My Dex-Starr accessory

I was part of the Classy Lantern Corps as the designated Red Lantern of Rage. The best part was my Dex-Starr accessory. I asked my mother to knit me a scarf that would look like a skinned cat, Cruella DeVille style. Two days and three skeins of fun fur for striped scarves later, I had a bad ass Dex-Starr skin. I added eyes and the ring for the “tail.”

I joined Jill Pantozzi (blue), Ashley Neuhaus (black), Melissa Kay (star sapphire), Ali Coluccio (indigo), Beth Kaboth (green), Lisa-Michelle McMullan (orange), and Josie Kavadoy (yellow).

Jill was responsible for all of the logo necklaces which were made by a company called Sandbox.

Firestar's accessories

Miss Lion is ready to accompany Angelica to New York Comic-Con next weekend! Say it with me, "FIRESTAR!"

GL, Legion & Other Awesome Rings

I remember finding really great silver rings on ebay and then they stopped getting listed. Luckily, a regular over at the League of Heroes posted a link to Arroba Silver which is just what I originally bookmarked. The right GL ring is obviously vital if you are going to dress a Green Lantern; cool thing is that now there are other color Lanterns too and Arroba already has their logos available.

Also essential to rings would be a member of the Legion of Superheroes where rings and communicators are given when you are asked to join up. So for all the Phantom Girls and Beast Boys out there, you'll be able to find affordable LoSH rings now.

Bags: Word Balloon Favorites

I bought this fabric a long time ago and Fabricland hasn't carried it since. I love it and get compliments on the little shoulder bag I used it for along with the comic book panels fabric that I wish they still carried. This Word Balloon design has great comic book expletives like "POW" and "BAM" splattered all around with smaller word balloons that say, "To be continued..."

I cranked out two smaller totes in this Word Balloon fabric. Nothing fancy in these beauties; no inside pocket or zipper. I will probably add snap closures but that's one of those "once everything else is completed" tasks. I want to have at least a dozen bags for the Super Show in September (Scranton, PA) which means I have to get my butt in gear. I'll be taking another fabric shopping trip this weekend with my mum to wonderful ol' Joann's Fabrics in Ledgewood but not until I've recovered from my July 4th Independence Day Celebration at New Moon Comics in Little Falls for the Little Falls Street Fair! I'll be appearing in my Award-Winning Power Girl costume! (That's right - I actually won the Good vs. Evil contest on Myspace.)

Simple totes like this will be around $20-25 depending on the fabric. This fabric happens to be more expensive even though it is just cotton. Sometimes novelty fabrics have novelty prices.

The Ivy tote bag

The Ivy is completed but I think I might add some colorful ribbons because it's seems like so much green. However, I did make the inside a nice bright orange floral which makes me think of the character Poison Ivy with her all green coloring and luminous orange hair. She is designed with a lot of green (except for rare occasions like a Halloween tale in the Batman: TAS series where she wears black). The only other colors that usually come from her are the orange of her hair, lipstick and the flowers she controls.

Hero/Villain Accessories

I've gotten back to creating the superhero/villain bags that were part of my original goal over a year ago when I began sewing. After experiencing several conventions, I picked characters that I find are most often seen in the cosplay arena. Mind you, I'm not choosing from the Slave Leia or Jedi designs, only traditional superhero based comics.

1. Harley Quinn
2. Rogue
3. Poison Ivy
4. Black Cat

I have huge list but this is where I'm starting off. Take a look at what I was able to create based on the Harley (DC comics/Batman) and Rogue (Marvel/X-Men) characters.

The prices will be based on difficulty and expense of materials. While the Harley materials weren't very expensive, it wasn't the easiest bag I've ever made. Both of these designs have original machine embroidery designs as well. The Harley actually has two because the other side not shown is the reverse red/black. The back of the Rogue is merely solid green. Each have linings and one interior pocket.

The plan is to create a bunch of these and be a vendor at the Super Show in Scranton (September). I've already registered so I have to get my butt in gear. The bags will also be available on etsy at some point or through me directly using PayPal.

First Dragonskin Castings

This is to describe the steps I took in making simple rubber shapes which I intend to use as cosplay belt buckle pieces; they won't be working buckles but rather attached to vinyl belts to give that classic superhero look (like Superman's simple yellow oval).

After experimenting with Flex Foam 3, I decided to try a different rubber compound for my belt buckle castings. My friend at Smooth-On, Jason recommended their Dragonskin product (you've probably seen it used on Mythbusters). It's a two-part equal ratio mix. It can only be pigmented not painted so that was also a new thing for me to try. The Silc-Pigs are pricey but a little bit goes a long way so it actually works out to be a relatively inexpensive thing when you break it down.

To begin, I wanted to go with simple shapes. I think I was trying to run before walk when I sculpting with wax and making molds for F4 and Tech Support. I pulled myself back and bought things in the shapes that I wanted: the circle was a 3" metal button from the sewing department of my local craft store; the oval was a cardboard oval container with a lid which is the part I used. I used a cardboard box as my mold container. The box had a layer of masking tape inside and then smothered with petroleum jelly. I used the duoMatrix Neo instead of gypsum for the mold. It's great to work with even for a beginner like me.

The Dragonskin is great because it's a 1:1 ratio and I don't have any precision measuring devices or scales. I basically eyeball stuff that I mix. For this project, I used a small cup that I would guess holds an ounce of liquid; first poured in the A part, dumped it into a paper cup, then poured the B part into the small cup and added that to the paper cup. With no expansion, it's much easier to handle than the foams and you can take the time to mix and pour whereas the foam dries within seconds. Then comes the pigment - I just used a popsicle stick to dip into the Silc-Pig and then just used that stick to continue mixing the Dragonskin. It took maybe a teaspoon at most to color my two ounce mixtures.

I sprayed my mold with Krylon's Crystal Clear before pouring the Dragonskin. The spray dries quickly within 15 minutes. When I did the blue ones, I added one step: to the circle mold, I lightly brushed a layer of Cast Magic Goldfinger casting powder to added a gilded look to it.

I think my yellow castings came out best. When it came time to do the blue then red, I found that I should have let them set a lot longer. My blue and red oval shapes are a bit "chewed" up on the sides because they weren't ready to be demolded. My circles are really good but I noticed that they are lopsided from a side view because using my washing machine as a work surface is not at all level. However, for a costume piece, I actually don't think anyone would notice this.

Since the hero I'm working on next has a plain buckle, I don't have too many ideas yet for how to get more complex in my casting. I think the first one I will try that's more than just basic, will be the Legion of Superheroes logo.

Classic Sue Storm / Invisible Woman

I finally finished (as finished as possible for now) my Sue Storm classic costume. I will be dying my hair blonde when I wear it but for the time being, you can at least see how it came out. After getting this much done, it's safe to say that the gloves are by far the hardest part. I ran out of fabric so even though the ones I have aren't particularly good, I've gone through all I can trying to make them. Strangely, the left one is tighter than the right one but that's because with so little fabric left, I couldn't properly cut with the greatest stretch going in the proper direction. The left pinky is also quite mangled and where I had to hand stitch (sometimes I just used whatever was in the needle like red), you can unfortunately see some stitches. I hate Hate HATE hand stitching.

The chest emblem was a change. I was going to make one out of latex or foam but after experimenting, I decided an ol' fashioned embroidered one would be best for my skill level. When I get better (and can afford more supplies) then I take some more whacks at special effect type of emblems. I'll be getting into masks someday too.

As for these boots, I followed instructions from League of Heroes veteran greenarrowfl (Brian) and I'm really impressed with how they came out for my first try. The epoxy was quite messy and is somewhat splattered on them but all in all, they don't look too bad. I wasn't planning on them being flared at the top, that's just how they came out. I simply didn't make them form-fitting enough. I did make nifty boot tops to fold over for a buccaneer look which can be tucked in and secured with safety pins.

The belt pissed me off a lot but still not as much as those glove, mainly because I had a belt made out of the same dark blue fabric as the neck yoke but I can't find it. I didn't like it when I made it so I must have tossed out it. It took three attempts with the blue vinyl to get anything at all wearable but my stitching with the vinyl is so atrocious! Hopefully it's not noticeable from a distance but stitching on such shiny fabric does show up more than on matte.

This is most likely what I'll be wearing on Feb 23rd for the New Moon Comics grand opening of their new location in Little Falls, NJ. Come out and see me!