Baneling Costume Progress

Riku

United States1064 Posts

October 18 2011 07:39 GMT

Admittedly, this is a bit overdue, but, then again, I'm also behind on my progress and have less than a week before Blizzcon! Luckily, I have all of Tuesday and most of Thursday to finish up anything I don't get done tonight. For now, though, I've decided to take a break to rest my hands and update the world on my progress.

Initial concept:

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My first design:

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My second design:

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I decided to do a combination of my first and second design, though they are quite similar to each other.

The most daunting part of my costume was, and still is, the baneling "butt." I've never done a "large" costume item, especially something like this. I initially was thinking of just making a sack of sorts and filling it with bubble wrap and other light material. My friend, luckily, told me I would have a better shot with wire. I happened to have an access of wire from making the horns for my Alexstrasza costume last year.

Excuse the rotated picture, but the initial approach seemed to work out well:

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After making the approximate shape, I strung another wire around in the shape I wanted the large "sack" to be. I found some gigantic bubble wrap (heavy duty, too!) and taped sheets of it below this wire, then I stared at it until I thought I'd cry.

When it comes down to it, I am terrible at sewing. I'll make armor all day, but I just can't sew worth a damn. Also, I don't happen to have a sewing machine at my disposal. I spend a good week lamenting how I didn't know how to sew an appropriate sack until I got fed up and decided just to go for it.

I sewed the top around the wire in the front until I ran out of fabric, then stretched that around the bottom. I taped that in placed and GLUED IT. Hell yes, screw sewing, glue is the answer. Then I pulled the extra up and sewed it in the back! Ta-da! Baneling butt sack #1!

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Unfortunately, I'm unsure how to proceed with the smaller sacks. I think I'm going to cut them out of craft foam, then cover them with the fabric. I have cut a few out of craft foam, but I've lost my needle and thread, so I can't make much more progress in that regard.

Next, I decided to tackle the chest cover. First, I make the breast sections. I experimented with shapes using newspaper before I decided on the cuts that would work well.

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After making those, I decided on the shape for the other part of the chestpiece. It was tricky deciding on positioning and involved a LOT of time in front of the mirror trying to hold both pieces on and use a measuring tape at the same time. WTB third hand.

I eventually figured out a decent pattern, though:

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For the black pieces, I decided to use black craft foam and then, instead of painting it like I usually do, covering it with a textured black fabric. I picked a kind of snake-skin esq material that I think looks pretty good. I cut out the craft foam directly from the pattern, but gave a bit of extra room when cutting the fabric, so I could cover up any discrepancies and then cut it down to size after gluing.

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As that was drying, to reinforce the breastpieces, I covered their backs in glue and cheesecloth, as usual!

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Then, again, with a lot of experimentation, I figured out the front of the bottoms. This piece will rest over an undergarment, either a green of black bikini bottom.

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When the glue mostly dried on the back of the breastpieces, I decided to cover them. I found that the glue soaks into the fabric and makes it a darker color. Since sewing wasn't an option, either, I decided to get creative: I carefully pulled the fabric over the breastpieces, while securing it in place with bobbypins, then glued the extra fabric down in the back. I wasn't sure it would work, but it did!

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More recently, I've been working on the "spine," which will help hold my costume together and give it a little bit more of a creepy feel. The spine I initially sketched out was rather simple, so I decided to make it a little more detailed in actuality. I am currently cutting out the foam pieces, but I will cover them with the fabric before gluing them together:

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More to come later!

<3

~*UPDATE*~

Whew! Lots of work done today and my fingers are bleeding because of it! Literally!

XD

Anyway, the top is pretty much done, I just need to stick the velcro on it and figure out where to attach it to the spine when I finish that.

Here's the top, I'm kind of holding it on so it is squishing me on the side a bit more than it will when it's done. I know, I know, it doesn't look much, but with the neck-piece, bottoms and shoulder armor, it'll look like, well, more.

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Anyway, I did all of my "green-work" today, so I am done with that green fabric! Just have to finish my black fabric work and attach everything!

Last time, I showed what it looked like when I was preparing to glue the fabric on to foam. This time, I'll show you what it looks like in the process. Ugly. It looks really, really ugly.

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I tried gluing the fabric to the upholstery foam, too, but it just wouldn't stick. Thus, I decided to hand sew it! Hence why my fingers are bleeding.

In order to sew them together, I had to carve out the center of the foam, which will make it more lightweight and flexible.

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Though stitching them together was painful, it actually didn't take very much time, so I finished all of the pieces much faster than I thought I would!

They don't look perfect (especially around the edges), but they are way better than I could have hoped for with my poor sewing skills!

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Next I'm gluing the fabric on the spine pieces, then figuring out the neck, head and shoulder attachments! Then I just have to figure out how to attach that huge butt to my butt and all will be good for Friday!

~*UPDATE*~

My floor is absolutely littered with pieces of my costume that are drying. The end is near, oh-so-near.

I made much faster progress than I expected to, I cut out the rest of the bottoms, the helm and the neck-piece. I'm so close to done I can almost taste it, but I need to let the current pieces dry and try them on before I can finish. Really, all I have left is gluing on a lot of velcro and sewing the rest of the fabric on the butt.

Here's my poor floor:

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I've added the eyes and teeth to the helm! The teeth might be a little large, but I think it's cute. I'm not sure how the eyes are going to hold on, though, I'm scared they aren't going to stick.

@.@

The end is so near, but my fingers are bleeding and sore, so I'm finding it hard to get the motivation to finish.

FINAL PRODUCT:

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DisaFear

Australia4074 Posts

October 18 2011 07:46 GMT

That is horrendously cute

jalstar

United States8198 Posts

October 18 2011 07:54 GMT

I like it. You're presenting a personality of being cute but volatile.

Also, I'm fine with this being my 6000th post since I love Community and the above sentence seems like something Abed would say.

Riku

United States1064 Posts

October 18 2011 07:56 GMT

On October 18 2011 16:54 jalstar wrote:
I like it. You're presenting a personality of being cute but volatile.

Also, I'm fine with this being my 6000th post since I love Community and the above sentence seems like something Abed would say.

I'm honored you'd use your 6000th post for this. Thank you!

Kontemptuous

Australia132 Posts

October 18 2011 07:56 GMT

I've loved that Baneling picture from the first time I saw it oh so long ago *O*
Can't wait to see your finished costume! n_n

jalstar

United States8198 Posts

October 18 2011 07:57 GMT

On October 18 2011 16:56 Riku wrote:

Show nested quote +

I'm honored you'd use your 6000th post for this. Thank you!

Cool. Cool cool cool.

actionbastrd

Congo598 Posts

October 18 2011 07:59 GMT

Nice concept art and planning art. Its an awesome project! that will be by far the best Halloween costume around :D I would never have the patience to piece together cloth like that.

i dont know how many of you have seen Eddie Murphy's delirious. But this instantly reminded me of his joke about STDs. Here's a video for reference. :D

Probably NSFW due to language. The part i am referring to is just the first min in the video.

+ Show Spoiler +

thedeadhaji

39489 Posts

October 18 2011 08:01 GMT

thoroughly impressed!!!

eviltomahawk

United States11135 Posts

October 18 2011 08:08 GMT

If I was at Blizzcon, I would gladly support your efforts at competing against all the WoW and Diablo cosplayers in showing that Starcraft has the best fans.

But I still think you should have gone for the perverted Mutalisk costume for the lulz.

Frozenhelfire

United States420 Posts

October 18 2011 08:23 GMT

#10

Will you do a somersault on the stage or is the centrifugal hooks upgrade not a part of the plan?

Riku

United States1064 Posts

October 18 2011 08:44 GMT

#11

On October 18 2011 17:08 eviltomahawk wrote:
If I was at Blizzcon, I would gladly support your efforts at competing against all the WoW and Diablo cosplayers in showing that Starcraft has the best fans.

But I still think you should have gone for the perverted Mutalisk costume for the lulz.

Probably would be more effective if I was a guy.

On October 18 2011 17:23 Frozenhelfire wrote:
Will you do a somersault on the stage or is the centrifugal hooks upgrade not a part of the plan?

I do not plan in partaking in the costume competition, so... no chance to show them my awesome roll!

OmniEulogy

Canada6592 Posts

October 18 2011 09:01 GMT

#12

giving other people a chance to win eh? I see, how kind. How do you keep deciding what to do next? is there a list? or just go based on what you see to motivate you at a certain point in time?

MassHysteria

United States3678 Posts

October 18 2011 09:13 GMT

#13

Really good stuff so far, keep up the good work.

That initial concept drawing is so siick.

Riku

United States1064 Posts

October 18 2011 09:21 GMT

#14

On October 18 2011 18:01 OmniEulogy wrote:
giving other people a chance to win eh? I see, how kind. How do you keep deciding what to do next? is there a list? or just go based on what you see to motivate you at a certain point in time?

Haha, unfortunately, I don't nearly have enough time, money nor skill to make a costume that would have a chance to win.

As for deciding, I have a mental check list of sorts, but I mostly go by what I feel like I can do... AND which needs the most amount of gluing done. My Alexstrasza costume taught me not to underestimate glue drying time.

I'm kind of dying due to a really bad cold right now, so I've found myself with very little motivation to do anything but sleep and beg Serif to make me more tea.