Twilight Princess Zelda’s Tiara Prototype: Finished!

The prototype for Twilight Princess Zelda’s tiara is finished! I finally found a mold to use for the forehead gem (a silicone ice cube tray) rather than continuing to mess with clay and mold-makers. The shape isn’t perfect, but it’s close enough.

In case you can’t remember, here’s the back.

And here’s the front.

I know what you’re thinking: “…”

The gem weighed down the front in a direction/angle that I should have anticipated but didn’t. I think the solution will be simple: more curve to the “metal” parts so that it doesn’t stick out away from the face. That will be easy enough to do.

Someone poke me, I think I’m dead.

Or dreaming, because there is so much awesome sitting in the dining room right now that it just can’t be real. In the most lopsided trade in the history of the universe, I have acquired a loom.

I have a co-worker who originally got her degree in hand-weaving. A long time ago, she imported a loom from Sweden. (According to her, this was back when it was still affordable to import things.) She doesn’t weave anymore, and she’s been trying to sell the loom on Craigslist, but after a long time she still had no takers. She asked me if I wanted the loom. I asked her how much she wanted for it, because even used looms start at several hundred dollars but usually go for at least a thousand. She said no money.

Once I recovered my senses enough to pick my jaw up off the floor, I told her “heck yes!! but if you won’t let me pay you, then you have to let me do something for you.” As it turned out, she’d mentioned earlier that she had some temporary renters coming for about a week and not enough time to get her house as clean as she wanted. I offered to come over and clean for her. So, in exchange for some cookies and cleaning help, I have a genuine loom.

It is a Glimåkra Vävstalsfaboiken (I hope I spelled that right) made out of birch. It is missing the reed, so I can’t start weaving on it yet, but free loom = no complaints. Glimåkra is still a top loom company, so getting another reed will be plenty easy. Since it’s Swedish (like Ikea), it unscrews in a few places that make total sense and fit nicely in the trunk of my car.

My mother agrees with me that this is totally cool, and that it’s a shame we don’t have a bigger living room so we could just leave it on display all the time, even if I’m not using it. It will have to go in the attic until I get a reed and possibly a shuttle.

In less exciting news, Zelda’s prototype right pauldron is finally done, and I’m pretty happy with it.

I’m getting closer to success with the tiara’s forehead gem. This time I tried making an original mold from Amazing Mold Putty, then painting the inside of said mold with one layer of Castin’ Craft Mold Maker. It helped—the resulting gem is not quite as rough and does not have nearly as much of the Amazing Mold Putty sticking to it, but it still has some. I’m painting on more layers (will do at least five) of the Castin’ Craft Mold Maker for the next try; hopefully that will smooth things out and keep the Amazing Mold Putty from sticking for good.

The bow also has half its “skin” on. Still looking pretty good, in my opinion! (I had to back up waaay far to get the whole thing in the picture.)

This is my twang stick!

As opposed to “this is my boom stick,” because according to Eddie Izzard bows and arrows go “twang” and stabbing swords go “phbbbbt.”

On Tuesdays I end my shift at work when my sister starts, so I had ample time to shape stuff. I was worried about how the arrowhead for the light arrow would fit together, but it worked just fine.

I do realize that the pointy bit should be twisted about 45 degrees off of the way it’s oriented, but that would have created all sorts of structural issues that I didn’t want to deal with. Who’s going to notice that detail unless I point it out? (Like I just did…)

The fletching for the light arrow is also cut out and detailed on both sides. I can’t do any more constructing on the light arrow until I’m finished varnishing all the sides, which will probably take a bit of time.

I’m incredibly pleased with the bow’s “skin” so far. I spent about an hour tracing and sketching out the pieces on computer paper, only to realize when I was almost done that they were curving the wrong direction. Oops. So I turned the bow over and traded the computer paper for a big piece of butcher paper, and things went much more smoothly after that. I have 1/4 of the outside “skin” cut out, put mostly together, and shaped.

The pieces there are just sitting on top of the bow; they’re not attached yet, so they may be a little off-kilter in the photo. The eleven small pieces are put together to make six bigger pieces which I will attach individually. Hopefully, my sister still suspects nothing.

The tiara is almost finished (just waiting for the forehead gem to cure) and now the prototype right pauldron is almost finished, too. I’m finally getting the hang of weathering, (it looks kinda crap in the photo from this angle) so once the puff paint around the gem dries I can finish the weathering and varnish the sucker.

I can also successfully conclude the great hollow resin experiment. Castin’ Craft Mold-Maker gave me a lovely, smooth texture to the outside of my resin, and it has a nice shine without needing any sort of glossing.

It’s a Secret to Everyone

This weekend I thought to myself: “I should make Zelda’s bow and light arrows. That would really make the costume.” Then I thought: “But I have no woodworking skills, even though my father probably has the tools.” Then I looked up screenshots and realized that I didn’t need woodworking.

My sister knows that she’s getting the Zelda costume, but she doesn’t know that the costume will include a bow and light arrows. (And if I’m good at only working on it when she’s not home, she won’t find out. She doesn’t read my blog. Why should she? Whenever I make something I run in her room and make her look at it.)

So, I should be able to use the bow and arrows as a big birthday surprise. And I do mean big. The bow is taller than me. It’s about as tall as my doorway. It is a big bow. Just look at this Super Smash Brothers Brawl screenshot I used for scale reference.

The size actually works out in my favor, because I was able to use a short dowel rod for the wooden handle in the center. I can use the size to hide its straightness. This will be slow going since I need to do most of the work on it when my sister isn’t home, but I should finish before May. This is the first weapon I’ve made, so I’m very excited.

Sorry the photo’s not very great. I wanted the bow standing on its end for as short an amount of time as possible as the ends are the flimsiest parts right now. What you can see now is just the “skeleton” of the bow—everything except the wood in the middle will ultimately be covered by fun foam.

As with Zelda’s tiara, pauldrons, and future other bits of jewelry, I will eventually be making tutorials with free downloadable+printable patterns. Speaking of Zelda’s tiara, the prototype is almost done. I’m just waiting on stuff to dry/set up for the jewel on the front.

And, speaking of resin, (kind of) my experiment with hollow resin continues well. I gave the piece from the end of last week a coating of triple-thick spray gloss, and even though it’s not smooth it’s acceptably shiny. This will work if I can’t improve my technique.

And the plastic wrap worked just the way I’d hoped it would.

It's hollow, suckers! Or it will be once I make the back!

I’m not settling for that yet, though. Over the weekend I tried out a new mold maker. Castin’ Craft Mold Builder takes a LOT longer than Amazing Mold Putty to set up. Well, I suppose both are ready to go in about twenty minutes, but with the Castin’ Craft Mold Builder you have to paint on layer after layer after LAYER until it’s thick enough. I did eleven layers before I pulled it off to see how sturdy it was, and it’s still balloon-thin. But the stuff does seem amazingly sturdy for its thickness, even though it smells like old fish. The inside looks pretty good, so I’m hoping it’ll give me a really smooth surface.

We’ll find out soon. The resin is setting up.

Progress…kind of?

The back of Twilight Princess Zelda’s tiara is ready to get spray-painted now. I actually lost track of how many coats of sealant I ended up putting on. Depending on how long it takes me to make the forehead gem, I may have the prototype tiara finished soon.

Yes, this is upside-down. I forgot to flip the photo.

My resin experiments are, overall, going well. The back of the gem for the tiara front is still sticky, but it’s solid so I popped it out of the mold anyway to see how it turned out. It’s better than expected. The shape is right, and the edges are relatively straight, but the surface needs work.

It didn’t occur to me that the clay thing I had made would be porous no matter how smooth I made the sides. The mold got into all those little pores, and the resin got into the mold of all those little pores. When I pulled the gem out of the mold, some of the mold came with it. The clay thing and the mold will have to be remade—but I have an idea. If I spray the clay thing with a few coats of the finishing gloss I use for my Dungeons and Dragons miniatures, that ought to fill in the pores.

The other two gems turned out perfectly.

The circular one is for a pauldron and the oval one is for the back of the tiara.

Speaking of pauldrons, I’ve gotten the puff paint detailing finished on Prototype Pauldron #1 and have done the first layer of sealant.

While I’ve got the resin out, I thought I’d try one more experiment—casting hollow resin. Being able to make hollow resin will expand the size of the gems I can make. It took me three tries to make a mold that worked, and while it’s still not perfect, it has renewed my faith in Amazing Mold Putty. (I was about to give up on Amazing Mold Putty completely.) The surface is a little rough and has a few small flaws, but I think a spray of the aforementioned finishing gloss will hide that. The experiment isn’t over, but I’m calling it workable so far, especially since you can see a shine in the photo.

Progress, And Stuff

Costuming is at a pause now as I sit and wait for things to dry—something I am notoriously bad at.

I made a mold for my clay gem, which worked pretty well. Turns out I didn’t need to make the little cardboard box to put it in, though. Live and learn.

Now it and two other gem molds are setting up with resin, which won’t be ready until Thursday at the soonest. I already know I will have to redo the gem. The sides of the mold did not end up smooth, and some resin leaked out and hardened inside a crease at the edge. How closely the gem resembles what I wanted will tell me how much I need to improve.

In the meantime, I got to work on the back of Zelda’s tiara. Pattern-drafting, cutting, and shaping went smoothly. Now I’m waiting for the glue over the fabric backing to dry.

In the meantime again, I also started on one of Zelda’s pauldrons. Pattern-drafting was a little more tricky for that, and I’m thinking that on my next try I will want the shoulder angle to be less steep. I’m not sure how I will keep it on, either. Tip—40 seconds in the microwave  does heat fun foam enough to shape it, but the stove is still faster, easier, and possibly safer. (I’m crossing my fingers that I didn’t release any sort of noxious fumes into the house.)

Drawing the designs on went surprisingly well—since I couldn’t see the tops of Zelda’s shoulders in any of the pictures, I guessed at the design. Overall I think the piece is looking pretty good now that it’s glued together. The lines of puff paint are proving especially tricky for me. My hands shake when I attempt very fine motor control, (or soup-eating) it’s something I just can’t help.

Half-Finished Elvish Stuff

I finally realized that I’m going to have to admit defeat on making my own beads for Nauglamir. The last two batches of resin I poured did not cure all the way to hard. They’re squishy and stretchy. The problem may be the humidity we’ve been having, or I may have measured too much hardener. Anyway, if it’s the first, there’s nothing I can do about it. I did some math (ouch, my head) and even if the rest of them came out perfectly, I’m not sure I’d have enough by Halloween, considering it takes me three days to make two beads. While I still think I’m capable of making all my own gems for Nauglamir, I simply do not have the time or storage space to buy more molds.

With sadness in my heart and Metallica in my car’s CD player, I went to the craft store to scrounge some beads to make do with. (Should have played Blind Guardian, in retrospect.) I ended up with malachite, coral, moonstone, and reconstituted lapis lazuli—hardly the treasures of Nargothrond, but still semi-precious. (But inexpensive.) I’m still using the resin pendant that I made.

The first side isn’t finished yet, but I think it’s looking nice so far.

The decorating of the outer robe is going well. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to sew the cord in straight enough lines on the back, but they look good despite a little wigglyness. It’s going pretty quickly, too. I’m not bothering to photograph one yet since it currently looks less nice than the picture of the cord pinned on.

No Sir, I’m No Extra

Dude. Dood. Dewd. It is so much easier to create a costume from the appearance of something that already exists rather than trying to come up with what a character, who’s never really physically described, is supposed to look like. Jus’ sayin’.

Manly posture: I doesn’t has it.

You can see the colour correctly in this one, but the flash makes it too shiny.

You can see the correct amount of shine in this one, but the colour's washed out.

However, all goes well. I may have to tack down the collar as my attempts to get it to lay nicely aren’t working properly, but other than that, I’m quite happy. The removal of the waist shaping worked.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. OMG SHINY!!! Yes, I did indeed want the costume to be shiny. Elf-lords should be shiny. I promise, the material’s not as reflective as it appears to be in the top picture; that’s the camera flash at work. However, it did occur to me (and my sister agrees) that I don’t want to be mistaken for an alien from the original Star Trek series.

So, to cut down on the glare a bit, I will be making an outer robe to go over this one, a la Council of Elrond. (Well, I’m still deciding whether or not I’ll give it sleeves.) And that will be a dark green.

Also—le sigh, woe is me—I’ve decided that I should probably buckle and make pants. If an Elf isn’t wearing trousers under his robes, he may just be wearing a dress. (I’m making an assumption here; I’ve never peeked under an Elf-lord’s robes, unless you count the extras on the Fellowship of the Ring DVD that showed the layering of Elrond’s costumes, and he did indeed have trouserings.) Probably those will be dark blue and will be the same fabric as the shoes.

I have not been as successful with resin this week. When I did a larger batch of blue, I got a translucent effect with the opaque dye just fine. However, I usually mix up such a small batch of resin (one teaspoon at a time) that I just can’t get a small enough amount of red dye to come out of the squeezy bottle. I shall need to switch to the translucent dye, I think.

We shine, but we don't sparkle.

Also, the “pearls” for what I’m going to attempt for my sister’s Luthien circlet need a lot more pearlescent powder. (Also, I don’t think I got all the bubbles out when I poured it…oops.)

We aren't shiny enough.

Still need to get the fabric for my own pirate costume. However, both my favourite crafting stores sent out really good coupons this week. Yea, savings! Wheeeeeee!

A Week For Firsts

This was definitely a week for firsts and adding new crafting skills to my repertoire. I got a very basic mold and tried making some resin gems. At this point they were hard enough to pop out of the mold and make a nice hard pinging sound when I hit them together. However, they are still curing and would probably indent if I poked them with a fingernail, so I’m going to wait until late Saturday or Sunday to start attaching wire bits.

They turned out fabulous—even colour, no bubbles, and they popped out of the mold after only a minor struggle.

Speaking of wire bits, my other experiment was wirework. I’ll need a circlet to be Finrod, and wire seems like the best way to do it. I braided and twisted some, pounded it flat, shaped it, and made Eleanor the Wig Head model it. (It doesn’t quite fit her correctly.) I don’t know if I’ll end up using this one or not.

Again, pretty good for a first try, I think! It’s a little ugly in the back, but the back is covered by hair anyway. I was thinking of Galadriel’s circlet as I was working on this one; Finrod is her older brother.

Concerning the necklace I’ll need to make, it’s a good thing that I haven’t been wanting to make gold chandelier earrings lately, or anything like that. I was planning to use some gold filigree bits and chandelier bits from the hobby stores. I’ve been to Hobby Lobby and Michael’s, and both of them have noooooothing! Plenty of nice things in silver (which is what I usually use), but nothing but the most very basic findings in gold. I don’t really want to order bits, but I tried looking around online and could also find nothing. This means that I’m going to have to develop those wireworking skills even further.

These are some experimental bits for Nauglamir, the necklace. I think I will probably be going with something three-stranded because, considering the weight of the resin, those seem sturdier.