Almost ready to debut the new 52 Wonder Woman

I'm honestly not sure if I can finish up in time for the annual Women of Wonder Day celebration which is in three days, but I've been trying to make upgrades to my Wonder Woman suit so that it's inspired by the current "new 52" look.

Typically, I'm not fan of Wonder Woman in pants but as a Wonder Woman in New Jersey in October, I can say appreciate the option for costuming. I just don't think it will be recognizable to most people on the street. In fact, I don't think any of them would look at the "pants" version and know who she is.

I had wanted to upgrade my bodice to make it longer. So when I began working on it, I decided to just make the silver accents and save my original bodice as is. I also began toying with alternating fabrics and then the new 52 came out and her bodice has blocked pieces giving it a texture the traditional suit didn't have. Back in September, I finally had something I could consider done.

I hate making accessories and this was no exception. Everything I did required a failed attempt then a final attempt. The tiara is made from a soft headband with Wonderflex glued to it. Sprayed in a chrome spray paint finish and mounted with two stars: one a flat Wonderflex red star and one a glittery foam sticky star.

The choker is made from a foam sheet and glued to metallic spandex that I had leftover. The armbands are also strips of foam and glued to metallic spandex strips. In fact, all the fabric from this project is from my leftover scraps. I have a hard time getting anything to stick to those foam sheets and I use the glue by that brand that says it's for the foam! Needless to say, I have no idea if the fabric will stay when I go to put these things on.

Like the costume, none of the accessories look the same from page to page so I just made up my own designs and have them in silver to show a link to the new 52.

Since my original red and white boots are completely worn out and starting to get holes and lose soles, I had bought a new pair for this year. I was going to get rid of the old ones but I'm going to recycle them instead. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I'll take that old pair and try spraying the red with black Plastidip so that they resemble Diana's new black and white boots.

SUPERHERO WEEKEND STARTS ON SATURDAY AT COMIC FUSION IN NEW JERSEY!

My Dex-Starr accessory

I was part of the Classy Lantern Corps as the designated Red Lantern of Rage. The best part was my Dex-Starr accessory. I asked my mother to knit me a scarf that would look like a skinned cat, Cruella DeVille style. Two days and three skeins of fun fur for striped scarves later, I had a bad ass Dex-Starr skin. I added eyes and the ring for the “tail.”

I joined Jill Pantozzi (blue), Ashley Neuhaus (black), Melissa Kay (star sapphire), Ali Coluccio (indigo), Beth Kaboth (green), Lisa-Michelle McMullan (orange), and Josie Kavadoy (yellow).

Jill was responsible for all of the logo necklaces which were made by a company called Sandbox.

Wonder Woman Day through the years

I created a post at AmberUnmasked showing just a few photo highlights of the past years' Superhero Weekends & Wonder Woman Days.

This year the event kicks off with a new official name globally, WOMEN OF WONDER DAY still headquartered in Portland, OR but at NJ's Comic Fusion our Superhero Weekend continues as a two-day event October 29-30, 2011.

Tutorial: Ms. Marvel / Carol Danvers

Costume Tutorial: Ms. Marvel / Carol Danvers (Marvel Avengers) 
Date: Completed September 9, 2011.
Debut: October 1, 2011 at Superheroes for Hayley fundraiser

The steps on how I made this made this from leftovers and repurposed items is at AmberUnmasked.

Superheroes for Hayley recap

A flood of spandex-clad heroes from DC, Marvel and Dark Horse descended upon Flemington, NJ October 1, 2011 to help raise money for Hayley’s family.

The event was organized by Flemington’s Hometown Club who has also put together other fundraisers during the year for Hayley’s family. Hayley is 13 now. She was released from a Philadelphia hospital for treatments for malignant pinoblastoma.

We were supported not only by members of the 501st and Rebel Legion but also the Capital City Jedi Knights who gave demonstrations all day long to the local padawan learners. They learned proper fighting techniques for lightsabers on the soggy field in front of the Dutch Market.

The Dutch Market might have seemed like an odd choice for venue but once hungry heroes explored inside, they were in fresh baked heaven surrounded by Amish pastries. Spandex was covered in powered sugar by the end of the day.

Generous costumers came from West Virginia, north Pennsylvania, south Jersey and New York City to donate their time and talents for the day. The craftsmanship of the costumes and the variety of personalities in them makes for a great social networking experience in honest-to-goodness real life instead of online.

The East Coast X-Men seemed to be led by Jubilee (Jackie) rather than Cyclops. She “blasted” Batman among others with her pockets full of gold tinsel. There were a few professional photographers that absolutely loved her. The X-Men and the Avengers playfully sparred all day leaving the Justice League to go about its own business.

Speaking of photographers, many thanks to Black Lab Studios for being the official photographers for the day. They had a portable printer so that anyone making a donation could get a snapshot with any hero and have it printed within minutes. We’ll be doing this for Superhero Weekend too at Comic Fusion on Oct 29-30. Tyrus Flynn and Dawen Huang spent the day snapping pro pics with their fancy looking cameras too. There should be lots of amazing shots hitting facebook soon.

We owe thanks to all the merchants of the strip mall: the Dollar Store and the Pet Store that allowed us use of their bathrooms for changing. Some of us still opted for the parking lot but bathrooms are so appreciated!