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kelldar.com

when i was a spy

a day at the races, Blog

when i was a spy

October 2, 2001 /

I’m such a good little industrial spy!

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My Costume History, Day 110: Ame-Comi Wonder Woman

My Costume History, Day 110: Ame-Comi Wonder Woman from DC Comics, for Dragoncon 2008

I really loved the Ame-Comi line of statues! They were so fun and I fell in love with the Wonder Woman version, so of course I wanted to make it.

Bought a red leather online and made the bodice - built it around a bra at the top, boning for the bottom portion and changed the back to have some lace-up panels. Made the skirt out of a silk lining fabric, it velcros closed at the side, and added the iron-on white stars. Did the gold detailing there from leftover gold leather from Kingdom Come WW.

Chase made the tiara, shoulder armor, shield, and shin guards for me. They are plastic with apoxie sculpt detail and I love them. The sword is foam with details he sculpted and cast. The wig is two wigs - the main one I built up the shape with foam, and the second is the ponytail. Bought the shoes and painted them and added the wings made of foam.

Chase was working with a prop maker on another project and they agreed to trade work for each other - this guy was supposed to make my chestpiece, belt and the little side panels. He kept saying they were almost done and he’d be sending them soon. The weekend before Dcon he said they weren’t going to be done in time... so it was brainstorming time, because everything else was done and I was GOING to wear this costume. (and guess what, 18 years later, still haven’t heard anything more about those pieces. I’m still have trust issues over that.)

We decided the quickest way to do them with what we had was wetformed leather. We cut out the panels, Chase carved the detail into them and we wet and weighted them over my dressform for shape. Chase glued them to my bodice and we were set.

I didn’t LOVE how they turned out but I am proud we got it done and I was able to wear it. I did love the costume - felt so badass! I wore it at Dcon that year, and again in 2009, and for a photoshoot in Nashville at the Parthenon that was super cool. Did the white backdrop in 2016ish I think? Long overdue. Still have it - not sure it fits anymore, but I still have the shield on display in my costume closet to this day!

My Costume History, Day 109: Zatanna from DC Comic

My Costume History, Day 109: Zatanna from DC Comics, for Dragoncon 2008

I was already doing Black Canary for Dcon that year, so I was like... might as well double up on the fishnets and do Zatanna too LOL. I thought it would be fairly easy to put together, so I got started.

The vest & shirt were from my own closet. I bought a pair of black swimsuit bottoms and sewed the white shirt to them, essentially turning it into a leotard. I did this because I hate having a gap between things at my waist! Sensory thing. I took the vest in to fit better and added some boning to the inside to give it a little structure.

For the jacket, I found a boy’s tuxedo jacket on ebay - it was a wedding rental company selling off stock. Perfect! It came in and fit great, I just had to take up the sides a little.

I bought the wig and hat on ebay - the wig came in and was 100% NOT the wig pictured in the listing, it was barely brushing the top of my shoulders and the pic in the listing was about 5-6 inches longer! The seller insisted it was right and would not take it back/refund. I didn’t have it in my budget to buy another wig, so I took some black wefts I had leftover from another project and sewed them into the wig towards the bottom, just to make it longer. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked in a pinch and gave the wig the shape I wanted.

The hat came in and was... tiny LOL And I have a small head! It looked ridiculous. And again I didn’t have budget to buy something else, so for Dragoncon that year, I just rented a nice one from our local costume shop. The shoes I got at Hot Topic and they are INCREDIBLY uncomfortable but for some reason I keep using them beyond this costume!

Debuted it at Dragoncon and it was fun to wear, except the shoes. After Dcon, Chase got me my own really nice top hat for Christmas, so I took her to Megacon 09 and Superman Celebration 09 too with my new hat. Did the white backdrop shoot not long after, and in 2012-ish I decided I wasn’t going to wear it again, so I sold the jacket to a new home. I kept the shirt - it became my Trillian shirt in 2012! And I still have my lovely hat - one of these days I need to do a new costume to go with the hat. Ideas?

My Costume History, Day 108: Starfire from Teen Ti

My Costume History, Day 108: Starfire from Teen Titans, for Dragoncon 2008

After doing the cartoon Starfire in 05, I wanted to do a comic look of hers too. Since her comics look changes so much, I just picked elements I liked to make my own.

I also decided I did not want to do full bodypaint, nor did I want to tape myself into that very low-cut outfit like I had done with Urd. So I bought a chestpiece and painted it to match my orange makeup, and I bought a white bodysuit, and dyed it to match also. Chase did some airbrushing on it to give it more depth.

I made the leotard out of purple metallic spandex, and I sewed it onto the dyed bodysuit. It does have to be taped onto the chestpiece, but I’d rather do that than have it taped to me!

Bought the boots & covered them in my spandex, and sewed them onto the suit also so they wouldn’t droop. Chase made my gauntlets and collar.

My fav part was the wig, it’s two wigs plus extensions I chopped up, sewed back together, cut and curled. I LOVED how it turned out!

Debuted this at Dcon 08, wore it in the parade, where I nearly passed out! But it was fun, I was really happy with how the costume turned out, & the photos we took of it that weekend.

I planned to take it to Megacon 09, but when I pulled out the chestpiece, it had discolored. Just put it back in storage until Dcon 2010 where I got to be Starfire for a big Teen Titans group... now I had to figure it out. I decided I’d forego the chestpiece and sew bra cups into the suit and use a clear bra strap to hold it closed. I engineered all that into the suit... then decided I hated the clear strap and sewed it closed in the front at the last minute in the hotel room. I didn’t like how the suit looked like that. The wig had also kinda flattened out over the years which made me sad.

In 2022 I decided to try to resurrect it to do a long overdue white backdrop shoot. I washed and restyled the wig, though it still wasn’t quite up to the 2008 look. I took the bra cups out of the suit and repainted the chestpiece. Finally got to shoot the “original” look and its ok. It still didn’t quite live up to the 2008 look, but I’m glad to finally have it shot and catalogued.

My Costume History, Day 107: Black Canary from DC

My Costume History, Day 107: Black Canary from DC Comics, for Dragoncon 2008

There’s not a lot to this one - but it was one of my fav, go-to costumes for about 3 years.

Chase wanted to do a Green Arrow costume, and I’d been wanting to do a Black Canary costume, so I picked this more modern leotard look to throw together to match his costume. I bought the black wetlook spandex leotard from River’s Edge dancewear, and added the yellow ring zipper pull. I bought the gloves and boots, and added the yellow straps made of painted leather. And that’s all I got for construction on this one LOL

Super simple costume but I ended up wearing it a lot at Dragoncon that year, because it was by far the most comfortable thing I brought with me. Only thing I wasn’t happy with was the wig - so after Dragoncon I bought a new one, which then became my absolute 100% favourite blonde wig I have ever owned, and you will see it pop up several more times throughout this series.

I wore Black Canary lots more times over the next couple of years, to Dragoncon a few more times and Superman Celebration in 2009. It was comfy and didn’t take up a lot of room to pack. Also took it out and did a photoshoot in downtown Nashville later in 2008. I didn’t want to walk around downtown Nashville in a leotard and fishnets though, so I wore jeans and a hoodie over it until it was time to shoot. The funniest part of that was when we were shooting around the Nashville symphony building which had a security guard walking around the perimeter. We’d just hang out on the benches until she was out of sight, I’d quickly take my hoodie and jeans off, we’d shoot a few photos, then I’d jump back in my jeans to be ready to look like we were just hanging out again when she came back around LOL But I do love how all of those shots turned out.

Haven’t worn it since Dcon 2011, I think was the last? I’d love to get it back out and redo the white backdrop shoot, I was never happy with those photos...

And here’s the Timelapse of simplifying Padme’s “L

And here’s the Timelapse of simplifying Padme’s “Liberty dies” final senate dress - head back 2 posts to see the explanation of this project!

Another Padme Amidala redraw - lake dress today! P

Another Padme Amidala redraw - lake dress today! Please see yesterday’s post for the backstory on why I’m redrawing some of these old Padme project pieces!

How about an art row? Even though it’s old art 😹 I

How about an art row? Even though it’s old art 😹 I’ve been revisiting some of my Padme Project pieces from 2018 - I wanted to simplify them to possibly use for some other projects. I originally did these in photoshop using my Wacom tablet, but for this I pulled the original files into procreate on my iPad. Redrawing the line work was sooo much easier on my iPad! And satisfying! I’m giving them some mostly flat colors and simplified details. It’s been a fun little project and I hope to have some fun swag in the future… 🤞

My Costume History, Day 106: Selene from Underworl

My Costume History, Day 106: Selene from Underworld, for Dragoncon 2008

I’d asked @chasingphotography what costume he’d like to see me do one day, and he said Selene from Underworld. So I decided I’d put it together in secret for Dragoncon that year as a fun surprise.

Since it was a surprise and we were living in a pretty small apartment at the time, I decided buying it would be the easiest thing to do. I found someone selling the corset and the bodysuit on ebay for a good price. Bought them and waited.

And waited. And waited. Had to ask the seller several times if they’d shipped it. Got multiple excuses. FINALLY got it in and... it was bigger than expected. Couldn’t alter the corset, it was thick heavy leather, but it was so big on me that fully laced it was sliding off.

So I resold that corset on ebay, and used the funds to buy another version from another seller - bonus, this one had the gauntlets. That version fit much better.

But at least I had the bodysuit right? Nope the pleather bodysuit was also way too big and had other problems as well. I did my best to take it up, but it was beyond saving. Had to buy something else to wear with it at dragoncon that also didn’t fit great, but at least was better than the first one.

What a bust! LOL But I at least had something wearable at this point. I cobbled together the boots out of two sets of shoes I already had.

At Dragoncon, I told Chase I was going to go get into my new Zatanna costume and I’d meet him back downstairs on the AL in 20 minutes. Got into this and surprised him! He loved it and immediately had to go into the dealer’s room to get me a prop to go with it LOL

That was the only time I wore it besides a white backdrop shoot in 2010. For that shoot I replaced the ill-fitting pleather suit with a wet-look spandex suit I’d gotten for Black Widow. Much better! After that, I sold the corset to a new home. It was fun to do and surprise Chase, despite the bumps along the way in getting there!

My Costume History, Day 105: “Beastly” Belle, for

My Costume History, Day 105: “Beastly” Belle, for a group of undead/horror Disney Princesses, made for Dragoncon 2008

I got to be part of a fun Disney Princess group where we were all undead or horror versions of the characters. I decided I could put together a Belle using parts of my existing ballgown costume - and my version would be basically werewolf Belle, or Beauty AND the Beast LOL.

I used my skirt and wig from my ballgown version, and everything else was new. I had bought a white corset for a costume that never happened, so I used that as the base of the bodice for this - I covered it in some yellow satin and added the shoulder drape pieces made of yellow chiffon. I dirtied up and weathered the outer yellow satin portion of the corset, and made a few “tears” in it. Under the tears I added some nude fabric with some blood effects painted on.

The gloves I bought online, dyed and ripped the ends open, and added some claws I bought and painted underneath.

For the facial appliances, I bought a werewolf kit at our local costume shop, and I made some big bushy eyebrows and sideburns out of some leftover wig hair. The werewolf appliance pieces were too big for my face, so I had to just kinda cut them down and try to make them work, because I am not an FX artist. I did my best!

Wore it with the group at the Disney photoshoot at Dragoncon that year and it was a lot of fun. After a couple of hours I started getting pretty hot and itchy under those werewolf face pieces though - this is how I found out I apparently have a mild latex allergy? LOL

I never wore it again, it was just for this one group outing. I do wish I’d shot it on the backdrop before it all got disassembled though. The removed all of the yellow satin parts from the corset and used that corset for my Emma Frost costume a few years later. The face pieces all got tossed. I do think the claws are still in a box around here somewhere though LOL

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