Nope. Nope, it definitely is not.
But it's the main project for this weekend and things are going well so far.
To get the size right, I printed off images in 1:1 scale from the reproduction gear at Museum Replicas (which is really terrible, btw) and then sculpted over top.
Greaseh Sculpey is greaseh. The vambrace isn't done but the belt-plate is. Have some Before-and-After shots:
The baking was a bit over-zealous but hey! It works! Only have to sand off a bit of the rough bits and then we're good.
I did up the vambrace and under-bracer last weekend.
The under-bracer goes on first with the lacing at the top of the arm. The hidden blade is laced to this on the bottom of the arm. Then the vambrace goes over top. I've yet to add the buckles to the vambrace but the rivets went on Friday with minimal mishap. Ideally, they would be smaller and more abundant but these do the trick nicely. The rolled edge on the under-bracer went together exactly the same as the belt and the shoulder guard. I cut it out of a rather ratty piece of 4 oz veg-tan leather but once the antiquing gel went on, it turned that roughness into something quite beautiful. The red/mahogony colour isn't so red in actuality.
We're on-schedule with this but with three weeks left, the work can't stop! There was a lot of slacking off last week due to the successes of the weekend before but the weeks to come are going to be full. Once the Sculpey is finished, it all needs to be cast with silicone molds, positives painted, and then applied. In the words of the talented Veshy: "Holy tits!"
And so upcoming this week includes:
Patterning the boots
Making the doublet tails
Buying casting materials (I can hear my wallet screaming already...)
Sword belt
In non-costuming news, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides last Friday. Initial reaction? Boring. Second reaction? Blackbeard was massively, MASSIVELY under-written. I'll admit it - Ian McShane* is the entire reason I went to see it but Good God, Mr. Director! WTF! You've got this dude on-hand who is capable of playing the most excellently terrifying villians yet you give him nothing to do? Money back please. And my brother summed up my thoughts on Mr. Depp's performance perfectly over supper tonight:
"It's like they call up the Jack Sparrow guy when they're going to make another one and he goes 'Okay, sweet. I'll stand there and do this the entire time.'" And he waved his hands in circles.
Before I get on with the evening here, I've got to give a shout out to all my real-life friends reading this - your interest and support have been a HUGE inspiration to me over the last couple of months. I heart you guys!!
*I'll save my Ian McShane rant for the next Marius post because the two are, in fact, related.
lol, Michelangeloins, perhaps? ;D Also, jesus tits almighty, I had NO idea you were tooling your own leather and messing about with sculpey and all that jazz; that is craziness. D: but awesome. ;D Also, yes, I feel that they didn't deploy McShane nearly enough -- like, mebbe if they chopped out some Depp scenes and slotted in a scary, tense dialogue scene between Blackbeard and whatserface, I'd be way more satisfied. But, alas! We'll just have to cuddle McShane in his other works, ie. Deadwood. <333333
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, we're going to whole hog with this one. Friggin' ridiculous. I could just buy the offical licensed repros but they're complete shite for the most part and I wouldn't be able to claim I've made it all.
ReplyDeleteYES! Less Depp definitely. And some perverse, dark part of my brain was hoping the father-daughter thing was just a cover-up for an epic love affair. Mwaha.