So it's time for BlizzCon again... in August. And it's time to make a new costume.
Last year's costume was good, and took 12th place in the contest. I learned a lot of things about the process of making the costume, and this year I'm starting much earlier.
Last year's costume was made out of foam, and coated in fiberglass. I didn't like it, for a number of reasons.
- First, it was weak. I had to be extremely careful not to bump anything, since the fiberglass wasn't real thick, and it was easy to crack it and push into the foam. Not bumping anything is difficult, when you're 30"+ wide, in a crowded convention center, wearing a helmet that restricts your vision. This makes it uncomfortable to be in, psychologically, which detracts from the appearance of me wearing it, too.
- Second, it was cumbersome to work with, and messy. Besides having foam dust everywhere, I'm not a master sculptor, so using a material where I don't have great options to add material back on when I screw it up was a bad choice.
- Lastly, the armor also didn't move, or sound, right. It needed to be a little heavier, to give a more convincing "weight" to its movement. And when it brushed against itself, it made a hollow scraping sound.
So this year is armor design method v2.0. I'm going to make a model, make a mold of the model, and cast the parts in plastic. They should be thicker, tougher, heavier, more realistic, and allow me to easily fix my mistakes while I make them.
Here are some pictures of paladin T8 armor, and a few other paladin reference shots.
