Nyreen in pieces. Click the tag and you’ll see how she started as one piece and is now multiple. Ultracal should arrive tomorrow or the day after so we be molding! Tidying and making retaining walls as well 🙂

Oh yes, spoke to Garrus, kept clicking to hear “calibrations” and giggling inanely. So there are a few cuts to be made to the jaw area as well.

 
 

All the pieces (except the mandibles, I need a funky angle for them 🙂 ). It was so hard cutting my sculpt apart and carefully transfering the pieces to work on individually.

Also my tools! I use only a few in reality. The paring knife and craft blade most. Then three of the silicon brushes. (I put them sort of in order with most used at the front). Mostly work with hands as that is what I tend towards- pulling shapes out and flattening them rather than carving. I tend to work as a builder of positive space than a remover of negative. That said I do like to train my brain and work with negative space on occasion. it’s just not natural for me 🙂

  

So the worst thing is I am now waiting until I can mold her. There are a few areas to tidy and even up a bit more. But when you are at about 95% done that last 5% can make or break a project

The breaking is when you start to see that 5% as more important than the rest and overthink or over do any deatil work. In this case I could wind up scraping off too much to actually fit my head. I mean the pieces are already very much not human but if they are too small the risk is stretching and deforming over natural facial shapes.

That said there are a few burrs than need polishing and I still need to see all the parts in a mirror but I need to keep in mind all that I have done so far. So I’ll be leaving the pieces for a few days while I get enough distance to get better perspectve and then will start prepping her for molding. Using some of that work to fix the minor issues. Or I’ll look at it in the mirror and find something else to fix.

Either way, I cant start molding until I have my ultracal which means a courier as it will be the big 22.5kg bad in a bucket. Um. That’s a negatory for me being able to move that at all.

I’ve got insomnia and my wrists are part of why I am still awake. But so too is my sheer joy at having sculpted a nicely complex piece of art from nothing but squishy kiddie clay.

Think of what I chould do with real clay. Hmmmmmm, real clay.

WordPress is conquered!

My site is pretty again! Finally figured out the combo of redirects and centering things where they needed.

I even got the search function to work, woot!

http://costumes.glittersweet.com

I also made my tumblr look more like my site, hopefully that will work. Also, with this whole blogging thing actually working over there I’ll be removing older parts of my site and transfering them to here or…… pinterest. Pinterest only because some museums seem to have gotten on board with the whole thing. But I have FF and SE already claimed here on Tumblr so I hope to be able to shift them over summer.

Excuse me while I go plotting to make costumes to make everyone else jealous or intimidated. Or get laid. Oh wait, that cunning plan has been totally seen through now! Darn.

Sigh. Those Turian mandibles, watch out boys, they’ll be waggling for you…..


tineyho:

e-hyde:

attackofopportunity:

scifigrl47:

gqgqqt:

wishyouweremegan:

comiccombatant:

thebirdandthebat:

his wikipedia page.

Yeah.  Once again, females are expected to ‘prove’ their worth. 

In every sense. Basically the girls in skimpy clothing apparently aren’t hot enough to wear them and must have boring lives that makes them come out and crave this attention. So all the generic female insults in one go.

I won’t even go into the hypocrisy of whining about how these cosplayers only pay attention to nerdy guys at cons, while I see those same nerdy guys ignoring, spurning, and insulting those women constantly

I like to actually, you know, talk with men and women and kids of all ages. Talk. About subjects they like and that I like.

I don’t actually like to talk with someone actively putting me down to my face or behind my back. Or constantly putting down others for their own self worth.

If you want to start a dialogue with a cosplayer ask question you are interested in the answer to! When you are not listening we know and what follows? You think we are snobs because we can’t engage. I keep my answers pretty short when I know someone is just trying to bait also. 

Adding to the above derailment, but there are also a ton of costumes/cosplays that aren’t comic-related. So many other genres: anime, movies, tv, sci-fi, fantasy, books, historical, video games, cartoons, and the list goes on and on. 

I am super thankful that Bioware has embraced the scene so much. I would never personally expect anything* in return for spending months and years sculpting and casting to make what is essentially free advertising for them- because I am playing in their sandbox. But it is nice when a company appreciates how much their creation means to so many people that they go to such incredible lengths to connect with their fans.

*Edited: because people seem to assume there is an expectation……

Look I also work at cons. I am a cosplay wrangler and judge- part of that job is face time with potential contestants. I get to see the full gamut of cosplays from the sublime to the closet grab. And I love and appreciate them all. 

How do I survive and not go mad or get all Judgey McJudgerson? I listen to the stories each and every cosplayer tells me. I may not remember them all (it’s coming up to several thousand stories here…..) but by making sure I listen to them I can understand each person has their own story. 

It is easy to get mad at some nameless faceless mob that is *different from you* no one ever complains about the group they identify with even when there are clearly problems all over the scene. Because it must be Them, not Us, because if it is Us it must then be Me.

I was called a nerd all through high school. It was not a cool thing. I am still not cool. I just make cool shit and like to wear it.

PS, sorry I had to clip a lot of text but all the links are there to the tumblrs who went first so you can read all of their thoughts.

Another few hours work on Nyreen 🙂 I can’t seem to reply to comments so I’ll just add text here 🙂

I’ve been using my compass as a sort of caliper, so working on eye placements and distance from eyes to nose tip and jaw tip. I also used a bend brass strap to get my jaw line. The mask should fit, but I am planning on making it in multiple parts. So once the top of the sculpt has the hills and valleys close to what they are supposed to be I’ll need to cut the piece up and get parts ready for molding. This will happen at night when the clay is cold enough to retain its shape.

So I am going to chat with Garrus a bit on the Normandy to see how the layers work and go from there 🙂 I need to order some latex of course as well. And see what of my fabrics I have that are suitable for her ensemble. Which is very Assassin’s Creed in style which makes me very happy. Space Ninja Alien!

But yes, I am going to have to try and get used to a full face piece. Much of my problem at D*C and Celebration with Liara and Talon was the high humidity factor. When I wear Nyreen I should be in a cooler but more regulated climate 🙂

Because I really can’t resist interesting aliens. Nyreen is still enigmatic but I am really interested in what has been shown about her so far. If she is an uneasy ally of Aria then that already makes for all sorts of possibilities. And biotic? But also hooray for a relatively comfy ensemble because I have very little room for Turian armour….

Click on it twice. These are your two super powers.

Click on it twice. These are your two super powers.

stonechinchillas:

beckybotsford:

whenever u feel sad just remember that there are billions of cells in ur body and all they care about is u

I am made of my own fanclub

So after that…….

Uness you have an autoimmune disease where there is an endless battle of rogue immune cells labeling everything they can find as For Immediate Destruction. Much of the time they make up a smallish number (a few thousand antibodies per blood test…) but then the cascade starts….

Luckily they are usually defined. My current rogue soldiers are waging “Operation Synovium”. This is not too difficult as it covers all your joint spaces, all around tendons and ligaments and even your internal organs.

I’d like to think there are some cells trying to chill these dudes out, and so far they are coming in pre-prepared syringes of mono-clonal goodness.

So, keep that fanparty going! Love and appreciate it, truly and honestly 🙂 There is no jealousy here 🙂 Just be sensible and love those cells back. I get sad when I hear people taking there fanclub for advantage.