Author Archives: Michaela de Bruce

Debuted Talon in NZ to mixed results!

Well mainly because it wound up spur of the moment when I was really really really unwell and SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE IT!

 

No really, I wound up scaring a lot of people over how rapidly I go from well to totally not at all and threatened with the hospital. And yes, still suffering physically.

 

Anyway so I think I have LJ and All The Social media hooked up now so…. on to the progression of the day!

 

So the Friday I might have gotten lost and then walked away too far and sort of ruined any chance of turning up to the show on Saturday. So I spent the day debriefing and sitting on my Iron Pillow Throne. So wish I’d grabbed a photo because it was totally a throne of pillows. Yay for the hotel having five pillows I had all to myself!!!!! I did though cut my tattoos:

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Note the trades under them all 😉 And I think some may be late back to the library. I should not be allowed a library card! I also tested some of the scrap unprinted paper and was super happy:

DSC_1790 DSC_1791

 

I painted my hand then stuck the stuff over then cleaned with IA- I wish I was able to do this on the actual product as it really makes them look more subtle. But it basically removes the coating and leaves the gummy adhesive which is very hard to remove and will pick up dust.

 

So Sunday morning I woke at 5am and couldn’t get back to sleep and thought.. what the heck! Stupid but logical for Stupid O’Clock!

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Green tea and Isopropyl Alcohol…  Anyway yes. That was entirely painted by me and yes it took a few hours- you can see the two brushes I used in the small Klipit container. No idea if the metadata is still attached.. okay my comp says 7.49am. Sounds about right. Okay I have mentioned my gigantic ribcage before. You may now see why corsets are a tad not comfy and need to be very carefully made. Also why I can’t wear belts over an inch wide. Also sexay leopard print pants are my pj’s so shush.

So I started peeling, sticking and wetting. And wow, I love this stuff! So easy to print (aside from my printer issues) and cut and then stick. Just make sure to not get the backing wet before you stick because it will cause the tattoo to remain stuck to the clear side.

DSC_1794

 

But bugger, the bikini sits too low so I wound up hiding too much of the tattoo I spent most time on! But in love with the chest tattoo! Also thigh and arm tatts need rescaling as my printer scales down and I hadn’t taken that in to account on those pieces. And then the face paint:

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I learnt fast to not put paint on under the lekku. And the lekku have to stick all the way to the brows. Also I noticed how heavy Jan penciled her eyelashes so falsies!

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So yes. hotel pillow plastic bags to protect the paint and i took up three basins at the showgrounds to actually stick the darn things on! Amusing moment was trying to dry the PA/cabosil Bondo hiding the seam. See those rectangles in the background. Yes hand dryers and I had to sit under them to dry the Bondo… which I also stippled latex over. Wet fingertips are the best way to smooth latex when still wet. Only trouble was I really needed hot water…. nevermind.

And I did use a paint brush just over an inch wide to get the glue on my forehead and to stick the gloves and leggings in place.

 

And then… well I stepped out of the ladies room and was stared at. Good staring but people were too shy to stop me until one person did and boom! A ring of cameras and phones. We live in an age where there is a camera on nearly every hand held device and while NZ is still one of the highest uptakers of new tech and social media we aren’t terribly sharing. So I think most of those photos are on private facebook accounts or on files on comps. I have found a few so will link them. Here if I can remember how WP works for linking…

 

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And soon after that… I wound up shivering outside the end of the Zombie walk and having to cut through to first aid. And that’s when I scared a lot of people. And I have to admit scared myself.

 

Anyway, back on the costume… I have plans to upgrade and get an actual shoot done (as in not a fly by photo grab 🙂 ).

So….

Enlarging the tatts for arms and legs.

Adding the extra tatts that are less distinct for the back and upper hips (I have three pages spare to make up to ten sheets per application!)

New bikini! As per previous posts from wonderflex and leather.

New skirt strips, also leather from a piece that has been languishing in my stash for about a decade..

Thinning the lekku latex near the face

Repairing paint blotches on lekku..

Trimming lekku over ears and back of neck.

Make the thigh armour a little smaller…. or figure out a velcro arrangement.

New bikini bottom for the same reason and to expose a little more of the hip so as to put the thigh tatt in the right place.

 

But I really am in love with the costume and have been in contact with wonderful people with it (online and in person XD).

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I forgot!

I was also vindicated in regards to my latex issues! Ahah! It was probably imported into NZ by air, which froze it or got it very cold.

http://www.alconeco.com/Products/Character/Aging-Makeup/Paramount-Liquid-Latex

http://www.artmolds.com/molding-supplie…

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Debuted Talon in NZ to mixed results!

Well mainly because it wound up spur of the moment when I was really really really unwell and…

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Always Act, Never React.: So, a few of you might’ve been around last night where I received a very nasty message from an anonymous person.

Always Act, Never React.: So, a few of you might’ve been around last night where I received a very nasty message from an anonymous person.

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Always Act, Never React.: So, a few of you might've been around last night where I received a very nasty message from an anonymous person.

Always Act, Never React.: So, a few of you might’ve been around last night where I received a very nasty message from an anonymous person.

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Cersei is so terrible but wow, the third gif look at her eyes. Look at them. How much hate is in there, how many years of being a Lannister and being a woman and a mother to a monster is reflected in there. How much she is pushing below that cruel surface. I have no idea where her story is going to end but I won’t be terribly surprised if it is extreme (either effectively locked in a cage for life, and a long life at that which may just be the cruelest thing for her* or a very dramatic and explosive).

Quite enjoying the slow revelation of the stories so I’m avoiding spoilers as much as possible! Yay tumblr 😉

*and possibly poetic

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sinefinescrutans:

Thank god for Blackadder

II and Goes forth are the two I play regularly when in my workroom sculpting. Though I always have to stop at the end of Goes Forth. And cry.

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I want to suspect photoshop (but the hook of the cats left eyebrow is the same in at least two photos) but it would not be the first time anyone put make up on a white cat. 

But the eyelashes have me confused. As the owner of a 7kg (or one stone or 15 odd pounds) cat I have no idea how you’d wrestle those on. And I don’t want to. 

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piecesofnever:

neimhaille:

So I am happy with my tats, to the point I’m going to create another three sheets of the connecting pieces I avoided so as to make it easier. So the side front belly and back of arms will get their coverage.

They are mostly my work. The specific idiosyncracities of line width and end points are mine for sure. But I did use some tracing of Jan’s art to get there 😉 Also they scaled down a little further due to the PDF format (I was using a 97% print of my last tats and then they scaled back 97% again. The chest and belly tats are fine, as are the main back pieces but the thigh and arms need to be a little bigger.

Also note i did not get a chance to polish my armour, But I did give it all a slight gold wash. Why? My saber hilt is a mix of gold and silver to break up the tone. And it works well for the armour too. Also note my armour is black on silver (ie my cut marks show the metal underneath not black cuts on silver) so as to better mimic the artwork.

Holy crap, woman, your costuming just blows me away.  And you are freaking gorgeous.

Thank you 🙂 I think I forgot to mention I did in fact paint myself entirely this time. Ditto with the tattoos.

Very bendy 😉

But also the alcohol to dissolve the paint makes the paint dry fast enough that you can 🙂 While reaching around to paint between the shoulder blades you can disturb paint around the chest and armpit so luckily this stuff dries so quickly you can feel when you are able to go over an old spot or new 🙂

Also two specific brush types used in two specific ways (or three…) and being very familiar with the viscosities needed for painting the face vs body, first layer vs last.

Also no sponges with this stuff except to make dappled effects! Best of all is an airgun but I don’t have one (yet) and it does mean a lot of alcohol in the air. I did the lekku patterns this way. Whee, the air was alcoholic for days in my workroom!

Also so much glue! Literally used a detail house-paint paint brush to glue the prosthetic to my forehead and the gloves and boots to my legs. Also bikini to body. So looking forward to the upgrades! I just need some leather dye and then I can sacrifice some leather hoarded away for years for a project that won’t happen. Then some more (recycled skirt ditto for a project I have passed on) to make a new bikini. I’d prefer to mold vegetanned leather but I don’t think I’d be physically able to pull it in to shape any more.

And hello to you over here from LJ-land 🙂

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First time no Jaw of Doom by an NZ photographer! I don’t have a big jaw but standard rules about photos leave me looking like an Aussie Soprano!

Anyway. Yes, you can see I am hunched and my neck has almost disappeared. Unfortunately the lekku were just off the sweet spot (I can do a single bun so will next time) and I was also in pain (I still look that hunched as my shoulders have a lot of inflammation going on) and my bikini almost falling off. In fact it did as soon as I got back to my hotel room. So my cunning plan with strips of Wonderflexx for the other style of top she wears will definitely come to fruition. And there will be a strip to glue properly too. The bikini also wound up sitting too low so it covered a fair amount of the belly tatt.

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