Why do we Mashup?
I was asked a question at Dragon Con this year that I have been puzzling over for the past two weeks: “Why are mashup costumes a thing?” What puzzled me was not the answer, I know the reason in the...
View ArticleWIP Weekend: Death Eater
For the next installment of “My Friends Make Cool Stuff,” this Death Eater mask styled after the ones from the later Harry Potter films is just one part of what will eventually be a full costume. My...
View ArticleThe making of Obi Wan Tenobi
Have you ever had a clever idea that has spun terribly out of control? That happened to me this year.It started with a tiny seed, and a bit of opportunity. I have wanted to make a replica sonic...
View ArticleA Hufflepuffian Protagonist
Newt Scamander is an unexpectedly interesting hero. He is even more interesting when compared with Harry Potter. It may seem like an unwarranted comparison. Harry Potter was a child in children’s...
View ArticleCorporate Cosplay
Most of the costumes I make aren’t exactly workplace appropriate. I put mounds of work into them, but I only get to wear them four or five days a year, at conventions, where I effectively pay for the...
View ArticleStar Trek: Discovery – Throwing Down the Gauntlet to Cosplayers
The costumes in the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery series are as baffling as they are beautiful. I imagine the artistic director found out that people liked to make replica star trek costumes and took...
View ArticleMaking a Replica Discovery Combadge
I was pretty whiny about the costumes in Star Trek: Discovery last week. There is a part of the uniform that I didn’t talk about at all, though: the combadge. The original series didn’t have combadges,...
View ArticleDiscovery Crest and the Right Tools for the Job
<rant> Have you ever heard the phrase “A true craftsman never blames their tools?” I have. A lot. I used to believe it, too. I used to believe that skill is what truly matters in craftsmanship...
View ArticleCall and Response
Returning from my first Dragon Con ever, I was struck by many, many amazing things. Great panels, wonderful people, and the incredible cosplay. It feels like a con shaped by fans and nerds over years,...
View ArticleThe Dragons of Over-commitment
Chronic over-commitment is a condition that I, and many artistic people I know, suffer from. To those that do not suffer from it, it appears to be a simple problem to solve. One just has to stop...
View ArticleOn Becoming the Prettiest Princess
Being an artist of any kind is a process of continual improvement. All artists start bad and get better, usually in painfully small increments. We all start with Play-Doh crayons and popsicle sticks....
View ArticleSpace Wizards and Wandsabers
I am not the first to recognize that Jedi are basically space wizards. I am not even the first to mash together Harry Potter and Star wars. I am, to my knowledge, the first obsessively produce scaled...
View ArticleSaber on the cheap
Yesterday I wrote about building the hilts for some lightsabers. That was less than half of the story. Today, my partner in crime, Topher, will fill in the details about making them glow! I’ve built...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....