Foam Crown and Collar

Finally the sewing was done and I was ready to work on the crown and collar. I wanted these to have an armor look to them so I made them out of some thin craft foam that I glued together. I made the crown 3 layers thick and the collar only two layers thick. This was because I wanted to have more flexibility in the collar so I could still rotate my head and neck comfortably.

 As you can tell by the photo I darken the edges of the pieces to create a shadow effect. I also painted some small detailed patterns to add more depth to the piece instead of it being just a flat gold color. I painted them with a metallic acrylic paint along with a flat brown paint mixed with the gold to give it a bit of a shimmer.

     I cast the gems for the crown and collar out of resin that I made custom molds for. I made the molds out of Model Magic which is an air dry clay that I sculpted to make the shape of the gems I wanted. If you wanted to make more realistic looking gems or jewels I would recommend using a mold creating product ( silicone like). These molds if cared for properly can then be used multiple times where as  the ones I made can only be used once and then have to be thrown away. Also you have to put some elbow grease into cleaning the finished gems because the model magic sticks to them very easily. After I cleaned the gems I applied a coat of nail polish top coat to give them a shine which get taken away because I used the model magic instead of a proper model creating medium. 

*Tip* To get a translucent gem use resin dye or liquid food coloring where if you want an opaque gem like I made you can use watercolor paint in tube form and add just a tiny bit to the resin while you mix parts A and B together. 

Ice Queen Sleeves and details

So after I finished the top of her dress I decided to relieve some stress by working on the skirt. And as a note in advance I should have made an elastic waist band rather than the sloppy way I left the top of my skirt.
    For the skirt I used a costume satin that I picked up on sale at Joann's (woot). I originally bought 4 yards of the light fabric and 3 and 1/2 yards of the darker fabric. Looking back on it I should have bought 5 yards of the lighter fabric to account for my cat taking a leak on some of the fabric which is then not usable as urine stains are EXCEPTIONALLY hard to get rid of and if you do mask them you can never truly get rid of the smell. I should have also bought 4 and 1/2 yards of the darker fabric as I did go back and buy more which you can never really match the same color of the fabric you had because with each dye lot they vary slightly.

 

  So here is my first try on of the dress. Sorry I don't have any progress shots of the sleeve making and attaching of the bodice to the skirt but i'll try my best to describe it. As you'll see in a later photo the sleeves are essentially long rectangles that get gradually wider at the end. They are very easy to sew however I have a slight water stain on one of mine because I was not aware you cannot steam this fabric as it will leave stains. So please, please, please check on a scrap piece of fabric or do some research BEFORE you use any type of water on the fabric as you can ruin it very quickly. 

        *The Bells of the sleeves i'll detail in the next post because they were a real pain in the butt.*

 The skirt was made in panels to be exact three large panels, one in front bordered by two smaller panels and the last two large panels in the back. I went for panels instead of a circle skirt because I wanted it to lays nice and flat against the petticoat opposed to it having a crack-ton of folds as I would receive with a circle skirt. A circle skirt would also mean a LOT more fabric and I was in kind of a pinch for this project. 

Ice Queen Skirt and sleeves

So after I finished the top of her dress I decided to relieve some stress by working on the skirt. And as a note in advance I should have made an elastic waist band rather than the sloppy way I left the top of my skirt.
    For the skirt I used a costume satin that I picked up on sale at Joann's (woot). I originally bought 4 yards of the light fabric and 3 and 1/2 yards of the darker fabric. Looking back on it I should have bought 5 yards of the lighter fabric to account for my cat taking a leak on some of the fabric which is then not usable as urine stains are EXCEPTIONALLY hard to get rid of and if you do mask them you can never truly get rid of the smell. I should have also bought 4 and 1/2 yards of the darker fabric as I did go back and buy more which you can never really match the same color of the fabric you had because with each dye lot they vary slightly.

 

  So here is my first try on of the dress. Sorry I don't have any progress shots of the sleeve making and attaching of the bodice to the skirt but i'll try my best to describe it. As you'll see in a later photo the sleeves are essentially long rectangles that get gradually wider at the end. They are very easy to sew however I have a slight water stain on one of mine because I was not aware you cannot steam this fabric as it will leave stains. So please, please, please check on a scrap piece of fabric or do some research BEFORE you use any type of water on the fabric as you can ruin it very quickly. 

        *The Bells of the sleeves i'll detail in the next post because they were a real pain in the butt.*

 The skirt was made in panels to be exact three large panels, one in front bordered by two smaller panels and the last two large panels in the back. I went for panels instead of a circle skirt because I wanted it to lays nice and flat against the petticoat opposed to it having a crack-ton of folds as I would receive with a circle skirt. A circle skirt would also mean a LOT more fabric and I was in kind of a pinch for this project. 

Adventure time Ice Queen Intro

       Hello So this will be my document of how I made my Ice queen cosplay /costume. I will still update this post once I take final photos with full makeup and costume. If you have any specific questions about how I made anything feel free to ask!

      So if you are unfamiliar with the Ice Queen she is essentially the genderbent version of the Ice King. Both of which exist in Pendleton Ward's cartoon show Adventure time ( which is hecka rad and you should go totally go watch it). But Here is a reference of the character I was aiming for.

So as I went on with my building I took on a more 'realistic' look to the costume. Adding details that aren't original to the character but I thought they added a nice feel to the overall look and feel of the outfit. Stupidly I started out on the corset/bustier. Which was the second one I ever attempted to make and let me tell you it is not a proper corset by any standards, but I figured it did the job so why not. 

     This is what I ended up with also i'm going to say this now I took all of these photos with my phone so they aren't quite clean but again they convey the point pretty well. To get this top piece / wanna-be corset I started with a pattern I drafted off of my own measurements. I then lined it with some scrap denim I had as it was cheaper than a proper lining like cotil and it would have more stability to it than the costume satin I was using for the majority of the dress.
    I used my reference and after several tries I got the darker circular part to be the right size to fit over my bust ( which was trickier to scale than I thought). *Tip* start larger as your bust has a greater curve to it than you would expect, also you can always take away but adding will create seams and possible problems in the future.