grosgrain ribbon covered in plasti-dip; the legs are just the plain ribbon w/o the plasti-dip; gold spray painted buttons snapped on. Boots - purchased by M.K.; sprayed the top 3" with black plasti-dip for about 3-4 coats; snapped on the gold sprayed buttons. Motherbox - completely done by M.K. Chest armor - made by Richie's Armor, the creator of the female stormtrooper ($45); dremeled, painted and accessorized by me; added straps.
I'm not doing the head gear. M.K. is handling that part of the project and posting progress at the SCF boards.
Officially the project began April 14, 2009 when I was contacted by M.K. and we immediately began conducting our research on fabrics and designs. That's exactly a 4 month period of working on this. It was by far the most challenging project I've done with many failed experiments along the way. I even tried making the chest armor myself originally and spent quite a bit on materials for it but it was just easier & cheaper to go to an expert.
This is one of the first costumes I ever made back in 2006 (if I remember correctly). Originally this suit was just for practice and I was going to sell it; I was never going to wear it but a dear friend of mine convinced me that Sue Storm is one of the best female characters in comics. I just couldn't let go of the suit after that.
Sue Storm Richards aka The Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four (Marvel) Costume created 2006 Photos from Aug 2009 by Riad Twal from one of the Flemington Car Shows in front of Comic Fusion.
Jill the Nerdy Bird made a great entry on her blog about every piece of her Rage Lantern costume that she debuted at San Diego's Comic Con International.
I had the pleasure of working with Rick Tracy, http://www.modelmayhem.com/ricktracy. In just a couple hours we wandered up and down Main Street in Flemington, NJ and captured some really great shots of me as Wonder Woman.
The easiest place to see them is probably Flickr, but I uploaded to Facebook and Myspace as well.
Some shots are at The Great Lodge Cafe, one my favorite places to hang out.
Thursday, August 6th at 10 pm EST, I'll be a guest on the Loud Idiots program. Tune in through HearNewBrunswick.com. There's a number to call in if you have any questions you want to ask. We'll be covering typical geek culture things such as comics, conventions and costuming.
Somewhat related, my YouTube channel is being further syndicated on some fantastico geek websites so you'll be able to see episodes at:
