Gryph Encarcer, Jackalope Faun Ranger, Ghostbuster of Eldritch Horrors and Primordial Evils, fights with a giant paintbrush staff using calligraphy magic... because OCs can be whatever you want to draw all at the same time xD

First time I'm tempted to do a proper character Illustration in FOREVERRR, something fun like a flashy calling card maybe

OLD PROJECT IS NEW AGAIN! A backplate and mounting plate to use for lots of different costume things. It's based on the usual idea of attaching wings to a corset, with hard Sintra mounting plate idea from a project by @paintyourdragon (of twitter, adafruit)! BACKPLATE__ Used an elastic exercise belt that I reinforced with window screen and washers for tear resistance. The belt bolts to my overdesigned pvc board back plate xD its padded with backpack spacer mesh, with pvc pipes as mounting sockets which hopefullyyyy the placement will be useful for multiple things (wings of course, gigantic Beedle backpack, Sashimono samurai flag). The plate is covered in foam, worbla,and cheap lining fabric to smooth it out, and I predrilled a BUNCH of holes marked with small washers in case i want to sew something to it or whatever. Futureproofing I GUESS. MOUNTING PLATE__ I made two of these simultaneously and used my cute and sweet and skilled bestie @maddycatcosplay as build tester, for her Pharah costume, cos I never finish things and she does xD This specific plate design was for bolting Pharah wings to (I spent 2wks building a jig to bend special aluminum brackets, so the wings would be at the proper angle, argh), as well as an easy way to attach gigantic Blizzard shoulder armor :P Another sintra plate was bolted to some bent pvc pipes and just slots in and out, I'm pretty proud of it! End Goal was simply something to wear heavy things on the back without too much strain, though obviously its still great to try and make stuff as light as possible... Hopefully some of these ideas help other people with their projects! It doesn't actually have to be this much work and detail for it to function, I just spend a lot of time and energy trying to make things as durable and comfortable as possible. A Very Important costuming soapbox issue for me, DO NOT risk injury for a costume, thanks for readingggg https://www.instagram.com/p/B-u5yQLjW09/?igshid=zw0kb3t6oi0v

Sharing art from 2009 without sharing anything from 2019? Because I don't really draw like I used to. I'm sad about it sometimes, but I don't see it as having quit art. I still sketch regularly, but for years now my interests have been absolutely all the way into Making Stuff. Lots of learning and experimenting with Skills and less easily consumable content to share online...

Since I made my illustration I still like to call my Masterpiece (lol), my life changed a LOT. I changed a lot with it. The mockup of companion poster I started not long after is STILL asking me to complete it, it belongs right next to the poster of my Elf Son. I made a file of unfinished illustrations that I still Care about, this is the major one. I miss how much mental real-estate my elves took up, it was fun! But had to make room for Other things.

Stuff I've learned since drawing less: C/C++ (I'm garbage at it but I keep trying lol), Crochet & Knitting, writing small programs for Arduino, Blueprint Reading/Creating, metal machining on lathe and CNC milling machine, Circuitboard Design, Sculpting/moldmaking, Drafting slopers and clothing patterns from scratch for sewing... Next will be welding xD I want to MAKE! AND! BUILD!

How to achieve your dreams when you have 6 or 7 of them? I've abandoned two already (professional puppeteer, stage magician) but I still have only so much time on this earth! ;p

I also keep quiet these days cos I dont seem to have relatable problems. Creative block? I don't know herrrr.

When I die there will be 38,472,000 unrealized project ideas that simply cease to exist ಠ_ಠ

I'm keeping the Illustration skills in my back pocket, but it was honestlyyyyy never what I REALLY wanted to do forever, I want to do SO MANY things. I'll be 35 soon (hhhhhhhgh) and if I view my life as ONLY an illustrator then I peaked REAL early and have been Struggling since lmao! My destiny is tangential to colorful drawings. But lets be real its tough to be literally ANY kind of artist. Im just a lot busier Adulting and trying to survive/thrive in a worker-unfriendly economy with insufficient mental health care xD

ALL THAT SAID, I really do want to finish that poster, eventually xD and the elves need their story out in the world in some form. Still gotta decide what that is.

I saw this markers caddy at the craft store (Michaels) and immediately wondered if I could use it for not-markers... yes! Its a lil pricey but I got it on sale, and because I do crafts all over the place it was getting annoying to shuffle all my most used tools around in various bins and cans... Tombow makes this organizer too but it's 3 sections instead of 4, but it miiiight be more accessible if you can't shop at a Michaels. The inserts are removeable so I took one out to fit scissors, rotary cutter, brand new 20-32awg wire crimper (received in mail today YAY). I also have some squishy silicone brush holding trays (you can find em by searching for makeup brush holders on ebay or aliexpress) and THOSE inserts fit in there too! Perfect for smaller tools like tweezers and lead holder for my chalk pencil. I LOVE TOOLS. Swipe to the end to see the state of my desk and why I took photos of this on my bed :p https://www.instagram.com/p/B3XaDz3jGbk/?igshid=4nldle1icrsg

This hat!! and I have been in a battle of wills for 2 months!! I've made hats before but nothing as... ambitious. I knew it had to be purple ostrich leather because that's basically fantasy dinosaur skin, its synthetic, but even so a big splurge for me (50usd from aliexpress), its so cool. So that was problem one, never made a hat out of heavy pleather before, I tried heat shaping it, didnt work due to the suede-y backing material. Problem two was making the cone easy to separate from the brim for easier packing but honestly wasn't a problem at all because velcro is awesome. Problems three through infinity (ongoing xP) was my need to have a fancy musketeer-inspired brim shape that would also be stable enough to mount a huge feather from the edge, lol! I'm still stuck here. I made a framework from plastic canvas, music wire, floral wire and the last of my worbla, and a small socket from a piece of plastic tube (dogpoo bag roll core lol) and a tiny metal corner brace. All of this would have been absolutely overkill for a real feather but turned out to barely be enough for my handmade yarn feather. Thinking of making an organza feather but I really love the realistic texture of the brushed out yarn soooo. Further experiments needed. Wire core is too floppy and steel rod core is too heavy so carbon fiber rod is on eventual to-buy list. Right now the feather shaft is a combination of wire, vinyl tube, ribbon and two metal headbands that I flattened out which is actually really great wire on its own! Feather will get its own post, it ended up being kind of complicated too (...also unfinished) Part of my annoyance is thinking that just making the entire brim out of worbla and/or varaform would solve a lot of my structure issues AND help the hat weigh a bit less but waaay too spendy for me. I'm going to make do with my scraps, aida cloth, felt, wire and glue. ITCHING to rip off all the fabric and start tweaking nowwww Because hat brim will also be supporting the weight of leds and LOTS OF BLING Its so heavy already aaargh! Problem infinity plus one? Securing it to my gigantic wig??? I'm going to try using chopsticks as hatpins lol https://www.instagram.com/p/B2OshoojEDg/?igshid=1qwksvo6y2w98

The JUICEBOX is my ongoing struggle project to make a useful (and *safe*) powerbank for big powerhungry costumes. I'm not there yet at all lol! But I keep hacking at it occasionally. Holds 6 rechargeable NiMH D cells- for juice to last up to full day of running leds depending on the number of lights of course, as well as the animations and colors... And brightness.. etc... Uhhh battery life depends on a lot of factors... Why NiMH though? Lipoly batteries pack more power into a smaller package but thats also what adds to the risk. So thats why I decided to go with D cells instead. If you've seen the videos of phones and laptops combusting and then imagine the abuse a costume goes through, maybe you too can reconsider strapping one of those to your flammable human body! PLUS if they're drained and you want to repower your costume NOW its easy enough to go pick up fresh ones from a store. The Juicebox outputs about 6-7v, good for servos, fans, speakers, and small motors. 5v/15A UBEC to run mostly neopixels! Up to 200 at full power if you're crazy. 3v voltage buck for sensors and microcontrollers. I used a different style of connector for each output for foolproofing, its not attractive but hey at least you wont fry anything by plugging it into a higher voltage output xD this is still something i'll be redoing because I have some other ideas Id like to try. Each output also has a fuse so if you cant resist the tempation to plug in a million things or miscalculated somewhere you wont overheat the pack. The enclosure is the molded EVA kind for headphones or other various gadgets so its easy to cut holes into! Unfinished things- tiny cooling fan for the UBEC, an ammeter, tiny OLED display for detailed info on power usage, and a neopixel programmed to battery life color indicator on the end of a long cable so you can route it to an easy access part of the costume, to check the juice levels at a glance. All of the code I consistenly fail to get working runs on an arduino pro mini lol If you're still actually reading this and havent fallen asleep you might be interested in my and @maddycatcosplay 's new maker discord for crafty costumers! Invite in bio! https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Tx9-Jjcig/?igshid=91wqvlq99sjf

I dug into my hoard of cheap wigs and cheap kanekalon for styling practice and I'm pretty happy with the result. It definitely confirmed in my mind the value of starting with higher quality wig and hair fiber though! The black fiber absolutely refused to hold a curl. I want to try another fluffy shoujo style again soon. Its very tedious work, I tied in about 3 packs of extra long jumbo braid, but also calming, so its been the only type of crafting I've been able to manage lately. Been slowly stumbling my way out of a 6month+ funk due to cross country move and difficulty adjusting despite having moved a gazillion times in my life... I think Im pretty good at moving but that doesn't mean its actually easy :\ I'm doing much better but better =/= good. Still working on that. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwr8nXkDxtL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=p70ktgej1d86

I knew I had to make Gerudo Chief Riju's hair the moment I saw it in #botw because Looooong. ;p Its an epic cosplay Athena (45") with an unbranded ebay lacefront spliced to it (I added a widows peak and sideburns again because Elf) some braiding hair (80" ebay kanekalon) and a pack of 35" wefts! There's a BUNCH of tubular crinoline (aliexpress) as filler so its really lightweight and I'm VERY PROUD! There's some progress pictures in highlights <3 The braid is a little sloppy BUT Im in a hurry :p (managing all the hair took soooo long and then styling took less than 2 days pffft) Later I will consider adding SOME more hair (its already too much guysssss this wig! is my height!) for smoother braid with more coverage cos there are a lot of gaps where I didnt stagger the wefts well and I crimped the hell out of it for volume of course. And I just want to make it more fancy in general. And THEN I want to make her headdress and probably a Thunderspear because its my favorite weapon in the game okurr This year is my first DragonCon I'm so excitedddd! Will I wear it EVERY DAY probably I worked very hard on it ok

I learned a lot working on him... I don't finish things much and then when I do perfectionism can still get the best of me UGH. I definitely added enough hair for hugeness! But my teasing skills arent up to snuff and it kept collapsing immediately queue sad deflating balloon noise 8C Some problems I didn't forsee with insistence on ponytail, he is heavyyyyyy which is an amplified problem when all of the weight is exactly at the back yanking head constantly backward. I didn't add what seemed like THAT much extra hair (its basically 2 wigs worth) but like a dummy I forgot that LENGTH adds weight too. I think also trying to tease out hugeness from small origin point provides no base of support for the hair to stay huge. I... don't want to give myself a literal headache to wear it but I tried it on and it makes me feel SO! FUCKING! MAGICAL!!! BEAUTY IS PAIN I have some ideas to make it huger AND a little tiny bit lighter but it means unstyling, washing, and ripping out some of the wefts which... I want to do because theres an entire can of hairspray in him and I think I can redo with less and avoid such a rough crunchtastic texture. I also want to put more tinsel in it :P But that'll be later cos I started on my next, even longer wig ;p

Spent months on this wig... made from a 24" blonde ebay lacefront, three packs of 35" weft extensions from epic cosplay (two platinum blonde and one peach blonde), and some wefts handmade from kanekalon braiding hair. Between work and school and burning out over and over all of my projects take a long time and most don't get completed :( BUT I'm almost done with this baby and I'm wearing him to dragoncon yay I made a highlight on my profile of my (mis)adventures in dyeing it for anyone curious about the custom colors. I airbrushed the ends with a little bit of pink and purple, which I am happy with for small areas. I wouldn't airbrush a full wig because it changes the texture of the hair and I plan on wearing a white shirt with this because I'm a crazy person. Dye isn't 100% transfer proof but it's close and keeps the hair washable. Nitpicking the hairline right now (needs more sideburns) and then I plan to make a ponytail as fluffy and massive as I can muster! The fun part is almost heeeere!!!!

fairy experiment I guess?? jewelry wire, pantyhose egg, continuous rotation micro servo, ornithopter blueprints (not pictured :p). one thing that has been holding me back from playing with animatronics was the fact that there are ZERO!! resources for hobbyists (theres stan winston school but I'm too broke for the courses aaand they dont have a handheld fairy class, lol) So I took my time to research everything orthogonally related (RC planes, hobby robots) and even got a mechanical engineering textbook lol HEY LISTEN we'll just see how it works out xD

Messin with some rainbow hair and rainbow tinsel. Four different sets of ombre brading hair found from trolling ebay which is my ultimate pastime :p these are actually experiments v2 and v3 Imma keep going until I find a blend I am happy with

experimental boot painting with purple/gold chameleon pigment from paintwithpearl mixed into leather studio clear gloss. Im sure much better results could be achieved with airbrush but I dont feel like it! I think Ill goose the effect a bit with interference orange on top...

I tripled the density of hair on this lacefront so it took a looooong time. BUT Im super happy with how fluffy it is without any product 8D 1. ventilated widows peak & sideburns added 2. trimmed bangs 3. micro crimped 4. rollers 5. heat set into a SWOOSH 6. combed out no teasing or hairspray! floof!

pcb milling time! #othermill