Monday 31 December 2012

Two months later...

It has been around two months since my last Blog entry, so, what have I been doing you ask?
 
Well, I shall begin with a Birthday;
 
At school I had the honour of befriending a chap named Craig whom I made a fake radio station with called "Chipmunk FM".
 
As he lost his recordings of CMFM I thought a nice present might be a Definitive Edition of the show, and here it is:
 
 

 

 

 
Next up, a Wedding;
 
As you may remember I made a post here a while back saying that I was making a cake topper for my sister's wedding... if you don't remember, shame on you.
 
If you do remember, here, have a reward in the form of some images of my process:
 
I would like to point out that this isn't all of it, I did start out with a paper one, then moved on to coloured FIMO clay which I did'nt get on with all too well, and then moved on to my trusty old friend Grey Sculpey... and so, here is some behind the scenes bits...
 
 
These are some initail armatures that I made for the coloured FIMO, this is before I had decided to work with Grey Sculpey, and even though I didn't use these they helped me to work out the basic shapes for the figures.
 
 
This is a very early model made from Sculpey Grey, strong enough to not really need an armature.
 
 
 
 
 
Various stages of modelling, and then the happy couple in the oven...
 
 
All that was left now was to paint them, and for this I used a basic acrylic...
 
 
This is after applying some basic skin tones and the first layer of white... a few hours later and...
 
 
 
And just so that you can judge the likenesses, here are some photos taken at the wedding:
 
 
 
And did I mention I was also official photographer at the wedding?
 
Obviously not in that bottom image though as I am clearly in that one...
 
And last but not least, a Courtesan;
 
If you follow my Blog regularly you will no doubt have seen my Fiora Cavazza model, and read about my plan to make an action figure of her in the future...
 
Well, you will be glad to know that I have been working on it some more!
 
Sadly I had to stop a while back because I accidentally chiselled my hand instead of the model, and then the above happened, so this project was halted somewhat...
 
Here is what I have so far:
 
 
There's still a long way to go, but it's an okay start...
 
The vast majority is carved out of the existing figure (a Battlestar Galactica figure) with faux leather sewed on.
 
Acrylic seems to work nicely on the leather without compromising it's movement, so I hope to just paint it once she's all carved.
 
I also took some photos of existing Assassin's Creed figures for a chap on eBay who gave me a rather good deal on the base you see Fiora on there.
 
When she is finished she can stand alongside these fellows...
 
 
 
I also plan to make some tiny swords for these at some point.
 
I have too many plans.
 
So, for now I shall bid you adeiu and I'll update here when I do something noteworthy!
I am not posting a list of links this time as the collossal amount of links will be longer than this post, which frankly is amazing considering how apocalyptically long this post has been.
Speaking of which, congratulations surviving the apocalypse!
 
Oh, and Merry Christmas...
 
And in 50 minutes, Happy New Year!
 
Toodle-pip for now!
 
 

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Ezio Auditore da Braintree...

Hello again Assassins!
 
After a few solid days of sewing I have finally finished!
 
I made a few last minute changes to a few things, for instance there is now the trademark beaked hood and I no longer have the cape or glove...
 
So without further adieu, here it is:
 
 
Hood down and blade sheathed above, and hood up with blade extended below!

 
Considering that this is my first real sewing project and that I did it without any form of pattern I am incredibly proud of the outcome!
 
For more on the development of this costume follow the links below:
 
 


Wednesday 17 October 2012

Assassino!

I have spent a large portion of my day today continuing my Assassin's Creed themed costume for halloween, so as promised, here's what I have achieved:
 
 
This is the finished waistcoat, complete with buttons!
 
It was largely done with the sewing machine, but I decided to finish it off by hand around the sides as it started getting rather thick in places...
 
 
Spot the difference...
 
Okay, I'll help... these photos were taken a good few hours later, as you may have realised from the light change and I had measured, cut and sewn the red tail piece...
 
I am also wearing a belt, but this isn't the final belt...
 
It's obviously got quite a way to go, but I am more hopeful that I can actually finish it in time!
 
For those of you who didn't see my original post on this, here it is:
 
Nothing is true, everything is sewn - http://alexsnowling.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/nothing-is-true-everything-is-sewn.html

And this is a link to the most recent post:

Ezio Auditore da Braintree - http://alexsnowling.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/ezio-auditore-da-braintree.html


Tuesday 16 October 2012

Nothing is true, everything is sewn...

So, some of you may remember that last year I made a rather special pumpkin for Halloween, so this year I am attempting something equally important...
 
October 31st is extra special this year as not only is it Halloween, but it's also the day Assassin's Creed III is released!
 
So, to mark the occasion I am making an Assassin's themed Halloween costume for work!
 
We had a Camelot themed day a while back and I made this:
 
 
 
I was Sir Alex of the Knight Shift...
 
Oh, and yes I am fighting one of my managers with a lightsaber.
 
This was sewn entirely by hand and done without a pattern, so it took a while...
 
I am using this as a base to create a mishmash of the costumes of Altair and Ezio from all of the current AC games...
 
This is what I plan to make:
 
 
And this is what I have so far:
 


 
I still have the boots and long tails that I made for Camelot Day, an old suit shirt to use as an undershirt and over the years Holly has bought me an Assassin ring, a belt and a hidden blade!
 
Up until today I was working by hand again, so had only achieved one side of the front material, but luckily a colleague of mine who happens to be amazing at sewing has lent me her sewing machine and gave me a short tutorial on how it works, so in just one day I have managed to speed through to what you see above...
 
I am carrying on with this tomorrow, so I'll be updating this soon!
 
Oh, and I am still working on the cake toppers for my sister!
 
More on that soon...
 
In the meantime, here, have a Jurassic Park Pumpkin:
 
65 Million Years in the Making... the Jurassic Park pumpkin - http://alexsnowling.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/65-million-years-in-making-jurassic.html
 
And here's a link to the latest posts on this costume:
 
 

Sunday 23 September 2012

An 'armless post.

It was a risky pun, but I think I pulled it off...
 
That aside, here's a photo of my Fiora model that I took before it was destroyed... hopefully my new model (the one I sculpted my finger with) will look just as good, or hopefully better!
 
 
I am going to continue with my new "Action Figure" model after I make my sister's bridal cake toppers which will be made from Grey Sculpey, pictures to follow soon...
 
In the meantime, if you have made a MAKE-a-ME you can still send in a photo by either commenting or sending it in an email to:
 
 
If I get enough of them I'll make a dedicated post and every reply will be sent to Hobbycraft as a record of the event.
 
If you have no idea what I'm on about head to any of the links below and maybe make a MAKE-a-ME while you're there!
 
Happy creating!
 
MAKE-a-ME Posts:
 
 
Fiora Posts: