Bat-Santa Suit (Cosplay)

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted here. 

I've done a few craft projects in the past couple years (See the bottom of this page) but mostly I've been busy with work, life and other such trifles. Plus, since 2012, we've lived in a beautiful place, so I want to go outside all the time. 

However, this year I created a costume for Erin to wear to Emerald City Comic-Con. 

Here's the final product:

And here's the run-down:

The costume is based on a one-shot holiday special, see an excerpt here: http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1317677.html

Everything but the gloves was created more-or-less from scratch. The gloves we bought at Burlington Coat Factory, and just pulled out the fleece lining so they wouldn't be so warm.



Most of the suit is based on this pattern:

The pants I basically just followed the pattern:

The red fabric is a nice rich color that doesn't come through in this photo. I chose a microsuede to give it a little soft texture while keeping the weight light and comfortable.

I altered the coat pattern to close up the back instead of the front, and added a fur collar (the pattern calls for a standing collar in red).

More details:

The bat-symbol was of course the hardest part of the coat, and the most important to get right. I traced it onto pattern tissue paper from a Batman T-Shirt, and very carefully transferred the design to the back of the fur.

I did a bunch of tests of different ways to attach the symbol:

And the straightforward tight zig-zag stitch acting as an applique won out.

The boots are just boot-tops made out of a black fake leather, probably the least successful part of the costume. I just altered the McCall's pattern to come to two points in the front instead of having a fur trim.

The mask/cowl presented a problem. We went through a bunch of ideas and a few trial runs before Erin said the magic words: "Attach the bat-ears to the hat." And then everything fell into place.

The ears themselves are thick craft foam, doubled over and glued, then tacked into the hat. The hat is just built off the McCall's pattern. The pom-pom has some weight to it, I filled it with stray fluff from cutting up the rest of the fake fur!

Erin doubted me when I bought crushed panne velvet for the cowl, but it was just the right color, and I just used the shiny side as the inside.

This design I just free-handed by pinning it to Erin's head inside-out. The panne is so stretchy that it works fine.

The mask was the last piece to be finished. It's a separate piece, not attached to the cowl.

I bought a full-face mask and trimmed off the bottom section - it was the only way to get the line I wanted. I think I also enlarged the eyeholes a little. Unfortunately, the costume shop only had full masks in white, so I also painted it. The 'nose' is craft foam. 

I am particularly pleased with the utility belt.

Originally we were going to buy something, but that fell through, and this is a better piece than we would have gotten anyway. I found the perfect color in a duck canvas, and the rest was a bit of trial and error to get the best size and shape for the pouches and weight for the belt.

The snaps are the kind that come with a tool and you attach them with a hammer, not needle and thread.

I added these channels on the back so that the pouches are free to move along the belt, and the buckle is just a heavy-duty buckle from JoAnns. 

For some of the time, Erin wore a Santa beard, but it was really uncomfortable, and he looks great without it.

Maybe next year I'll be better at scheduling and make myself a costume too!

More Pictures of Green Lantern Barbie

Previous Posts about this project: The reveal, How she was made

With a DC Direct Black Canary. Yeah, there's a reason I don't collect their female figures.

With another Barbie-brand Heroine

With DC Direct Hal Jordan. I'm not sure he knows what to make of her.

And here's my most recent custom 12" superhero hanging out with my very first custom 12" superhero, made way back in 2005. 

More Comic Character Customs:

12" Rogue 12" Gambit

4" Animated Gotham Girls: Calendar Girl, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Talia, Harley

4" Starcrossed JLU Figures: Bruce, Diana, Wally, John, Shayera 

(I should get better pictures of those one of these days...)

4" Superman: the Animated Series Supergirl

8" Comic Phoenix

6" Comic Raven

I Can Be... A Green Lantern!

Character: 
Barbara Millicent Roberts, you have a history of willpower and you are capable of overcoming great fear. Will you accept this charge?

Construction: 
When I found out the only Barbie product for the new Green Lantern movie was a San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Carol Ferris, I decided that couldn't stand. After all, Barbie has had over a hundred careers, even spent time in Starfleet, and been transformed into a number of superheroines. She deserves this. Much to the movie marketers' surprise, I'm sure, the Green Lantern Corps are not an all-boys club. (For more on why I like Barbie, you can see my review of I Can Be... Race Car Driver Barbie)


The Barbie I chose to receive the ring is a Fashionista "Sweetie," for her classic Barbie look, and her Fashionista articulation. I re-did her hair into a simple ponytail, but didn't change her eyes or lips.

I bought a pair of 1/6 scale fists on eBay, and sculpted the ring onto the right one as a first step. Attaching the fists to Barbie's arms required the sacrifice of her original hands so I could use the existing wrist articulation. 

Her arms were so slim that I decided to give her a little more muscle with some Kneadatite epoxy putty.

Next step was building her jumpsuit. I bought a shirt at the local thrift store that had the texture I wanted: almost a thin swimsuit material, a lycra with a little sheen to it.


Her jumpsuit is entirely handsewn. Her boots used to belong to a Princess Amidala doll.

I painted her boots, and cut down and painted her earrings. Her green gauntlets and symbol area are painted onto the jumpsuit by hand with fabric paint.

The final step: sculpting her mask out of Kneadatite. The mask and ring I left the base color of the Kneadatite, because it's a perfectly nice green already.

Even More Pictures to come in another post. Completed 2011

The Oath

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night

No Evil Shall Escape My Sight

  

Let Those Who Worship Evil's Might, 

Beware My Power

Green Lantern's Light!

More Pictures of the newest member of the Lantern Corps tomorrow!

Raven

Character:
Raven from DC comics Teen Titans. Here Raven is seen in an interpretation of her original look from New Teen Titans in the 80's.


Construction:
Raven began toyhood as a Planetary figure:

(more pictures here.)

I chose this figure as a base because of the clean hip lines (despite the lack of articulation), and the shape of the face.

I removed the raised red lines, elbow and knee pads of the original jumpsuit, and pared back the line of the breasts. I also carved away some of the stomach and rear, to partially correct the odd way the original figure was posed. I trimmed down the area of the feet and cut up a raised heel for the shoe.

In Progress:

Then I used Magic Sculpt to smooth over the body shape, and Kneadatite to add the shoes, dress, and gloves. The front of her hair was trimmed way back and replaced with Kneadatite, which was also used to extend the hair in the back. Her cape is a separate piece, made of vinyl, Kneadatite, and two small plastic disks I had left over.


I was trying to build another separate piece for her characteristic hood, but the sculpting didn't come out as nice as I would have liked. It looks okay at this angle:

I really wanted to have the option to display her in several ways, instead of just sculpting the hood, cape and hair into one piece.

Paint and sealant and she's done. I have a new very fine brush which I used here, and I'm very pleased with the face paint.

Created as a gift for Erin.

(Pictured here with DCUC Nightwing)

Completed 2009